Character Sketch - A Great Writer's Workout!

A couple days ago at the Writer's Block a group of us got together and tried writing up a short character sketch. The purpose of the exercise was to practice showing a lot of information about a character in a small amount of time.

There's more info in this post from @thewritersblock about what exactly happened! It really was a great exercise, and I encourage you to try it out for yourself!

Anyway...

Not everyone was really thrilled with their first character sketch. Some weren't sure exactly what they should have done, others had a hard time choosing how to present the information. In my case, I opted for a quick scene that actually introduces a few different characters, and hopefully gets a reader curious enough to want to know more. I'm fairly happy with how mine turned out and so I'm sharing it here below.

“Shut up, Trigger! Goddamn dog.” Steph’s head throbs with each bark. There’s no coffee in her mug so she shuffles to the kitchen.

The pot is empty, she starts to make some more. The vodka bottle’s calling to her from behind a stack of dishes, but the clock is louder: not yet, not yet, wait until the kids are home and back in bed again.

Trigger hasn't shut up. Probably can't hear, probably wouldn't listen if he could. Steph heads for the front step, dodging toys and shoes and laundry.

She doesn't yell at the dog, because there’s a truck on the drive. Brian and Leslie's truck.A truck that’s been here a thousand times, twice or three times a week, since forever.

The passenger seat is empty. Steph gets in, housecoat and slippers.

“Hey.” There’s whiskey on his breath.

The back seat is empty too. Alarms go off in Steph’s head. “Where’s Gage?”

“At school. I--I couldn't--" He holds onto the wheel and shakes his head.

“I'm sorry, Brian.” Steph’s voice breaks, and the pain is fresh again, right now, instead of months ago.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.

image from Pixabay.com