Megan's college roomies

[dirtyriceking]

Hannah
HT:6'7
WT:215
Build:Athletic
E:Bl H:Shoulder/Blonde
Career:European basketball player
Hobbies:Sports

Francesca
HT:5'2
WT:165
E:Br H:Butt/Str. blonde
Buildleasantly Plump (has Spina Bifida T-7 lesion) (my disability just ask me about it)
Careeraralympic swimmer (IM)/motivation speaker
Family:Husband Tim (coach), son Nathan
Hobbies:Family life

Tim
HT:6'
Wt:215
E:Br H:Br
Misc:circ'd
Career:coach
Hobbies:Golf

I'll don my firesuit now!

 

[cloudy]

You obviously didn't listen to a word anyone else said.

 

[Stella_Omega]

She's right, Rice.

Your list of stats are meaningless generalities. The only thing I can grab is the Spinal bifida, which suggests to me a whole lot of possibilities about her world, her attitudes, her trials and tribulations. Those are what you want to talk about, not her height and hair color.

Here's a list of character worksheets links, and articles about them. Check them out!

 

[Katyusha]

Hey Rice, I've read all your posts thus far about characters. I've gotta agree with the others that these stats don't really mean much, and I agree with Stella that the only thing that grabbed me out of all of that is Francesca's spina bifida, because that condition would shape her entire life and personality.

You should ask yourself, of every character you write, who is this person? Why are they who and what they are? Then ask, how do other people react to these characters? How are they seen, perceived? Are they respected, admired, pillars of their communities? Do others think of them as intelligent but snooty? Do others see them as humble, whether the character themself is or not? Maybe as a braggart? Is there someone that thinks one of your characters is too obsessed with their looks, or their career, or their family, or with what others think of them? How do your characters relate to each other? How does the general population of people in your story relate to them? Or do they at all? Maybe they're someone that people can't relate to very well, and that causes problems for them somewhere in their life.

You said Francesca's a Paralympian, so ask yourself, would she be an Olympic swimmer if she didn't have spina bifida? Would her life have taken a different direction altogether? Or does anybody even need to know that? Maybe Francesca doesn't think at all about what her life might have been like. Maybe to her, it's just part of her, like my being badly nearsighted is part of me. Or maybe it was something she struggled a lot with as a child, wondering why she couldn't be normal like all the other kids, and even though she's come to grips with it as an adult she still occasionally finds herself wondering why her.

Then ask, why is she also a motivational speaker? Maybe she chose also to be a motivational speaker because of those questions, because she hopes to overcome those questions by helping others to overcome them, or maybe she does it because she doesn't have those questions at all but knows there are lots of others who do. Or maybe it's for an entirely different reason that has nothing to do with her disability.

In this context, do her physical stats really make much difference? The only stats of hers that might be important are her Paralympic stats.

Now, do people see her as courageous, always hopeful, always looking forward? Or do they think she's a pessimist who dwells too much on how things might have been, or should have been? Do they think she's rightfully proud of her accomplishments as a Paralympian or do they think she's too stuck up about it? How does her husband see her? How does he treat her? Does he baby her, and does that bother her, or does he understand where the line between babying her and ignoring her is and walk that line gracefully? And if he knows where that line is, is it something he always seemed to understand or was it something he had to learn through lots of trial and error? Does he think she tries to be too self-sufficient and wish she would depend on him a little more, or does he feel she leans on him way too much and wish she'd be a little more independent? And so on and so forth.

I just pulled Francesca out as an example because you mentioned her disability, but how much people learn about her and her life depends on whether she's a main or supporting character. If she were a main character, the answers to all of these questions would be very important, as well as others that I haven't listed and probably haven't thought of. As a supporting character, how much is important depends on her relationships with your main characters. I know I've asked an awful lot of questions, but they are things you need to think about when you're creating characters. Not all of them for every single character, but in general. Just some stuff to think about.

 

[driphoney]

I'm really disappointed. I was hoping to see you take CWatson up on his challenge.



Why more character outlines?

 

[xssve]

I think he's looking for the roleplay forum possibly.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You want to see what a character outline should really be? maybe?

Check out the link in my sig for Echo Squad.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Hey Rice, I've read all your posts thus far about characters. I've gotta agree with the others that these stats don't really mean much, and I agree with Stella that the only thing that grabbed me out of all of that is Francesca's spina bifida, because that condition would shape her entire life and personality.

You should ask yourself, of every character you write, who is this person? Why are they who and what they are? Then ask, how do other people react to these characters? How are they seen, perceived? Are they respected, admired, pillars of their communities? Do others think of them as intelligent but snooty? Do others see them as humble, whether the character themself is or not? Maybe as a braggart? Is there someone that thinks one of your characters is too obsessed with their looks, or their career, or their family, or with what others think of them? How do your characters relate to each other? How does the general population of people in your story relate to them? Or do they at all? Maybe they're someone that people can't relate to very well, and that causes problems for them somewhere in their life.

You said Francesca's a Paralympian, so ask yourself, would she be an Olympic swimmer if she didn't have spina bifida? Would her life have taken a different direction altogether? Or does anybody even need to know that? Maybe Francesca doesn't think at all about what her life might have been like. Maybe to her, it's just part of her, like my being badly nearsighted is part of me. Or maybe it was something she struggled a lot with as a child, wondering why she couldn't be normal like all the other kids, and even though she's come to grips with it as an adult she still occasionally finds herself wondering why her.

Then ask, why is she also a motivational speaker? Maybe she chose also to be a motivational speaker because of those questions, because she hopes to overcome those questions by helping others to overcome them, or maybe she does it because she doesn't have those questions at all but knows there are lots of others who do. Or maybe it's for an entirely different reason that has nothing to do with her disability.

In this context, do her physical stats really make much difference? The only stats of hers that might be important are her Paralympic stats.

Now, do people see her as courageous, always hopeful, always looking forward? Or do they think she's a pessimist who dwells too much on how things might have been, or should have been? Do they think she's rightfully proud of her accomplishments as a Paralympian or do they think she's too stuck up about it? How does her husband see her? How does he treat her? Does he baby her, and does that bother her, or does he understand where the line between babying her and ignoring her is and walk that line gracefully? And if he knows where that line is, is it something he always seemed to understand or was it something he had to learn through lots of trial and error? Does he think she tries to be too self-sufficient and wish she would depend on him a little more, or does he feel she leans on him way too much and wish she'd be a little more independent? And so on and so forth.

I just pulled Francesca out as an example because you mentioned her disability, but how much people learn about her and her life depends on whether she's a main or supporting character. If she were a main character, the answers to all of these questions would be very important, as well as others that I haven't listed and probably haven't thought of. As a supporting character, how much is important depends on her relationships with your main characters. I know I've asked an awful lot of questions, but they are things you need to think about when you're creating characters. Not all of them for every single character, but in general. Just some stuff to think about.

Mostly I agree, except that I believe that Hannah's height and athleticism would also have shaped her life.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Thus the hazard of doing detailed character profiles. You get obsessed with doing the profile and never write the story.

I think what we have here is a guy who just gets off on recording the physical attributes of people he'd like to see have sex.

Character profiles don't matter. Outlines don't matter. All the writing exercises in the world don't matter. What matters is writing the damned story.