What kind of cigarettes does he smoke?

[alexandraaah]

This is an excercise I learned years ago in a writing workshop. It's about developing a character and finding a starting point.

To honor Laurel's thread of a running story, I thought we could build a new character from the ground up; one with a history.

If nothing else, I'm interested to see what kind of a person we freaks can muster up.

Her name is Bernice.

Go ahead...add an attribute to our favorite new girl.

 

[perks]

She's a 34 year old from Harlem.

 

[Laurel]

She has tightly permed, mousey brown, shoulder-length hair.

 

[alexandraaah]

Bernice is a 32 year-old woman from Harlem with tightly permed, mousy brown hair that she wears at her shoulders.

She smells fantastic. I think it's Anais Anais she wears.

 

[Mischka]

Her legs belie the years she's devoted to dance.

And her feet are size 9.

 

[Laurel]

She has large piercing green eyes.

 

[Todd-'o'-Vision]

Her breasts are small but with extremely perky nipples that stickout 3/4-1 inch

 

[Rubyfruit]

She allows herself three cigarettes a day, even though her friends and family think she quit years ago.

 

[alexandraaah]

Bernice is a 32 year-old former dancer with big thighs and mousy colored curly hair that falls at her shoulders. Her eyes are a piercing green and she wears size 9 shoes.

She's from Harlem, has small but perky tits with relatively gigantic nipples and she smells nice.

She prefers wheat to white and drinks way too much coffee.

 

[miles]

She smokes Lucky Strikes - unfiltered, of course. Shit - if you're gonna smoke, smoke.

 

[Mischka]

...drinks way too much coffee.

Good coffee is another of Bernice's small indulgences. She buys whole bean coffee from a small shop in Little Italy that roasts the beans in the back. (She prefers the darkest roast - it reminds her of that vacation, years ago.) She grinds the perfect amount for each pot, uses only bottled water, and contentedly listens to the coffee gurgle and sigh as it brews.

 

[alexandraaah]

Bernice is a 32 year-old former dancer with big thighs and mousy colored curly hair that falls at her shoulders. Her eyes are a piercing green and she wears size 9 shoes.

She's from Harlem, has small but perky tits with relatively gigantic nipples and she smells nice.

She prefers wheat to white and drinks way too much coffee.

and while she drinks her coffee she's puffing away at lucky strikes.

Let's give her a crush. Any takers?

 

[lavender]

 

[alexandraaah]

Bernice is snooby.

and from Harlem.

 

[Laurel]

She has a thing for a tall Italian guy who works at a deli near her apartment. His name is Tony.

 

[Rubyfruit]

Good coffee is another of Bernice's small indulgences. She buys whole bean coffee from a small shop in Little Italy that roasts the beans in the back. (She prefers the darkest roast - it reminds her of that vacation, years ago.) She grinds the perfect amount for each pot, uses only bottled water, and contentedly listens to the coffee gurgle and sigh as it brews.

She's starting to sound like me.

 

[lavender]

 

[alexandraaah]

She's starting to sound like me.

It was me for a while with the former dancer, green eyes and size nine shoes.

I'm actually a 91/2-10....yikes.

So, where does she live now? Or does she still live in Harlem?

I think she should crush on miles...feedback?

 

[Mischka]

Bernice recently moved to Manhattan, because of her job.

And her crush can be on Miles, as long as he plays a hunky Italian named Tony.

 

[alexandraaah]

Bernice recently moved to Manhattan, because of her job.

And her crush can be on Miles, as long as he plays a hunky Italian named Tony.

It'll be a stretch.

 

[Problem Child]

Unfortunately, the reason Bernice is an ex-dancer is because her left leg was severed by a southbound freight one night as she sat on the tracks huffing a crackpipe.

So yes, she wears size nine shoe.

 

[Laurel]

But what a lovely shoe it is! She's got gams - er, a gam - that drives men crazy with desire.

 

[alexandraaah]

Bernice hobbled over to the Deli where miles was slicing meat and she wore a stilletto, trying to impress him.


She fell.

She has two younger brothers and one older sister.

 

[Dillinger]

She loves the ballet and goes to every new production...

 

[JazzManJim]

Now for a bit of a conflict.

Bernice has been working steadily on getting back into dancing professionally. She has been running a small dance academy with a good reputation. Of late, though, she's hungered to be back on the stage. she's been working steadily toward auditioining for a small production of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" scheduled to run in the upcoming year. The auditions are in two months.

Bernice's biggest competition is a woman named Lydia. Lydia is Tony's younger sister and the two are very close. Bernice does not yet know the relation between the two.