In conversations with authors, I frequently hear the following queries:
“I can’t get my characters to speak to me.”
“I just don’t know how to coax my characters out of the shadows.”
“How do I go deeper with my character’s voice and find their motivations?”
These are valid struggles that every writer has—including me—whether you write fiction or memoir. Sometimes cultural contexts can complicate how we handle our own emotions, and that bleeds into how we dive into our own narrative writing.
I encounter a character who won’t reveal their deeper story to me in every book I’ve written. Using a series of immersive characterization exercises I’ve created from my past work in theatre, I create flow states that peel back the layers to characters who need more conjuring. It is thrilling to experience those ah-ha moments from this series of flow states.
This practice starts with entering your character’s experiences by going from inside out. Instead of doing a top-down character analysis chart or answering a series of prescribed questions, deeper work requires a meditative flow state. It starts first with getting in touch with your body and your breath—clearing any distractions for the time you’ll spend in the world of your character—so you can enter their body and live inside their skin, not just imagine what that would be like. Here’s an exercise to help you fully conjure your character!
Start with three images. You can choose from the set below, or pick from amongst any postcards or images you have at home).
Which of these images appeals to your character on a visceral level? Jot down anything that’s coming from the image, starting in list format. Make sure you’re writing for at least three minutes without stopping. If you come to a block, simply write blank, blank, until words come back to you. Don’t worry about voice, wording, sentence structure, anything, just write what comes to you from that picture that might appeal to your character.
Next, turn on calming music without words or in a language you don’t understand.
You can listen to the rest of this flow below or read on, then close your eyes for a few moments after reading through the prompt. This practice works best in a distraction free zone.
Close your eyes and feel the surface of your feet on the ground and your back against the chair. Or, if you’re lying down, the surfaces touching your skin. Inhale and exhale five times, clearing your breath. With each breath you feel yourself slowly transforming out of your skin, and into the skin of your character. Your feet, legs, hips, torso, arms, and hands are slowly transitioning with each deliberate breath into the muscles and tendons of your character.
Keep your eyes closed as you continue to feel the changes. You feel this transition most acutely with the next breath as your face changes and morphs, your ears pick up new sounds, your eyes see new colors and textures from your character’s perspective, but in their world. As you feel your weight shift to the proportions of your character, your body is slowly transported and lifted with the next inhale, up and out of the building or scene you previously were in, and into the world of your character. You are surrounded by a new setting, with different vegetation, new smells, and even the wind feels different in this new skin of your character. As you drift into the sky, hovering over this new scenery, you and your character are of one body and one mind as you float fully in their body.
The wind picks you up and blows you closer to one of the nearby trees. It has a color and texture that appeals to you. You allow it to drop you, ever so gently, into this tall and leafy tree. You allow yourself to be deposited with the next gust of wind on top of this strong, but comfortable canopy of leaves and branches that perfectly support your weight. As you look over this lush scene before you, your character can’t help but notice…
Open your eyes and write what is in your character’s heart, mind, or voice. Give yourself a full 5-10 minutes to write without stopping. Anything can go on this page.
Next, if your character turns and looks in another direction, climbing down or hovering to the next level in their world, and someone walks by, who is it and what is it bringing up for them? Write the dialogue between your character and this person.
Give yourself another 3-5 minutes to capture what’s coming to your character. What are they feeling in their body? What is it that they want after this encounter?
A few things to remember as you explore with your character further:
- We’re conjuring, not digging. Their spirit is awaiting that exact combination of elements for you to conjure and embody them. Entering their realm helps with empathizing, understanding their motivations, living in their skin, and discovering rooted motivations.
- Lead with the gut, not the brain. Let anything esoteric: imagery, poetry, songs, snippets of scenes float to you. Jot what’s coming down without censoring yourself. Don’t worry about form, just keep the pen or keyboard moving. Be open to what you’re discovering about your character, so you’re moving in a new direction experientially.
- Avoid puppet-mastering your story. Allow this organic practice to lead you in a new direction via your characters.
- Every time you enter a flow or immersive state, invite a new or deeper voice to emerge that may be different, but more aligned with who your character is.
- Repeat what works and don’t do what gets in the way of conjuring your character. Record what’s working so you can try it again.
I use a multitude of character immersion exercises (that we’ll explore further in my Craft Talks seminar on April 5), with every character I write. This gets me into the visceral, the flesh, and out of the puppet-mastering I’m so fond of doing with my stories. It allows me to live and breathe in my character’s skin so that they’re leading the story and I’m simply transcribing their experiences.