'Blowin' the Amp'

Over the course of this project I have been attempting to improving my writing skills when it comes to characterization. One method I have started to use is to put a simple moment in the film that perfectly sums up the characters without having to say anything to the audience. In The Call to Adventure Carol's moment is the calm smashing of her father's watch. 

Now I think about it, this idea was most likely inspired by one of my favourite films of all time, Back to the Future. In the film the protagonist Marty Mcfly is introduced in the famous Amp scene, in which he turns all the settings the massive amp up to full, plugs in his tiny guitar and destroys the amp by playing a single chord, wrecking most of Doc's garage and propelling himself across the room in the process. After looking upon the mess he's created he simply smiles and exclaims "Rock 'n' Roll". This simple moment tells us a lot about Marty's character before saying anything or even showing his face, it tells us he's curious, a bit of a trouble maker, optimistic and confident in the face of a problem, the kind of guy that revels in excitement and also a risk taker. Before the story even begins we are already familiar with our protagonist and know what kind of person he is, and it is this that I wish to bring into my own storytelling.

   

After a suggestion by a friend I have been employing another new method of developing characters.   The idea is instead of describing the character's history and background, you describe what their room looks like and what is in it. In doing so you can simply and clearly describe what kind of person they are, what their interests are and what they desire. 

This lead to one of my favourite pieces of writing, the character description of Carol Beatrix. Sadly despite how proud I am of it, it is no longer relevant after the combination of Carol and Luna. However the technique is still great and I intend to make use of it a lot more in the future. It was really effective in making the character seem like a real person to me, with thoughts, feelings, passions and desires, and this made writing them a lot easier and, in my humble opinion, the writing  a lot better.   

Below is the character description of Carol Beatrix.

Carol Beatrix

Carol is a daydreamer, she spends most of her time with her head in the clouds, in her own little world of imagination. She has quite a short attention span and finds it hard to focus on one thing for a long period of time. She is incredibly curious and has a hard time resisting her longing for adventure. She also loves playing games but can’t stand it when people cheat, there is very little in the world she hates more than dishonesty. She has a passion for reading, writing and drawing, and often writes short poems or draws quick sketches and doodles in her free-time. She considers herself a pacifist, regarding violence as ‘silly’.  She tends not to plan ahead much, preferring to make things up as they go along. She is quite shy and tends to keep to her-self, it’s been this way since childhood and despite her cheerful and positive disposition, it has made her quite lonely and sad deep down. Her one true friend in the world is her dog, Lewis, who has been her loyal companion for six years.

She lives in a small one room flat on the slightly less seedy side of the city docks. Covering most surfaces are piles of books, all of which Carol read half of before her attention shifted to another book. She often reminds Lewis that she intends to finish everyone, when she can get around to it. In the corner is a worn looking arm chair that Lewis likes to sleep in. Carol can be quite messy, tending to leave her clothes screwed up in piles on the floor. On a shelf in the bookcase next Lewis’ chair, Carol likes to keep her collection of trinkets, random interesting little objects Carol has picked up on her travels. Carol has a large collection of games with which to amuse herself, like most of her belongings they are usually found on the floor in a pile. She rarely plays them though, having no one but Lewis to play against, and he isn’t a very fun opponent. One of the most important parts of her flat is the cupboard where she keeps her sweets, Carol has an insatiable sweet tooth and makes sure to always have a healthy supply of sugary treats. She is a particularly big fan of strawberry flavoured lollypops and it is rare she doesn’t have a few on her person.

  Carol’s favourite spot is to sit and read is in front of the window, which provides a good view of the docks and the ocean. She can often spend hour gazing out and daydreaming, watching the ships and the people come and go, it is a view she has sketched many times over.