Character Outlines

[Snapper]

Okay, so I have no idea how you guys make your characters, but if I don’t write something down, it doesn’t exist. In light of that, I have a list of character’s appearances and traits that I use for all my protagonists. I posted them for two reasons: the first is simply to share them with any other visual learners and the second is to see if I’ve missed anything.
Name; Nickname; Gender; Age; Date of Birth; Eyes; Hair; Height; Skin Tone and Ethnicity; Glasses?; Friends; Enemies; Religion; Schooling; Jobs; Hobbies; Good Habits; Bad Habits; Fears; Failures; Skills; Strengths; Weaknesses; Hopes; Flaws; Motivations; Pet Peeves; Quirks; Weapon (if any); Pets; Family Description.
Please let me know if I’ve missed anything that may be important to a character. (You may have noticed that I’m trying to make my characters deeper) All help is appreciated.
Thanks!
-Dragon Snapper-

• This topic was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Snapper.

☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

[Mark Kamibaya]

What about family, @dragon-snapper ? Besides that I don’t see anything you’ve missed. It’s really great that you’re trying to make characters deeper, but if you want a truly deep character you have to separate characterization and character. Here’s a quote from Story by Robert McKee (the book is written for scriptwriters but it can apply to novelists) that’ll help you understand the difference:

CHARACTERIZATION is the sum of all observable qualities of a human being, everything knowable through careful scrutiny: age and IQ; sex and sexuality; style of speech and gesture; choices of home, car, and dress; education and occupation; personality and nervosity; values and attitudes – all aspects of humanity we could know by taking notes on someone day in and day out. The totality of these traits makes each person unique because each of us is a one-of-a-kind combination of genetic givens and accumulated experience. This singular assemblage of traits is CHARACTERIZATION… but it is not CHARACTER.

True CHARACTER is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure – the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature.

Beneath the surface of characterization, regardless of appearances, who is this person? At the heart of his humanity, what will we find? Is he loving or cruel? Generous or selfish? Strong or weak? Truthful or a liar? Courageous or cowardly? The only way to know the truth is to witness him make choices under pressure to take one action or another in the pursuit of his desire. As he chooses, he is.

Pressure is essential. Choices made when nothing is at risk mean little. If a character chooses to tell the truth in a situation where telling a lie would gain him nothing, the choice is trivial, the moment expresses nothing. But if the same character insists on telling the truth when a lie would save his life, then we sense that honesty is at the core of his nature.

So actively separate characterization from character. Here’s an example of why to separate the two. This quote is from the same book.

Suppose you were to wake up one morning with the inspiration to write this Story Climax: “Hero and villain pursue each other on foot for three days and three nights across the Mojave Desert. On the brink of dehydration, exhaustion, and delirium, a hundred miles from the nearest water, they fight it out and one kills the other.” It’s thrilling … until you look back at your protagonist and remember that he’s a seventy-five-year-old retired accountant, hobbled on crutches and allergic to dust. He’d turn your tragic climax into a joke. What’s worse, your agent tells you Walter Matthau wants to play him as soon as you get the ending sorted out. What do you do?

Find the page where the protagonist is introduced, on it locate the phrase of description that reads “Jake (75),” then delete 7, insert 3. In other words, rework characterization. Deep character remains unchanged because whether Jake is 35 or 75, he still has the will and tenacity to go to the limit in the Mojave. But you must make him credible.

So use the difference between character and characterization to create compelling characters. The book that I’ve quoted from is kind of iffy. I honestly can’t recommend it because of the iffy content. Just saying.

I blog on story and spiritual things at mkami.weebly.com

[Jess]

@dragon-snapper, I would say how they speak (are they sarcastic, serious, funny?) and the way they carry themselves. (Are they poised and elegant or slouch-y and sneaky?)For example, if your have a quiet girl, she might keep her arms crossed and she might look down a lot. Other than that, I think you have the gist! 🙂

[Snapper]

Thank you, @mark-kamibaya! That was very helpful; same to you, @jess. By family, I mean who are their parents, what happened to the parents and what significance are the parents to the character and the story, and does the character have any siblings?
Jess, That has been added to the list! Thank you!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Snapper.

☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

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