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Character Creation – Ian

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

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Writing prompt – Character Fidgets

20 Apr

I got today’s writing prompt from What is a Plot. Think about your main character’s fidget. What do they do as a tell? Write a scene.

wrtngchrctrfdgts

As she waited for her mother, Amelia opened her book, eager to know what happened next to Esmeralda. She got so wrapped up in the world of old-time Paris that she didn’t hear the front door open, admitting her mother. The heavy footfall coming closer pulled her out of it just in time to slam the book shut and sit properly, the book getting shoved on a side table.

“I’m glad to see that you managed to be presentable today. And where you ought to be.” The sarcasm dripped from her mother as the tall woman eyed her daughter with criticism. “Although why you can’t be like Mrs. Smark’s daughter, I’ve no idea. You could learn a lot from that girl if you’d only take the time. What a relief it would be to have a daughter that I could take out in society.”

“Yes, Mother.” Amelia clenched her hands between her knees, hoping this interview with her mother would end soon. It was always a trial to sit still and silent during these. Her mother paused just long enough for her response and then set off again about her ideas of proper etiquette. Many minutes went by as she expounded on this pet subject of hers, during which Amelia flexed and relaxed her hands in response to particularly cutting remarks, until a knock at the door indicated the arrival of Amelia’s piano teacher.

“For goodness sake, Amelia, stop ruining your skirt like that – you’ve wrinkled it dreadfully.” Her mother’s comment brought Amelia’s gaze to her skirt and she tried to smooth out the wrinkles she’d created, but they refused to budge. Much like the knot in her stomach.

“I don’t know why you do such a thing. You really should get over it, a lady putting her hands between her knees is unheard of.” With that, her mother rose to greet the piano teacher coming into the room.

Amelia sighed and flexed her fingers to get the blood moving in them again. She’d make sure and do some extra scales this morning to help limber them up.

~I do very little editing on these writing prompts. I prefer to use them more to practice and get the creative juices flowing.

~Laura

Tags: character development, writer's block, writing, writing exercises, writing prompts

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Writing Blockage and a house big enough to move in

12 Nov

Well it’s week two of nanowrimo and I’ve hit a writing block that won’t budge.

Sadly, it hit with the short story i’m writing for a completely different project too..

Let me explain, I am working on a novel set in the 1890s for nanowrimo. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s the reason so many people are chugging coffee and other caffeine stimulants and typing until their fingers are permanently curved. For the month of November, the goal is to write a novel (50,000 words) – the website breaks it down for you to see your stats along the way and you can connect with other writers around the world. This is the second year I have done it and am hoping to do better this year than last!

Along with that, I have joined a creative group online with some friends – old and new – that requires having a project to put up every two weeks. I am doing a series of short stories, each on the same event but from different perspectives. What’s been fun about that is that my dad wrote a short story a while back and shared it with me, asking if i wanted to add to it. Well, I have decided to take off his story and work from that. It’s more of a futuristic story – the complete opposite of my novel! – and I’ve never done anything futurisic.

Did I mention that we just moved too? Getting settled has been a bit crazy and fun…..well, sort of. ‘Most every day you can hear one of us (excluding the dog of course) say something about how big the house is. Or how nice it is. Or how quiet the neighborhood is. Gives you an idea of how ‘great’ it was at our old place, doesn’t it? Of course, we also moved about three hours away, so we are looking forward to going back and visiting everyone in a few weeks. I will take photos as soon as the house looks nice enough to… which should be soon, really because it’s pretty bare and when stuff is still in boxes how messy can it get, really?

….. and I just found my dog getting into the garbage. Argh. Went over to take a cute photo of her begging to come in and…well, if you have a dog, you can picture it.

anyway, continuing on – I am wanting to get back into the swing of things here on SGL, but with so much writing needing doing in the next few weeks, it might be a bit sporadic, so bear with me – i do have great post ideas though! Even a gift-giving guide formulating in my slightly-functioning-brain.

If you have anything you want me to blog about or advice for getting over this writer’s block, I’d love to hear it!

~Laura

Tags: nanowrimo, short story writing, writer's block, writing