HOW TO BUILD THE PERFECT CHARACTER PROFILE

what's up my friend Abbi here and welcome to another episode of writers life Wednesdays and the first episode of my new series how to create relatable and addictive characters if you want the skinny on what this whole series is about check out this video up here but hey the title says it all today we are starting off by diving right into making character profiles character BIOS character sketches whatever you want to call them that's what this video is all about I have my ultimate character questionnaire right here and I'm giving you a template just like this to fill out as well there's a link in the description box below easy printable or copy and paste able format okay so remember this is just one third of the character creation process but this step this first step is so important now there are a lot of character questionnaires already out there you can google them look them up find them on Pinterest find them on blogs all over the place character questionnaires but I don't want you to get distracted with questions that don't matter to your story at all we don't need to know what your characters favorite brand of laundry detergent is all we need to know is this so I actually posted this character questionnaire on my blog a while ago but this is the updated version because I made a lot of changes since I posted this questionnaire on my blog okay I deleted probably like 70% of the questions because I realized after I learned more about developing characters that these questions did not serve the story I'm trying to tell at all so if you've been here a while you have been following my blog like the awesome person that you are and you've already filled out this questionnaire in the past there's something new for you here today as well because this whole thing is totally new and improved' dialed into what you really need to know so that you don't waste your time outlining something that you're never gonna use also before we begin it's important to remember that it does not matter if you're a plotter or a panther it doesn't matter how you write if you're something in between the two you need to know your characters inside out and upside down because if you really know your characters like if you really really really know them then you can write a story anyway you want you'd have to follow anybody's method because you are so in touch with the heart of the story which is the characters alright so let's stick from the top but before we begin I just want to say that this questionnaire is built for your most important characters you can make a side character version of this questionnaire by just omitting some of the questions because it's a lot to develop for a side character but hey I mean nobody's stopping you so let's get into it character's name pretty self-explanatory right just do me a favor and make you something I can pronounce Thanks their role in the story physical description okay don't get too carried away here you can do it for your like your your outline or whatever but when you're actually writing the story try to make the physical descriptions of the characters actually be like reflecting on their personality or something that's important about their character I saw a great tumblr post recently that was about eye color in characters now they're like a lot of writers always say like this characters eye color tells you nothing about the character and I'm like that's a great point and they were saying like I'd rather see something in their physical description that tells me more about their character about their personality about their job maybe what they do maybe they have weathered hands from gardening maybe they have like a scar on their face those are more interesting elements of the physical description and they actually are attached to something that's going to be meaningful in this story or about the character age self-explanatory and last but not least MBTI personality type all my friends are rolling their eyes right now okay guys you know me if you know me you know I'm obsessed with MBTI personality types I know it's not the be-all end-all of every single person you don't fit in a box this what I preach all the time you don't fit in tight you don't fit in the box but it can be really really freaking helpful when you're building a character from scratch to just like pick their personality type and stick to it obviously this is totally optional totally up to you you don't actually need to pay a person's a character's personality type to be able to write that character well but I do recommend it because it's just it's really fun so it's not like crucial I would recommend it especially since it's gonna come into play later on when we break our characters in half bust them up into little smithereens and watch our readers cry it's gonna be helpful so do it alright now we move on to the actual questionnaire part of the character profile internal questions okay this is the most important things you need to know about your character what is his or her greatest fear they're gonna build upon this later so just write down the general concept of the fear you don't have to go digging deep into it right now in fact do not do that just write down what you want their general fear to be fear of commitment fear of abandonment fear of failure very conceptual leave it that way we're gonna dig into it later also this will end up being part of your theme so think about what you want your theme to be for the entire story because that's gonna be the theme is going to be told through the character art right right Abbie huh next question what is his or her misbelief about the world you're gonna dig down to the root of this one very very soon too so for now just give your character a messed up worldview based on their fear for example if they fear abandonment then maybe their misbelief will be something like people abandon you so they can't be trusted next question what is the best thing in his or her life dig deep here okay it's not gonna be like cupcakes waffles pizza can you tell the best things in my life are food make it something deep internal something that is meaningful okay this is the internal questions we're gonna get to the fun external questions about food in a minute what is the worst thing in his or her life again dig deep what does he or she most often look down on people for okay this one is surprisingly important especially when it comes to breaking your character later on I don't know why I was doing it breaking breaking breaking your character just feel so malicious author when I do that also if you know there MBTI type you can research what is this MBTI type dislike the most people what turns them off the most and boom there it is that's probably what they most look down on people for later you'll see how this stems from their misbelief and leads to their darkest lowest most horrible moment of their lives yeah what makes his or her heart feel alive their passion talent or just anything that makes them lose track of time when they're doing it what makes him or her feel loved and who is the last person to make them feel that way top three things he or she values the most in life take your time on that one it can be material things but also probably good if you throw in some internal juicy philosophical things as well okay here's the external questions the fun questions not necessary but they're good to know and they say a lot about your character what is his or her favorite book movie and band not applicable if you write like fantasy or something that exists in the other world all my contemporary writers out there I'm looking out for you is there an object he or she can't bear to part with and why describe a typical outfit for him or her from top to bottom again use the physical descriptions to let their personality shine let something be said about who they are as a character through their style what nicknames has she or he even called throughout their life think about that before you name your character what's the nickname gonna be haha I have painted myself into a corner more than once with a name that's like I can't make any nickname in this how could I do that what is his or her weapon of choice doesn't actually have to be a physical weapon it could be like sarcasm that's mine describe his or her daily routine this is surprisingly helpful when you need your character to be doing something but you don't know like what they need to be doing like I need them to do something while they have this conversation what can they do daily routine just figure it out and finally what is their go-to cure for a bad day I really like that one because you're gonna be throwing bad days let's add these characters all the time and they're not gonna be able to go to their little go to cure it's gonna be just that much more painful for the reader to witness because everybody wants to care a bad day but they can't because you're an evil author okay Boosh there it is all right my friend time to do your homework if you didn't write down all those questions as I was calling them out then good because I already did that for you there's a totally free principle in the description box below and you don't even have to print it you can just copy and paste the questions into a document or character folder maybe in your Scrivener or wherever else you outline your books go fill this thing out take your time and have fun with it remember that you can always go back and change things but we're not finished here like I said before this is only one third of the character creation process we might know the characters basic fear and misbelief but we don't have that electricity that lights up a story we don't have that juicy internal conflict the characters agenda or the events in the past that sparked this and shaped who they are today that's next week's video so be sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss it because mmm it's gonna be good we're going to talk about conflict the only thing the one and only thing that makes your characters relatable and makes your story addictive even if your story is a little cliche that's next week so stick around hit that like button if you like this video and don't forget to grab your character questionnaire link in the description box below there's a little email signup and I did that because next week when the next video drops you're gonna get a new installment to your character questionnaire the second third of your character complete ultimate character question they're building profile thing sent directly to your inbox with the new video so ah it's gonna be good you're awesome your characters are gonna be awesome mmm I'll see you next week my friend rock on [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Abbie Emmons

Views: 292,723

Keywords: writing, ya fiction, advice, tips, characters, character development, outlining, template, printable, character profile, sketch, bio, abbiee, abbie emmons, writerslife wednesdays

Id: RfV6yROiuYc

Length: 11min 24sec (684 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 12 2018