When I subscribed to ‘Writers’ Magazine’ aeons ago I received three books designed to teach yourself how to be a better writer, with one of them focusing on creative writing. In a chapter looking at Finding Believable Characters an exercise was prescribed as a principle means of character creation. Here is the exercise in full;

Take yourself off into your nearest town or village. Spend some time really looking at your fellow citizens. Find someone who is as different from yourself as you can. Someone much older, say. Or much younger. And follow them. Keep a discreet distance but stay close enough to be able to watch how they move. If they are with companions, try and overhear what they say. You could even begin this exercise in a cafe, overhearing what your fellow customers are talking about and then following a selected target as he or she leaves the premises. Try and gather as much information about your target’s life as you can and then, safely back at home, make some detailed notes. This should give you enough material on which to base a central character.

I can’t even begin to detail what is wrong with this little exercise in building believable characters. Observing people sitting in a cafe, park, or on the bus stop is one thing but following them around? I am fairly certain that there are certain laws that prohibit such behaviour unless of course you are a policeman, member of the intelligence service, or Miss Marple. What is more alarming is the author’s reference to “targets”. Imagine if you will a stranger caught hanging around a school playground when questioned replies “it’s OK officer, I am observing children at play for a story I am writing.”

What is suggested in the exercise is tantamount to stalking which is illegal. So anyone who has read the same book or have read this exercise in other publications then please, in the words of rapper Melle Mel , I implore you “don’t don’t don’t do it, don’t do it.”