#character worksheets

[royallyprincesslilly]

I’m doing these character worksheets (which are more like inch thick packets) and they are no joke.

By the end of this I am going to know more about these characters than I do myself.

😭😭

[jpolish-writes-queer-ya-fantasy]

The Sweet (and Stressful) Sound of Character Development

Ahh, tumblr. The home of wonderful and wonderfully important questions!

A great Anon with an unfortunate computer issue asked: "Hi Jenn! I was wondering if you had any character development sheets you used, or any that you really liked? I used to have one I used often, which helped round out my characters, but lost it when my computer got a virus and had to be wiped. Can't wait for your book!"

Oh my! I’m so sorry about your computer virus: boooooo.

I don’t use worksheets, per se, but I do have a bunch of exercises that I love using, especially when I’m feeling like I’m in a writing rut.

First, I absolutely love writing lists of “20 Things Readers Will Never Know about X Character.” I don’t like the idea of keeping secrets from readers; that’s not what the exercise is about for me. For me, it’s about all the little things that make a person… well, a person! Little facts about their first crushes, their friendships, their random fears, random incidents that they’ve experienced, that might not directly show up in the book, but will probably show through in their behavior and feelings somehow.

For example, think of headcanons that fans often make about TV show characters or book characters. For example, Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter books has difficulty conjuring a Patronus, but can handle basically every other spell no problem.

Because of this, I have long-since believed ("headcanonned") that Hermione experiences some form of depression, like me: conjuring a Patronus Charm involves the ability to wipe your mind and body clean of fear and doubt and overwhelming sadness and just focus on a happy memory inside you. Hermione has so much trouble with that, consistently. But, nothing in the books ever says this about her flat-out.

So, if I were writing a “20 Things Readers Will Never Know about X Character,” I might write a lot about Hermione’s experiences with depressive episodes before Hogwarts and even during her Hogwarts years.

Then again, if it were me, I would explicitly discuss it in the books, as well, because representation is soooo important! That said, the “20 Things” exercise is such a great way to learn about your characters that it might become a “20 Things I Need to Make Sure Readers Know about X Character”!!! (Just make sure you weave the information seamlessly into the narrative so you’re not just info-dumping information about them!)

And, I also like writing fan fiction about my characters.

For example, with LUNAV, my debut novel, it’s set in a fantasy world, right? So, sometimes I wonder: what if Sadie and Evelyn went on a date in this world, in this very restaurant? What if they were students in New York City? What if they were my students? What if they met in a coffee shop in this world instead of in a forest full of snow and magic in the land of Lunav?

Those are super fun to write, and they give a lot of insight into who these people are, and how their environments shape them, and what the cores of their personalities are. Just like a well-written fan fiction AU, it takes a lot of knowledge of a character to keep them consistently in character even when you’re writing them in a completely different situation than the ones they usually find themselves in.

I know those things aren’t worksheets, but I hope they’re helpful anyway!! Feel free to ask more questions: this was a great one!

Your characters are going to be amazing :)

[arijensineink]

Been trying out character templates since I've never been organized enough in the past to use them. I like 'em a lot but definitely finding a Fantasy-specific one would be more ideal. Do you use character templates/worksheets? If you do, what kinds and how do you like to use them?

[gogeeksandgeeklets]

NaNo Prep 5.5 - 10Q's for Your Characters

NaNo Prep 5.5 – 10Q’s for Your Characters

This worksheet will be excellent for you to utilize over and over, as your characters will always have different answers to these. nano-prep-10qs-gg ^^ This is the printable PDF for your use. There’s room for you to write your answers for up to three characters on each page. Stay tuned for – NaNo Prep #6 – Know Your Audience

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[gogeeksandgeeklets]

NaNo Prep - Character Worksheets

NaNo Prep – Character Worksheets

The following character sheets are designed to give your characters depth and reality. Hopefully this can be the launching point for you to be able to find all the details about your characters, and share with your readers a selection of players who are memorable. Likable or not, you need your characters to leap off the page, and try to steal each scene from one another, so you have delicious…

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[inthewritemind]

NaNoWrimo 2 Week Prep - Day 3: Meet Your Main Character

Main Characters are important. I mean, your whole story kind of revolves around them. So having an in-depth, well thought out main character is important. Your job today is to get a solid grip on who your protagonist is as a person and their backstory.

Some people like to name their characters before they do anything else, other people like to build their characters and then pick a name that embodies their personality. It's up to you how/when you choose the name of your character. Just remember that it is okay to change their name whenever you want. I once wrote an entire 80,000 word first draft and then decided that I hated my protagonist's name, so I changed it. It is completely okay to do that. Here are some tools to help you pick a name:

Behind The Name (Name Meanings)

Name Playground

Name Generators

Tips On Picking A Name

The next step is to fill out some character worksheets. There's a whole bunch of these out there, so take a look at a few and mix and match the questions if you want! I usually use the first one on the list. Remember that you don't have to answer every single question if it doesn't fit with your novel/character.

Character Development Worksheet 1

Character Development Worksheet 2

Character Development Worksheet 3

Character Flaw List

I also really like to take personality tests for my characters. I tend to stick with MBTI (Myers-Briggs) tests. I usually take two different tests and see if the results are the same. If they are, I'll look up personality profiles and see if it fits my character. If they're different, I'll look up both the personality profiles, see which one fits my character better and then take the tests again to see if I have a better idea of the answers.

MBTI Character Reference Sheet

MBTI Test 1

MBTI Test 2

The last thing that I'll do when building my protagonist is write them a 1-2 page biography. What are the important events that have happened in their life up until now? What is their relationship like with their family? What caused them to be interested in their interests etc.

That's all for now! As always, hit me up on the NaNoWriMo site as a writing buddy (Username is sharring). You can track the tag for this prep series here.

Happy writing!