Christine - Lesson 3 (Characterization)

Characterization in Christine (Signet): I like it when a character's physical attributes mirror his or her personality. A good example Chapter One of Christine is Roland LeBay.

It was an old guy who looked as if he was enjoying - more or less - his seventieth summer. Probably less. This particular dude struck me as the sort of man who enjoyed very little. His hair was long and scraggy, what little was left of it. He had a good case of psoriasis going on the bald part of his skull.

He was wearing green old man's pants and low topped Keds. No shirt; instead there was something cinched around his waist that looked like a lady's corset. When I got closer I saw that it was a back brace. From the look of it I would say, just offhand, that he changed it last somewhere around the time Lyndon Johnson died.

Here the reader looks at LeBay and is able to make his or her own conclusions. I especially like the back brace, that suggests something crooked is going on.

Presidential reference: Stephen King likes to mark time by presidential administrations - it's a lot more fun than saying "a long time" or "five years" (the book takes place in 1978 and LBJ died in 1973 - so the reader gets to do the math).

Exercise: Check the character descriptions in your story and see if the physical description matches the character's personality.