{"id":12909,"date":"2015-06-23T01:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T08:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=12909"},"modified":"2015-07-17T22:01:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-18T05:01:00","slug":"the-subtle-art-of-eavesdropping-for-character-development-by-raina-schell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/23\/the-subtle-art-of-eavesdropping-for-character-development-by-raina-schell\/","title":{"rendered":"The Subtle Art of Eavesdropping for Character Development by Raina Schell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Woman\"<\/a>Let\u2019s\u00a0welcome\u00a0back monthly columnist Raina Schell<\/a>\u00a0as she shares with us about \u201cThe Subtle Art of Eavesdropping for Character Development.\u201d\u00a0Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been honing my eavesdropping skills as of late<\/strong>, in the spirit that each of our fictional characters speak in a different voice. Whereas one character may sound like a grumbly religious naysayer, another may have the vocal inflections and vocabulary of a \u201cvalley girl.\u201d Each character not only uses different verbiage, none speak alike in inflection or tone as well. I pondered this fact of good character development for some time before I decided the best way for me personally to get the \u201chang\u201d of that was to eavesdrop on other people\u2019s conversations in order to keep all of my characters from sounding exactly like me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\"stockvault-group-hug-girls131097\"t began innocently enough. I was renting a room in a young girl’s house (via airbnb.com<\/a>). I have been using airbnb.com<\/a> exclusively when I travel since 2011 and have had some amazing experiences and have made some lifelong friends.<\/p>\n

I was renting the room from a very sweet 20-year-old college girl. At about 8:30 or 9pm she asked if it would be okay with me if she invited some girl friends over to talk quietly in the living room. I agreed without realizing what that really meant.<\/p>\n

By 10pm there was a ruckus of loud, giggling girls talking about boys, sex, frat parties, make-up, other girls and more. I couldn\u2019t focus on my own travel blog writing so I started writing down what they were saying. I also started texting tidbits to my friends because some of what I heard was not only difficult to believe, it was priceless. I learned more in that hour about 20 year old girls than I thought possible. And although I too was once 20, things have changed and more importantly, you forget.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t repeat most of what they said but I will spill my two most favorite lines, spoken by my host. \u201cI prefer to date 25 year old guys because they \u2026 well, they just know everything! And not just about sex, they actually know everything!\u201d I had to sit on the bed in the room I was renting with my hands firmly clamped over my mouth for much of their conversations.<\/p>\n

\"Caf\u00e9I have a weekly writer\u2019s group at a local caf\u00e9 and last time I was there I ended up sitting next to two very loud 39 year olds who were upset and vocal about coming up on 40.<\/strong> This in itself had me biting my tongue but the rest of their conversation was not only extremely loud, so loud I couldn\u2019t get any writing of my own done, it was informative. I had to open up an entirely new document. I use evernote<\/a> for all my notes because it synchs to every computer, handheld and laptop you own, even the free version. I started typing, word for word, everything they were saying. Exciting personal tidbits aside I learned about orthorexia<\/a>, an eating disorder where the person develops an unhealthy obsession about eating only healthy foods. I also learned about one woman\u2019s struggle with her child\u2019s video game obsession and how grateful she is to have her child back after completely cutting video gaming out of his life. \u201cIt\u2019s an addiction,\u201d she said, \u201clike anything else and he went through a period of withdrawal and depression.\u201d<\/p>\n

As you can see eavesdropping provides:<\/strong><\/p>\n