CHARACTER PROFILES

The Icelandic Volcano

The eruption affected millions of people around the world, some clearly more than others. This included tourists, businesses, families and governments to name a few. It is for this reason it was front page news. 

Here in the UK, ash had landed on people's cars, affecting transport and travel. Flights were grounded in some countries meaning both holidays and commuting was interrupted. Industry-wide standstills - and a knocked on backlog that meant the disruption continued way beyond the initial incident.

There are plenty of individual characters that could be drawn out of the story. Imagine someone travelling back from a work trip, unable to catch a flight to be at home with their family; a feeling of being stranded, stuck or even lost. The characters around them, their partner, their children, friends and colleagues each have their own unique experience of the situation too (which remains intertwined and connected to our protagonist). You could even imagine a protagonist not immediately affected by the eruption and yet the events cause disruption to their story. 

You could create a character far away from the eruption, say an old man in South America hearing about it on the radio. He tunes in to hear a local langauge describing the events unfloding and he tries to picture it. His vivid imagination creating his own interpretations, fictionalising what he hears could be a very unqiue take on the story.

Bank of England Interest Rates

A potentially boring topic - finances. But yet the people affected are anything but ordinary. Sure you may have your money-hungry financial traders profiting from the news, there's a movie there. But globally, the interest rate rise would affect everyone else too. The working class, those in poverty and those around them will find it much harder to live as the cost of shopping suddenly increasing. Although this story isn't related to it, I'm quite looking forward to the many documentaries and dramatisations of the Truss effect to come out in the future.

Imagine a young signle mother, with no real income and already struggling to make rent, suddenly caught out by her weekly shopping costing twice what it did a week ago. It's a story I beleive would be relatable for many across the country. 

Closing of the Coal Mines

Primary to the closing of coal mines are the workers losing their jobs. An industry previously providing a reliable income, creating thousands of jobs, homes and communities now shutting down. Families find themselves without an income, students might have lost a vital pathway into employment. A coal mine closing affects a varied group people. 

Imagine the character of a student, who has felt disconnected from education, finally finding a job they would be interested in and skilled at working. Except the rug is pulled from underneath them at the closing of their local mine. 

A Summary

I can see from diving deep into headlines around the world that at the heart of any story are the people, those experiencing it and those watching from the periphery. The key being:

Become fascinated with how characters do even the most mundane; we are all in a state of being, always doing something. Put your characters in relevant situations (or even the antithesis of their familiar)