Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Writing Tips - Favorites

We all have our favorites.

Favorite color, favorite animal, favorite team…

What other favorite items come to mind? Maybe some of your own?

Favorite scent? Mine’s vanilla.

Favorite wine? I’m a sucker for a good Merlot.

Favorite outfit? I love a casual sundress. Like wearing PJs in public.

Favorite sports player? He’s long since retired, but Doug Flutie’s my guy! I still have a collector’s box of Flutie Flakes…

What does this have to do with writing?

Every person has favorites - including your characters.

Have you made a list of your character’s favorites?

Please share! Your character's favorites and your own. Anyone else like a good Merlot?

30 comments:

Natasha said...

This is such a great idea. Must try it, first for myself, then for my characters.

Lou Belcher said...

My favorite... reading the works of others.

My character's favorite.... writing.

I should be my character!

Mason Canyon said...

A favorite of mine is coffee. I picked up my first copy of Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mysteries for that reason and fell in love with the protagonist Clare. I also enjoy a good cup of tea from time to time and that lead me to read Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

My favorite -- reading the work of others

My character's favorite -- quiet observation in public places, sometimes with a camera

Karen Lange said...

Am still in the planning stages with characters but I need to do this. Thanks for the reminder!

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

My Memphis characters LOVE food!

Great idea to do this, Diane...for me as well as my characters. My daughter frequently asks me what my favorite color is, etc. It's something that we think about as a kid, but then don't seem to think of again...

Jemi Fraser said...

Some of my favourites: Chai & Earl Grey tea, raspberries, Anne McCaffrey's Pern series,...

My character's: music, tinkerings, cheese :)

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

I don't like chocolate to eat but I adore Hot Chocolate drink with plenty of froth on top.
Then again a favourite of mine is Daniel O Donnell the Irish Singer.
But a bit closer to home must be my family and friends, without them where would I be,,,,,,,,

Good excercise to do.
Yvonne.

Unknown said...

I love bubble tea! THose little tapioca pearls are just so cool and rubbery.

CD

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I prefer Chardonnay but I won’t turn down a glass of Merlot!

I do list a few likes and dislikes for my characters, but they usually only include colors or food. Your post makes me want to get a little more creative in this area. Thanks for the ideas.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Interesting how a list of favorites can say so much about a person! I'm with Clarissa-- I LOVE bubble tea.

Tamara Narayan said...

Me and my heroine share a love of Stephen King when it comes to reading. Me and my bad guy share a fondness for Beatles tunes. Me and my kick-butt FBI agent share a tendency for foul language when provoked. And then there's sarcasm as sport. I've got to watch that or all my characters would crack wise the same way.

Anonymous said...

I've been buying Cabernet Sauvignon lately but do appreciate a good Merlot.

My characters do have their favorites. For the good guys they like to frequent real life establishments like Hennesseys Tavern, Marine Room Tavern, and Ti Amo dinnerhouse. The bad guys like Starbucks, Staci drinks coffee while Nicky likes his chi tea.

Stephen Tremp

Laura S. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Laura S. said...

My Favorite color: orange
favorite animal: zebra
favorite team: USA women's gymnastics team, Phila Eagles, and Phila Phillies
Favorite scent: chocolate, orange mandarin, and crayons!
Favorite wine: I don't like wine. I'd rather eat grapes than drink them fermented, haha.
Favorite outfit: t-shirt & soffe shorts
Favorite sports player: the Phillies Jayson Werth, yum! ;)

Now on to my characters!!! It's cool knowing a little more about you, too!

Anonymous said...

Great excercise! My favorite is a toss between Crosby and Ovenshkin-both passionate people!
My character doesn't like hockey. Her favourite is musican Jack Johnson.

Jo-Jo said...

I also love a great merlot!

Jessica Bell said...

Merlot is definitely my fav!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Lou, maybe you are!

Jemi, the Pern series is a favorite of mine, too!

Karen, now I want some pesto pasta!

And everyone who loves a good merlot - we need to get together and visit a winery!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

My character has a favorite sports hobby, but that's an aspect I need to work on more.

Cat Connor said...

This is fun!
My main characters preferences are:

Scent: musk
Wine: nope - she drinks tequila or Jack Daniels, and loves to drink coffee.
Outfit: Jeans and a long sleeved black tee
Gun: Glock 17
:)

Whereas I:
Scent: Sun, Moon, Stars
Wine: Dolcetto and Syrah
Outfit: Jeans and a tee shirt

Have to admit I like Glock's too.

:D

Eric W. Trant said...

Most of my male characters prefer DARK BEER, preferably a Texas brand called Shiner Bock (if they are in Texas).

Because it's my favorite.

A guy I'm writing today likes cigars, and has favorite places to buy, favorite brands.

A girl I'm writing prefers Bloody Mary, won't drink anything else.

I do this subconsciously -- and I must think a lot about drinks -- but now that you mention it, I need to do it with intent rather than accident.

- Eric

Hart Johnson said...

My characters often have strong opinions, but I'd never really thought about doing a full favorites list (I do always give them a birthday, so that I can round out their personality with things that sort of consistently go together. I think the favorites though, is a good idea for fleshing out a character you may not have as solid a picture of.

(Drink a fair amount of Merlot--I like a Zinfandel better, but it's a whole lot harder to find an affordable Zinfandel, and you can get a decent merlot for not that much... like I even like the boxed stuff)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Glad I could get everyone to thinking!

RaShelle Workman said...

Hi Diane - Great exercise.

I write character sketches up on all the MC, but I need to dig them up. This could explain why I've been struggling with my WIP lately. I need to look them over.

Thank you and have a great day. =D

Arlee Bird said...

Favorites of characters isn't something I'd really thought about too much, but it's a good idea so that they can be more fleshed out to appear like real people. Good reminder.

Lee
Tossing It Out

Jai Joshi said...

That's a cool idea!

I think about certain favourites when I work on my character profiles, like favourite food and drink and sports and hobbies etc but this idea of listing favourites for everything is interesting.

Jai

Summer Ross said...

I have favorite pens...my characters I think I've only allowed favorite colors and smells mostly...hmmm

The Words Crafter said...

I love rainy days, good mysteries, autumn, pasta, grapes and cheese, cats, and a variety of music.

My MC loves the middle east-it's food, clothing, music, people...

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

My favourites are chocolate, chai tea, cow shaped slippers. My character's favourite view is the sea.