Profiling Character

A story cannot be written without character. Authors spend a great deal of time creating their characters. There are various tools that authors use to develop characters. A questionaire is completed with details such as name, physical description, family, education and other such items. The generic questionaires can be lacking when trying to get to the essences of the character.

Then another character development tool is the character interview. The questions can seem ridiculous and some questions are outlandish that even the author doesn’t know their own personal answers.

The tool that I use comes from my love of magazines—the celebrity profile. Grab any
magazine, Vogue, Elle or Seventeen and read the article on the celebrity featured on the cover and the reader comes away with a fully formed person that everyday people come away with the character or personality of the celebrity.

That is exactly what authors strive to do with their characters. So, when I am creating a character, I construct the magazine profile style interview. The great thing about this tool is the creation of the character in their world and how they fit or don’t.

My current project that is being developed is a Regency romance. Here is an example of character profile.

 Lady Diana Langley appears as the lady the title proclaims however she is much more. She swept into the drawing room, a smile upon her face.

Those two sentences help round out her character. Lady Diana is of noble birth but she isn’t formal but friendly as well as energetic. She smiles as she sweeps into the drawing room. She doesn’t walk, or glides or stomps in. She is like a wind blowing in. That is her energy that the world sees in her.

This freeform allows the author to interact with the character in a way that isn’t abstract as the character is explored through quotes, setting, and daily life or any other way the author wishes.

The other positive aspect of the character profile is that anything and everything can be explored and depends upon the author and can be added to as the character progresses.

There are no rules.

And you have probably read a few of these celebrity profiles and know how to construct one and if you don’t pick up your favorite magazine, draw a hot bath and just read. It’s research then craft your character.