Remember meeting boggarts way back in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? A creature that shapes itself into whatever you fear the most. How terrifying is that?
But what a brilliant creation! Forcing the characters to face their fears and showing their reactions not only developed the characters better, it humanized them, brought them a little closer to our hearts. Fear is a universal emotion, but everyone deals with it differently. Therefore, fear is a great way to make your character more relatable, but also to give your character more distinct traits.
So for this week’s challenge, ponder:
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Put your character up against what he/she fears most. What is it? How does your character respond? What does fear feel like to your character?
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Happy writing!
Faboo prompt, as always! I know the fears of my MCs, but not of the secondary characters. I’ll have to add this to my list of tidbits to learn about my characters.
Glad you like it! Sometimes secondary characters are more fun to develop than main characters. For me, anyway. 🙂
Awesome prompt, Em! I’m feeling a disconnect with the MCs of my latest WIP, and this prompt will help immensely!
Glad to be helpful! Have fun with it! 🙂 (Yeesh, we writers really are morbid folk. “Have fun forcing your characters to face their deepest fears! Revel in their terror!”)
This is a fantastic tip! Sometimes I feel like I don’t know my character at all, and they feel so lifeless on the page. I’ll have to remember this!
Hope it helps! Thanks for stopping by!
My main character’s boggart… hmmm. An empty hip-flask? No, that’s not going far enough.
Maybe a locked room, white walls, no furniture, no windows, a single fluorescent light humming, ever humming. The smell of bleach, and the sound of slippered feet on the other side of the cold steel door. No way to sense time passing. No knowing when they’ll come for him. No knowing what they’ll do
Sheesh, that would terrify me! Great image, seriously creepy.