Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Character Development - Salome

Edit: I actually do have a character page for these characters, but it's rather dated, and since I'm using this exercise, I am changing a few things. Feel free to compare the older version against the newer one, hopefully there is a little more connection between my readers and my characters. I think they were a little cold before, I'm hoping this will make them more likable.

So, I realized that I do not have Character charts for Salome and Donovan yet. What are you talking about, you may ask? Well, a way of delving deeper into the main characters, finding out more about what they are like, their motivations, their strengths and weaknesses, all of the things that will make them seem like real people and that readers are going to be more interested in them because I, the writer, have explained all of these things.
Now, I don't really know if I have done a good job so far of describing my heroine and hero as of yet, so I thought I might make a few posts about them.
I found this excellent list via the NaNoWriMo forum (National Novel Writing Month), and I am going to take some time to fill out this little questionnaire for Salome and Donovan, writing from their perspective. Bear with me, it may take awhile, but I hope the exercise comes in handy for re-writes, and oh, yes, I feel certain there will be rewrites.
I am a terrible info-dumper, and I'm even worse at believable dialogue, with the occasional exception for a witty exchange or a brilliant defining moment, that usually comes to me in the shower or a dream. Yeah, I go to bed thinking of my characters, and sometimes they do amazing things, and if I'm lucky I remember to write it down in the morning. Other times, my dreams are vivid, but not anything about what I fell asleep thinking about. Must put notebook by the bed, hubby will think I'm crazy. Wait, he already thinks that, ok, then I'm good!
Tangent aside, here is the list of questions Salome and Donovan are going to have to answer, and I'll be posting their responses over the next little while, hope you like!

01 – Introduce yourself, in great detail
02 – Your first love, in great detail
03 – Your parents, in great detail
04 – What you ate today, in great detail
05 – Your definition of love, in great detail
06 – Your day, in great detail
07 – Your best friend, in great detail
08 – A moment, in great detail
09 – Your beliefs, in great detail
10 – What you wore today, in great detail
11 – Your siblings, in great detail
12 – What’s in your bag, in great detail
13 – This week, in great detail
14 – What you wore today, in great detail
15 – Your dreams, in great detail
16 – Your first kiss, in great detail
17 – Your favorite memory, in great detail
18 – Your favorite birthday, in great detail
19 – Something you regret, in great detail
20 – This month, in great detail
21 – Another moment, in great detail
22 – Something that upsets you, in great detail
23 – Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
24 – Something that makes you cry, in great detail
25 – A first, in great detail
26 – Your fears, in great detail
27 – Your favorite place, in great detail
28 – Something that you miss, in great detail
29 – Your aspirations, in great detail
30 – One last moment, in great detail

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