Project Six
On my borrowed PDA, there is a Word document taking shape as the Character Building List. It used to be, when I started writing a story and it began to take shape as a good story and not a five-word idea that hasn't been touched in seven-plus years, then sometimes I would also take a sheet of paper and begin a character study of the main characters: what they looked like, some of their personal history as it was revealed in the story, and specific qualities.
That lost all semblence of order rather quickly on a particular story that got to be about fifty pages before I saw that there were a ton of problems. Hence the need for the character building list. It's been in my head to make one for a long time; I have passing thoughts of qualities that should go into it.
Such a list would be an even worse mess if I let it get away from myself, since it got started on paper. But they don't call 'em organizers for nothing. So here we have the list of general headings under which the qualities come:
Just a matter of filling in these little categories now--if you guys have suggestions, I welcome them. I have lots of sub-categories, but I really need to upload it to my PC's hard drive and probably print it out for easy additions to the list.
The way I want this to look eventually when it goes up on its own webpage will be like internet quizzes, especially the deeply psychological kind where you're asked a question and you answer "always" or "sometimes" or "never" but with more options in between. Then you get a comparison between characters if you do them for hundreds and hundreds of people.
That lost all semblence of order rather quickly on a particular story that got to be about fifty pages before I saw that there were a ton of problems. Hence the need for the character building list. It's been in my head to make one for a long time; I have passing thoughts of qualities that should go into it.
Such a list would be an even worse mess if I let it get away from myself, since it got started on paper. But they don't call 'em organizers for nothing. So here we have the list of general headings under which the qualities come:
- Social (relating to others of that society and archetypes of sorts)
- Preferences (do you like ice cream?)
- IQ (good at math but bad at English, mental skills)
- Belongings (purses, vehicles, pets)
- Genealogical (DNA tests, type of person attracted to, medical history)
- Appearance (sculpted, Roman nose)
- Living (house, roommates, job)
- Beliefs (religion, paranormal/aliens, zodiac, political issues)
- Personal History (family, sex, travel, education, police record)
Just a matter of filling in these little categories now--if you guys have suggestions, I welcome them. I have lots of sub-categories, but I really need to upload it to my PC's hard drive and probably print it out for easy additions to the list.
The way I want this to look eventually when it goes up on its own webpage will be like internet quizzes, especially the deeply psychological kind where you're asked a question and you answer "always" or "sometimes" or "never" but with more options in between. Then you get a comparison between characters if you do them for hundreds and hundreds of people.