Creating Characters

I did not write this article however it has been very useful to me and I hope to you too. If you are the author of this work please get in contact so I can credit (and thank) you.

Creation

Here you just make a rough draft of the image. First you need a sex, this is an easy decision for the most part. And then you need color but just now for the first layer only (no cloths or accessories), which includes race, hair, eyes, and privates. And texture, which you might have accidentally imagined with color. All the same things as you needed for color except the eyes. Now you need base frills, like piercing, hair dyes, or tattoos. And here would be a good time to look at what time period your character is from. Most likely he will be in present day but if you want something exotic you could make it in ancient China, or the British Empire.
So now you need clothes. Along with the time thing these would have more to do with where you're from. Almost all over the world in the modern day it's all the same: rags on the street, formal in Beverly Hills, Gothic in the ally; stuff like that. And make sure you add texture and color to anything that might matter, but don't waste the reader's time by going on forever.

Description

You know the importance of a good description, you just need to know how to describe it.

Image

Every texture counts, every color, every feel, taste (not so much as the rest), everything counts. Every body part counts, every curve, every strand, toe, every piece counts. And you can't leave out color: pale, white as paper, chocolate brown.

Donna pushed open th screen door and poked her head through. Her sleek dark brown hair fell to one side of her head in front of her shoulder. As she reached her hand up to wave she shyly recoiled and acted as if to scratch under her left hazel eye.
As for her personality; she boldly walked in the door and shut it behind her, the breeze she created ruffled her black shirt as it curved over her small breasts and flat stomach.

Personality

Now you have a picture of less then a thousand words of who your dealing with. But to make this picture more valuable, we need a personality. Have you ever read a story that's something like, "Donna is a very shy woman," and then she goes and drinks a gallon of wine before she leaves the room? How does this happen? Answer: some one was lying!!! And I don't think you like to lie that much. So how do you get around this? You put in place of the phrase (Donna is shy) this: "-Character's Name- is -Adjective-. And then go on with writing your story. After completing your story go back and read it over. Replacing -Adjective- with words that fit.

But this is a small part of psychology. People have different likings forall sorts of things in life. So you need to give them a little bit of history depending on how long your story is. If someone was abused as a child they might take it out as an adult when they have the power to. Or if someone was a late bloomer they might be curious of what there is. A lot of things go on and they are all personalities that make up a story. Often a writer will use their own likings to put in a character's mind. Like the author enjoys hot chocolate, then most of the time their character will also. So try and think of what you've seen other authors use and not just what you want, think of your target audience.

Target Audience

You can't get away with getting everyone (and I mean everyone) who reads your story to like it. So you most always need someone to first pass your story to.
* Last updated by: StoryFan on 10/10/2008 @ 12:45 PM *