The Nexus discussion

Any body interested on building character. I always find myself in need of good characters, this is how I practice I guess.

Name
Age
Appearance
Orientation: male or female
Personality
History
Current Position
Obsessions
Any other details: Passed, Presnet, Future


I always find it intresting to try and do crazy or really out going people. It always makes for an interesting story.

Hears an example=D

Dylan Grittle, age thirty-two. Thick black locks of hair rat nested together, his beard dangled hopelessly to his chest, two strands of grey protruded from his chin but other than that black hair covered his face. Hollow steel grey eyes laminated his sunken cheeks and his two black eyes, not from fighting but sleep deprivation. Deaths stare with a thin lipped smile, his orange jump suit had dirt and who knows what else, two big blood stains splotched across the side and back.

Personality: Grigori Raputin reborn. Dylan held intelligence in the palm of his hand, a real man some would say when it came to women, fluent with numbers and knows French, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese, working systems for their worth then moving on.

History: Meeting his first lovely meal at twenty five, a young college girl Sandra Barns. Practically stalking Miss Barns, Dylan began a scrap book. A month or so passed before Dylan built up the courage to ask Sandra out. Little did Sandra know about Dylan's "out bursts". Finishing College with his masters degree. Sandra took Dylan out to a restaurant called la Saveur Unique meaning the Unique Flavor in French. From that night Dylan became infatuated with food. Taking cooking courses and schooling, becoming a chief for the very restaurant that inspired him so much. Chopping his index finger off with a butchers knife one evening while cutting flanks of steak it rolled onto a sizzling pan with garlic and rosemary with some sautéed onions cooked in a red cherry. Wrapping his numb in the back, Dylan proceeded to walk to his car when the faint sweet smell of sautéed onion and rosemary hung in his nostrils stopping in front of his pan that sizzled and crackled symbolizing it was about done cooking. Grabbing four paper towels and plucking the finger out of the frying pan he proceeded to the hospital.

Current Position: Alaska State Penitentiary, a sold day ride on sled dogs with cameras hidden in the thick pine forest. Dylan's reason for being held in a cell two stories below ground never to see the light of day again. Sandra Barns was found after four weeks reportedly missing by her boy friend Dylan. Numerous bones were found in drums of acid barrels when a S.W.A.T team burst through his door.

Obsession: Gluttony with food. A Cannibal that finds his meals then steals them for recipes. A simple farmer herding cattle to the slaughter.

Other: Dying while giving birth Dylan's mother was buried in Montana. Dylan's father continued east towards Chicago. Owing Mr. Stacks, an Italian mob boss, Dylan's father got gunned down in his house with seventy-one gunshot wounds riddled through his chest. Turning torso into hamburger when he answered the door. Homeless and on the streets Dylan began stealing and selling packets of cigarettes.

And of course yours doesnt have to drag on like mine did but you catch the drift.

Your character work ups are really detailed. You have the plot in there too. Do you do that for each character in your book? Or just the main ones?

Judith wrote: "Your character work ups are really detailed. You have the plot in there too. Do you do that for each character in your book? Or just the main ones?"
I would like to do it for every character in short stories I write, but, I dont do it for every character as you can guess it also depends on what kinda story I'm writig at the time aswell. Fantasy is my kingdom of feedom, that is my most detailed work I feel like. Every character has their story, but some I feel should only show parts of it at a time showed to the other characters and reader. It gives charcters a mysterious side or a Sherlock Holmes character that never fails to impress. Have you done character building work ups as well? How do you find your charcters?

I do character wheels for each main character in my stories. Shirley Jump taught a class on those, and I loved her technique, then tweaked it for myself. I just wrote about it on my blog http://writingmusings.wordpress.com/
I don't weave any plot into mine, just get to know my characters and then stick them into the plot and let them do their things. For short pieces, I don't sketch as many details as I do for novels.

I found this site a while ago. I like to go there from time to time to give more "flesh" to my characters.

Character' chart

Whoa! That's some list. Thanks--really detailed. I tried lists like those before, but they almost have so much information, they overload me. I do better when I know the "essence" of my characters, and not as many details. But I have a friend who can't write without a list like this, and her writing is luscious with layer after layer. Much better at that than I am.