As I write the next Mickey Malone Mystery, I am also studying under the master, James Patterson. He is part wise uncle, mentor and writing coach and what I am learning is taking my writing in places that I never imagined.
This week our assignment in Patterson’s Master Class was to list 20 traits for a character. Then we had to edit the list down to just three traits.
The character of Little Tommy is a barkeep in the next Mickey Malone Mystery. Do the three traits I chose make you wonder about Tommy’s role in the plot?
Little Tommy
- taciturn
- loyal
- watched his father kill the enemy of his boss with his bare hands
The 17 traits which did not make the cut, so to speak
- reserved
- insecure because of his small stature
- boxer’s hands in a small frame
- dock worker
- uneducated
- slow to trust
- abandoned/orphaned as a young boy when his Dad went to prison
- eager to please
- pleasant and will greet locals he has known forever
- dislikes tourists who mess up the neighborhood
- never married nor had a girlfriend that anyone can remember
- observant in a discreet way. Can see all without being seen.
- very strong from a young age because of hard labor on the docks
- Chivalrous to ladies
- Swings a pocket watch when he’s in thought or nervous or standing still. It’s his tie to the past as it was his Dad’s
- Private
- Naïve
