Character drives story, and a narrative writer’s notebook should be especially rich in scribbled observations of physical appearance, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, and all the other elements of direct characterization. Taking such notes is especially important when you’re observing dialogue—for conveying meaning, the nonverbal cues are often more important than the actual words. During a standard interview, an old reporter’s trick is to ask a question you don’t really care about so that you can jot down details of physical appearance, clothing, and surroundings while the source
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