As usual I will use my characters to illustrate. This is a list of Questions I have asked myself
- What are their strengths?
- What are their weaknesses?
- What are their Ambitions?
- What are their Core beliefs?
- What is their self perception?
- How do others see them?
- What are their Hobbies?
- What are their Moral Values?
- What eccentricities do they bring to the table?
- What fears are they hiding?
- What is their most defining characteristic or trait?
Lambert/Alexander Skarsgard
- Staunchly Loyal
- Caring
- Giving
- Funny
- Distrusts all people on sight
- Emotionally crippled
- Will railroad you once he eventually makes a decision
- Does not understand how to love because he has never seen it
- He does not want to be thanked for all the good he does because he thinks its credit against horrible past.
- Everyone sees him as giving to a fault
- Hobbies are pretty much non existent at this point but if he had his way he would play some golf
- Follows the one partner at a time rule even if he cannot commit to them
- Decisions with a permanent impact are never made in a hurry, as a result his house is unfurnished.
- He will go crazy if left alone with his thots, hence his obsession with the ER
Ashley/ Drew Barrymore
- Very Resourceful
- Realistic and knows when to cut her losses
- Puts everyone's needs before hers
- She can be a pushover
- She lies to herself all the time and that works just fine for her
- She is the kid from the wrong side of the tracks
- She is almost invisible to people but when they see her she might as well be the goth kid at Queen Elizabeth's dinner table
- She could make a living selling her handmade crafts on etsy.com
- As long as she does not repeat her parents mistakes she will be fine
- Chews her bottom lip when she is worried, feeling guilty or just thinking hard
- Her worst fear would be being sued for all she is worth by her dad for violating a contract she signed
- She has a short fuse
You go girl! I'm such a paster. When I begin writing, I know the basics about my characters, but that's it. I discover the juicy nuggets about them along the way.
ReplyDeleteThis is great! Another question I ask myself is not only the what's but the why's.
ReplyDeleteOooh. I love the idea of making yourself post your character development process. That's a goal I might be able to make. Thanks for the idea and the questions!
ReplyDeleteAnd Liz, one author I read suggested that the whys can lead to character habits. You have to work backwards from her problem. Character is gaining weight. This scares her because she's worried her husband has stopped desiring her. This has lead to a nervous habit of twisting the wedding ring on her finger. If it won't move, she's gained too much weight and then what does that do (in her mind) to her relationship?
That's really great. That's something I don't think I spend enough time on. I usually just get very brief superficial info on my characters.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
This is fantastic:) I think I need to step put of the box on this one, and stop waiting for my characters to reveal everything as we go! If I find out some of their motivations up front I may experience less strain.
ReplyDelete