Writers are always trying to improve the way we describe our characters. Usually, I suggest my students concentrate on four basic ways for our characters to express: dialog, body language, action, and, if in that character’s point of view, with thoughts. But today I was looking for a specific book on my shelf and came across one that might convince me add another way for characters to express. And it all comes down to what they’re holding in their hand.
The book is Fiction is Folks: How to Create Unforgettable Characters, by Robert Newton Peck. I’d never heard of him when I bought this book, used, about five years ago, but he was well-known for his children’s stories. He brought characters to life, simply by describing ordinary people with ordinary objects any of us might use in our daily lives. For instance, Captain Ahab was a whaler in the mid-1800s. “Let your Captain Ahab hold a harpoon, finger the barb of its point, and balance its shaft.” Things that make Ahab more real. Because, as Peck says, “Characterization is physical.” But it’s not the color of the eyes or hair or even the height of a character that makes the difference, unless you’re trying to force a 6’6” basketball player into a Volkswagen bug. It’s how the character uses and experiences the item that makes all the difference.
