things I like

There is a writing exercise where you write down things that your character likes and doesn't like to get to know them better. To flesh them out and make them a real person. The movie Amelie does this brilliantly.

Obviously everyone loves sunshine and happiness and love, blah, blah, blah... what I am talking about are the little quirks and peccadilloes. So I decided to make a list for myself.

I love the way my ice cube pops when I put it into my steaming hot tea in the morning.

I love when people who are running for the bus or train make it on just before the doors close.

I love assigning inanimate objects personalities and putting them in funny situations.

(check out Ollie in his hammock)

I love the feel of a toddler's hands as they press against my legs to help themselves stay upright.

I love my freckle in the shape of a heart on my thigh.

I love finding shapes- in the bricks outside the window, in the stucco on the ceiling, in the clouds, in the branches of trees....

I love opening a fresh jar of peanut butter and taking my knife and drawing a heart in it.

I love the smell of new plastic toys.

I love washing my hands after they have gotten really dirty and seeing the muddy water in the sink.

I love when siblings wear matching outfits.

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I hate kissing people who are dehydrated and have dry mouths.

I hate when smokers throw their cigarettes down and don't ground them out and the stubs continue smoking.

I hate how popular Elmo has become.

I hate it when stores misspell words on their signs, eg. "Kidz Klub."

I hate when children yell at their mothers.

I hate needing four remote controls to get a DVD to play.

I hate when people put cryptic messages as their Facebook status, just begging for attention but unwilling to divulge information.

I hate when people put huge hoops into their ears (sort of like earrings) and then take them out and the skin of the earlobes is deformed and hanging loose.

I hate black bathroom fixtures (especially toilets.)

I hate when people don't hold open the door for the people coming through behind them.

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It's a good exercise and one that is harder to do than you would think because you need to get things that are very specific and that say something about the person.

There's a big difference between saying that someone likes the smell of lavender and saying that someone uses lavender scented shampoo because when she was a little girl her mother told her that the scent of lavender attracted fairies.

Alright, now time to go do this for my characters.