Lesson 1: The Simple Characteristics

Lesson 1: The Simple Characteristics

A Lesson by TopHatGirl
"

The basics of character creating.

"

      So, you're starting a piece of writing. Hooray! Well, as any person knows, a good piece of writing mostly needs a good character. Well, most mistakes people make is giving your character a name first. You shouldn't really do that, because then you start to build a different personality around that name. You wouldn't really name a character Bob then make him a handsome prince, would you? So, forget about the name for a second. First, the basics. Think about these things when creating a character:
  
                   Female of Male? (Important-especially if your writing in third person. You would want to know whether or not to but he, or she.)
 
                    Age? (Less important, but still up there. We would want to know if the guy was 93 and could jog a mile in thirty seconds.)

                    Species? (Is this person human, faerie, dragon, other?)

                     Unusual quirk? (What makes this certain character unique? Can they walk through walls? Been asleep for fifty years? Wear hiking boots with every outfit, even formal wear? Maybe not a basic, but important.)
 
                 Once you know these things, you know more about your character. You can form a relationship with them. But you still aren't down to the nitty-gritty of he/she. Get more in depth with your character in the next lesson.


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Comments

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Posted 3 Years Ago


I am working on my first book. the characteristics are easier for me to come up with, but the name for my charactors. I am having a hard time with.

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Posted 6 Years Ago


I agree.
The name usually comes about, for me at least, more from the characteristics I've already set in motion.

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Posted 7 Years Ago


Right

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Posted 7 Years Ago


thanks for spelling faerie right :)

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Posted 8 Years Ago


Thank you.

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Posted 8 Years Ago


Very helpful.

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Posted 9 Years Ago


...the grammatical errors are like pieces of fiberglass stuck in my skin. They're small and there's nothing I can do about them but they're irritating me and no amount of scratching will help!

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Posted 9 Years Ago


Definitely agree with not naming the character first! I think a lot of people also get stressed out over names, and never actually start writing.

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Posted 9 Years Ago


Great ! This is very helpful

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Posted 9 Years Ago


Thank you, I'm hoping to write a series that I think a lot of people will enjoy and your post will help.

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Characters-The Vital Organs In Any Writing


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Added on December 22, 2009
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TopHatGirl
TopHatGirl

[Redacted], NV



About
Hi, I'm TopHatGirl! If you're here about my character lessons or to get some advice, email me instead of messaging at [email protected]. This is because I don't go on this site as much anym..
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