One day, a technician and I were in a ‘mood’. Luckily, it was the same ‘mood’ for it was silly and way fun. If it wasn’t, well, … . That would be completely different post.
Early in the morning, I came across the prescription for none other than Mel himself.
“Melvin V. Humphrey?” I asked. “Who on earth would ever do that to their child?”
It didn’t take much before we were totally grade-schooling it, chronicling what Mel would look like, act like, and what the hell that ‘V’ represented. Victor was the unanimous first response. Then I referenced the link below, comparing Mel to the fictitious Sheldon. After that we were in full profile mode. Nothing about poor Mel was sacred. Secretly, I wanted Mel to be a total stud, getting laid more than men half his age. Oh, I didn’t want Mel to be a ‘statistic’ in the Villages, FL by any means. But, I was wanting so much more for Melvin Victor Humphrey. Unfortunately, neither of us were there when Mel picked up his prescription. An innocent profiling accomplice was there and contemplated taking a ‘selfie’ of Mel, but didn’t. #awkward/obvious, eh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCaO6DNx2RE
Of course, Melvin Victor Humphrey IS fictitious.
As a writer, I create profiles for every character in the story. So this was a total blast for me. Without this ‘profiling’, consistency would suffer. Then, a character acts out of character and all hell brakes loose. You, the writer, have a problem.
I am not the best at traditional character profiling. Often I get dogged for not outwardly describing characters at the start of the story or upon introduction into the storyline. Instead, I offer a brief description, then hint at various traits, physical and personality, throughout the course of the story, allowing the reader to actively participate in the profiling. Sometimes, I’m not sure if that’s the best approach, but I prefer the subtly.
John Grisham is one of my favorite writers. He even has a teen lawyer series that is quite entertaining. I hate him. Anyway, there was a minor character, a bailiff, of all things, in A Time To Kill , if I remember correctly, who was bribed. The provocation for the bailiff’s misconduct was the fact that he needed money to pay off his Sears credit card bill. Not just any credit card bill, but his Sears credit card bill. Is that amazing profiling or what? I hate him.
Well, that’s my take on this whole profiling thing. I will continue to strive for characterization excellence. Though, Louis L’Amour novels and the ‘tepid’ water are pretty damn good. It isn’t John Grisham by any means, but it totally completes Mel’s profile. Besides, tepid is such a great word.
