Be a Character Psychic: The Most Powerful Characterization Exercise You've Ever Tried

Many of the writing craft books have a page of questions to help you build characters. A questionnaire asks you to consider the character’s occupation, physical characteristics (it almost always asks for eye color), and usually hopes and fears too. Characters aren’t just random or invented people; they are inspired by the meaning of what you’re writing. That goes for fiction and memoir.

People don’t just show up in your life or your book for no reason. They are spawned by your why. Many authors experience clairaudience when they hear new ideas, almost like listening to a voice.

That’s why it’s really helpful to train the intuitive skill of clairaudience. I’m not talking about clairvoyance, which you may already be familiar with, I’m talking about clairaudience.

As a coach, I notice that people who lead with clairaudience can hear their characters first and foremost. The first drafts of their stories are often disembodied dialogues of two talking heads. My first drafts definitely start out that way. So, we add in faces, bodies, settings, times of the year, and times of day. Now it’s time for you and your characters to get to know each other a little better.

Rather than do a classic character question sheet, try a more free-flowing conversation by asking questions and letting the character respond. I like to use this exercise while at an actual coffee house but, of course, this whole conversation takes place inside a notebook so as not to freak out the other patrons. Even if these characters are actual people from your life, get in their heads and try to understand them at a deeper level. Just listen and let them talk about whatever they want to talk about—their home, family, and job, as well as their hopes and dreams and nightmares. Don’t worry about how all this information is going to fit into the story, just let the ink flow with abundance, and you’ll be surprised at how seemingly random ideas can become useful in your plot.

Training clairaudience can make the writing process go faster. It allows you to key into a certain voice or style and scribble down several pages of a rough draft. If you want to develop your clairaudient abilities, start differentiating the voices in your head. I’m serious.

When you’re sorting things out in an internal dialogue, listen for different opinions and try to distinguish the voices. Does one sort of argument sound like your mother? What exact words does she use? How would it sound if your favorite movie character said the same thing? Try this in a variety of voices and take notes.