character development

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• introduction
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• The lesson

FREE LESSON 1

"How to create a character"
We'll get the basics sorted first, and you should keep the details handy as the lesson progresses. The lesson will come in four parts (all free), the next part being emailed once the previous one is received for scrutiny. Don't worry, I have no interest in your character, but I'd like to see the answers (as any teacher would).

When I finally get around to writing my book I may include your character as an example, or part of the character, or none of the character. If you object violently to this please say so.

The technique we will use is my own creation and it can be used to create any type of character for screenplay, TV, theatre, radio etc. We need to know where in the order of the creative writing it exists, so we'll start off by giving it a number ie No1, No2, etc.

You may feel that some of the characteristics we will bring out are not necessary where this character is concerned, but my advice is to answer everything as you may decide to rename the character in another screenplay and use him/her in a different role.

As the character grows, you will have to be prepared for this to become your strongest character, which could mean major rewrites of existing work.

I thrive on criticism so don't be afraid to open up, suggest changes etc. Don't worry about adding characteristics at this stage but I would be grateful to hear of any at the end. Here goes. Simply change the hash to your character name when you know it.

This is character No.

Name of this character is #

# age & D.O.B. is

# place of birth is

# nationality is

# has a personal relationship to

# height is

# stature is

Title of the screenplay is

Genre of the screenplay is

Now that you have identified # and the direction you want to lead him/her, let's explore deeper.

The characteristics/questions which follow should be one word answers in the main, sometimes more than one answer is necessary but keep it short. Short is tight, tight is definite, definite is real and this character will be real by the time we've finished with it.

# achievement is

# active when

# admires

# afraid (in general) of

# afraid (personally) of

# aggressive when

# amoral when

# angry when

# anxiety (personal) caused by

# anxiety (general) caused by

# appearance (dress sense) is

# appearance (in general) is

Just like in real life, this character will interact with other people so lets give the other people in your screenplay a name. I've allowed for twelve people and you may want to increase or decrease the number as you see fit. Use temporary names if you have to you can always change them later.

# attitude to ch.1 (# ) is

# attitude to ch.2 ( ) is

# attitude to ch.3 ( ) is

# attitude to ch.4 ( ) is

# attitude to ch.5 ( ) is

# attitude to ch.6 ( ) is

# attitude to ch.7 ( ) is

# attitude to ch.8 ( ) is

# attitude to ch.9 ( ) is

# attitude to cht.10 ( ) is

# attitude to cht.11 ( ) is

# attitude to cht.12 ( ) is

As we build the character, there may be things which you simply don't know about him/her just yet. Don't worry, leave it blank or put in an extreme characteristic for now. You'll come back to it later and hopefully have the right characteristic by then.

# attitude to opposite sex is

# attitude to others is

# attitude to ownself is

# avoids

# bad tempered when

# believes in

# bewildered by

# bigoted when

# body language is

# boring when

# brash when

By now something should be taking shape in your mind's eye and # may/may not be ready to come out. To help, lets do a two line paragraph on # right here.

# broad character description is

# careless when

# character type is (good/bad)

# character defect is

# character trait (+) is

# character trait (-) is

# character trigger from (+) to (-) is

# character trigger from (-) to (+) is

You may feel that you wish to expand on #' (+)/(-)'s, but resist the temptation for now, lets just get on with creating #.

# cheeky when

# childhood was

# childish when

# clever when

# collected when

# commanding when

# compulsion to

# cunning when

Okay, that's the first part finished. Email your results by 10th June and we;ll continue from there.

When emailing back, please take out the dialogue between characteristics. It will make reading a lot quicker for me.

If you attach a file when you email me, please let me know what sort of file it is. Try to keep it as a .doc file.

Email your completed lesson to TOM.  Would you like to download LESSON-1.txt.
Do you have a question or comment about the Character Lesson?