Behind The Author Episode 1: Creating a Character Profile

These are the notes from episode 1 of the Behind the Author Series--all about how I create a character profile.  These are just brief, summarizing snippets of the clip. To see the full video, you can click HERE.

"Obviously, characters have an overall internal character arc developing throughout the story, and that’s great and exciting, but sometimes the more fun part is actually creating a realistic person from nothing.

First, I like to start with physical traits like face and hair.

• Do they have blue eyes and blonde hair, do they have dimples, is their nose long and straight, do they have a square jawline?

From there I move onto their body type and how they dress.

• Examples of body types are is the girl curvy, or does she have a straight build, or is she more athletic? 
• When it comes to describing a character's style, I actually use Pinterest a lot. So for example, if I’m looking for an executive style I’ll search women’s business wear, or women work outfits. I’ll get a whole board of different outfit ideas.
• It’s important to drop little hints about their style all throughout the story. For example, “she was wearing her holey jeans and old, ratty sweatshirt", etc...

From there I go on to more non-physical features. I begin with a job or an occupation.

• Unless their job is determined by the story itself, I like going to a job website like indeed.com and just start job searching. For example, I’ll search pediatric dentist and find all the details about that career so I can throw them in throughout my story.

Next, I like to give my characters all quirks.

• Examples can be biting their nails, bouncing a knee, chomping on ice.
• I usually get each of my characters at least two quirks

And last I like to give each character a hobby.

• Examples can be a reader, a bike rider, a crafter.
• I’ll always give them a few hobbies to make them seem real. It helps to develop the story when they’re doing activities they like and seem realistic

After I get all these details nailed down I put them in a spreadsheet that I can reference while I am writing. Having that baseline of their physical features, their job, their quirks and hobbies, etc. makes it so much easier to create a real person."

Hope this helps you begin to create your own character profiles!