(no subject)
My fiction writing professor gave us an assignment to do a character sketch. I thought the questions we had to answer were pretty interesting. It might be an interesting thing to do as a survey of yourself, or to have others do of you, and certainly it is good for fleshing out characters. I plan on doing it for myself and the two main characters of my novel. I think it would be interesting to see you do it as well. I'll post my answers here when i do it. It would also be great for character development in a monologue or something, to help develop motivation.
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Date of Birth:
Current Setting:
Family:
Family History: Who are these people and where did they come from? What do they know of themselves? What do others know of them? What records or relics do they have of their history? What did others do to them? What did they do to others? What did they do to themselves? What did they do to survive? What stories do they tell each other about the dead or the lost or the old? What do these stories mean to them?
Secrets:
Needs/Desires: (Overt and Hidden)
Conflict and Obstacles to Needs/Desires:
Vision of the world/future:
Dreams/Nightmares:
Physical Description and Self-image:
Pets:
Favorite Animals:
Least Favorite Animals:
Friends:
Enemies:
Education:
Class Level and Class level of Family and Friends:
Favorite thing to do:
Least favorite thing to do:
Pet Peeve:
Favorite music, song, sound:
Favorite color, image, art, room, space:
Favorite memory:
worst memory:
Home:
Hometown:
Job/Career:
Love Interests -- Past and Present:
Who is in love with this character?
Biggest Fear:
Most Embarassing Moment:
Best Moment:
Honest or Dishonest? When? Why? With whom? Biggest lie ever told?
Biggest regret?
Biggest mystery/hardest unanswered question:
Possessions: Favorite possessions, possessions most coveted or desired: how did this character come by his/her most important possessions? Why are they important? What do they symbolize?
Clothing:
Favorite Place:
Least Favorite Place:
Past: Where did this character come from? What effect does this have on him/her?
Most crucial moment or incident that established this character's view of him or herself?
Vehicle: where does this character go? Why?
Body Language, Posture, Mannerisms:
Patterns of Speech:
Religion/Deeply Felt belief:
Attitudes, prejudices, false or wrong ideas and the misunderstandings the character has caused and the ways these thoughts have held the character back or caused incidents/accidents/problems
Obsessions:
Quirks, Strange Behaviours, Habits:
Neuroses:
Sexuality:
Anger toward_______?
Hobbies, Collections, Etc:
How do other people see this character?
How does this character see himself/herself?
What is the moment when this character's life changes?
Major conflicts:
Most traumatic moment:
Most admirable aspects: Personality, Lifestyle, Physical, Viewpoint, Relationships
Least admirable aspects:
Miscellaneous thoughts and ideas about this character:
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Also, I sort of had a revelation last night while reading Her Husband (a biography of Plath and Hughes). Hughes was talking about the poetic self and writing that self into being. At the time, it made a lot of sense. Writing this novel (and the poetry i've been working on) is an interesting thing. Seeing yourself as a fictional character, and a poetic character is a very interesting thing.