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Creating Characters

On the internet, the most common advice for developing characters I’ve found is to fill out a character questionnaire. It’s everywhere. What’s the best way to get to know your character, you ask? Fill out this form, they answer. 

The official NaNoWriMo questionnaire is forty-six questions long, guys. Forty. Six. Questions. 

This may work perfectly for some people, but I look at those things and die a little on the inside. 

I know I can’t be the only person who hates character questionnaires, so if you’re not a fan of forms and also have no idea where to start with your character, I thought I would share my list of things I know about my characters before I start writing. 

It is not a list of forty-six things. It’s a list of four. 

1. Their Role

Character is story and story is character. You can’t have characters taking up pages and doing nothing. For me, knowing the character’s role in the story means knowing who I need my character to be. Even if a story is character-driven, the first thing you should decide is what about the character is actually driving the story. The role can be specific: a girl grieving for her murdered aunt decides to solve her murder. The role can be vague: the protag’s best friend. No matter what, it’s the reason this character is in your story.

2. Their Name

In real life, our names don’t usually say too much about our characters. This is not the way in fiction. Your name can say everything about your character. Whether it reveals the big stuff: Remus Lupin, Luke Skywalker. Or whether it just sets the tone of the character: Chad, Fitzwilliam, Lily. Choose the name carefully and you can get a rough sketch of a character based on it alone. 

3. What Makes Them Unique

In a writing workshop, my instructor once had the class do a character building exercise. She had us close our eyes and imagine our character’s shoes. What sort of shoe were they? What color? Were they scuffed? Polished? We worked our way up the rest of the character, but first, we knew what their shoes looked like. 

Having that one piece of information gave us something to use to inform the next piece of clothing, which informed their hair style, which informed the next thing, until we had a clear picture of our entire character. 

It’s easier figuring out the smaller details of your characters and working your way to a composite than it is to start with a big picture. When you’re just getting to know your character have a few small, specific details about them that give you an idea of exactly who this person is and, more importantly, make you interested in this character. 

Usually I like to have a mix of physical details and personality details. The best usually speak to both. They’re details that can be built upon. They give an impression of a larger picture. For example: 

She has the nose of a Fox and the character of one too. 

Her hair is always tied up in a messy ponytail.

She likes to wander through the garden when she can’t sleep at night. 

For me, these details usually don’t change, no matter how many drafts I work through. The details are usually the reason I like writing about this character in the first place. 

4. Where they’re sorted

When you’re writing, you need to be able to answer the question “what would X do next?” Therefore, you need to know something about your character that will help you answer that question.

How do you do this? Luckily, society likes categorising people, so there are a lot of shortcuts you can take to find a way to answer that question for every single character in your novel. You can use the Myer-Briggs system, the zodiac, even the question: cat person or dog person?

Personally, I like using Hogwarts Houses. For three reasons:

It identifies a key personality trait. It isn’t the character’s only personality trait, but it’s something to start with. Matching this with the list of things I know about my character usually defines the character completely. 

It focuses on characters’ motivations. It makes me define the person at their core. I can use it as a sort of compass when guiding my character through the plot. It also vaguely answers the question what does this character want: knowledge, power, glory, friendship? 

I speak the language fluently. I am my own sorting hat. I can look at anyone, sort them into a house and tell you how it fits into their strengths and weaknesses. With fictional characters as well. I don’t have to think about it. When they make a decision, I don’t need to ask myself: is this in character or out of character? I just know. 

Once I know these four things, I write the first draft. I let my characters grow with the plot, using those small things I know about them to guide the rest of their development. At the end of the draft, I reevaluate my character. My list of unchanging facts about the character quadruples. Instead of using their Hogwarts House to guide their decisions, I identify single, solid goals. 

The best thing about this is that it works for developing both minor and major characters. For minor characters, this information is usually all I need. Even that grocery clerk who only speaks once can have a name, a Hogwarts house and a couple of distinguishing characteristics. For more major characters, it’s the groundwork for a character I enjoy writing about.

Click here to support Beckett's Private Top Surgery Fund organized by Bec Hamilton

I will have to wait at least 4-5 years for NHS funded top surgery. I physically and mentally cannot do this. Hi, I'm Beckett. I'm FTM (female to male transgender). I am currently have a 2-3 year wait on the list to even meet my NHS gender specialist. Then I must live for 2 years with the diagnosi...

A 5+ year wait for the mere chance of getting top surgery is killing me. Please, even just a share makes a difference.

@bluejettyy

“Here. A glimpse of true power for you.” 

colored this bad boy 

Reblog if you love all of your rp partners <3

Now that I’ll wish shenron to give me art and animation skills like that. Absolutely love it!

Oh also, I animated the aura on the OC as a gift, that’s something I porpose on my commissions now :) You can see more about this here :https://www.deviantart.com/maniaxoi/journal/Commissions-OPEN-671381020 Any reblog is appreciated ! Deeply :3

✨💛 This is the Amazing Person Award! 🏆Once you are given this award you are supposed to paste it in the ask of eight different people, who, in your opinion, deserve it. If you break the chain nothing will happen, but it is sweet to know someone thinks you're amazing inside and out 💛✨ ^_^

Thank you very much!!! Me and my puppy says thank you! ❤️

OMGFGSUBDHBJ!!!!!! I ABSOLUTELY love the first one!!!! Soooo adorable!!

Sketches I made for @theshyesticicle of their and @thefriendlyicejin’s OCs! Thank you so much for the tip!

REMINDER: I am still offering waist-up sketches if you donate $1.00 USD to $10.00 USD to my Ko-fi! Any more than that, you can get a full body sketch! (regular commissions of course are still open)

Additional Details Regarding what I will/won’t sketch here

Ko-fi Link

soon

Soon? I guess...

I’m confused halp

Life Update

I know I’ve been quiet for a while here and almost everywhere else, only posting links to etsy, trying to advertise myself and keeping all personal things away from this blog.

But I think it is time to tell you guys something.

I’ve lost one of my two jobs which means that my income is drastically shortened. I cannot afford to buy anything except food right now - everything else is needed to pay my monthly bills like my rent, electricity, meds etc. From July 1st to now, July 11th, I already had to pay several bills that - counted together - exceed my monthly income by far.

And today another bad news arrived: my mother has a new tumor in her jaw that needs to be removed asap before it spreads.

I think you can guess how I feel at the moment and that I don’t know how to handle everything right now. I’m at my wits’ end and I just want to curl up somewhere and cry 24/7. But I can’t. I don’t want to worry my mother even more and giving up is not an option.

And as much as I hate to do that: I have to ask for help. I created a “ko-fi” account and set a first goal.

I don’t expect to reach this goal but every donation counts!

Also: I am not expecting you to donate for free - every donator will get something in return. Depending on the amount of money you’ll get digital art as a thank you from me (can reach from a simple chibi head sketch to half or even full body).

Just leave a comment on my page with a reference-link to the thing you want to get drawn or e-mail me at SerenityScribbles@gmail.com (don’t forget to tell me who you are though)

https://ko-fi.com/serenityscribbles

Again! Every donation helps and I’ll be eternally grateful to you!

Please spread the word even if you don’t want to donate - the more people see this post the higher are my chances of being able to pay my bills!

Thank you a lot for reading and sharing! You are awesome!