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 |   A month-long novel-planning challenge with prizes galore. |
Draft a profile of your protagonist. Include detailed information such as name, age, physical attributes, occupation, education, culture, religion, family, relationship status, personality, likes, dislikes, strengths, weakness, motivations and desires. Use Google Images to find an image of your character. The point of this exercise is for you to get to know your character inside and out before you write your novel. If you don't know your character, how can you expect it of your readers? Flesh out your pre-story character in detail. Keep in mind that your protagonist will grow in some way during your story. For more serious character profilers, here is are two optional, very extensive templates: "Character Interview / Profile Sheet"  and "(Another, Very) In-Depth Character Profile" . Also, here is a "Traits List" to draw from."2024 Prep Calendar" I used one of the extensive templates above for getting to know more about my character. Famous parents and the character feels lonely. Also 24' large is a considerable size, but not adult size. Dragon is what I'm doing. There is more at the bottom of the prep calendar if these just isn't your taste. Or you could make up your own. There is no right or wrong answer here. For non fiction focus on what your book is about. If it's about God then focus on the qualities of God. This is just an example. Be as detailed as you feel like. Tweak it to your character's style. If you are more of a pantser then just covering a few things listed above will do compared to a planner where the links may help you out more. Getting to know your character is part of the process in knowing where your story will go. It will flow easier. What works for you in creating a character profile? GoT House Florent Preferred Author |
| When I write S&S fantasy - which means characters can have some abilities beyond the norm - I use AD&D player character sheets. While I don't roll the dice for stats, I do make them up and enter them, with 9-11 being average, so that the people are compared against one another and the averages. I then use the AD&D rules to ensure that someone I've given a STR of 12 to (slightly above average) can't lift a portcullis on their own, but could batter a door down after a few shoulder tackles. However, everything else, as a pantser, I let the characters talk to me and rely on the second draft to ensure that they are consistent. For planners, though, I have encouraged some to use the old styled AD&D sheets for all genres. This gives comparisons between characters, and also places limits on them. For those writers at the start of their writing journey, I encourage them to use aspects of people they know. I try to encourage them not to use just one person - there is a chance they will know they have become a character in someone else's book - but to combine at least two; however, this does mean the writer knows how the character will react because they know how the real person/people would react. Anyway, here's something I prepared earlier: "20240214 Notes On Character" |
| I type from my worlds people in story, don't ask how I do it, just that i can hear them when I type have you hugged your writer |
Read your character profile, so here is a word for you: Iseum. An Iseum (always capitalised) is a temple dedicated to Isis. Just something that might fit into your story.  |
 500 GPs were sent to azrael  with this post.Ordinarily that might be seen as very strange or creepy - but then they probably aren't writers now, are they.... NJ 2023 Quill Finalist. 2023 Quill Nominee. Quill Finalist Logo 2022. Quill Nominee Signature 2022 Preferred Author |
1,000 GPs were sent to Angelica Weatherby- Grateful28  with this post.Wooooo! That was helpful, Angelica Weatherby- Grateful28 . You've been awarded by a Cheerleading Gift Point Fairy! My Sig |
| Here is a question I always wonder. Do you plan for characters first or do you plan your plot first? Are you able to write about the character's backstory extensively without knowing what the story is about first? Because 90% of the character's life may not be relevant to the main story. I'm just curious. I know character comes before plot, but I don't know, I do struggle in this area. When I do plan out my character's life, then I work on the plot, I'll be like... eh? I'm telling two different stories altogether! Does that ever happen to you or am I simply the weird one out? |
| Remember Hemingway's Iceberg - 90% of backstory will not be in the story. There are 3 schools of thought on this and none are wrong. They are simply a matter of choice. The first is create the characters and let the plot evolve around what you have developed for them. You might even have an idea for the story and what is going to happen, but the ay you develop the characters could change what the conflicts are, the inciting incident is, all that sort of thing. The second is to have the story done and develop the characters who would best inhabit and navigate through the story beats. The third is a combination of both, tweaking the plot to accommodate the characters and tweaking the characters to accommodate the plot as you progress through the plotting process. Yes, it may well seem like 2 different stories, but that does not mean either is bad/ wrong. The only thing I would suggest is try not to shoehorn a character into a situation for which they are really, really unsuited. Otherwise, let the story take you and your characters where it will! Personally, I have used both. Sometimes a character comes to me and I develop a story around what that character would do and be involved in; other times I have a story and then i have to populate it with relevant characters. So, no, you're not "the weird one" - you are a normal writer working through what works best for you. |
| I think I always had character picked out first then the story. Good question. But I always had an idea of what to write. Sometimes the characters want to do something different than the outline. That's perfectly normal. Most of the time I am able to stay on track. I deviated a bit in book 1 for example. Didn't follow the outline. But the plot is a guide. Character is a guide too. My character is all white blue eyes for example. An albino dragon almost. GoT House Florent Preferred Author |
| Apparently, I'm the only one who doesn't know, but what's S&S, AD&D (something Dungeons & Dragons?), and STR? |
| S&S - sword and & sorcery, the style of pulp fiction fantasy popularised by Robert E Howard, and my favourite form of fantasy. AD&D - Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the first generation of D&D after the Basic and Expert boxes... and still the best. STR - strength, a player character attribute in D&D Sorry. I forget my nerdom is occasionally overwhelming. |
5,000 GPs were sent to s  with this post.The Cheerleading Fairies caught you  BEING HELPFUL and ENCOURAGING OTHERS! You get a prize:  Fairy Dust Cheers, Michelle Image #1958063 over display limit. -?- |
You are not alone. I don't know too.  |
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