Allow us to share one of our favorite tools for writing about and describing characters. Your goal obviously is to visualize near-perfectly how your characters will look - but there's a lot more to do. So here’s a very useful character sheet that should enable you to really know your people inside and out.
Name: Obvious. What's in a name? And you'd be surprised how hard it is to come up with. the name means something to you. Giving your character a name gives it life, and you can then create from there.
Profession/Hobbies: Almost as important as name, knowing what your character does or what hobbies it loves enables you to weave stories around that. Say you have a librarian. You could write a story about a librarian who finds herself alone at night being courted by several handsome men of literature, etc.
Species: Human or not, it's important. Different species will act and react in different ways. And let’s say your character is an alien. What kind of alien, from what race, and how does this race work? These are all elements you’ll want to consider.
Age: Self-explanatory, but age doesn’t necessarily mean the person ACTS it. ^^ Age is simply more for visual interpretation. You could have, like “Roger Rabbit”, a 3-year-old kid who talks like a 40-year-old truck driver. Age is meaningless but necessary to create that character visually – and it can mean there are limitations too, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Height: Can your character reach the top shelf, or barely see over a counter? You’ll want to know this when you start drawing, and how that character will stand up against others.
Weight: You might not like it, but weight’s important too. Can your character get around aisles with ease or does it have a little trouble? Depending on your story, you’ll want to visually interpret that too.
Body Type: Curvy, Athletic, a few pounds over, etc. Again, for visual determinations mostly, but if you’ve got a pretty hawt character, you’ll want to show it off!
Sexual orientation: While it shouldn’t give a damn whether a character is gay or not, we include this simply for your benefit. Remember, these are basically “notes” for each character, and if sex or sexuality is part of the focus of your story, you’ll want to explain everything about the sexuality, the whos, whats, whens, and whys. There’s a reason for that sexuality and it’ll be a great idea to get down to it, because it opens up whole new stories, even new character ideas too.
Skin color: Again, no damn needs given, this is mostly visual. If the story focuses on skin color at all, or race, or touchy subjects like hate, etc., this character becomes all the more powerful in your mind if you recognize the skin it’s in.
Hair color: Fiery red hair usually is a hothead, where black or brunette get the “antagonist” moniker quite a bit. It’s important to know where your character gets its hair done, and why. =)
Eye color: We LOVE eyes in comics. Dark-eyed or sleepy-sloe eyed types favor the “shy girl” of the group, while blazing red or deep green seem to suggest passion and courage. Your character’s eyes, again, are simply visual, but knowing the eye color opens up so many possibilities for adventures. (pardon the pun)
Clothes: What does your character love to wear most…? Your answers say a LOT about how the character will “perform” in your story, especially for occupations. Going back to the librarian, obviously glasses, a skirt and blouse, something conservative and not flashy would be her norm. So know what kind of clothes they’ll be their best in.
Loves/Hates: Now we’re getting more into the character’s mind. Does she hate thunder, but not lightning? Does he love ice cream but not pizza? Get a thorough lists of loves/hates here and you build a very exciting, stimulating character you can turn on or off like a switch if needed.
Behavior and Personality: Quite possibly, THE most important aspect of your characters. How does your character respond, react, act, not just to its surroundings but around others? And if you have a list of characters already, know HOW your character will react/act with each of them.
Strengths/Weaknesses: The second most important character builder. Each of your characters should have things they can and can’t do well. It’s no fun having a character who can do everything or nothing. As an exercise, choose someone in your head that you know and respect, and see if you can guess what their strengths and weaknesses are. Got them? Quickly write them down in notes, and from this, you can work out your own character’s shortcomings and advantages – especially when paired with others.
Family relations/backstory: Always have a family, or in lieu of that, SOME kind of origin and backstory. Your characters need MOTIVATION. Give them that with a little dose of past life. Does amnesia play a role? It doesn’t matter, it’s still YOUR character. Whether or not it knows nothing of its past, YOU certainly do. =)
So, there you have it. Keep all of these elements in play, and you’ll write beautiful, memorable, fabulous characters people are going to want to read about…
Good luck!
P.M & Paul
