Fantasia

Well, it could depend on how a character's appearance is used. I like to write appearances as--say--something to show relationships, like a how a daughter would look like her mother, or how a daughter looks nothing like her famous mother, or how the lines of his face had deepened because of war, and so on and so forth. But like Dark Aevin said, to each his own. :nods:

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"God says he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure you're f%#ked." --Stephen, from "Braveheart"

gabriella

Woah, long list there, blackswan

I never bother with character sheets unless I'm roleplaying. I can never quite do the characters justice and furthermore, I feel too confined to follow what that character sheet says about my character. I just simply ignore it all and get through with the writing and it's only until halfway through the novel when I actually realize a slight outline of who this character is.


It's a great idea, I'm really suprised to see that not so many people use it

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You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.

Ceridwen

I suggest you follow other's suggestions (those who are before me) Blackswan's list of developing characters is right, but then, you can shorten it to the basics. THinking of your characters real may help, but, what I really do in developing them is looking in their own perception, being on their place (of course you must pretend that YOU are the character you are developing) and actually thinking of the events they are involved with and how will they react to it base on your character's main attitude. Maybe then, you'll be able to "evolve" him through it and to the rightful conclusions and stream of the story.
I don't know if it'll help you, but it certainly works for me.

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I learn and learn and learn...

Aevin

I've said this elsewhere, but characters seem to come to life more easily when I write from their point of view. For example, if your main character is "Sam," and a "minor" character is "Paul," a scene involving the two should be told from Sam's point of view within the story. However, in order to understand Paul better, try telling the scene from his point of view. You won't include this in the story, (well, you COULD, if you've established within the story the pattern of switching POV's), but you can use pieces of it depending on how observant your main character is. If, while writing from Paul's POV you say, "Paul felt terrified," you can use that in Sam's POV too, saying, "Sam could tell Paul felt terrified." This way, instead of Sam playing the scene against a shallow character, a speaking wooden puppet, Paul will actually have emotions that Sam can observe, or not observe, according to the author's discretion. Also, writing how Paul views Sam might help you understand Sam better.

Okay . . . I'm afraid this is more confusing than enlightening. If anyone can sift through the mess I've made and find my point, I hope it's helpful.

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--Din from Namco's Tales of the Abyss

Sherpa

Everyones made some good points. I think the best line I've ever heard about character is Scott Fitzgerald who wrote: " Action is character".
In other words, your characters are never really defined until they do something (or if they don't do something).
"the cat sat on the dogs mat" tells you a lot about the character of the cat...
cheers

klaus

What you write is your own life, be it real or imaginary. Whoever in the story would have some mapping to ones that you are acquainted in real life. And the important thing is, in real life you seldom know what the others are thinking--so in the world that you have created, try to think the characters in the stories as people who you have COME into contact with. You might want to consider them people whom you know which direction they are going, but not exactly where they are heading for...

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A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.