Getting into character. It’s one of the things I’m struggling with at the moment. I used to think it was something only actors had to deal with. Yeah, not.
Kyri is proving to be one of my most difficult characters…it’s especially difficult to get inside her head.
To start off, she doesn’t advertise her feelings to the world. She holds all her thoughts and emotions in a closed off fortress in her heart, very rarely sharing them with anyone. If she’s scared, angry, or hurt, she’s probably not going to tell anyone. Ergo, her actions often don’t tell me much about her. I have to dive down to that fortress and break in to figure out what she’s really feeling.
Also, she’s not the nicest person at the start of the book. She’s snarky, depressed, stubborn, and sarcastic. Let’s just say she’s got some growing to do. At times getting inside her head stresses me out more than anything. It’s exhausting for every word that comes out of her/my mouth to be blunt and sarcastic.
Kyri also doesn’t remember what stars look like. She’s been hidden away with her people deep in a hidden underground world since she was a toddler. As a teenager, she sees the world for the first time.
As the writer, I have to describe what she feels when she feels the wind in her hair and the grass beneath her feet for the first time. I have to gain perspective. Try to see through her eyes.
In a very real way, I have to learn to see the world as if I’ve never seen it before.
Tracing Wonder 