NaNoWriMo Prep: Characters

Today, we're going to talk about characters and how you go about creating them. There will be a three links at the end, to be helpful, but I'm going to ramble a bit on what I do. As always, this might or might not be helpful to you but I'm hoping that it will. Or that something in the links will.

One of the best ways that I've created characters is, again, from WriYe. What needs to be done first is try to figure out the motivations of your character, especially when it's your main character. That's going to drive your plot and your subplots to get things done. It means answering questions like how your MC sees the world, how do they react to conflict or successes, and how they fit in to their environment. Those three questions and how you unpack them with your main character will help with creating subplots. You can do this will all your major characters as well, if you want to, and try not tangle up in them too much.



What Erin did was then create a list of 27 things to know about your character. With her permission, I'm going to list it below so you can see how it'll help you flesh out your characters.

Early Life

Conception Circumstances: 

Birth Circumstances: 

Babyhood Anomalies, if any: 

Close Family

Mother's Bio: 

Father's Bio:

Parents' Relationship at Time of Conception: 

Parents' Current Relationship: 

Sibling's Bio (one for each sibling): 

Relationship with Sibling(s): 

Extended Family

Family Members: 

Relationship With Each: 

Friends

Current Best Friend(s) (bio): 

Former Best Friend(s): 

Romance

First Crush: 

First Dating Relationship: 

First Sexual Relationship: 

Important Romantic Relationship(s): 

Current Relationship: 

Education

Elementary: 

Middle School: 

High School: 

College / Grad School: 

Attitude Towards School: 

Hobbies and Talents

Loves to: 

When Bored, Likes to: 

Good At: 

Terrible At: 

And that's your bio. You can go as in depth as you like with all the answers. Maybe you want to focus on the schooling because you're setting your story at a school. Or maybe family because it's a family drama. The bio is to give you a frame work that you can then use to place the character in your plot.

If you don't like this or want something more in depth, then you can try one of the following links. How to Create a Character Profile by the Lazy Scholar at the Internet Writing Journal, Character Sheets and Character Creation from Fuck Yeah Character Development, and Character Chart for Fiction Writers from Epiguide.com are some of the sites that I like the most because they give you the chance to really dive into your character. If not, there is one last thing you can try. You can take D&D character sheets and use that as a very bare bones what your character needs to be. Or any sort of RPG character sheet would help you get a very bare bones of what your character wants to be.

Alright everyone, I hope that helps. Until next time, keep on plotting and writing!