I’m looking at character profiles today and starting a new writing experiment to help me determine if this is something I should be doing. The idea came about after reading some interesting character profile questions that writers should know and I kinda liked the idea of doing something like this. I’m also trying to stay focused while I decide what story to write next.
Why Character Profiles?
I finished the first draft of my Asylum story on Friday. A total of 14,353 words. The maximum I could have is 15K, so I’ve done well condensing the story to fit the word count. It’s sitting on my computer now where it will stay for at least another week before I start the editing process.
It’s strange not having something to write every morning so I’ve been journaling or trying to :-). So many ideas are popping into my head and screaming for attention, but I’m not listening. I have a few things I want to do before jumping into a new story. For one, I have to decide what project to work on next. I have a couple of WIPs, a middle-grade early teen story, a paranormal romance, Finding Forgiveness (a second book for Finding Forever), Return to Winterland (a sequel to Winterland, my book out on submission), and I think there are a couple of other stories too.
I want to try and do something different this time. I want to try and do a storyboard and character profiles, and maybe even some planning before I jump in. This is a massive thing for me as I normally just write the story, going in blind and letting everything unfold day after day. I love the surprises that come with writing this way, but I want to try the other way just to see. I love the idea of creating character profiles and I’m curious to see if knowing my characters inside out before I start writing will have an impact.
My Character Profile Plan and Experiment
My plan is to browse for images online that capture my attention and then use them to build my characters. I’m always particularly drawn to eyes so I know they will play a big part in the character images that I choose and I want to see if by looking at them, if a character will form and what their story will be.
It’s something new, and exciting, and my experiment is to see what happens after creating a fully fleshed-out character profile. Will I still want to write the story? Will I feel that because I already know the story I won’t want to write it? Will knowing everything beforehand take the excitement out of writing?
It’s something I’ve never tried and I’m excited to see how it will work out. I’ll be sure to share my results too and maybe share some pictures and progress reports as I go along.
I hope you’ll join me on this journey.
Until next time,
Keep reading and writing,
Amanda
Amanda J Evans is an award-winning Irish author and writing coach. Amanda writes adult romance that often crosses into paranormal and fantasy. Growing up with heroes like Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, her stories centre on good versus evil with a splice of love and magic thrown in too. Her books have all won awards and her novella, Hear Me Cry, won the Book of the Year Award at the Dublin Writers Conference 2018. Amanda is also the author of Surviving Suicide: A Memoir from Those Death Left Behind, published in 2012.
Good for you giving it a try.
When I do character profiles the details are background information which may impact the present and the future but is not the story to be written. As well as factual details like DOB, education etc etc, I write twenty things about the character that the reader will never know but they are things which developed the character.
Interesting to see how it works for you.
Thanks Lynda,
I’m planning to go more in-depth. I’m going to look at conflict and motivations as well. What drives the character, why they want, what stands in their way, etc. I’ll also be doing the normal facts as well such as what you’ve listed above. But I really want to go deeper. For example, if I have a character who always wears jeans no matter what the weather. The reader will know this and they might be told the reason for it is a 3 inch scar on the inside of her thigh from a fall in the playground when she was six. What they might not know is that although the scar reminds her of this day, it also reminds her that it’s the last outing she had with her father before he died. Things like that. Playgrounds will have a profound effect on her character and so if she is in a playground it will have an effect on her mental state and the decisions she’ll make in that moment.
It’s all trial and error at the moment, but it might be great fun to do as well.
I’m with you on that. I have a male character with a sister ten years older who used to paint his toenails when he was a baby. While he doesn’t remember those incidents, he notices when one of the female characters paints her toe nails to match her outfit and is drawn to her.
I think it is great fun. You’ll have material you can use for another characters if it doesn’t get into the current one. Good luck with it, Amanda.
Oh, and I will be calling on you soon. I have two copies of Nightmare Realities 2 I want autographing. Are you up for it?
That’s a great piece of information to have on a character Lynda.
Yes, am here most days. let me know when you’re calling. Be more than happy to sign the books.
Amanda