My best friend paid me a compliment a month ago about my dialogue, saying that it can really define who my characters are. I can definitely agree with her that my skills with dialogue are superb, but I think the biggest key I have to my character development is the people that I have come to meet along my 22 years of life — my own personal muses, if you will.
For those who aren’t familiar with the term, the Muses originate in Greek mythology and were considered to sources of inspiration for both the sciences and arts. Supposedly, there are nine muses in total, although the exact number was argued a lot back then.
My number of muses is a lot more than nine though. I would say that almost everyone I have ever come into contact with has had some impact on my characters, in one way or another.
One of the big muses is my best friend Chrissy. I met her about two years ago and I have learned so much from spending time with her. Her life, including her personal struggles and personality, has inspired a number of strong female characters that appear in stories ranging from romance to even mystery.
The author alongside of some of the people who made his first play's debut the absolute success that it was.
I should also mention that my time in the Theater department at the University of Nevada, Reno, in order to fill my minor requirement, had been quite insightful. One thing I had never realized is how actors got to the place within themselves to give stirring performances as their characters. I saw people to go such vulnerable places in just a semester, and the fact they felt comfortable enough to do it amongst their peers showed a deep trust between actors. Seeing this has inspired me to really dig deep both into myself and my characters to find out what got them to where they are today.
The picture shown above includes yours truly and almost everyone who was involved in the production of the first ever play I wrote to be performed before a live audience. The director, that lady in the middle, did a phenomenal job of turning my words into a truly touching performance by all the actors under her command.
A page out of a comic-strip presentation I did on mental illness, featuring several personal friends.
The real life problems in the world also find a way of inspiring my writing, though the darker the topic the more I am fascinated with it. I've spoken before on things like realistic “monsters” and mental illness as subjects that I enjoy digging into often, but I also have an interest in experiences either I, or someone I know, has dealt with. These could include unrequited love, dealing with loss, having to find a family that isn’t defined by blood, and figuring out how someone wants to live their life. Life itself seems to be filled with stories and it seems to be funneled and told through the medium of the human experience.
Another part of that, and this luckily is thanks to living in a modern time, is that I get to have friends not just in Reno, Nevada but even all the way to Israel and Sweden. I am part of an international group of people trying to make a web series and we try to start each meeting with catching up with how the week been for everyone. This can be anything simple from someone switching jobs to someone’s brother being drafted to combat the rise of HAMAS when that occurred. That cultural experience, amongst many others, has helped expand where I have my characters go with my acquired knowledge of lifestyles across the U.S.A and the world.
In a sense, everyone I come into contact with leaves their own influence on future characters. Through meeting so many wonderful people with such diverse life stories, I have come to gain an appreciation for telling stories that people can relate to. I try not to get too extravagant with my stories and try and make them akin to a Hollywood blockbuster, but I rather want a story that can resonate with everyone that sees it. Writing these stories help me understand the world, and all of my many muses are the ink that fills my pen with which words are written.
