A single item can tell readers a lot about who your character is.
Several years ago I sat in on an RWA workshop on character building, led by romance author Susan Elizabeth Philips. I've attended her workshops before and she's always been entertaining and informative.
She gave a tip (and did an exercise) that I've tried before:
She gave a tip (and did an exercise) that I've tried before:
List the contents of your character's purse.This has never worked for me since my fantasy characters don't usually have purses, but she added the phrase "or their backpack or pockets" to it. That broadened it some, and I realized that ultimately, what she was saying was:
What does your character feel is important enough to carry around with them?
It's a slightly different way of looking at this character-building tip, but a subtle shift in how we consider something is often all it takes to turn a "not for me" tip into something that clicks and becomes incredibly helpful.