My character was boring until I gave him a weird hobby like collecting vintage bottle caps from the 1920s.

I was stuck on a flat protagonist for my mystery novel until my friend in Chicago suggested giving him a specific, odd collection, which suddenly made all his dialogue and choices feel unique and real.

4 comments

4 Comments

brian_taylor151d ago

But what if the weird hobby is the rule? Like, the way they do the hobby is the real character bit. My cousin collects rocks, but only ones he finds on Tuesdays. The rule isn't about the rocks, it's about the Tuesday thing. That's where the weird logic comes out.

eva_moore1d ago

Forget hobbies, give them a weird rule they live by. My neighbor won't step on sidewalk cracks and it explains his whole walk to the bus. That kind of thing builds a person way faster than a collection.

the_sean1d ago

Remember my uncle's weird spoon collection.

sarahpark1d ago

My friend Ben from college has a rule about never eating food that's the color blue. He turned down a slice of birthday cake once because the frosting was light blue. It started this whole story about his grandma's kitchen wallpaper, and suddenly you understood his whole childhood. That one rule told me more about him than his job ever did.