Couch to 80K – Week One – Day Four

I’m doing the “Couch to 80k” – a writing bootcamp from writer and poet Tim Clare. For more information go here: http://www.timclarepoet.co.uk/couchto80kwritingbootcamp/

Exercise Four
A list of character descriptions

• Approx. 6ft3. Light brown hair. Blue eyes. Carries of folio of papers. Wearing a smart suit but no tie. Has pierced ears. Wears two hearing aids. Has a short beard. Tattoo on right hand that hints it goes all up his arm. Walks with confidence. Has a bright warming smile. Wears a wedding ring plus a thumb ring on his left hand and a silver ring on his index fingers of his right hand.
• Approx. 5ft9. Long straight dark blonde hair tied back in ponytail. Blueish green eyes. Has both ears pierced. Wears smart jeans and tee-shirt that’s too large for her but she likes it. Carries a large mobile phone in a case decorated by her daughter. Has silver locket round her neck. Manicured nails but practical, not stupidly long. Make up on by conservative not plastered.
• Approx. 6ft1. Black hair but shaved to a number one. Brown eyes. Wears a smart suit with a tie but the top button of the shirt isn’t closed and the tie is loose. Is clearly very muscular from the way the suits fits. Has sunglasses perched on the top of his head. Wears no jewellery. Carries a leather satchel. Has the hands of piano player. Smokes. Has a tattoo of the star sign Gemini wear a wedding ring should be. Has stubble but it’s fashionable not an unshaven mess.
• Approx 5ft8. Long grey thinning hair tied back in ponytail. Has a short white beard. Is wearing a white tee-shirt under a light blue denim shirt and and light blue denim jeans. Wears white socks and white pumps. Has yellow fingers from smoking. Wears no jewellery. Is slightly overweight. Walks with a slight limp.

From the things said after the ten minutes to do this exercise I don’t think I understood the exercise properly. I think I should have been making a list of descriptors rather than describing a person. It was still a fun exercise though as this describes four of the characters from the book I’ve done the most work on. I don’t think I’ve ever described them properly or fully in one paragraph, although, for reasons, some parts of those descriptions do appear in some parts of the story as they’re semi-plot points.

This was also a really good exercise as for the the first time I think I properly visualised four the main characters.

I can feel some motivation growing. I like this.