Literary Digest LITERARY DIGEST MAY 2020

LET’s HELP BUILD YOUR BOOK series WORKSHEET Character Creation Before you start writing, your first step should be to create various believable characters, and for that a detailed sketch of each character has to be initiated. This effort will help you flesh out your main players in a realistic, dimensional way. Let's start by answering the following questions: AGE: There's a huge difference between 17 and 71. How old do you want your character to be? Need to consider: What kind of issues will your story highlight or address? What will be your target audience? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ THE LOOKS: Physical look and appearance can be even more important to teenagers than it is to adults. What does your character look like? List 5 key physical traits of him/her. Need to consider: How do they carry himself/herself? Their look and appearance? Relationship between appearance and body language? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ LIFE INFLUENCES: What are the factors that shape your character's choices? What events in his/her past have had the biggest influence on his/her personality? Identify and describe in detail at least two events that have deeply shaped him/her. Need to consider: Has your teenaged character lived a protected life or a rough one? Has his/her life been a bullied one? Has he/she ever done anything that is illegal? Has he/she travelled alone or with family or with friends? What events in his/her past have had the most influence on his/her overall personality? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ ASPIRATIONS: Teenagers always are in love with their future, their jobs, career, marriage, children, etc. So if your character is a teen then you have to consider as to what does he/she want to do after finishing Class XII, College or University. If your character is a soon-to-retire defence officer, then you will have to see what all careers (if at all he wants) he can have as per his age and physical attributes. You will also need to take into account whether he is married, divorced or a widower, has children, grand-children etc. Need to consider: What kind of person does he/she hope to become? Is he/she optimistic or pessimistic about what the future holds? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS: Parents and siblings are an important factor in our daily existence. Write a short scene where he/she interacts with a family member(s), using his/her actions to reveal the family dynamics. Need to consider: How does he/she treat her siblings? Does he/she antagonize his/her parents? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ SOCIAL LIFE: Friends are incredibly important for us all. How does your character fit into the social categories that exist in his/her environment? Need to consider: Who is your character's best friend? Is he/she popular? Picked on? Ignored? How does he/she treat others in various environments? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Digest LITERARY DIGEST MAY 2020 | Page 19