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Character Description sheet

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Gemmetra

PostPosted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 3:55 pm


Disclaimer: Does not belong to Gemmetra or S is for Spaz, sorry just had to put that

Ok, so I'm in a writer's guild elsewhere on Gaia, and the leader of said guild posted this there. They found it somewhere else, and borrowed it, but they don't remember where or anything, so I'm just going to quote them. And I looked at it, and decided that I could put it here (even if some of you may have seen it before), since it might help some people out. It's a sheet you can fill out to help you develope characters more (I guess in the context of this guild it would be OCs). To be honest, I had trouble filling everything out when I used it sweatdrop , but it's kind of fun!

S is for Spaz
Character Chart
Character’s full name:
Reason or meaning of name:
Character’s nickname:
Reason for nickname:
Birth date:

Physical appearance
Age:
How old does he/she appear:
Weight:
Height:
Body build:
Shape of face:
Eye color:
Glasses or contacts:
Skin tone:
Distinguishing marks:
Predominant features:
Hair color:
Type of hair:
Hairstyle:
Voice:
Overall attractiveness:
Physical disabilities:
Usual fashion of dress:
Favorite outfit:
Jewelry or accessories:

Personality
Good personality traits:
Bad personality traits:
Mood character is most often in:
Sense of humor:
Character’s greatest joy in life:
Character’s greatest fear:
Why?
What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil?
Character is most at ease when:
Most ill at ease when:
Enraged when:
Depressed or sad when:
Priorities:
Life philosophy:
If granted one wish, it would be:
Why?
Character’s soft spot:
Is this soft spot obvious to others?
Greatest strength:
Greatest vulnerability or weakness:
Biggest regret:
Minor regret:
Biggest accomplishment:
Minor accomplishment:
Past failures he/she would be embarrassed to have people know about:
Why?
Character’s darkest secret:
Does anyone else know?

Goals
Drives and motivations:
Immediate goals:
Long term goals:
How the character plans to accomplish these goals:
How other characters will be affected:

Past
Hometown:
Type of childhood:
Pets:
First memory:
Most important childhood memory:
Why:
Childhood hero:
Dream job:
Education:
Religion:
Finances:

Present
Current location:
Currently living with:
Pets:
Religion:
Occupation:
Finances:

Family
Mother:
Relationship with her:
Father:
Relationship with him:
Siblings:
Relationship with them:
Spouse:
Relationship with him/her:
Children:
Relationship with them:
Other important family members:

Favorites
Color:
Least favorite color:
Music:
Food:
Literature:
Form of entertainment:
Expressions:
Mode of transportation:
Most prized possession:

Habits
Hobbies:
Plays a musical instrument?
Plays a sport?
How he/she would spend a rainy day:
Spending habits:
Smokes:
Drinks:
Other drugs:
What does he/she do too much of?
What does he/she do too little of?
Extremely skilled at:
Extremely unskilled at:
Nervous tics:
Usual body posture:
Mannerisms:
Peculiarities:

Traits
Optimist or pessimist?
Introvert or extrovert?
Daredevil or cautious?
Logical or emotional?
Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat?
Prefers working or relaxing?
Confident or unsure of himself/herself?
Animal lover?

Self-perception
How he/she feels about himself/herself:
One word the character would use to describe self:
One paragraph description of how the character would describe self:
What does the character consider his/her best personality trait?
What does the character consider his/her worst personality trait?
What does the character consider his/her best physical characteristic?
What does the character consider his/her worst physical characteristic?
How does the character think others perceive him/her:
What would the character most like to change about himself/herself:

Relationships with others
Opinion of other people in general:
Does the character hide his/her true opinions and emotions from others?
Person character most hates:
Best friend(s):
Love interest(s):
Person character goes to for advice:
Person character feels responsible for or takes care of:
Person character feels shy or awkward around:
Person character openly admires:
Person character secretly admires:
Most important person in character’s life before story starts:
After story starts:


It's so long. Maybe it will help some people though!
PostPosted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:06 pm


Wow tht's pretty detailed.

I've only made up one major character in a story (my unfinished beast of a story called "Eye of the Storm", which is a Superman Returns fanfic) and she seemed to be well received. I made up most of the stuff involving her on the fly, the only thing I knew for sure was her age (15) and that she was a normal high school student. Her journalism teacher made arrangements with various media outlets in the Metroplis area, including radio, tv stations, newpapers and magazines to take on a journalism student as an... not as an intern, but kind of like that. The students had to spend a few hours a week at whatever media outlet they were assigned to as part of their journalism project and had to learn how those agencies really worked behind the scenes. My character was randomly selectedt o go to the Daily Planet, and assigned to shadow Clark Kent (because of course, Clark can't say no.) It sounds cheesy, I know, but I really tried to play Trish as very average high school kid (average looks, skills, etc) and I think I did a decent job.

I did, however, run her through the 'Official Mary Sue Litmus Test' and she passed with flying colors. I highly recommend the test for OCs smile
I swear if every writer ran their character through the Mary Sue litmus test, there'd be a lot more interesting OCs on Ff.net, that's for darn sure!
http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm

I wish I could finish that story but I just can't motivate seem to get the muse going. It's depressing. Maybe after I finish the 3:10 to Yuma story I'm writing I'll take another look at it. Again.

Minniyar


Gemmetra

PostPosted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:56 am


I haven't used it when creating a character yet, but I did use it on some character's I've made already. It was interesting, and I realized that some things I thought were traits of my character actually weren't, and they were quite the opposite.
PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:07 pm


it is actually eaiser to to just make sure you can answer the following questions: what do my characters want? what do they do to get it, and how do their actions affect the people and world around them.

Lelandra
Vice Captain

Matelia legwll
Vice Captain

PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:10 am


I agree with Lelandra. Some of those "personality quizzes" are fun to fill out, especially to help get over some writers block as you can put the character in the situations the quiz suggests, but the author doesn't have to know every little thing about the characters as long as one knows the basics that Lelandra listed. It is interesting when your characters are willing to fill those out, but watch out for sarcasm and outright lies from the character to the author. xp

I believe that a true character lives outside of the author's bounds, and tends to argue with the author over minor details. Sometimes major plot twists too. wink They make their course apparent because there really is no other way for them to go. They are true to themselves and stay consistent, unless they undergo immense trauma for a change.

The main problem with Mary-Sue-itis is that those characters have no weaknesses. They are indestructible, perfect in every way, and yet everyone hates them. Give your character some weaknesses. emo Give them a vulnerability. Nobody's perfect, and that includes characters.

:p I think that effectively takes up my three cents.
PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:27 pm


It is actually more fun to make the characters have weaknesses than it is for them to be perfect. Perfect isn't interesting and it isn't normal. Inperfection has so many boundaries and options - that's what makes us all unique, the differences of our strengths & weaknesses.

Lelandra
Vice Captain

Gemmetra

PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:27 am


I know. I just put this up because it can be kind of fun to fill out (if you have the time). And some people can have trouble with certain areas. And yes, it is much more fun to give a character weaknesses.
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:23 pm


I usually make those kind of charts for my orignal characters. It really does make things easier but I've never made one that detailed. Maybe I'll give my chart a few more details.

Lanaura

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