(Melissa from Awkward Face - Pan 2011)

Here are various ideas. None is more useful than the other. Explore them. Use what works for you. Be patient with yourself.

Take one simple idea. Such as a different way of holding your hand or a mannerism that isn't your own. 

Hint - borrow it from someone you know or see.

Imitate them. The key is to give yourself permission to feel foolish and to explore the feelings that come up.

The feelings are the character's feelings.

Try different names. Often finding the character's name can be the big thing.Names can quickly create images, memories and emotions.

You are doing the same thing writers do. You are brainstorming. You are developing a pool of ideas, tools, actions and physical choices to explore.

If you wanted to approach it backward - you could find a magazine or an old picture and then write a two or three page biography of the person.

 

The key is in the daydreaming.

You need to try different things to find the character and how it manifests in you. One thing leads to another, and that lead to another until you have a character.

It is going to feel strange and silly. That is our resistance to creativity and imagination. So, allow yourself to feel that and it goes away. Much of it is physical. 

A slight shift in your body, a releasing or creating of tension that isn't "natural" to you but is to the character.

Try seeing if you can find what your character likes to watch on TV, on the radio, or the Web sites your character visits. 

As you do more and more of these things you go deeper, and deeper into the character.

Talk about the character from the first person rather than the 3rd.

I was born in a small German town. My name is Fredrick Smilenton the 4th. My father was a baker. I wanted to be a blacksmith. I tend to chew on the side of my lip as I talk.......

Day dream about the character's first day in school, his first love, his first job....

Some people find writing to be easier at first. Doodle as the character.

You are looking for the trance state (you can checkout Johnstone's Impro for information on mask and transformation). Hint dressing even slightly like the character can help.

If you don’t wear a watch normally, then try wearing one.

When I use to do scripted work, I always tried to wear shoes that would fit the character. If the character would wear a ring, I would wear a ring. 

I would talk to myself about current events from the character's point of view rather than my own. 

Hint - resistance to imagination and creativity can be extremely subtle. The judge labels good and bad.

You have to experience and try many different choices and keep what feels organic to the character. 

Many of the choices in the exploration phase will seem good but later won't fit that organic whole that emerges. Hint it is okay to give up choices that no longer serve you.

Singing as the character is great fun.

Let me know if this helps. The biggest thing is to do anything. And then do more of it. It gets easier with practice.

David