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Recently, I was brainstorming ideas for our discussion on characterization and I came up with something I may have never discussed with anyone before. This is pretty cool, so we’re not waiting another week to dive into it.

I call this “that one thing”.

What is “that one thing”? TOT is a single item, habit, etc that is so often associated with a certain character that it takes on a meaning beyond itself. This is especially true when the one thing is odd.

Suppose your old general caries a cane with a serpent’s head engraved on it everywhere he goes and makes gestures with it when he speaks.

Or the antagonist can always be found up in a tree reading a book.

Or a five year old girl likes to use “ubiquitous” as much as possible.

I would propose to you that these are effective tactics and not used in literature enough. In fact, I’m taxed to think of a good example of this from literature, except that Arthur Conrad uses it repeatedly in Heart of Darkness.

Here are some of the reasons I think it is effective. Let me know if there are any I missed.

1. It will help your reader remember the character long after they’ve finished your book.
2. Repeating something often enough turns it into a symbol. Back to that general with his cane. Once we have associated it firmly with his person, we could actually describe him simply by describing his cane. If he sits in his arm chair across from his niece having a conversation with her and the snake carving on his cane eyes her unflinchingly, we have just told our readers that he is a villain and is plotting her demise. If he broke his cane, we would see it as the mark of a major turning point his life.
3. There is simply something about a character having a one thing that makes them stand out. Part of it is that it makes them mysterious.

I’ll note that tone is important. Make the tone too casual and it has little effect, make it too unusual and it could end up comedic (which is actually its own tactic), or with just the right amount of mystery, seriousness, and boldness, it can really work.

Thoughts? Questions? If you have any good examples from literature, that would be great too.

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