I think character portraits are always good writing exercise, and they are a great way to keep in touch with fiction writing even when you aren’t necessarily working on anything at the moment. I decided to work on a character portrait of Rose, the character who runs the pub at The Plot.
I’ve been less than accommodating to her demands that I clean up the place a bit, so I hope this will make her feel better until I do get the time to sit down and really do an overhaul.
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Having raised her four younger brothers since she was barely a teen, Rose is anything but a delicate southern belle. When asked if she felt cheated by life because she wasn’t afforded the opportunities of other young ladies, she would always grin and say she didn’t have the bone structure for nicer society.
Rose was always judged pleasant looking at best, but if she minded it, she never showed it. Nor did she show any interest in the other sex. With her four brothers to raise, she always claimed to have more than enough men in her life.
There certainly were a few persistent suitors, but she never encouraged them. After she fixed up and started running The Plot – a rest place for characters of all sorts – the men seemed happier to see her as a good bar mistress to be appreciated rather than pursued.
She could talk the pants off any man if she wanted to, but through logical, fun talk rather than fluttering eyelashes and giggling.
Rose didn’t giggle.
She always felt very content and happy with her lot in life. Who wouldn’t with a thriving business and a family who loved her? And yet, there were times when she’d sit in her favourite window seat at night and stare up at the moon. No one could tell you for sure the ways her mind wandered those nights, but she certainly wasn’t thinking about The Plot.
Critique Notes