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Character Creation : Aunt Angie

Hello again! Today I’m going to share some more information on another one of my characters from my book – I’m using this Character development sheet although I will point out that it has changed and several of the new questions/areas aren’t what I want to focus on. So I’m a little bummed. But I pulled off aspects from the original sheet I printed last year (ish) and pulled the two together.

chrctrcreationangie

So here we go!

Today’s character is Angela Barrington – nickname is Angie – American – widow – mid/late 50s – oldest of two girls – sister is Diana Hughes (Amelia’s mother)

~Loves the theatre and opera houses. Loves traveling.

Standing in Society – near the TOP

Eye Color – green

Height – 5 ft 7in

Type of body/build – slim/trim

skin tone – medium/pale

Is she healthy? – no. she has a debilitating disease that is as of yet unnamed (will it ever be?)

Favorite Literature – poets (named in story…)

Mode of Transportation – Carriages (she has several)

Daredevil or cautious – a bit of both – she had to be to end up where she is in Society

Is she the same when she’s alone? – yes. although she worries more when she’s alone

Good Characteristics – good listener, encourager, lighthearted (fun to be around)

Drives and Motivations – live life to the fullest while she can, give her niece a better life/chance to chase her dreams

Introvert or Extrovert – Extrovert

Optimist or Pessimist – optimist

Character Flaws – worries, has a hard time forgiving her sister

Biggest regret – that she didn’t have any children

Minor regrets – won’t see Amelia wed (?)

Biggest Accomplishments- giving Amelia a new life

Character’s Darkest Secret/ does anyone know? – I can’t come up with a dark secret for her.

~Also, picmonkey has recently made it impossible to export photos without signing up and as I don’t want to pay/need that money for other things, does anyone have a suggestion for another free photo editor that I can start using? ~

~Laura

Tags: character creation, character development, rounding out a character, writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing help, writing prompts, writing tips

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Character Creation – Ian

22 Aug

Once again I’m using this character development sheet , she has many other free printables to help you get your story idea off the ground.

chrctrcrtnian

Today I’m filling in more characteristics of Ian Greenwahl, a minor character in my first novel. I have fallen in love with Ian as I’ve written him so I’m excited to add some depth to him.

Ian Greenwahl – American – mid 20’s – oldest of two children, one sister – inherited the estate from his late father

Optimist or Pessimist – Why? – A quiet/hesitant optimist.

Introvert or extrovert. Why? – Introvert. Prefers to be at home reading or volunteering at the orphanage.

Drives and motivations : wants to take proper care of the estate his father passed to him; wants to improve the lives of orphans.

Talents:

Extremely skilled at : putting people at ease – including children,

Extremely unskilled at : flirting , shameless flattery

Good characteristics : steady, good listener, honourable, always ready to help, honest

Character flaws : a bit of a perfectionist, finds it hard to forgive certain flaws in others (list!), takes him a while to trust, can be too honest at times

Mannerisms : upright stance, uses facial expressions to get his point across

Peculiarities: doesn’t enjoy large gatherings (bad for a man of his social standing),

Biggest regret: something to do with his father? both his parents? an orphan?

Minor regrets:

Biggest accomplishments: the building of a new orphanage?

Minor accomplishments: didn’t he row in college? or how about mastered fencing?

Character’s darkest secret: does he feel responsible for parents’ deaths?

Does anyone else know? no

If yes, did character tell them?

If no, how did they find out?

Have you been working on a project lately?

~Laura

Tags: character creation, character development, rounding out a character, writer's block, writing, writing exercises, writing help, writing prompts

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Writing Prompts: Character Creation (Edward)

11 May

I found this great little character development sheet that I’m going to use to help round out some of my characters in my novel. (fun fact: I tried to print out 4… I ended up with 12 copies of it. Have no idea what happened. OY)

chrctrcreationedward

Today’s will be the second-main character in my new novel.

Edward Kempthorne – English – Youngest of 4? kids – 32 years old – lived in the U.S. since he was a teen

Optimist or Pessimist: Why? – Pessimist. Learned it from his father and losing someone he loved only increased it.

Introvert or Extrovert: Why? – He learned to keep his thoughts/feelings to himself when he was growing up (was he ridiculed when he did share, reinforcing this trait?)

Drives and Motivations: He wants to make a difference in the world – not sell (WHAT?) like his father does/expected him to. He wants to make his family proud. Doing what’s right.

Talents: Reading people, (add to this!)

Extremely skilled at: writing speeches?

Extremely unskilled at:

Good Characteristics: honest, hard-worker, direct

Character Flaws: stubborn, lacks confidence in himself(?), resistant to change

Mannerisms: subtle

Peculiarities:

Biggest Regret: that he put his job above his family one fateful day

Minor Regrets: that he hasn’t married yet, he’s never _____, bitter words that never should have been spoken

Biggest Accomplishments: getting into the “Academy” to become a cop

Minor Accomplishments:

Character’s darkest secret: Hmmmmm

Does anyone else know? : not yet

If yes, did character tell them? either straight out he does, or in a round-about way…

If no, how did they find out?

So obviously I’ve got more figuring out to do for Edward but I have fallen in love with him already. I love that he’s English and is a searching, broken soul. His search through the darkness for truth and light will be interesting to write.

~Laura

Tags: character creation, character development, rounding out a character, writer help, writer's block, writing, writing exercises, writing help, writing prompts, writing tips