If I Were A Character

The small details are often what truly make a character. Each detail reveals something about the character’s past and personality. Many of the details I use for my characters are drawn from people I know.

Working these things into the story, blending them with the action, makes the scene more vivid and characters more real.

Here’s a short list of details from my life--small bits that, if I were a character, the reader might want to know.
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• I have a scar on my lip from a biopsy.
• My hair is broken near my part from years of ponytails.
• I keep my nails short for athletics.
• I have appendectomy scars on my belly.
• My left ankle pops as I walk.
• I always have a hairband on my wrist.
• My face was broken a few years ago—still hurts when it’s touched.
• My knees are pink with scars from playing softball in shorts.
• I flinch when I see a ladder, both because I’m afraid of climbing them and because my mom used to smack me if I walked too close to one.
• The sound of socks rubbing together literally pains me.
• My eyes are brown, but they sometimes look green in the sunlight.
• Half my closet is gray clothing.

Do your characters have details like this? Do you?