Pre-writing

One of my favorite pre-writing exercises to do is a character profile.  I like character profiles because it gives me a chance to get to know my character 100% and flesh him/her out so that they are as real and tangible as possible.

When I began writing The Mechanical Room, I knew I had three main characters definitely--John Noah (my protagonist), Penn Wolfgang, and Kade Strongarm (my antagonist).  I began writing the character profiles for each, detailing their likes/dislikes, age, birth marks, sense of humor, parents, spouse, etc. etc.

I did all of this before I started the novel.  Of course, once I started writing I realized I had more characters to delve into and eventually I wrote a few other character profiles.

Here are some of the basics that my character profiles cover:

Age
Height
Weight
Eye Color
Hair Color
Date of Birth
Birth Place
Scars/Handicap
Education
Work
Best Friend
Marital Status
Enemies
Parents
Present Problem
Character Traits
Humor
Ambitions
Philosophy
Favorite Colors
Pastimes
Dress
Hobbies

After I've answered all of these things about my character I usually feel quite satisfied with the layers of their personality.  Test it on yourself just for fun... fill out all of these sections about yourself to see how much it covers.


(Recommended reading:  Writing Fiction: A Guide To Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway)