This will continue to focus on one of the lists from the last exercises—the people nouns. The other two lists I will bring over to this post to use as needed to try fleshing out two characters in the future.
The purpose of this exercise is to expand the material. I picked these two characters that I know at two very different degrees. Picking these two people from my own past experience at different degrees is a conscious effort to see how relationship closeness might hinder my creative use of the characters. I'm guessing that the first character (A), who is very close to me, might suffer from the desire to protect the character. The second character (B), which I know very little about, will receive a much greater degree of creative additions. Hopefully this leads to a more creative, interesting, and usable character.
I highlighted in yellow the two characters that I want to flesh out.
The purpose of this exercise is to expand the material. I picked these two characters that I know at two very different degrees. Picking these two people from my own past experience at different degrees is a conscious effort to see how relationship closeness might hinder my creative use of the characters. I'm guessing that the first character (A), who is very close to me, might suffer from the desire to protect the character. The second character (B), which I know very little about, will receive a much greater degree of creative additions. Hopefully this leads to a more creative, interesting, and usable character.
I highlighted in yellow the two characters that I want to flesh out.
Raw Brainstorm Material from last exercise
People: Old grandfather was very crafty, school bully that class stood up against, inventive friend that doesn't trust anyone, deliverer, acquaintance that likes physical activities, art teacher that is very old and yet stylish, a two-faced person, brother.
Places: fragmented hometown, desert oasis, vine infested jungle, in the middle of a hurricane, standing on a pier smelling the scent of seawater and hearing the sound of waves hit the support, on a bicycle, canoeing down a river, on an exercise bicycle.
Things: watch, pencil, computer, paper, led light, dice, hometown football shirt, fast racecar, canoe, yellow one-person tent, old pad of paper that is almost used up, the sound of fall maple leaves blowing in a strong wind outside the room window, van.
In day 3 in the book 90 Days to Your Novel, the exercise says to create and flesh out 10 characters with one-page bios. This is two characters. I'm using half of the character bio information presented in the book rather than the full character info.
This is half of the worksheet found in the book.
A. Old grandfather was very crafty
Character name: Anton
Age: 86
Occupation: YouTube carpenter video maker. A former construction worker, he made his living fixing up houses for ordinary people. He found ways to reuse old lumber and build things unconventionally. He brings his unconventional carpentry methods to a video series called Building it Damn Good, with Anton.
Family members and/or significant others: The youngest of two, his older brother Gary worked for the fire department, now retired, travels the world doing volunteer work.
Personality traits: Doer. He doesn't like to stand around. He almost always has a hammer or tool in his hand or pocket. When not doing YouTube videos, he walks the neighborhood meeting people and helping out doing odd jobs, fixing things, telling amazing stories, and finding material for his stash of material.
Character history (where is he/she from?): He grew up on a farm in a very small rural town of a few hundred people. For work, he moved to the bigger city, but he brought his charming small-town ways. Despite living most of his life now in the big city, he still has kept his small-town manners. Each project deal is done with a shake of the hand rather than signing contracts.
Highest level of education: 7th grade. His real education was farm work and later construction. In construction, he learned on the job from others by doing things after being explained how to do it.
Physical traits: With a natural strength from hauling lumber, swinging hammers, and lifting plywood. He has a natural bulky appearance. He normally wears baggy working jeans or overalls. He always wears a brimmed hat to keep the sun out of his eyes since he works outside considerably.
Biggest motivator: He likes to build, make, and create things. Especially, he likes to reuse normally discarded wood and construction material. He lived through a deep economic recession where everyone had to "make do" with what they had.
Biggest fear: He has a fear of not doing anything or being alone. He is always talking with the neighbors and strangers.
Things he/she likes: He likes to socialize and work constantly. He tries to do everything on his own.
Things he/she dislikes: He doesn't want to be alone nor spend time doing nothing.
B. Art teacher that is senior and yet stylish
Character name: Cynthia
Age: 64
Occupation: Art teacher
Family members and/or significant others: Has an over controlling husband, a daughter she is proud of, and a black-sheep son.
Personality traits: Lone Wolf. Creative, stylish, and current despite her age. Sometimes her creativity is crushed by her spouse.
Character history (where is he/she from?): Born in a small middle of the country farmlands, she moved to the city to pursue art—something that brought her ridicule and teasing during her educational years. She had always spent time doing both fashion and art.
Highest level of education: Art school, art degree
Physical traits: white hair, slightly wrinkled but uses plenty of beauty products to maintain a somewhat youthful appearance. Wears expensive looking clothing.
Biggest motivator: Authentic creative instinct and expression. Breaking away from her isolated past. Being herself despite her controlling husband.
Biggest fear: Not being herself or expressing her true self. She always has to try to be creative and sometimes trendy.
Things he/she likes: She loves elegance, bright colors, spring, life, and growth. She loves to find individuality within everything.
Things he/she dislikes: She dislikes conformity, inauthenticity, and expressing things that aren't made in her own voice or style.
Comparison of characters and issues
Right from the start, I found myself trying to describe the first character (real person) instead of trying to creatively create story functional character. The real person lead the descriptions. Only occasionally could I escape the real person to add something new. I seemed to forget the YouTube portion of the story. Describing this character was nostalgic rather than fun. This character almost has become a burden to me in his current state. He doesn't seem to have as much flaws to build a conflict story.
For the second character which the real person I had only a passing knowledge of, becoming creative in the details and creating conflict built into the character was easier. Creating the story was so easier that it became very fun. She seems quirky and yet flawed.
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