![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedlamsbardI have been doing character exercises with Creative Writing Club for the past few weeks; my default narrator is one Beau Lorne, so he's the one I've been working with. And the results are fun. (The exercises happen to come out of this book, which I have on loan from my AP English teacher, who also happens to be my Creative Writing Club adviser. Not this book, although I also have that one too.)
(Also, if someone would like the writing exercises, just drop a line and I'll e-mail them to you.)
Carefully chosen details can reveal character in fascinating and different ways. Writer and teacher Ron Carlson calls such details "evidence" -- as if you were creating/gathering evidence for/against your character to bring his case (his story) to the reader. Sometimes details tell something about the character described and also something different about the character making the observation.
Beau is the sort of person who can make a five-course meal out of three MREs and a candy bar.
Beau is the sort of person whose friends' wives come to when the boyfriends they're cheating on their husbands with are abusing them.
Beau is the sort of person who volunteers at elementary schools when he isn't out killing people.
Beau is the sort of person who believes in four things: the Constitution, the Ranger Creed, his men, and his family.
Beau is the sort of Southern gentleman who would hit a woman.
Beau is the sort of person who would kill a sleeping man from behind, in the dark, in cold blood.
Beau is the sort of person who would kill a man and his wife without remorse, then make sure their baby is in safe hands before he leaves.
Beau is the sort of man who knits.
Beau is the sort of person who believes in vengeance.
Beau is the sort of soldier who follows orders only when it suits him.
Beau is the sort of person who will hold a grudge for ten years. Or twenty.
Beau is the sort of person who thinks Shakespeare is overrated, but nurses a secret passion for Greek classics and Russian literature.
Beau is the sort of soldier who wants to get promoted, but would also rather stay out in the field.
Beau is the sort of person who would happily nuke a small continent if he thought it would make a point.
If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eight of it being above water. A writer who omits thigns because he does not know them only makes hollow pieces in his writing. (Hemingway)
Character's name: Beauregard Jeremiah Lorne
Character's nickname: Beau
Sex: male
Age: 36
Looks: tall, tan, brown hair, blue eyes, scars
Education: West Point, B.S. Physics; USC, M.S. Astrophysics; Georgia Tech, halfway through Ph.D. Astrophysics before dropped out
Vocation/occupation: U.S. Army Special Forces officer, Ranger
Status and money: United States Army major, fairly decent money
Marital status: divorced
Family, ethnicity: extended (close: father, mother, brother, cousins); Scots-Irish
Diction, accent, etc.: Southern accent, South Carolina/Charlotte, NC area
Relationships: good with family, estranged from brother, well-liked by SpecOps, not so much by the Army brass
Places (home, office, car, etc.): house in Georgia, nice sportscar (rebuilt), rooms on North Carolina
Possessions: books, computer, knitting, DVDs, weapons
Recreaton, hobbies: knits, cooks, works on car, volunteers at local elementary school, runs
Obsessions: ?
Beliefs: believes in God on and off, Constitution, Ranger Creed, men, family
Politics: Republican with Democratic leanings, more libertarian
Sexual history: almost completely straight (two-beer queer)
Ambitions: U.S. Army career, wants to stay with the Rangers
Religion: Southern Baptist, lapsed
Superstitions: many, mostly military related
Fears: claustrophobic, dying for no reason, failing, the dark
Attitudes: cocky, sarcastic -- respects authority as due
Character flaws: stubborn, petty, sometimes blind, angers easily, emotionally either too involved or not enough
Character strengths: stubborn, idealist, optimist, faithful
Pets: none (wants a dog, ex-wife was allergic and he was deployed too often)
Taste in books, music, etc.: hates Shakespeare, likes mystery, Russian novels, Greek classics, classic adventure novels (Edgar Rice Burroughs, etc.); classic rock/country/blues; action
Journal entries: no
Correspondence: writers letters home (on paper) when deployed
Food preferences: anything -- American, Creole/Cajun
Handwriting: cursive, gorgeous but pretty much unreadable
Astrological sign: Scorpio
Talents: killing people, knitting, cooking, being underestimated, getting captured
(Note: I generally hate character lists, but I like this one because it's supposed to be done after you write your story, to see how much you really know about your characters.)
(Also, if someone would like the writing exercises, just drop a line and I'll e-mail them to you.)
Carefully chosen details can reveal character in fascinating and different ways. Writer and teacher Ron Carlson calls such details "evidence" -- as if you were creating/gathering evidence for/against your character to bring his case (his story) to the reader. Sometimes details tell something about the character described and also something different about the character making the observation.
Beau is the sort of person who can make a five-course meal out of three MREs and a candy bar.
Beau is the sort of person whose friends' wives come to when the boyfriends they're cheating on their husbands with are abusing them.
Beau is the sort of person who volunteers at elementary schools when he isn't out killing people.
Beau is the sort of person who believes in four things: the Constitution, the Ranger Creed, his men, and his family.
Beau is the sort of Southern gentleman who would hit a woman.
Beau is the sort of person who would kill a sleeping man from behind, in the dark, in cold blood.
Beau is the sort of person who would kill a man and his wife without remorse, then make sure their baby is in safe hands before he leaves.
Beau is the sort of man who knits.
Beau is the sort of person who believes in vengeance.
Beau is the sort of soldier who follows orders only when it suits him.
Beau is the sort of person who will hold a grudge for ten years. Or twenty.
Beau is the sort of person who thinks Shakespeare is overrated, but nurses a secret passion for Greek classics and Russian literature.
Beau is the sort of soldier who wants to get promoted, but would also rather stay out in the field.
Beau is the sort of person who would happily nuke a small continent if he thought it would make a point.
If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eight of it being above water. A writer who omits thigns because he does not know them only makes hollow pieces in his writing. (Hemingway)
Character's name: Beauregard Jeremiah Lorne
Character's nickname: Beau
Sex: male
Age: 36
Looks: tall, tan, brown hair, blue eyes, scars
Education: West Point, B.S. Physics; USC, M.S. Astrophysics; Georgia Tech, halfway through Ph.D. Astrophysics before dropped out
Vocation/occupation: U.S. Army Special Forces officer, Ranger
Status and money: United States Army major, fairly decent money
Marital status: divorced
Family, ethnicity: extended (close: father, mother, brother, cousins); Scots-Irish
Diction, accent, etc.: Southern accent, South Carolina/Charlotte, NC area
Relationships: good with family, estranged from brother, well-liked by SpecOps, not so much by the Army brass
Places (home, office, car, etc.): house in Georgia, nice sportscar (rebuilt), rooms on North Carolina
Possessions: books, computer, knitting, DVDs, weapons
Recreaton, hobbies: knits, cooks, works on car, volunteers at local elementary school, runs
Obsessions: ?
Beliefs: believes in God on and off, Constitution, Ranger Creed, men, family
Politics: Republican with Democratic leanings, more libertarian
Sexual history: almost completely straight (two-beer queer)
Ambitions: U.S. Army career, wants to stay with the Rangers
Religion: Southern Baptist, lapsed
Superstitions: many, mostly military related
Fears: claustrophobic, dying for no reason, failing, the dark
Attitudes: cocky, sarcastic -- respects authority as due
Character flaws: stubborn, petty, sometimes blind, angers easily, emotionally either too involved or not enough
Character strengths: stubborn, idealist, optimist, faithful
Pets: none (wants a dog, ex-wife was allergic and he was deployed too often)
Taste in books, music, etc.: hates Shakespeare, likes mystery, Russian novels, Greek classics, classic adventure novels (Edgar Rice Burroughs, etc.); classic rock/country/blues; action
Journal entries: no
Correspondence: writers letters home (on paper) when deployed
Food preferences: anything -- American, Creole/Cajun
Handwriting: cursive, gorgeous but pretty much unreadable
Astrological sign: Scorpio
Talents: killing people, knitting, cooking, being underestimated, getting captured
(Note: I generally hate character lists, but I like this one because it's supposed to be done after you write your story, to see how much you really know about your characters.)