Character Sketches

[Tarin]

For you fiction writers out there: Do any of you "interview" your characters before you start writing? Do you have a list of questions that you answer about your characters to help you get to know them better? If so, would you care to share?;)

Here's the "interview" I use for main characters:

Name:
Background:
Place of birth:
Parents:
Siblings:
Places lived:
Education:
Special training:
Jobs:
Travel:
Friends:
Enemies:
Dating, marriage:
Children:
What people does he most admire:
Relationship with God:
Overall outlook on life:
Physical appearance:
Physical build:
Posture:
Head shape:
Eyes:
Nose:
Mouth:
Hair
Skin:
Tattoos/piercings/scars:
Voice
Right- or left-handed:
What you notice first:
Clothing:
How would he describe himself:
Characteristics:
Strongest/weakest character traits:
Fears:
Political leaning:
Collections, talents:
What people like best about him:
Interests and favorites:
Food, drink:
Music:
Books:
Movies:
Sports, recreation:.
Color:
Best way to spend a weekend:
A great gift for this person:
Pets:
Vehicle:
Typical expressions:
When happy:
When angry:
When sad:
Idiosyncrasies:
Laughs or jeers at:
Ways to cheer up this person:
Ways to annoy this person:
Hopes and dreams:
Biggest failure to date:
Great success:
Biggest trauma:
What does he care about most in the world:
If he could do one thing and succeed at it, what would it be:
Most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him:
He is the kind of person who:

History:

[Ransom v. Unman]

Wow, great interview Tarin. It explains the depth in your characters. ;)

It reminds me of a lot of the acting excercises I used to do so I could unleash the potential for my characters (yes, at one time I aspired more to perform plays than write them.) It'ss how I approach characters to this day - but I must say, this is quite thorough!

I almost worry that if I did this with all my major characters that I'd hardly have time to get to the writing! :p

[Tarin]

I almost worry that if I did this with all my major characters that I'd hardly have time to get to the writing! :p

It doesn't take too long - just a couple hours. I'm an outliner - I like to have all my ducks in a row before I actually start writing. I spend months preparing for a novel before actually writing it. It can be exhausting, but, for me anyway, it always pays off.

[whitehawke]

...I like to have all my ducks in a row before I actually start writing.
I tend to shoot the ducks and smash my head on the gate when I charge on too soon. I need to do more planning than I do.

Great interview. Is it free for the copying? I'd love to try it, but only if it's okay with you.

[pajarita_deDios]

I tend to shoot the ducks and smash my head on the gate when I charge on too soon. I need to do more planning than I do.

Same here...I'm trying to slow myself down.

[ProfessorAlan]

I don't do an "interview" that detailed, but I ceratinly do character sketches, and outline as well, but don't let myself get bound up in them if the story needs something else.

[Pinecone Tortoi]

Is it free for the copying? I'd love to try it, but only if it's okay with you.

Uh, oops. I second the desire to use this, but I, uh, already copied, pasted and started. Didn't even occur to me that it wouldn't be okay. I'm still assuming it's peachy fine, but if it ain't, please let me know and count on me to cease and desist.

To the rest, as someone who's started trying it, it's very handy. Got me thinking about aspects of this one character I hadn't even considered.

Tarin - did you make it yourself? If so, nice work!

Piney.

[P.K.mama]

In the past I never used a character sketch. Then I started writing more than one story at a time. I am ashamed to say I would find that occasionally I would get their personality quirks mixed up. That is when I began writing them down. They are not as in-depth as yours. Maybe they should be. I too would like to use your list, if that is O.K? I think it might help with character depth. I will wait for your reply.

[righter1]

Usually, when I start a story, I start with an idea of the plot, then the characters fill in as needed. I usually do write down about a paragraph of info, and fill in more as needed.

But, several people here have turned me onto Brandilyn Collins' book "Getting Into Character". This is a fabulous book for learning to create dynamic characters! And, I daresay, it's even more in depth than the questionnaire you gave (though maybe not quite as easy to accomplish!)

Personally, I don't know if I have the patience to figure out all that stuff beforehand. I don't do outlines, either, except on 2nd drafts. Usually, my characters just sort of come into my stories and announce who they are. For me, that's what makes it fun--kind of like meeting new people!

[dulcigal]

I've found that if you're an outliner, the character work up front is invaluable. If you're a seat-of-the-pantser, sometimes it's better to dive in and let the characters write themselves. Then come back and fill in the charts before the 2nd draft, or while you're writing.

Just a matter of preference and style, I guess, but either way I think character charts are an invaluable thing to have.

[Lookin^Up]

Whew! What a list!

Generally when I invent a new character, I do a character sketch that is--well--sketchy: just describe the character's raison d’être in the story, perhaps get an idea of what she should look like, any skills that might serve the plot, and establish relationships with existing characters. Once I start writing her into the story, however, she manages to develop more fully on her own as situations demand different responses from her.

Nevertheless, I can see this list being a useful tool. Once I establish what color her eyes are, for instance, I can insert that in the list and refer to it when I need the same information again. That'll save me from psychedelic irises that change color from one passage to another.

[melw]

i don't do outlines either. But i think i need to do that rather than searching back through to find out if she or he is blond brunette or redhead. but i can't do that until i have my characters sorted out. So I think i might start adding the character sketch as i write

MEL

[kerrig]

I was using the example for an interview in the book on writing by Gilbert Morris. I copied your list if that is ok. If not, please let us know. I actually spent about an hour to an hour and a half last night working on my character sketch for my main character.

[AnnieJ]

No character sketches here. I try not to write too much that isn't actual story or I ge bored with the process.


I do live with my characters. I come up with a kernel of an idea while working on something else and let those characters move into the upstairs apartment over the ones I am writing at the time and listen in, make notes, find anchors (objects that fix a character in my mind) then write.

If my reviews are on the mark, this works for me. Plot, however, I don't have a clue, even as I struggle to turn in my 31st book. And so far outlines have not helped. :)

annie jones
http://www.amazon.com/Sisterhood-Queen-Mamas-Steeple-Cafe/dp/0373785577/ref=sr_11_1/104-4441131-8350322?ie=UTF8

[paulchernoch]

I will happily spend days obsessing over plot outlines and ideas.

I loathe character sketches. I tried to do them at the beginning. I think I did my m.c. and two others. It was useful. I need to do more of it. Coming up with useful backgrounds saved one of my recent chapters from a disaster.

The chapter I just finished needs two or three more of the characters to be defined for it to feel right. I will do it during rewrite. Those characters will only apear in two or three chapters, so rewriting them later won't disturb things too much.

The middle of my third book took me by surprise. My characters' adventure took them to places and people outside the world I had constructed. So for seven or eight chapters I have declining contact with the familiar and a need to imagine a lot, before I get to reintroduce many favorite characters and places and tie up the loose ends with the grand finale.

And in the chapter I am in now, it is three men in a stolen spaceship. The pursuers? No clue. Two of the men in the ship are my two main protagonists - I know them well and have written two whole novels of their adventures to fall back on for background. The third I introduced a couple of chapters ago. He was going to be a minor actor, until I realized I needed him on board. Now he has a huge role to play, and all I know is that he is a former reporter, died in an AIDS quarantine camp in China, was resurrected, and now spies for the very Chinese government that caused his death. And he is short. Reading this thread gave me an idea. Since he died in confinement, he is claustrophobic. Great trait for an astronaut, no?

My approach (if you can say I have one) is to focus on a few characters during design, and then develop characteristics for others as the need arises. Sometimes I add one or two irrelevant details just so I have something to say about them. Later on, I force those irrelevant detais to be important by adding a plot twist that hinges on it.

- Paul

[Ransom v. Unman]

My approach (if you can say I have one) is to focus on a few characters during design, and then develop characteristics for others as the need arises.

I tend to operate as you do when it comes to characters Paul - come up with the ones who will be most central to the plot, and throw in more at need.

But I've noticed that when the need strikes, I come up with some of my best characters ever! I did this in the novel I'm working on, and the character that I just threw in for the sake of plot advancement actually turned into the MC's love interest, and ultimately one of the story's main heroines.

Go figure.

I am a fantasiser at heart. I think a part of why I hope to become a novellist is so I can somehow make money by doing what I've loved to do since I could think - imagine and pretend. So, naturally, when I go into writing stories, the story itself is just a chip off of the very sizeable boulder that is the story's world. Most of the fun in writing (for me) is just imagining things like plot, characters, and the world surrounding them.

So, therefore, I love character sketches - especially coming from the acting background that I do.

[Tarin]

I'm charging $5 for every character you all come up with or polish using my interview...

JK!:D Please feel free to use it, abuse it, or whatever you need. I'm pleased so many of you have thought it might be helpful.

@Piney: Did I come up with it on my own? Yes and no. Basically, it's just cobbled together from various sources. If I remember correctly the bare bones came from a workbook I did in high school called So You Want to Write a Novel? or something like that. Then, over the years, whenever I saw or thought of a question that I thought was esp. good, I just added it.

[jacks girl]

I have never thought about this before but i could answer every question and about 98 percent I knew the answers to the questions you asked without blinking so that must mean i know my characters pretty well. I love threads about our characters.

Because they are so real to me, they are a part of me and I enjoy so much creating them. It makes you understand a little about how much God loves us, I don't want anyone cyber slapping me over this comment I know it's not the same but it does help me to know how he feels about us a little more after all we are real our charters are only real in our minds.

SMACK ... i knew someone would cyber smack me so i did it first OOOOUCH

LOL

[Lookin^Up]

I'm charging $5 for every character you all come up with or polish using my interview...
Just put in on account ... on account that I can't pay it. LOL

[Ransom v. Unman]

Aight Tarin... Quick question.

As i've been looking over this sketch, I'm actually doing a couple for my characters just for fun and to burn through downtime here at work. :rolleyes: I came to this one, and now I'm curious...

What exactly do you mean by "Strongest/weakest character traits?" Are these the most overt traits against his most subtle traits? Are these the most "highest" or "most redeemable" traits versus the "basest" traits? Maybe you could clarify... :D

[Tarin]

What exactly do you mean by "Strongest/weakest character traits?" Are these the most overt traits against his most subtle traits? Are these the most "highest" or "most redeemable" traits versus the "basest" traits? Maybe you could clarify... :D

My definition would run more along the lines of "highest" vs. "basest." For example, here's what I wrote for the MC in the novel I'm currently working on:

Chris’s strongest character trait is his ability to empathize. He has a quick eye for other people’s pain, and he feels deeply for them. He isn’t all that tactful in responding to them - but he does make an effort.

His weakest trait would be his bitterness. He holds grudges big time. He doesn’t often wreak revenge unless an opportunity slaps him in the face, but he’ll nurse grudges ‘til Kingdom come. He doesn’t forget and he doesn’t forgive.

But that's just me. :) That's the great thing about this survey - it's so adaptable!

[Ransom v. Unman]

For Ozzy Smith, who becomes Bobby Denezheg...

Strongest/weakest character traits: Strongest – His sense of nationalism and duty. Really, those are about the two closest things to redemptive values in his character. Weakest traits – Being misogynic, racist, homophobic, violent, reactionary, an alcoholic, and an unabashed self-serving, egotistic hedonist.

It's kind of unnerving to realise through things like this what kind of a jerk your MC is.

Don't worry. He comes to Christ and gets better eventually. :rolleyes:

[Tarin]

It's kind of unnerving to realise through things like this what kind of a jerk your MC is.

Don't worry. He comes to Christ and gets better eventually. :rolleyes:

Hee-hee... :rolleyes: Yes, but it's very cathartic sometimes, isn't it?:D

[Lookin^Up]

I have to admit, I did a bit of editing of my download. For instance, I deleted "Political leanings" since that didn't apply to most of my stories. If it's important, I'll put it under "Jobs" or "Interests". But I also added "Age". I think that's as important as "Name" and family structure.

[Tarin]

Hmm... age should have been in there. Oh!:o Looking through my notes I see that I usually combine age and date of birth into the answer for the "place of birth" question.

Yes, I totally agree with you: age is veddy important.:D

[paulchernoch]

W. Terry Whalin's book on writing proposals has a chapter devoted to understanding character. It is one question after another. Reading the chapter is exhausting. There is so much that one could know about a character!

- Paul

[DearPrudence]

No character sketches here. I try not to write too much that isn't actual story or I get bored with the process.


Me too, I try to stay away from anything mechanical for that very reason. I've found writing a backstory to be a fun-er alternative. Plus, it becomes a nice well to draw from when I need a little infill.

[VWeathers]

Ok, I'm revealing my newbieness, but what is a protagonist? Do you decide that as part of the character sketch?

[Tarin]

The protagonist is your main character, as opposed to the antagonist, who's your villain or opposing force.

[Lookin^Up]

Often the protagonist is the hero, or at least a "good guy". Note the prefixes: Pro- meaning "for" and Anti- (Anta-) meaning "against".

[David Meigs]

I’ve never interviewed a character, but it sounds like fun, especially the bad guys. But I do flesh-out my more significant characters on paper or in my head until they take shape.

[VWeathers]

Thanks. When you start a writing project, I assume you pretty much know who the hero is going to be. Do you also know who the villain will be or does that unfold as you write?

[ProfessorAlan]

Thanks. When you start a writing project, I assume you pretty much know who the hero is going to be. Do you also know who the villain will be or does that unfold as you write?

I pretty much need to, because a story is about conflict, and without a "villain," there is no conflict, so know story ...... I don't know what I'd write about.

[Tarin]

Thanks. When you start a writing project, I assume you pretty much know who the hero is going to be. Do you also know who the villain will be or does that unfold as you write?

I always known who main character is. I don't always have the specifics of my antagonist nailed down until I start sketching, but I have at least a general idea of what kind of force will be opposing my hero.

[Lookin^Up]

For me, the villain changes from story to story, so each one has to be different from all the others. In my first story, the villains (three basic ones) are all teenage rebels. In the second, two doctors and an evil administrator. In the third, ungrateful rescued prisoners. And in the fourth, a roving planetoid that shoots everything in sight, run by a man frightened of his past.

Every time I sketch out, at least by writing notes, what I want the villain to be like and sound like. Often along the way, he/she/they take on different dimensions before I'm through.

[paulchernoch]

Thanks. When you start a writing project, I assume you pretty much know who the hero is going to be. Do you also know who the villain will be or does that unfold as you write?

That would be a fair assumption - but in my case a wrong one. I had probably written a couple hundred pages of my novel before I figured out who the villain was. The story really needed one! Later on, I back-filled and foreshadowed him into the early parts.

My Courtlands trilogy was originally conceived as man versus the legal system. Ultimately, I chose one of the prosecutors as the villain. I worked hard at developing my hero and focused on his struggles. The villain plays an important, but not a central role in the first book. Too many books are all about the villain, which is not what I was looking for. It is too easy to blame all your problems on your enemy, and ignore your own failings. I did not want my hero to be too distracted from facing his own personal flaws.

Once I hit the second book, however, everything was about the villain's plans to conquer the Courtlands of the afterlife, and the hero's role in stopping him. But rather than have a straightforward good versus evil struggle, I have two heroes, each trying to oppose the evil in their own way. They come into conflict with each other: one is trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement, the other win through war. (Sound familiar?) And both are being led by God.

By the time I hit my third book, I have all the good guys on one side, but now I have two villains, who alternately assist and oppose one another, thus confusing the good guys. In the end I'm going to mix it up, and have some of the good guys change sides, at least seemingly, because you can't always tell who is good and who isn't.

- Paul

[VWeathers]

That was very helpful. So really every story has a villain whether it is an evil in themselves, a system, a circumstance and any can be personified? Interesting.

[whitehawke]

Here's an article I found on the net awhile ago. I haven't sat down and tried it yet, but it looks like it could be fun.

http://www.booklaurie.com/tips_interview.html

[Tarin]

Hey, thanks for posting that, whitehawke. I esp. like the "gloves off" section. For me, those particular question fall more under plot development than character structure, but there's a lot of great thoughts there. I'm gonna have to steal that one!;)

[whitehawke]

Tarin, yeah, that's my favorite one too. If you click on the workshops (http://www.booklaurie.com/workshops.html) link on that page it takes you to a real fun set of pages full of tasty info to help flesh out characters, flaws and personalities etc.