Last week, in part 1 of this character profiles series, I mentioned that I was going to start working on character profiles for my next story. To help get me started, I paid a visit to Pixabay (not the best move as I tend to end up browsing this site for hours on end, salivating over all the fabulous images) and began my search. I typed female into the search bar because I knew I wanted my protagonist to be female. This yielded thousands of results but nothing in the first couple of pages jumped out at me. I decided to get a little more accurate so I opted to use genre instead. Most of my stories tend to have paranormal or fantasy elements so I put fantasy into the search.

My Female Protagonist

That did the trick and within minutes I had five images that had called to me. These ladies all had stories they wanted to tell. The teary eyes, weary souls, stories I could definitely work with. I settled on the image above. There was something about her the spoke the loudest and different elements in the picture drew me in. The colour of her hair, the landscape, and even the broach holding her cloak closed. I could picture her in the Scottish Highlands or the West of Ireland.

My next stage, of course, is to figure out her story, what makes her tick, what she wants, and what or who is going to stop her. I have a list of questions that I am going to run through, but initial thoughts are that she is 18, the broach is a family heirloom or a signifier for the family she is part of, she has a love of animals and nature, and she blames herself for not being able to help save the people she loved.

Yes, I know. You’ve probably spotted the death and grief element creeping in, but I promise there will be a happy ending for Muireann or Aine, or Murna, (I haven’t fully decided on a name yet.)

The Shadowed Male

I mentioned above that I saved five images. One of these is a male shadowed figure. He called out as I was scrolling by and I just knew he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. So far, I don’t know too much about him. No doubt that will change as I hear him shouting in my mind as I’m typing this. He’s my antagonist but he’s not really bad per-say. I think he’s a bit of a lost soul too and from what I’m getting, he wants recognition and he is the reason my female character is still alive. He plans to hide in the shadows but I think he will play an important role as the story unfolds.

The Spiteful Sibling

I still have to find a picture of his sister. She’s a character that came to me this morning and will be his nemesis. I’m seeing her as spiteful and nasty and someone who gloats and looks down on people. Yep, I don’t like her and I’m picturing a dark-haired (almost black) female around 18 or 19.

Will Pictures for Character Profiles Work?

I have to admit, the idea of using pictures or even planning, caused some anxiety. The last time I tried planning, I spent two weeks laying out everything only for the whole thing to change as soon as I started writing. This experiment has so far been a success and I have lots of ideas. If I can get inside the head’s of my characters before I start writing it might make it easier to write the story. I don’t know yet but I am curious to see if this is going to be time well spent or if my usual fly by the seat of my pants method is actually the better way for me to create.

I’m still excited and I’m looking forward to questioning my characters and sharing the results with you.

Until next time,

Keep reading and writing,

Amanda

Amanda J Evans

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.

www.amandajevans.com