
I had to show this cover because it's a finalist for the
ECPA best cover of 2011. It's the only novel on the list and I'm way excited!
And that brings to my topic: writing an interesting character. I like my characters to be overcomers--a woman who has faced hard things in life and come out stronger and better with God's help. Someone who turns her lemons into lemonade. So I thought I'd share the character sheet I use. Disclaimer: I have no idea where this thing came from. LOL It may have come from a book, it may have come from teaching somewhere.
So here are the questions to ask your character:
CHARACTER TRAITS
1. Give basic stats of your character: name, age, appearance.
2. What trauma or hard knocks happened when the character was young? How did this change him/her?
3. What is your character’s relationship with their family? Parents still alive? Any sibling rivalry?
3. What does your character do for a living? Can you come up with something even more interesting or that gives him/her a strength? This is a biggie for me. I like an interesting profession.
4. What secret does your character hide?
5. What does your character have to lose? How can you make his possible loss worse?
6. Who hates your character and why?
7. What does your character fear?
8. What quirk does your character have?
9. What’s in his/her refrigerator right now?
10. Look at your character’s feet. Describe what you see there. Does he wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Is he in socks that are ratty and full of holes? Or is he wearing a pair of blue and gold slippers knitted by his grandmother?
11. Your character is doing intense spring cleaning. What is easy for her to throw out? What is difficult for her to part with? Why?
12. What is your character’s greatest regret?
Want to share something interesting from what you're working on right now? Let's share from #10. What's on your character's feet? Here's mine:
Tess is wearing clown shoes. She works at a bookstore in the children's department. Today she is the day she reads to the children so she is dressed like a clown.
Your turn!
Labels: Character Development