Mind Blown

Some classes teach you what to do and then sometimes you learn what NOT to do. This past class was a personal lesson on what NOT to do. But regardless of being right or wrong, there is always something of value gained and learned.

We followed the same form as the class before. Someone from the class would recall a character they summoned from a prior class as well as the objects found on them. They would stream on the character and objects giving great detail. Once they finished we would break up into two groups and work to place the character within the genre and to begin to get a sense of the character. To build a profile on them.

Lowrie was selected to stream on her person. Some of the highlights of the stream for her person:
Male
smell of sweat, dirt, earth. Not stinky, clean, earthy sweat
Hair sandy brown
Wide brimmed sun hat
sweaty, scar on face, underneath left eye. Jagged scar, deep, straight
Neck dirty and dusty
Blue flannel, plaid shirt. Heavy, stiff, worn, dusty
Jeans dirty, grass stained, torn and worn. Old leather cowboy boots
Shirt tucked in
Old, leather belt. Smooth and well kept. Thru all the loops
Put together but dusty.
Faint animal smell. Possibly fertilizer like manure
Minty smell only around backside of neck.

Objects on him:
In pocket shirt she found a business card.
Faded white, #837 on it. Very worn, handled, washed, logo in upper left corner. Framed logo

15 cents dime and nickel. Both 2013

Truck key, bottle opener key ring. Slightly bent. Chevy key. Rusted opener Plain old key with black plastic, dull, lent stuck in teeth of key.

Two long screws. wood screws, used, 4 in long, black, heads stripped, wood in grooves, slightly bent

He is in a dusty field with tobacco leaves all around. A barn off in the distance. Late afternoon/early evening

Genre: Drama - murder/mystery

Right out the gate my mind focused on forming everything around the genre. It needed to fit and I felt that I didn't want to jump to any conclusions unless the evidence provided backed it up and led me that way. In a lot of ways I approached this like a script analysis. We looked up the 837 as an area code first thing and it came back to the Houston, Texas area. Then we looked up to see if tobacco crops are grown in Texas and they are confirmed to. So we had a good idea where the setting could be.

Something that we kept coming back to was how certain aspects of the man didn't add up. He was wearing clothes that were dusty and dirty, but he had a clean and well kept belt. It was through every belt loop as well. But his boots were leather too, and they were worn, dirty, and not well kept. This got us to thinking that, what if he is trying to fit in with people you might find in the area. Once we had a chance to ask Lowrie questions, we found even more aspects that didn't line up. He had a sun tan of a wedding band on his hand. But no ring on his finger or on him. He had a Spanish accent but blue eyes and sandy brown hair. His physicality felt grounded, focused, steady and sturdy. Not worn down like you would expect from someone that had been possibly working the tobacco fields all day in the sun, even though he is sweaty. It just didn't seem to add up. We settled on the what if he is a detective trying to solve a murder case? What if he is undercover as a field worker? That would explain the attempt to dress in worn, dusty clothes but missing little details like a nice belt and tucked in shirt. If he worked out in the sun all day, he would have a tan line where his wedding band is. Unfortunately we ran short on time and were not able to tackle any more of the mysteries that surrounded the man.

And while nothing that we determined was incorrect, we worked moreso on planting the character into the genre. We didn't focus on who is the character as a person. What makes him tick? How to you begin to embody who he is? His essence. And this is where I had a mind blowing realization. Jon said it: This is a character profile. Not a script analysis. I should be looking at the character and getting a sense of them. This should be character oriented but at the same time not jumping into character.

That way of looking at it holds a lot of power for me. I went in looking at the facts of the words and missing the symbols and meaning of them. It's a subtle thing, but it changes everything. Certain words kept pouring out of Lowrie during her stream. Dirt, earthy, sweat, dusty. We have to look at things as metaphors. It makes sense to me now that in a stream, when you are focusing on character, those words are tied to the character. They give hints and insight into them. Not the story. The actual character! This is what I missed. But it did ping me in the heard several times as she was streaming and kept saying the words over and over. So I know that I was picking up on it, I just wasn't applying my attention and focus to it. Lesson learned.

Once this was pointed out we worked out the oddness of the mint smell. He's dusty, dirty, earthy and then mint. He smelled of manure and mint. That suggests complexity. That suggests that things are not what they seem. He is not giving away anything and he is hiding something. He is spartan or minimalist. Only just what he needs. Living in the past with his objects and clothing. This is immensely more valuable in understanding who he is, than what we came up with. Don't get me wrong there is value in figuring out how a character fits within the genre. But this is the meat and potatoes of creating a living, breathing character.

What great is that knowing this has caused some symbolism/metaphors to jump out at me as I was retyping the objects and details above. The screws and key both had stuff in their teeth or threads. Both the bottle opener and screws were bent or stripped and used. Like the man, the objects were not fancy, new, or clean. They are literally carrying remnants of their past with them. They had age. Worn and used. Still of value in some way. Reliable and practical. Isn't that interesting.

Yes, you brought it home in the last paragraph! Kudos!