Story Plan Checklist: A Look in the Mirror

[ladyseishou]

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

- Mason Cooley



Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?

From Karen Wiesner's Your Novel Blueprint:

Very few people describe themselves the same way others do. That makes it even more important for main characters to describe themselves, because the reader gets a strong sense of who your players are with both outside and inside descriptions.

Today we're going straight to the source and asking our characters to tell us about themselves. To try something a little different, I've decided to ask my main characters the ten questions posed by James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio:

1. What is your favorite word?
   
   
2. What is your least favorite word?
   
   
3. What turns you on?
   
   
4. What turns you off?
   
   
5. What sound do you love?
   
   
6. What sound do you hate?
   
   
7. What is your favorite curse word?
   
   
8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
   
   
9. What profession would you not like to do?
   
   
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
    

Here are some of my characters' answers:

What is your favorite word?

Alric: He's buying (pointing to his sergeant).
Sergeant: (muttering)... dolt... can't even count to two...
Alric: As I said... (waving his empty tankard)... he's buying.

What sound do you hate?

Jera: (looking away, rubbing his mouth with a tired hand) The sound of a soul... as it's extracted from a body like a rotten tooth. It's like the little snap of a bird's wing, a quiet hollow thing (scratches the head of his ensouled dog).

What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

Teljus: There is nothing else. I am what I am. King. That is all there is.


What kind of secrets have your characters shared with you, Nano Writer?

Comments

[brutal]

1.What is your favorite word?
Ben: Fag (he means 'cigarette')
Elliot: Hate
Rach: Crawl

2.What is your least favorite word?
Elliot: Fail
Ben: Queer
Jack: Can't

3.What turns you on?
Rach: Old books
David: Everything!
Ben: Praise

4.What turns you off?
Elliot: Conformity
Josh: People who never have any fun
Ben: Stupid girls, wait, all girls

5.What sound do you love?
David: My own voice
Steven: Music
Wes: My name

6.What sound do you hate?
Elliot: Everything
Rach: Nails on a chalkboard
Ben: Giggling girls

7.What is your favorite curse word?
Ben: Kinnel
Elliot: Wank
Jack: Shit

8.What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Jack: Race Car Driver
Westley: Chef
Mere: Cryptologist

9.What profession would you not like to do?
Elliot: Copper
Ben: Some boring desk job
Rach: Begger

10.If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
David: "By some odd miscalculation we appear to have an opening for you today."
Ben: "Any regrets?"
Elliot: "Why don't you believe in me?"