Sometimes it is the quirks that make a person memorable, more than their actions. I’ve built a lovely group of characters in my current novel, but not because they are all action heroes and damsels in distress.
No, unlike what bad tv stands for these days, I enjoy the quiet characters who are just leading small, odd lives, full of snappy quirks that make them folks one would automatically remember, just because of their uniqueness.
I’ll share an example: I have a sensible, tough Sheriff who plays a role in my story, but he has secrets. His marriage is being torn apart by his wife’s postpartum depression and resultant infidelity, but he doesn’t want anyone to know.
So do I say all this up-front? No. But as he’s interviewing my main character, he has his six-month-old newborn with him and is bottle-feeding him throughout the interview. To have a lawman talking like a typical tough cop but feeding and burping his child at the same time is loads of fun, to write him as a character.
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