159. Quick Tips for Writing Your Character’s Identity

“Get to know the people, read the history, talk to the people as people. But not as subjects. You're not a scientist, you're a novelist. And being a novelist means getting into the heart and mind of your character and their body too.” - Beth Barany

In this How To Write the Future episode, titled “Quick Tips for Writing Your Character’s Identity,” host Beth Barany invites listeners to watch a quirky and interesting intro about the infinite possibilities you can give to your character's identity. She emphasizes the importance of understanding diverse perspectives, incorporating personal experiences, and using sensory details to create authentic and relatable characters in fiction.

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Transcript

159. Quick Tips for Writing Your Character’s Identity

Introduction and Hosts
Hey space and Dragon fans. Beth Barany here with How to Write the Future Podcast. This is a bit of an unusual podcast where I talk about quick tips for writing your character's identity. 

To get the full benefit, watch this podcast on YouTube. And if you enjoy it, please like and subscribe, and share it with a friend or two who would enjoy this wonderful trippy world of being a creative writer. 

Enjoy. 

Infinite possibilities.

BETH BARANY 1: When I was a freshman in college, I could stand in my dorm room and look at the mirror on one wall, and behind me was the mirror on the other wall, and this is what I essentially saw. But with my  face, of course.

So, yeah, I was, um, staring into the abyss, and honestly, it felt like my first psychedelic experience, even though I have never taken drugs.

BETH BARANY 2: Wait a minute, didn't you like take a puff of pot once?

BETH BARANY 1: Uh, barely. 

BETH BARANY 2: Yeah. So tell me more about this mirror experience. 

BETH BARANY 1: Um, well, I was 18 years old, you know, freshman at college, away from home. And some kind of understanding happened. It was like I looked into some kind of crazy, some kind of loss of self, loss of identity, loss of everything I understood.

BETH BARANY 2: Wow, that must've been disorienting.

BETH BARANY 1: Yeah, totally, totally disorienting. Totally. Don't look at me like that.

BETH BARANY 2: Like what?

BETH BARANY 1: Um, like, like, you get me, like you understand.

BETH BARANY 2: You know what? I, I totally understand. I mean, come on. I'm, I'm a novelist. We novelists, we go all kinds of places.

BETH BARANY 1: Oh, thanks for understanding. So, what is this podcast really about? Uh, let's see.

Yeah. Hey, everyone. What is this podcast really about? I think it's about identity.

Being a writer allows us to go into all kinds of identities, all kinds. What does this mean?

In the age of cultural sensitivity, this means if you are writing from another culture's perspective, really get to know it. Get to know the people, read the history, talk to the people as people. But not as subjects. You're not a scientist, you're a novelist. And being a novelist means getting into the heart and mind of your character and their body too, but I dunno what to say here.

BETH BARANY 2: That's okay. You don't have to say anything.

[03:19] Setting the Scene 
BETH BARANY: Switching gears now.

Coming to you from a local wine bar. It reminds me of Paris. 

[03:25] Personal Connection to Paris and French Language 

I lived in Paris twice and I learned French when I was 16. French is a more emotional language than English in my opinion. Therefore, speaking French brings out this more emotional part of me. And maybe that's why I also include lots of, allusions to French language in my fiction because it allows me to connect to that more emotional part of me.

[03:52] Incorporating Personal Experiences into Fiction 

Now, when you think of different locations that you loved and you bring them into your fiction, you are bringing those parts of you, you could say those parts of your identity, into your fiction.

Have you ever had the experience of watching a TV show or a film or reading a book where you feel completely like you're the other person?

It's hard to say exactly what caused that in you, but as a writer, you can learn how to be more intentional and help your readers step into that other identity. 

[04:27] Understanding and Creating Character Identities 

And part of that comes from you creating the associations that go along with your character, how they feel about their setting, how they feel about the people around them, their attitudes, their beliefs.

All these things go to form our identities.

Now, do we have multiple identities? We probably have a core identity that is steady throughout our lives, but that evolves and changes and grows. But you might be able to find threads of it or like the core of it from when you were a child.

And now as you write that part of you that is indelibly you is probably throughout all the stories that you write, but the characters that you create can reflect different beliefs and worldviews that are going to convey a completely different identity.

What's amazing about being human is we actually can sense into this, into other people, and this allows us to convey it in our art. 

[05:32] Invitation to Explore Different Identities

So here's my invitation to you. Go ahead and pretend to be somebody else. Oh, wait, you probably already do that as a novelist.

But really puts some attention on what is their attitude and belief and worldview, and how can you convey that through how they talk and move about their environment, how they think about their environment. 

[05:57] Sensory Details and Their Impact on Writing

I'm gonna be in Paris by the time you listen to this episode, and when I'm there I notice I am more into the sensory details of life, more sensual, just in the basic food and drink way. French love their food and drink, so when I'm there, I get to really enjoy it, maybe even more than I do when I'm back home in the United States.

So all that to say, where do you feel the most alive?

What sensory details can you bring into your character's perspective that really bring their worldview, their attitude, and beliefs alive? 

[06:35] Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Alright, that's it for this week, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this different episode. Let me know in the comments what you think of it, and write long and prosper.