By:
James Scott Bell
Virtually
all books on character creation contain a list of questions, a “dossier” to
fill out which starts with how a character looks, where he was born, and so on
through his family circumstances, education, likes and dislikes, etc.
I
have not found such forms helpful. It may just be a personal quirk, but I’m
never excited about filling out answers to questions.
First
of all, too many answers too soon might hinder the development of a character.
A book is a living, breathing entity. If I have a long list of facts for a
character before I begin writing, it hamstrings me. I may want the character to
do one thing or another, but the dossier is set and works against me.
Consequently,
I’ve come up with my own way of bringing story people to the page. It starts
with my protagonist and finding a visual (a head shot) that resonates with me,
that says to me, This is her! I copy that image and paste it
on a character card in Scrivener (this way, I can look at a corkboard of all my
characters at once).
Next,
I want a unique voice, and that comes from a Voice Journal, a free-form
document of the character talking to me. . .
To
read the rest of the post, click here:
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
Writability : Discussion: What Books Do You Aim to Read Pre-2016? http://ow.ly/VP0nf- Going Global. Self Publishing Tips From Dan Wood From Draft2Digital | The Creative Penn http://ow.ly/VP0Y0
- How to Protect Your Blog from Hackers - How to Blog a Book http://ow.ly/VP12K
- Opinion: Every Author Should Self-Publish (At Least Once) | http://ow.ly/VP13Y
- My social media mid-life crisis http://ow.ly/VP16u
- Blogging with Facebook “Notes” to Improve Visibility | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/VP18I
- A Practical Approach to Using Powerful Cornerstone Content on Your Site - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/VP1ou
- Do Men Receive Bigger Book Advances Than Women? | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/VP1rb
- 5 Ways to Promote Your Free Book 1 Series Starter | Lindsay Buroker http://ow.ly/VP1yT
- What Publishing Could Learn from Special Forces | Write on the River http://ow.ly/VP1Dl
- Strategic Branding | Draft2Digital Easy Self-Publishing | Draft2Digital http://ow.ly/VP1FM
- 5 Things To Do Before Hiring a Freelance Editor - Rachelle Gardner http://ow.ly/VP1JM
- Do You Have TRUE GRIT? If Not, 7 Ways To Get It | Kristen Lamb's Blog http://ow.ly/VP1Mv
- Three Common Mistakes Made by Newer Writers - Storyfix.com http://ow.ly/VP252
- How Authors Can Build Their Audience on Instagram [Guest Post] — Self Publishing Team http://ow.ly/VP2az
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