Back into Character

by ELSIE BYRON
9th November 2018

Hi all. I'm literally 5 or 6 pages off finishing my ms Fourteen in Sixty Nine and I've hit a real problem. I haven't picked it up for such a long while and I'm finding it really difficult to drop back into her personality. I had all her quirks and attitude, I became the girl when I was writing it previously, but now I'm struggling to become the character again. I've read from page one to see if I can pick it up, but no luck. Can anyone please give me some idea of how to step back into her character again. Thankyou.

Replies

I tend to interview my characters when I'm struggling with them. Either that or sit them on my shoulder for a few hours and have them comment on my life. That's always an interesting experiment!

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Victoria
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Victoria Whithear
05/12/2018

Thank you Adrian and Jonathan. I have now read the ms twice from the beginning and I'm thinking I may need to read it again. As you said Adrian I think I need to 'soak' myself in the character, which is going to take a few more reads. The reason I can't understand why I'm struggling is that the main character, Joanna, is based on myself and the person I was at fourteen. Anyway I think more reading and concentration is probably the answer. Thanks again.

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ELSIE
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ELSIE BYRON
11/11/2018

Hi Elsie

I gather many writers find, if they look deeply(or honestly) enough into their MC, parts of themselves appear. So there's probably something of you, nice or not so nice, hidden away. And if you can find it, maybe that'd be a place to start.

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