Ed Koch: Last Word Character Development exercise

_{Guest post by
Khanh Ho, @LAMysteryWriter}

Ed Koch (1924-2013) died the other day.  And
as with all great men, almost immediately, there have arisen tributes.  One of the most moving tributes was a video
interview, originally shot in 2007:  The Last Word.  Why? 
Because you got to see the old man, grappling with the imminence of sure
death, sum up his career.  He talked
about his goals and achievements, failures and successes, enmities and deep,
abiding friendships. “I want to be remembered as being a proud Jew who loved
the people of New York and did his best to make their lives better.” 

There
is something in us that craves the Huckleberry Finn moment—that voyeuristic
moment when you can watch your own funeral: 
the eulogy, weeping, chest beating. 
It’s probably the best episode in Huck
Finn and it really is the instance when Huck becomes closest to an
author:  manipulative, all-seeing—the
young barefoot boy sits in the balcony above everybody and gawks at the
spectacle he has contrived.  Ed Koch’s
video, whether he intended it to or not, is a moving tribute video…because it
feels as if it were planned with full knowledge that this would be the mayor
making his own eulogy.

At
the end of life, when you’re forced to sum everything up, you have to be
blunt.  Ed Koch is quite straightforward;
he spells out all his beefs.  Rudy
Giuliani was a mean-spirited person who was terrible to be around with.  Mario Cuomo, the mayor always despised for
the ugly gay-baiting campaign slogan: 
“Vote for Cuomo, not the Homo.” 
Few of us can be so straightforward. 
We are taught, in fact, that to be straightforward is socially undesirable.  It can make you appear crude.  So we censor ourselves.  And we often censor our characters.

If
you’re having trouble developing a character, this exercise will get you
going:  Spend a minute and watch the
video—it’s a half hour but worth it. 
Then, start off with this basic question addressed to your
character.  What do you want to be remembered
for?  Koch could reel these things off in
a list:  1)  Getting the city out of bankruptcy 2)  Giving back spirit to the people of New
York  3) 
Taking politics out of the selection of judges.  “I’m the sort of person who will never get
ulcers. Why? Because I say exactly what I think. I’m the sort of person who
might give other people ulcers.”

So, here’s your task.  Get your character to answer the eulogy
question.  Make it the entryway to the
beginning of a short paragraph long monologue. 
And get them to channel their inner-Koch to lay it all out in crude,
straightforward, no-holds-barred language. 
Get them to own up to their beefs and failures, fears and tribulations.  So what if your character is quiet, reserved
and prissy and they would never talk like this.   Inside all characters is a voice that knows
what it’s about—an inner Koch.  This will
easily jumpstart you into a deeper understanding of your character and, if you
do this write, it will deliver a bonus: 
it will get you a plot.

Khanh Ho spent
many years living in a small town in rural Iowa, teaching Creative Writing at
Grinnell College—a small liberal arts college, nestled in a windswept prairie
whose distinguishing feature is the presence of a Super Walmart. But then he had
a light bulb epiphany: he’ll never produce writing if he persists in teaching
it. So, now he is happily pounding away at the keyboard, knocking out not only
his first mystery novel but, also, the first mystery novel featuring the first
Vietnamese American detective. Why? Because, yes, he’ll be the first; yes, it’ll
be a power trip; and yes, because he can! Follow him on his great adventure at
www.losangelesmystery.com

Image: by Camera Operator: PH3 PATRICK J. CASHIN (ID:DN-ST-88-09107 / Service Depicted: Navy) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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