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Do you know your own characters?



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Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:43 pm
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AmatuerWritings says...



I have acquired this template for a character sheet through my creative writing class last year.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pMh ... sp=sharing

Feel free to use it :3
Last edited by AmatuerWritings on Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Your life is the Story
You are the Author
Write your own Happily Ever After

~Brice Schultz~ ~AmatuerWritings~
  





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Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:00 pm
Holysocks says...



Cool! For links, you can just copy and paste them like: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pMh ... sp=sharing

But if you want to title your link, that's when you use the [url][/url], like this. Note: When using the [url][/url] you do it like this: [url=url goes here]( remember to put the equals in ) and then text goes here[/url]

Hopefully that was somewhat understandable... and hopefully I actually got it right! XD
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Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:32 pm
Rosendorn says...



The one problem with that character sheet I see is it has no slot for motive.

Motive is the thing that really drives everything about your character forward. If you don't know why they're doing something, then you can't accurately determine how they'll progress in the story, or what choices they'll make. A character who values money will behave much differently than a character who values friendship.

Also, the idea that strengths/weaknesses are distinctly different things is a problematic mindset. The idea that somebody will always be seen as this way and will always have strengths help and always have weaknesses hurt is not a way to develop a fleshed out character. Strengths will sometimes hurt, or be taken the wrong way (take confidence— different people will see it as arrogance, while it can also make the character not properly see risk. However, it's often put as a positive trait) and sometimes weaknesses will be useful (somebody who's anxious and withdrawn could be always listening, and could have the best danger sense of the lot, but anxiety is considered a weakness).

Keep those things in mind when evaluating character sheets, because they are absolutely critical questions.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:50 pm
AmatuerWritings says...



..........this is just to help get the basic backbone of your character, it was used to help me create a superhero/ short story characters in my creative writing class >.<
Your life is the Story
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Write your own Happily Ever After

~Brice Schultz~ ~AmatuerWritings~
  





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Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:23 pm
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Vervain says...



@AmatuerWritings, Rosey was just pointing out that the sheet isn't going to be the end-all be-all, and it might not help create rounded characters as much as you'd hope it would. Even the best of things has its flaws, and it's true that if you think of strengths and weaknesses as being completely separate then you're going to end up with characters that aren't human so much as a facsimile of humanness.

Just something to look out for: You might want to combine the ideas of strengths and weaknesses and give it a situational basis, or you might want to add a spot for a long-term goal or motive throughout the story. Why does the character do what they do? It's the driving point behind them, and without that, no matter how well-rounded they are, they're not full characters.

Even a bare backbone of your character needs to have a motive—otherwise you'll end up writing a character without a motive, without a reason for being in the story, and without a reason for existence. Everyone has a reason why they do things, after all.

Just a few things to think on!
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Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:22 pm
Rosendorn says...



Yep, Ark's got it.

The context you got it in doesn't absolve it from critique. I'm pointing out you have other things to think about when you create any character, even if that character is in a short story. Motive applies everywhere, and I find any character sheets lacking motive to be insufficient to get a really good character.

I'd also argue that motive is the true backbone of a character, because motive is what drives everything about the character forward. If you don't have it, or at least some goal, then you don't know what choices your character is going to make or what they're going to do to reach what they want.

Yes, it can be a useful sheet. But it has a few things that, if you don't think about, will lead to mediocre characters and bad habits. Hence why I pointed them out: so you can think about them and write better characters, even for "just" a short story in class.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:36 am
r4p17 says...



I agree with all the above advice, and I might add that you don't want this to bleed over into your writing too much. People don't really care much about body features. I just form an image in my head automatically. It might be totally different from what someone else sees.

That said, I still use character templates, but I also keep a good idea of what they are like in my head. It can also help to do character sketches. :)
One writer with one imagination makes thousands of new worlds and stories." ~ Anonymous author
  








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