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character Let Your Characters Breathe -- Cockroach Races

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I like this a lot. It seems to also be connected to the idea of really knowing your characters - what they would and wouldn't do. What makes them tick. You need to really understand them before you can give this level of insight in your book/screenplay/movie/play whatever.
 
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He says he is unsure of why it's called a cockroach race. This is actually a sport in pubs in Australia, and it's probably used as the term because the race is not really a race, they meander all over the board and take pauses, etc. Like... the characters I presume?
 
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indietalk said:
He says he is unsure of why it's called a cockroach race. This is actually a sport in pubs in Australia, and it's probably used as the term because the race is not really a race, they meander all over the board and take pauses, etc. Like... the characters I presume?
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I assumed the same thing although when I read cockroach race? It immediately reminded me of an Indie film with Ray Liotta called PHOENIX. Good little film. At the end of the film, he's on the run. Cops are trying to track him down and he's a compulsive gambler cop who STOPS and finds a couple of cockroaches and races them against each other. LOL.

While he's on the run. This simple little act said a LOT about that character.
 
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I like scenes like that. Remember in Heat when De Niro is free and clear but he must stop to take care of that character at the hotel?
 
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I am SO glad you posted this. I'm doing another round of revisions on a ghostwriting project, and just got to a small scene like this that I've always liked (as does my client) but I've always wondered if I should cut. Nope - it stays for exactly this reason.
 
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