Showing posts with label Character Profile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Character Profile. Show all posts

Monday, December 21, 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen... John Noah




Character Profile: John Noah


Age: 30

Height: 5’7”

Weight: 140 lbs

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Black / Dark Brown

Birth Date: September 17, 2079

Birth Place: Los Angeles, California

Scars/handicaps: Inflicted with Miller’s disease – a terminal illness with a 100% fatality rate. Has a birth mark on the lower back of his neck.

Education: Barely graduated from high school and eventually received his degree from a two year before getting his Bachelors degree.

Work: Works for a large non profit organization that strives to relieve suffering from natural disasters, sickness, and diseases around the world

Best friend(s): His niece Rain, his cat Jack. In “The Mechanical Room” world- Penn Wolfgang

Marital status: Widowed

Enemies: His boss Monica. In the other world- the dwarves, cat people, imps, gremlins, and shadow stalkers.

Parents: His mother Alana and his father Walter

Present problem: John is suffering from a terminal autoimmune illness known as Miller’s Disease. He has lost most of his family to this illness except his niece. He is forced to endure the agony of life without his loved ones until the illness finally claims his life, which is a day that John looks forward to.

Character traits: John is a man of his word. He means what he says and he says what he means. He can be very direct, which often puts a lot of people off. He used to try and be tactful before his affliction, but after losing the love of his life John no longer saw the point. He has a soft spot in his heart for women and children and animals. John tries to respect nature but often he finds himself unable to sit still long enough to absorb it fully. He can be impatient at times and often tries to find the best solution to a problem though it might not necessarily be the easiest solution. He can also be very stubborn at times.

Humor: He has a sarcastic and dry sense of humor and is not afraid to make a joke at his own expense.

Ambitions: John looks forward to dying so that he can reunite with Jannike (his wife that passed away), and at the same time he wishes to live so that he can see his niece grow older and wiser in the world and have a family of her own some day.

Philosophy: John doesn’t care what others think of him. He lives for himself and no one else. He doesn’t believe in wasting time worrying about what other people think when the only thoughts and opinions that matter are your own.

Favorite colors: Red and Black

Pastimes: John is a fan of chess. He also enjoys people watching and often just staring out into the world. He loves rainy days and playing with his cat Jack.

Dress: John is usually business casual. He doesn’t wear a tie. His sleeves are often rolled up. His shoes are a bit scuffed, but he somehow ties it all together and looks presentable. People often mistake his slouched/hunched posture for laziness or that he doesn’t care when, to him, he’s trying to conserve energy from having to sit up or stand up straight.

Hobbies: Chess, reading, sitting in silence, and watching old Hayao Miyazaki animated films.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

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)