These are your shoes...

Woman's silk damask shoes with buckles, 1740-1750, England. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.81.71.1a-b.
 

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird    

A great trick for getting to know your characters is to think about the kinds of clothes they wear and why. For instance, do you have a main character who runs around in jeans and T-shirts? Or is she wearing a frothy, fabulous ball gown? If a man is wearing tights, does it mean he's a Shakespearean actor, or is he some kind of wrestler? To practice getting into character, try this exercise: look at the shoes above and think about who would wear them and why. Then set a timer for ten minutes and write from that person's point of view. Who are you? Where do you live? What's important to you? And where are you going in these shoes? As always, email us what you come up with and we'll post it here!