YouTube: Video 3

Sitting in the sunshine by the Tennessee River was restorative but it turned out to be bigger than that! As I studied the video again I realized that was the ideal depiction of how to develop a character. Seasoned authors will tell you to dissect these moments so you can recreate them in writing and draw your reader in.

There's only one way to do that, place your reader in the room with your character. Make sure they feel the scene. What is the temperature in the room? Show it through your character's actions. Does your character have to step under a ceiling a fan to cool off or search for a sweater to put on because they're cold?

Is the room well lit or is your character getting up in the middle of the night and stumbling into the furniture? If you watch my video I describe the scene to you and how it makes me feel. The color of the sky, the wind blowing, water flowing, birds singing, etc. I talk about it washing away my anxiety. With those descriptions and writing prompts, I could write a great scene for one of my characters.

As writers, we have to capture the surroundings either through our character's actions or dialogue. In fact, it's time for me to get at it and put this into practice. Have fun writing and check out my latest video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvBwQb0Km94