Whether you are a novelist, a short story writer, or a bit of both, it's a pretty fair bet to say that you will have to, at some point, introduce characters. But how do you go about doing that? Character descriptions are hard to do. Actually, no, that's wrong. Good character descriptions are hard to do. Anybody can describe a person--but what does it take to provide a three-dimensional description that's dripping with life? How can you describe a character in such a way that the reader feels as though they have actually met this person? Well, there are lots of ways, really, from flowery to factual to caricatured, and everything in between. This game/exercise is for exploring all of them. Plus, I find describing a character can be a great way to get rid of writer's block. So this is really an all-round grand ol' idea, and loads of fun for the whole family.
How to Play
In each post, you will have to give two things: 1) a name for the next person, and 2) a description of the character who you thought of when you saw the name that the previous person posted. The name can be anything, from Fred Jones to Armadillo Inglebert--but it must be something you made up. Don't give names of real people or characters from books or movies or anything like that because the whole idea is that we are creating characters here. The character description should be somewhere between 100 and 400 words--so just a few short paragraphs, nothing huge. These descriptions can be either told from the point of view of the character being described or from the point of view of another character, or from a completely detached third person perspective. If you really want to do it in second person, you could do that too... but good luck. ^_~ Also, they can be in whatever tense you want (though good luck again if you're thinking of doing future-tense!).
Rules
~This thread is rated E, so that means nothing you wouldn't want someone under 12 years old to read. If you need to swear, please censor it with asterisks.
~Good grammar is, of course, a must. The whole idea is that your description should be the kind of thing you would want to be in the middle of a novel or short story you might write.
~No plagiarism (I'm not sure how you could plagiarize here, but I guess it might be possible...).
~Your character description must contain the name of the character you are describing.
~Once again, please make up all the character names you post.
~Have fun!
Got it? Great. Now I'll kick things off. Let's say the name posted by the person before me was Chickadee Williams. Hmm, let's see what I can come up with...
Spoiler
When I was little, there was only one person in all of Georgia whom I admired. Her name was Chickadee Williams.
On the surface, she was just like the rest of the Southern Belles--she was decently pretty, her dresses were the finest money could buy, her hair and face were always orchestrated with punctilious precision, and her manners were impeccable. She lived in one of those elegant, sprawling Georgia mansions on one of those vast Southern plantations. Servants and slaves constantly fluttered in a cloud around her, tending to her every whim. She was, as I say, not extraordinarily beautiful (her nose, as she would remind anyone who cared to listen, was "disastrously round") but she had a charm about her which pleased people.
On the surface, that is, she was everything I hated about the wealthy families who lorded over us.
But looking at surfaces never got anyone anywhere. It wasn't that sweet, dimple-cheeked girl who I admired, with miles of lace and bows flowing from her tiny waste--it was the other Chickadee. The real Chickadee. The Chickadee who would flash her perfect teeth and bat her dark lashes while slipping one of her porcelain hands into the pocket of that evening's handsome suitor. Rumors spread among my people, quicker than fire on dry grass. We all knew that she was the reason why every beau would leave her balls with half the riches he'd had when he went in. But we didn't say a word about it other than to each-other.
We hadn't the faintest idea of what she was doing with the riches (Lord knows she didn't need money!), but seeing her inspired me. Her story taught me then that stealing doesn't have to be an occupation. For her, it was a hobby. For me, now (undoubtedly thanks to her), it is a vocation.
On the surface, she was just like the rest of the Southern Belles--she was decently pretty, her dresses were the finest money could buy, her hair and face were always orchestrated with punctilious precision, and her manners were impeccable. She lived in one of those elegant, sprawling Georgia mansions on one of those vast Southern plantations. Servants and slaves constantly fluttered in a cloud around her, tending to her every whim. She was, as I say, not extraordinarily beautiful (her nose, as she would remind anyone who cared to listen, was "disastrously round") but she had a charm about her which pleased people.
On the surface, that is, she was everything I hated about the wealthy families who lorded over us.
But looking at surfaces never got anyone anywhere. It wasn't that sweet, dimple-cheeked girl who I admired, with miles of lace and bows flowing from her tiny waste--it was the other Chickadee. The real Chickadee. The Chickadee who would flash her perfect teeth and bat her dark lashes while slipping one of her porcelain hands into the pocket of that evening's handsome suitor. Rumors spread among my people, quicker than fire on dry grass. We all knew that she was the reason why every beau would leave her balls with half the riches he'd had when he went in. But we didn't say a word about it other than to each-other.
We hadn't the faintest idea of what she was doing with the riches (Lord knows she didn't need money!), but seeing her inspired me. Her story taught me then that stealing doesn't have to be an occupation. For her, it was a hobby. For me, now (undoubtedly thanks to her), it is a vocation.
Alright. I got a little carried away with that (they don't really have to be stories as much as that example was) but I think y'all get the idea now.
Here's a name for the first, brave volunteer:
Perry Quarter
Let the description commence!

