I want to pass on a useful technique for creating "true-to-life" characters. Start by drawing a stick figure. (It doesn't matter if it is a representation of a male or female, the process is the same. I will use the pronouns "he" and "his" throughout, for simplicity.) Having drawn your figure begin to ask yourself a few questions about this potential character.
What is his name? How old is he? Is he married or single? Does he have any siblings? If yes, what are their names and ages? Where does he live? does he work? If yes, what is his job? What is his favorite food? Has he any hobbies? What star sign is he? What type of music does he like? What is his shoe size?After you have found out all you want to at this stage, then, and only then, consider his appearance. How tall his he? what is the color and type of his hair? What color are his eyes?
What shape is his nose? Ask as many questions as you can until the 3D picture emerges in your mind in glorious Technicolor.Once you have this character firmly in view of your minds eye, start shifting his background. By this I mean start to put him in different situations and analyze how he reacts and listen to what he says and how he says it. How does he react to bullying? How does he act when he is in love? This technique can be very useful in combating writer's block. By creating a bank of these characters and filing their details on a database, or cardex system,you will always have a store of characters to introduce to your readers. As soon as you have several characters stored in this way, start to introduce them to each other and watch how they react. It's normally at that point that my characters start to tell their own stories to each other and begin to create a
Brian Balmer http://www.wordwarrior.co.uk
Source: www.ezinearticles.com