2. CREDENTIALS
I guess you‟re thinking „Why should I listen to this random person on the
internet?‟
Just so you know, I‟ve read fifty-three (and a half) books on creating fictional
characters so I think I fit the bill to help you (yes, you) out with your little
problem of creating a character.
3. HERE’S HOW YOU START OFF…
Let‟s come up with a setting – you should have this already. If not, I‟m soon
to be releasing a similar slideshow on how to create your setting, too.
As an example, I‟m going to do a walk-through with you on this.
Our setting: Modern-day London, England, August, 2012
4. NOW THINK ABOUT THE
CHARACTER
What does your character look like? Picture the character in your mind. Let‟s
call her Riley.
Example: Riley is a woman, age eighteen, with long scarlet-red hair and large
blue eyes. She is five feet six inches tall with a buxom figure and a healthy
olive skin tone. Her lips are slightly too big for her face and her nose is slightly
too small. She is quite slim but has some weight on her slightly larger thighs
and buttocks. Her breasts are a DD-cup and her abdomen is flat.
5. THE NEXT STEP
Now that we have Riley‟s basic physical appearance, you can draft out a way to
introduce her.
The next slide is an example of how Riley sees herself in a full-length mirror
when she is getting ready for work.
6. EXAMPLE: PERSONAL
DESCRIPTION
“The mirror did not give me any satisfaction with the way I look. The woman
looking back at me is still young, still fresh, wearing a plain black bra and lacy
leopard-print briefs. Her arms and abs aren‟t concerning – its her thunder
thighs and fat backside that annoy me, not to mention the too-big breasts
straining against the fabric of the bra. Her oval face is haloed by hair the
colour of blood, waving gently to her waist. Too-large blue eyes, too-small a
nose and too-pouty lips are complimented by high cheek bones and a
feminine jaw line. In all, the woman I see is average, barring the tattoo of a
koi carp, a colourful drawing, marring the pale olive skin of her back, the tail
of which travels over her rear and onto her thigh.”
7. SO YOU HAVE YOUR
DESCRIPTION…
Now what? This is the part where we give Riley a personality. If you reread
the previous slide, you‟ll find that our lady is not very self-confident. This is
where we use the first-person description to create Riley‟s personality. The
next slide has a method and example for that.
8. EXAMPLE: PERSONALITY P.Q.C.
Point: Riley is not confident in herself.
Quote: „thunder thighs and fat backside‟
Comment: This shows that Riley does not like her thighs and posterior, which
can lead to modifying the way she dresses to cover these areas.
Using P.Q.C. in this way can really help to build your character‟s personality.
Following the P.Q.C., you can add in a few sentences of the character thinking
of their friends, colleagues, parents, enemies or rivals. This can help develop
the way they speak.
9. MADAME’S PREFERENCES
Now you have the personality and appearance, we can work on some
favourites. Here‟s another example for Riley.
Favourite Food: Strawberries
Favourite Drink: Hot chocolate
Favourite Musician/Band: Shinedown
Favourite TV Show: American Dad!
Favourite Pastime: Painting
Favourite Animal: Panther
Yes, it really is that easy!
10. AND THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE!
Thanks for viewing
Here are some sites that help me out with my own stories. Hope you find
them helpful, too!
http://www.eclectics.com/articles/character.html
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/crafttechnique/tp/createcharacter.htm
http://www.netplaces.com/writing-a-romance-novel/the-nuts-and-bolts-of-
characterization/defining-character.htm
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/ (This one has generators on it so if you
get stuck, it‟s the best for helping you get out of a rut!)
