Frequent readers will know that I’m always on the lookout for interesting ways to develop and reveal character. We want to know what our characters are thinking and feeling at any given moment, but in a way that doesn’t spell out the information to the reader and doesn’t feel forced or corny.
In a (relatively) recent post on Lit Hub, writer Flynn Berry suggests a clever method for inhabiting your characters: Take them grocery shopping. “When I’m working on a novel…I like to push a cart around a supermarket, deciding what my character will buy,” she says. “It’s the single best way for me to understand a character well enough to inhabit her on the page.”
That won’t work for every writer, story, character, and this kind of research may never make it into your story. However, I like this method because A) it gives me a writing topic to mull while I’m doing chores; and B) Everybody eats.
Does your character shop for comfort or convenience? Does he buy frozen dinners or fresh ingredients? A busy single parent might purchase more pre-made dinners and snacks than a single guy who hits the gym every day. The busy parent might feel guilty about not having time to cook and the gym bro might hate that fresh kale he buys every week.
A character living away from family might buy food that reminds her of home or may have trouble sourcing ingredients. Another will think twice about spending on an expensive cut of meat. Does your character buy the same 12-15 things, rushing up and down a handful of aisles in the shortest amount of time possible (me) or do they take their time shopping and plan for a variety of meals?
Berry also notes that characters are likely to let their guard down at the supermarket. “They might be tired or hungry, stopping on their way home after a long day at work; they might be consumed with worry at the prices; they might be caregivers, carefully choosing food that someone else will eat,” she notes. “They might be optimists, cheerfully buying greens that will absolutely wilt before anyone cooks them. They might be choosing their groceries in a fit of nostalgia, or gloom, or restlessness.” In other words, are your characters eating their feelings?
You don’t need a grocery store to use this technique. Does your fantasy character hunt his food, forage, or have a garden? Does he have a spouse or family or someone in his employ to do that? Raw meat or cooked? Tree bark or berries? In Star Trek, consider the characterization shortcut provided by Picard’s choice of Earl Grey and Janeway’s craving for coffee.
Throw in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and you may get a deeper understanding of how your hero relates to food. Are your protagonist’s basic needs for food and shelter met or is she struggling? How does the need for physical intimacy affect his choices? Does a person with high self-esteem check the nutrition label?
How and what we consume says a lot about us. Are you listening?
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