Two Letters: A simple way to deepen your characters.
I am reading Hilary McKay’s wonderful children’s novel, The Skylarks’ War. It is set at the time of the First World War and explores the relationships between several families as the terrible war progresses and finally concludes. Letters are important in the novel as they highlight the differences between the world of home and the front, not least because the letters from the front were so thrifty with the truth. Interestingly, McKay also shows how those at home were also sending letters that were highly selective with the truth.
In the two extracts below, Simon sends first a real and then an imagined letter to his idolised cousin, Rupert.
Letter One.
Dear Rupert,
Lucy(a horse) is very well and has four sheep with her for company. She does no work, but is only on grass so should be alright. I caught her on Saturday , brushed her down and washed her face. She curled up her lip and jumped about a bit…(Continues in a similar manner).
I wish you all the best,
Simon Bonnington ( Bonners)
Unsent Letter.
Stay safe. There is no border nor battlefield, no empire worth your hurt. I remember your hand on my shoulder those times we sang at school. I looked at the sea yesterday, and I felt I could step over it. It didn’t look big. It looked small.
The affection in both letters is palpable, but the tenderness of the admission in the second reveals a romantic revelation that deepens our understanding of Simon and furthers the development of the plot. The unsent letter allows us access to the innermost feelings of Simon, despite the novel being written in the third person.
Task.
Imagine your character receiving an invitation to some event which is RSVP. Then write two responses to the invitation from your protagonist. The first is the public or censored version, the second is the one they might like to send but perhaps never will.
The letters/notes/emails/texts can be serious, funny, grotesque, whimsical, whatever style or tone appeals!
Thanks!
A stimulating and v. enjoyable exercise! Love the idea – letters we wished we’d sent – (but maybe, sometimes it’s perhaps for the best we didn’t!) Letting one’s imagination free this way, unfiltered directness is a tonic!