What a busy week, both at work, in my social life and in my writing, but slightly less so. One of the great things about being a writer, is that you get to go out and experience life with friends and family at the same time of absorbing life going on around you.

I'm sure I am not the only writer who observes, absorbs situations and stores away little snippets to use in my work. Many of those I have watched sneak in to my work, but not as they are first seen but I take mannerisms from different people I observe, develop them and create a completely new character. You have to make sure you don’t overdo these characteristics so that you don’t change your character into a caricature, instead of being a rounded, flawed or even eccentric person. You can do this with people, venues, conversations and behaviours. Your job as a writer is blend all these things together so that your reader, recognises them and can relate to their situations. Not easy, but is a great challenge and when done correctly becomes the character driven novels, we, as readers, love to read.

 So the next time you are sitting in the office, having a cup of tea in a café or taking your grandchild to the park, don’t forget to see what is going on around you. You might just find that missing character that will make your novel sensational.

For this week’s writing task look at the image below, think about what each person is doing and what might be happening for them. Then select one and write the scene from their point of view (POV). Try writing around 500 words and then choose a second, and maybe third person from the image and write the same scene from their POV. Each character should see things, feel things and think in different ways from the others previously. Remember we can only see what your character sees – stay on track.

So there you go, go on, get writing.