This one, even I wasn't expecting:
I have been crafting a character, or two. I'm working on two projects: a YA and an MG. Both are in the planning stages.
I'd like to introduce you to one of the main characters in the YA idea. (A big cheer to the Fanpop site for the photo.) I searched for a sad teen with red hair - look who I found impersonating Will.
On the Creating Your Character web-page , I found their template. It really helped me organise my thinking.
The idea he belongs in is... slip-stream paranormal. (Having trouble working out which genre you are writing? Invent your own! That's not quite what I mean: this is a paranormal romance but the characters aren’t fanged nor feathered, scaled or clawed.)
CREATING A CHARACTER PROFILE:
NAME: Tricky, there is power in a name: I think we’ll call him Will
BIOGRAPHY: Born after his father’s death, he saved his mother’s life, and she has been using him ever since. He is lonely. He would walk through the world without causing a ripple or leaving a shadow to mark his passing. He is disorientated and angry, catching up on schooling. After years of being forbidden to stray beyond the boundary of his property his mother has demanded he must do what she is incapable of doing.
AGE: Although a little hazy on the specifics Will reckons he has seen about seventeen summers.
HEIGHT: Tall enough but he’ll never play basketball.
WEIGHT: Thin. Food is not plentiful, Will’s skills in the plot beside his walled garden are reflected in his fragile frame.
BODY TYPE: Is he wiry and agile. Hardy – he is a weed, in danger of outgrowing his strength.
FACE TYPE: His bone structure is so close to the surface his cheekbones are made more noticeable by his eyes which have sunken in.
COMPLEXION: He is a blue-grey-tinged kind of pale
EYES: Tiger blue like the summer sky, but flat and disinterested; framed by black lashes and brows
HAIR: Auburn - fine, wisped, feathered in style
CLOTHING STYLE: Loose, misshapen, plain tee-shirts, narrow jeans and black leather boots.
SPEAKING STYLE: He doesn’t speak much, when he does he sounds musical, lyrical: deep and lilting
GENERAL DEMEANOUR: guarded and quiet
CAREER: Scholar; he doesn't know what he could be in the future
PREJUDICES: People who don’t look after what they’ve got.
BEST QUALITIES: Resilient, balanced, protector
WORST QUALITIES: impatient, proud, inflexible
WEAKNESSES: He craves being wanted or needed or loved
HOBBIES: Walks, reads, takes photographs
TALENTS: Photography and seeing the potential in things and capturing itWHAT ARE YOU FOCUSSING ON, IN YOUR WRITING, AT THE MOMENT?
