character creation guide

[Guest]

Fiction Writer's Character Chart
Once filled out, this chart helps writers get a firm grasp on major characters. Happy writing!





CHARACTER CHART

Date this chart was completed:
Character's Full Name:
Reason or meaning of name:
Nickname: Reason:



PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

Age: How old does s/he appear?
Eye Color: Glasses or contacts:
Weight: Height:
Type of body/build:
Skin tone: Skin type:
Shape of face: Distinguishing Marks:
Predominant feature:
Looks like:
Is s/he healthy?
If not, why not:



FAVORITES:

Character's favorite color:
Music:
Food:
Literature:
Expressions:
Expletives:



HABITS:

Smokes: What?
When and how much?
Drinks: What?
When and how much?
Hobbies:



BACKGROUND:

Hometown:
Type of childhood:
First memory:
Most important childhood event that still affects him/her:
Why?
Education:
Religion:
Finances:



FAMILY:

Mother:
Relationship with her:
Father:
Relationship with him:
Siblings:
How many? Birth order:
Relationship with each:
Children of siblings:



ATTITUDE:

Most at ease when:
Ill at ease when:
Priorities:
Philosophy:
How s/he feels about self:
Past failure s/he would be embarrassed to have people know about:
Why?
If granted one wish, what would it be?
Why?



PERSONALITY:

Greatest source of strength in character's personality (whether s/he sees it as
such or not):
Greatest source of weakness in character's personality (whether s/he sees it as
such or not:
Character's soft spot:
Is this soft spot obvious to others?
If not, how does character hide it?
Biggest vulnerability:



TRAITS:

Optimist or pessimist: Why?
Introvert or extrovert: Why?
Drives and motivations:
Talents:
Extremely unskilled at:
Good characteristics:
Character flaws:
Mannerisms:
Peculiarities:
Biggest regret:
Minor regrets:
Biggest accomplishment:
Minor accomplishments:
Character's darkest secret:
Does anyone else know?
If yes, did character tell them?
If no, how did they find out?



SELF-PERCEPTION:

One word CHARACTER would use to describe self:
One paragraph description of how CHARACTER would describe self:
What does CHARACTER consider best physical characteristic?
What does CHARACTER consider worst physical characteristic?
Are these realistic assessments?
If not, why not?
How CHARACTER thinks others perceive him/her:
What four things would CHARACTER most like to change about self? (#1 most
important, #2 second most important, etc.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why?
If change #1 was made, would character be as happy as s/he thinks?
If not, why not?



INTERRELATION WITH OTHERS:

How does character relate to others?
How is s/he perceived by...
Strangers?
Friends?
Wife/Husband/Lover?
Hero/Heroine?
How does character view hero/heroine?
First impression: Why?
What happens to change this perception?
What do family/friends like most about character?
What do family/friends like least about character?



GOALS:

Immediate goals:
Long range goals:
How does character plan to accomplish these goals?
How will other characters be affected?



PROBLEMS/CRISIS:

How character reacts in a crisis:
How character faces problems:
Kinds of problems character usually runs into:
How character reacts to NEW problems:
How character reacts to change:



GENERAL:

Favorite clothing: Why?
Least favorite clothing: Why?
Jewelry:
Other accessories:
Drives:
Where does character live?
Where does character want to live?
Spending habits (frugal, spendthrift, etc): Why?
What does s/he do too much of?
Too little of?
Most prized possession: Why?



UNCATAGORIZED:

Person character secretly admires:
Why?
Person character was most influenced by:
Why?
Most important person in character's life before story starts:
Why?
How does character spend the week before the story starts?



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[lockout]

An excellent list, B-pen, if somewhat...extensive. There is, however, at least one other major consideration to be weighed when creating a story, and that is, the type of story being written.

The reason I mention this is that much of the background for character development is generally dictated by whether the story is Character-Driven, such as in an Epic, where characters are pushed by their own "Inner Need", or a Plot-Driven story, where characters react almost entirely to a series of events within the storyline. Typically, "Inner Need" characters often wrestle with themselves while grappling with unfolding events in the story. Defining and expanding on "Inner Need" (which is often a central theme of the story) is an opportunity for the writer to delve into individual characters (often in great detail), which in turn lends itself to generating the pages of backstory needed to "flesh out" the characters.

On the other hand, Plot-Driven (or "Action") stories require very little in the way of backstory. Broadly speaking, these are usually "Good Guy Catches The Bad Guy" stories, where characters are not hung up so much on their personal quandries as they are "The Next Thing". That is, the next scene that propels them into the next crisis to be resolved, which leads to the one after that...and the one after that, etc. And while Plot-Driven stories have less depth than their Epic counterparts, they are also the most popular type of story on today's market. Why? Beats me. I never asked...

All right, enough already! Hope somebody can figure out this drivel. Later...


- Lockout

 

[Guest]

And somewhere, we need to find a balance..

Lockout's story was a good mix of both intense.. character.. DRIVE! .. and a very, very lovely plotline. So good in fact, that you might .. may I tell them?

No?

Okay. It's his secret.. let HIM tell ya, if he wants ta.

Anyways, the crux of it is that a goot plot with a blase' main character is tantamount to comitting literary suicide. You'll find that having interesting characters will somehow open up new tangents in your existing train of thought.

Or at the very least.. sustain the story for a few chapters without having to think of an actual sequence of events.. just letting the scenario open up.

I,e: TCOTWF.. it's just one big character presentation work..
Which is why I'm trying to practice my plotlining skills...

--
Last look:
Plot-driven fics, argh. Hey.. at least it's not a Mary Sue. Or a self-insertion...

::shudders::

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