Thread: I need to flesh out a female character, as an individual

I have two female characters in my story. It’s the second one I need to know about. The first one is meticulous and thorough by nature, and gives a lot of attention to detail. Although it's perhaps not relevant in this post, she works as a dressmaker, making high fashion clothing, and does tapestry for a hobby.

For my story to turn out the way I want it to, I need the second woman to be the absolute opposite.

What characteristics would you suggest I give the second woman to achieve this? Job, hobby, personal life, whatever.

Forgive me for being dumb, but IRL I prefer the first type so I don’t have any experience to guide me.

Thank you.

Sloppy Linda, eats a rubbish diet with chips and likes a drink, leaves the washing up in the sink hoping someone else will do it and doesn't make the bed until the evening. Thinks modern clothing doesn't need ironing and moves from one rubbish job to another.

If I just let my fantasy run I could image her being chaotic and impulsive, but also creative. She might be the sort of person that does whatever her heart/insticts/inspiration tell her to do in a particular moment. She might have lots of different hobbies, as she starts a new one everytime she gets inspired to do so, but doesn't follow through on them. She could have had lots of different jobs and she would never stick with one for long as she would ever get bored with it and quite or she would get fired as she's never on time. An alternative would be that she has some kind of creative job like a painter. In her personal life she might not be the sort of girl that would call regularly or visit regularly, but she might be the kind of girl that would show up on your doorstep out of the blue, but with a great idea of something fun to do and in her enthousiasm she would be able to inspire the other person to go along with her.

Forgive me for being dumb...

Ok.

Have her subsist on ice cream and cheese fries. That should flesh her out.

Your first woman sounds independant. Make the second woman needy. She needs lifts (she doesn't drive). She needs to borrow money. She needs company, conversation, affection etc. She's a taker, not a giver. She needs peace and quiet sometimes, but doesn't give this to her neighbours, they should get a life!

I'm a lot of both. Though if you saw my apartment right now you wouldn't believe I could ever be meticulous.

Here are a list of things either me or my girlfriends might do that fit your second lady:

Leave piles of clothes strewn about the floor
Leave wet towels left on the floor
Have broken make up powders etc. all shoved in a make up bag so there's a fine dust of skin tones and green eye shadows in the bottom
Unmade bed
Dishes everywhere
Paperwork everywhere
A big handbag with all kinds of receipts, lolly wrappers, bits and pieces floating around the bottom

She might smoke
Stack things neatly and call it cleaning
Eat frozen dinners
Snack
Drink
Laugh too much
Drink a lot of coffee
Burn incense

Of course you have to balance this stuff, if you want her well-rounded.
She needs to have positive attributes.
She's probably creative. Probably very warm, loyal, loving.
Like a dog, where your other character is a cat.

Jeez, Kath, it's only a short story, not War and Peace. But thnx anyway. Some of it might fit.

Originally Posted by JosephB

Have her subsist on ice cream and cheese fries. That should flesh her out.

ahem....I do the jokes.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

Jeez, Kath, it's only a short story, not War and Peace. But thnx anyway. Some of it might fit.

Ha, sorry. "As an individual" begs some serious thought, I thought. And even then I feel like I've just given you surface level obvious stuff. And really just home-based stuff.
But then maybe I'm just feigning helpfulness to catalogue my current annoyances with myself.

Originally Posted by Like a Fox

Ha, sorry. "As an individual" begs some serious thought, I thought. And even then I feel like I've just given you surface level obvious stuff. And really just home-based stuff.
But then maybe I'm just feigning helpfulness to catalogue my current annoyances with myself.

You possibly interpreted “as an individual” correctly. I didn’t want suggestions that had her either reflecting or fitting in with someone else.

What else are you annoyed about now?

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

ahem....I do the jokes.

Let me know when you start posting them here.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

What else are you annoyed about now?

The things I'm not annoyed about is a much shorter list. Haha.

She could be a leftover 60's flower child, a little vague, friendly, idealistic, doesn't measure anything when she cooks but nevertheless turns out brilliant (if simple) meals, paints her house ten different colors, wears moccasins but prefers to go barefoot, works for a non-profit organization and believes deeply in the cause that they work for, lets dandelions grow in the yard and blows the dandelion clocks over to the neighbors' yard (which drives them nuts) to spread the sunshine.

Something like that maybe. She sounds fun, anyway.

She does, doesn't she? I like some of those ideas. Trouble with the present WIP, I want to flesh her out simply to write her off the page. But some of your stuff might just get me going again on something else, some other time.