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Story notes help
Ok so I have these notes for a story and I was wondering if any one could help me fine tune them. Its just the Characters hoping to get more notes soon.
Saline Marie Chancy- Blue eyes -Brown hair -Student -Writer -Dreamer -17 -Glasses -Long straight hair -Loves green -Hates yellow -Music is her life -Her curse- blunt, rude, temperamental, stubborn -Daredevil -Smokes -Senior year -Loves to write -Hates being interrupted -Regrets yelling at uncle for freaking about her smoking. -Everyone loves her eyes -Her big uncles Ben and Max are her heroes -Lives in Montana Mother- Morgan Marie Whitney Chancy- Green eyes -Blonde hair -Teacher/writer -Dreamer -45 Father- Tom Leo Chancy – Blue eyes -Brown hair -Anastesalagest -Trainer -47 Sister- Sarah Jacy Chancy – Blue eyes - Brown hair - Student - 19 -Sammy Martha Chancy- Green eyes - Blonde hair - Student -12 Brother- Sorline Leo Chancy- Blonde hair - Blue eyes - Technology instructor - 24 Other characters -James Marshan -Cassie Marshan -Jimmie Jones – Saline’s crush - |
Well, when I type up notes for my characters I tend to make a form for myself. That way everything is in the same place for every character, so when I'm looking for things they're right where they should be.
Also when I'm working on developing characters I go out and find those ridiculous Myspace Quiz things. The ones where you're supposed to talk about yourself. I use them to try and get a first-person perspective of my character. It doesn't always turn out very well, but goodness if it isn't fun. Hope that helps some! |
I prefer forms too myself, it helps me keep organized so that when I need to look back on them, I can find the specific section that I need. An example:
Character Name: Age: Physical Traits: Personality Traits: Family History: (generally a paragraph talking about anything important in the family that happened which might be crucial to the story.) Description: This is where I type up a description of the character's role in the story, but very generic: sort of like a teaser for someone who might be reading about the characters to find out about them. Overall though, your character "sketch" as I like calling it seems pretty generic so I think it's mostly just really hard concrete details to make sure you describe them well in the story itself. |
I just jump into a story. If I need to remember something about a character, I just write it down on a skicky note and stick it to my lap top. Sometimes I will map out like who is with who then what I want to happen to them. Hope it helps.
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Meh. I don't really make lists of traits for my characters. That's just always felt far too confining for me.
Instead, what I do is write scenes for them. They're random scenes that're usually loosely based around an event I want to use in the actual story, but there've been a number of these test scenes that end up being dropped completely from the final draft of the story. Regardless, I tend to feel like these scenes are better for getting characters very defined in their personality and behavior than simply by listing out a bunch of attributes. Nothing is created in a vacuum, so what good does it do to try to make a character out of context? Put your characters in a real setting and see how they act. |
Well, I agree with Talentless_Muse in that making scenes is really more helpful than making lists, but there are times when I feel like I don't even know the character well enough to write a scene for him yet.
Also, I tend to use lists too as a sort of quick-reference guide for myself. If I write a scene and then notice, 'oh hey, he's allergic to eggs! Who knew!' I'll add it to my little character sheet. That way if I stop writing about him for a while and then suddenly go back, I can just check through the character sheet real fast to make sure I don't end up accidentally writing about conflicting things. |
Okay. Yeah, that's not a bad idea, and I do a little of that as well. I just tend to not bother so much with listing out especially the physical characteristics because I'm more likely to actually draw sample images of how the characters look. It helps me establish a lot about them aside from just the color of their eyes or hair. I can figure out their style of dress, any gestures or physical mannerisms, and the way they hold themselves. Those are things I couldn't get by just writing a list.
It helps me establish their appearances more firmly as well as telling me if some element of their attire or common gesture is going to work or not. Then again, things like that might not work for everyone. I'm just saying what works for me, and there's nothing wrong with lists if that's what works best for you. We don't all create the same way, so there's no right or wrong way to do it. |
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I confess I only made character sheets when doing actual ADD or forum-based RPGs, and I kind of hated them. It made more sense to me, when writing--a medium in which one can edit very easily, to simply write organically, letting dialogue and actions come out first, then check and see if they made sense.
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What I tend to do which at least for me is VERY thorough way to complete a character, is to pretend you are that character for one day.
(I don't suggest doing this particular example but it was my best success) I had a main character who was an anorexic girl. Now I'm not anorexic so I didn't really know anything other than just plain facts of anorexia. So I took one day and fasted and acted like this girl I had in my mind. I carried a journal around with me all day so I could write pretty much everything I did in such a way when I went back to it the next day, I could remember and come up with a really good description & idea of what the character was supposed to be. Now I only fasted for 1 day so It didn't hurt or anything, and if your character is a serial killer I wouldn't go through this activity but I find it fun. Also, let others in your family know what your going to be doing this so they can react appropriately to the change in your behavior or anything... Another note is when your doing this, if you go to react to a situation, try to think about your traits versus your characters traits and try to seperate them. For example, if your typically a social butterfly working a character that is a wallflower, try to curb that social behavior for the day. |
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That is actually what i normaly do, but sometimes I just get to into it then if I have to change something it jsut doesnt feel right so I have to go back even farther and change everything again because I like the new way. I found kind of a new way, I havent tried it yet so if someone wants to and see how it goes, to figure out characters. Make one of those word web things with the circals and things coming out of it. It works for my friend. He said that he built off the main persons name just putting looks, music, friends , stuff like that, then built out father and farther. He had this huge map on his wall that he made of just one character. So if anyone trys it, let me know how it works for you. |
I like to make lists and refer to them as I go. I make a picture in my head of what the person is like, more like a photo album then anything. I just add to it as I go. Sometimes I try to draw my characters, but I can't draw.
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