Characters Welcome

Have you ever read a book with characters so real you wish could meet them?

After years of writing nonfiction, I escaped confines of who what, where, when and began asking what if! What if I set imagination to free and let it create the kind of stories I longed to write. Stories with that grab your heart, tangle up your emotions and have characters so real, you wish you could meet them. . . that's my goal. But how do you create characters like that?

Profile your characters

No matter what kind of story you write, romance, suspense, or fantasy, characters are the foundation you build your story upon. and vital to know everything about them. One

way to do that is to write a profile on each of your characters. I write down their history, what they look like, how they were raised, likes dislikes, quirks, strengths, weaknesses, fears etc. I know where they work, shop, what brand of socks they like and even how they like a steak cooked. The more you know your character the easier it is to portray how they think, reactions, emotions, responses to problems and conflict.

Conflict

The rise and fall of emotions and conflict are portrayed through your characters. One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn as a writer, is not to rescue my characters, but instead throw them into the fire and let them struggle through it. Putting your characters through the fire is like putting yourself through it as well. . . which isn't easy but well worth the effort.

The payoff for creating unforgettable characters and a well written story, can turn into a loyal group of followers or a book contract.

Profile your characters

Rachel Ballon, Ph.D. wrote a book titled "Breathing life into your characters." It's an excellent book on how on develop characters and how to make them come alive on the page. But I don't stop there, I give them a life before I ever put them on the page. How do I do that? I create a worksheet with all the information I may need about my characters life. For example, If I use the picture above to create a character, what would I need to know about her? Start by writing down the basics. what she looks like, the kind of clothes she wears, personality, likes, dislikes, etc. Is she the protagonist or the antagonist { good or evil} etc. Once you get the basics down you can add more details as needed. Or you can go all out and do a complete profile.

created a worksheet, I use when creating characters for my stories and it may help you too.

{ copy and paste worksheet onto a word document}

Character worksheet

The purpose of the worksheet is to help profile your fictional characters.

Character's name: Try to choose a name that reflects their type of personality. Avoid using typical names. Consider doing a search through a baby name book or search on the internet for names and their meanings. Hint: You don’t want your bad guys name to mean something sweet or kind or the good guys name meaning something evil. Also avoid using similar names or initials among characters it confuses the readers and try to avoid names that end in s.

2. Age. Is your character a: child, teen, young adult, adult, senior { exact age}

3. Single, engaged , married, divorce or widowed. If they’re single do they have a significant other? If not why? If they’re married do they have children or want children? If divorced, do they still have contact with their previous spouse? Is so why? If not why? If they’re widowed what happened to their spouse and how long has it been since they died?

4. Physical appearance: Eye color, gray with blue tints, green with gold tints..Etc... Hair color such as: salt and pepper, highlighted with blonde or red streaks etc. is their hair short medium or long and how do they style it.

5. Height, weight, large-boned or petite, manicured nails or short ragged nails? Skin color: fair, freckled, tanned, olive-skinned, dark-skinned or black. Consider browsing through magazine or catalogs until you find a picture that fits the character you have in mind. This will help you identify specific details about your character physical appearance. Do they have any kind of physical handicap: such as an obvious limp, a missing hand, and arm or in a wheel chair or maybe something not so obvious such as deafness, being mute, etc? Do they have any kind of identifying marks such as: moles, birthmarks or tattoos on their body? If so what is it? Where is it located and how many?

6. Personality type: Are they high-strung, anxious, guarded, or calm and cool? Are they funny or self depreciating? Do they have any kind of emotional quirks or issues? What are they like under stress or in a crisis? Are they bold and assertive or soft-spoken Introvert or extrovert?

7. Mannerisms: What kind of facial expressions do they have? Do they stare, or avoid a glance from another character? Do they have nervous habits: such as tapping their fingernails on a table when their impatient or anxious? Do they slur their words together, hide their mouth when they are speaking, tap their foot; pick their nails, etc..

8. Back ground information: Where were they raised? What was their home life like? Did they have a happy childhood or not? If not why? Did they have brothers and sisters, if so how many of each? Were they poor, middle class, or wealthy? What kinds of jobs did their parents have? How did they do in school? Did they go to college, if so where and what did they study? What kind of job or career do they have? Do they like it or wish for a different one?

9. Attributes: What's special about them? What is their best quality? Are they loyal, honest, compassionate or consistently faithful? Etc..

10 Faults & weaknesses What kind of weaknesses do they have? Are they always late? Lazy, incompetent, greedy, conceited, always bragging, think to highly of themselves or gossip and slander others, What is their greatest weakness or flaw? And how does it affect their life?

11 Daily life: What's their personal life-like? How do they spend their free time? Do they fish, h1nt, sew, cook, volunteer, etc.. Do they exercise or sit at home and watch TV? What kind of hobbies if any do they have. Are they a morning person or a night owl? What kind of morning routine do they have? Are they grumpy or do they greet the day with a cheerful attitude?

12. Career / job choice. What kind of job does your character have and why did they choose it? Do they enjoy their job? What’s the requirement for their job? {College education or specialized training etc} Does their job require them to travel, meet people, and speak to large groups of people?

13. Social life What kind of social life does your character have? List all of social activities they may be involved in such as: political organizations, churches, gyms, fund-raising events, book clubs and volunteer positions. How is your character involved in these activities, what do they do and how well do they do it. Remember your character is not perfect; they should have some flaws and weakness that are noticeable to others. such as not getting certain tasks done on time, being late etc.

I hope the worksheet will help you create a story full of unforgettable characters. If so I'd love to hear from you, leave a comment below.

J. L Wallace

seen first on gracefulpen.org