WHAT DOES YOUR CHARACTER LOOK LIKE?
One way of choosing your characters’ appearance is to recollect pictures from your memory or from catalogues, magazines and the Internet. Another way to picture characters is on casting-call for TV or film, and choose actors who could play the parts.
Be careful about taking characters direct from life; this can get you into trouble if people recognize themselves. But you can use the features of A, the hair of B, the quirks of C, and the height of D. Or you can simply see your character in your mind’s eye.
Here are some lists from which you can choose physical features such as hair and eye colour, general looks, inner feelings, where they live and their background. I have included clothes because what people choose to wear these days, says a lot about them. There is a list of hobbies; use this too because having an interest gives a character depth. There is also a list of faults and bad habits, as nobody is perfect, and a flaw makes a character more believable and interesting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hair colours
| HAIR COLOURS: |
| Auburn |
| |
| Carroty |
| Conker colored |
| Copper |
| Red gold |
| Titian |
| |
| Blonde |
| |
| Ash blonde, |
| Flaxen, |
| Golden |
| Honey colored |
| Platinum blonde |
| Wheaten gold |
| |
| Black |
| Blue-black |
| Colour of a raven’s wing |
| Colour of night |
| |
| Brown |
| |
| Mahogany |
| Mousy |
| Nut brown |
| |
| Old people’s hair |
| |
| Balding |
| Grey |
| Salt and pepper |
| Silvery |
| Sparse |
| White |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| HAIR STYLES: styles |
| |
| Afro |
| Bob |
| Braided |
| Buzz cut |
| Close cropped |
| Corn rows |
| Curly |
| Dreadlocks |
| Fringe |
| Flat-top |
| Long |
| Pageboy |
| Plaits |
| Ponytail |
| Ringlets |
| Short back and sides |
| Skinhead |
| Straight |
| Topknot |
| Wavy |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PERSONALITY: |
| Personality |
| Alert |
| Aloof |
| Ambitious |
| Arrogant |
| Athletic |
| Brash |
| Busybody |
| Careless |
| Charming |
| Cheerful |
| Creative |
| Curious |
| Demonstrative |
| Dreamy |
| Gentle |
| Gossipy |
| Greedy |
| Gullible |
| Humorous |
| Humorless |
| Imaginative |
| Impractical |
| Intelligent |
| Jealous |
| Lazy |
| Loyal |
| Noisy |
| Polite |
| Proud |
| Quick-tempered |
| Sensitive |
| Show-off |
| Shy |
| Smug |
| Sneaky |
| Stubborn |
| Suspicious |
| Whiny |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| EMOTIONS: |
| Emotions |
| Anger |
| Anxiety |
| Apathy |
| Boredom |
| Confusion |
| Curiosity |
| Despair |
| Excitement |
| Fear |
| Fondness |
| Forgiveness |
| Friendship |
| Frustration |
| Gratitude |
| Grief |
| Guilt |
| Happiness |
| Hate |
| Hope |
| Hostility |
| Irritation |
| Jealousy |
| Loneliness |
| Longing |
| Love |
| Resignation |
| Restlessness |
| Sadness |
| Shame |
| Surprise |
| Suspicion |
| Sympathy |
| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| HOME WHERE CHARACTERS LIVE: |
| |
| Apartment |
| Bungalow |
| Cabin |
| Caravan |
| Castle |
| Cave |
| Chalet |
| Cottage |
| Flat |
| Hotel |
| House |
| Houseboat |
| Hut |
| Palace |
| Semi-detached house |
| Town house |
| Tree house |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PROFESSION: |
| |
| Accountant |
| Actor |
| Airman/pilot |
| Architect |
| Artist |
| Banker |
| Baron/Baroness |
| Cab driver |
| Chef |
| Clergyman |
| Dancer |
| Dressmaker |
| Duke/Duchess |
| Earl/Countess |
| Enchanter |
| Engineer |
| Estate Agent |
| Gardener |
| Grand Vizier |
| Hairdresser |
| Historian |
| Horseman/woman |
| Interior Decorator |
| Journalist |
| Judge |
| King/Queen |
| Prince/Princess |
| Lawyer |
| Model |
| Musician |
| Nurse |
| Policeman/woman |
| Postman/woman |
| Sailor |
| Salesman |
| Secretary |
| Shopkeeper |
| Social worker |
| Soldier |
| Sportsman/woman |
| Spy |
| Stockbroker |
| Teacher |
| Undertaker |
| Waiter/Waitress |
| Writer |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| HOBBIES: | Computer Games | Painting |
| Acting | Embroidery | Reading |
| Airplane watching | Fencing | Record Collecting |
| Archery | Fishing | Scuba-diving |
| Ballet | Gameboy | Sports |
| Birdwatching | Jacks | Stamp collecting |
| Boating/Sailing | Jigsaw puzzles | Trainsporting |
| Camping | Martial Arts | TV/DVD-watching |
| Card collecting | Music | |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| CHARACTER FAULTS |
| AND BAD HABITS: |
| Character faults and bad habits |
| Arguing |
| Bad table manners |
| Casual |
| Cheating |
| Clumsiness |
| Impatience |
| Interrupting |
| Lying |
| Nail-biting |
| Noisiness |
| Nosiness |
| Quarrelling |
| Quitting too soon |
| Rudeness |
| Selfishness |
| Showing off |
| Unpunctuality |
| Untidiness |
| Vulgarity |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| HOW DO THEY TRAVEL? How do tey travel? | |
| Airplane | Ocean Liner |
| Bicycle | Quad bike |
| Bus | Rocket/Spaceship |
| Car | Sailing Boat |
| Coach and Horses | Scooter |
| Four-wheel Drive Car | Spots Car |
| Helicopter | Train |
| Horseback | Van |
| Lorry | Motorbike |
| Magic Carpet | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| EDUCATION: | |
| Apprentice | High School |
| Boarding School | Pre College |
| Comprehensive | University |
| Governess/Tutor | |
| Home Schooling | |
| Kindergarten | |
| Primary School | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| CLOTHES: |
| Clothes |
| Bikinis |
| Blouses |
| Boots |
| Caps |
| Dresses |
| Dressing gowns |
| Earmuffs |
| Fleeces |
| Gloves |
| Gym shoes |
| Jackets |
| Jeans |
| Jumpers |
| Mittens |
| Overcoats |
| Pajamas/Nightdresses |
| Raincoats |
| Sandals |
| Scarves |
| Shirts |
| Shorts |
| Swim suits |
| T-shirts |
| Ties |
| Trainers |
| Vests and pants |
| Waistcoats |
| Wellingtons |
| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generally, how do you make your readers like the hero/heroine?
(I don’t really want to repeat the theory here. What’s good that we like, and bad that we dislike is judged by a moral condition we consciously accept. A discussion on this can go really elaborate. For the time being, let’s look at it this way):
• You make him do things the reader would love to do but can’t.
• Show thoughts and actions with which readers will sympathize.
• Make him upright, honest, dependable, brave and clever but modest about it; but not all these characteristics at once.
• You make him the kind of person the reader would like to be, someone he envies.
• Don’t make him a goody-goody – a few faults make a person more human (none of us is perfect). But let the faults be endearing. For instance, if you make him unreliable, let it be about time or remembering things, not about something important like keeping promises.
• Give him a sense of humor.
• Once he is established, make life difficult for him: if the odds are against him, the reader will be on his side.
• Focus on him: let other characters like him and say so to each other. • Let the story be told from his point of view.
Generally, how do you make the reader dislike the villain?
• Make him do something loathsome or reprehensible. Being unkind to an animal will set most young readers against a character.
• Make him unreliable or untrustworthy. Let him be caught out telling lies.
• Make him speak harshly to a character you have made the reader like.
• Make him humorless.
• Make him a hypocrite.
0 comments:
Post a Comment