Characterization and Part 2 for "What a Character!" Contest

[ladyseishou]

As Janet Burroway observes in her work: Writing Fiction - A Guide to Narrative Craft, "Human character is in the foreground of all fiction..." and "...we must find them interesting, we must find them believable, and we must care about what happens to them."

To work toward these goals, she provides the following advice:

1. Keep a journal and use it to explore and build ideas for characters.
   
   
2. Know all influences that go into the making of your character's type: age, gender, race, nationality, marital status, region, education, religion, profession.
   
   
3. Know the details of your character's life: what he or she does during every part of the day, thinks about, remembers, wants, likes and dislikes, eats says, means.
   
   
4. Identify, heighten, and dramatize consistent inconsistencies. What does your character want that is at odds with whatever else the character wants? What patterns of thought and behavior work against the primary goal?
   
   
5. Focus sharply on how the character looks, on what she or he wears and owns, and on how she or he moves.
   
   
6. Examine the character's speech to make sure it does more than convey information.
   
   
7. Know what your character wants, both generally out of life, and specifically in the context of the story.
   
   
8. If the character is based on a real model, including yourself, make a dramatic external alteration.
   
   
9. If the character is imaginary or alien to you, identify a mental or emotional point of contact.
   

And now (finally) Part 2 for "What a Character!"

For part 1 of the contest, members for the nano_writers community were asked to provide short responses to questions posted for ten portraits of people one might encounter as the protagonist (or antagonist) of a novel or story.

Eight members responded, providing a wonderful and diverse collection of answers for all ten characters! A hearty thanks and appreciation for the following writers: ceria, cheyinka, facet, geminianeyes, healingmirth, shiromirai, syderia, and tegels.

Now, it is everyone's time to select their favorite response for each character provided by our Nano Writers! Which characterization provides the best insight to the character's day? Inner life? External goals? Which answer for you as a reader, invites further reading and makes you wants to know more?

Part 2 will close midnight, Friday, July 17 and the winner (and prize) will be announced Monday, July 20.

And now for our gallery of characters...

Poll #733 What a Character! Contest Part 2

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 13

1. My best kept secret is...

that I am a time traveller.
6 (46.2%)

the fact that I wasn't born a woman. If anyone were to find out....
4 (30.8%)

I enjoy the idea of sparkling vampires despite their stalker-like behavior.
0 (0.0%)

I eat brains as the main course. You're next.
2 (15.4%)

that I loved Barbie dolls when I was little.
0 (0.0%)

I am the vessel of my own light.
1 (7.7%)

I was born in small-town Montana.
0 (0.0%)

my mother was an alien from outer space and I can read your thoughts.
0 (0.0%)

2. My last job was...

secret agent.
2 (16.7%)

boring, but paid for a new guitar.
1 (8.3%)

harpist for the local symphony.
2 (16.7%)

walking the dog for my mum.
0 (0.0%)

destroy in-the-middle-of-nowhere shacks and see slash writers cry at the loss.
2 (16.7%)

killing monsters for kicks.
4 (33.3%)

working at a greenhouse that specialized in carnivorous plants.
0 (0.0%)

cleaning Mr. Marchester's dog kennels.
1 (8.3%)

3. I like to spend a rainy day...

outside, feeling the power of nature within and without me.
1 (8.3%)

curled up with a cup of strong coffee and stroking the cat.
1 (8.3%)

burying my naked toes into the wet grass.
0 (0.0%)

in the park, when I have it all to myself.
1 (8.3%)

burying corpses as it erases evidence quite well.
6 (50.0%)

practising kick boxing.
0 (0.0%)

in my dad's arm chair with my tapping my toes against the cold glass until there are steamy footprints.
1 (8.3%)

watching the raindrops plummet gleefully towards Earth.
2 (16.7%)

4. My catchphrase is...

I can fix that.
5 (41.7%)

A good book chases the blues away.
1 (8.3%)

Veni, Vedi, Vici.
2 (16.7%)

"whatever keeps your aqueous vehicle bouyant".
2 (16.7%)

"How *you* doin'?"
1 (8.3%)

great men are always misunderstood.
0 (0.0%)

"But that was before the grassy knoll."
1 (8.3%)

WTF.
0 (0.0%)

5. My friends describe me as...

shy.
0 (0.0%)

What friends? No one can see me.
4 (36.4%)

lacking in dress sense. Lacking in a dress at all, to be honest.
3 (27.3%)

most likely to remain childless.
0 (0.0%)

seminaked, as would anyone, when they see the picture.
1 (9.1%)

contagious; I've decided it's a compliment.
2 (18.2%)

a fat slut. Okay, so I might be a little bit of a slut, who isn't?
1 (9.1%)

"the human bonfire." I'm always three degrees hotter in daytime.
0 (0.0%)

6. The last book I read was...

"Howl's Moving Castle" and I didn't even get to finish it...
2 (16.7%)

"Polyamory: Roadmaps for the Clueless & Hopeful."
0 (0.0%)

Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth."
0 (0.0%)

"Ulysees" by James Joyce
2 (16.7%)

a collection of essays.
0 (0.0%)

"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and computed jokes in base 13.
1 (8.3%)

"The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy" by Allan G. Johnson
0 (0.0%)

the one my daughter wrote before disappearing.
7 (58.3%)

7. My favorite color is...

sky blue pink.
0 (0.0%)

blood red.
0 (0.0%)

yellow, like lemons because lemonade is my favorite drink in the whole wide world.
2 (16.7%)

red. Can't you see it staining my teeth?
2 (16.7%)

white.
0 (0.0%)

blue.
2 (16.7%)

ultraviolet, like the spiral pattern on this flower's petals!
4 (33.3%)

bleached, or maybe it's just the photo.
2 (16.7%)

8. My most prized possession is...

the ring my grandmother gave me before she died. It's still too large for me but it's so beautiful I wear it every day.
3 (25.0%)

my hood.
0 (0.0%)

fangs from the wolf that chased me.
1 (8.3%)

obviously not my body as that lollipop is going to induce diabetic any moment now.
1 (8.3%)

a golden statue of a dragon breathing fire.
2 (16.7%)

the basket I use when I go to visit Grandma.
4 (33.3%)

my red anorak, which I often wear in Venice.
0 (0.0%)

my yo-yo.
1 (8.3%)

9. As a kid, my nickname was...

Seashell.
0 (0.0%)

Morticia.
2 (16.7%)

Duchess
0 (0.0%)

Hilts; I wanted to be Steve McQueen when I grew up.
0 (0.0%)

too much hair.
1 (8.3%)

Scrapes. You wouldn't think it to look at me now, but I was one mean tomboy as a child.
4 (33.3%)

"Human Encyclopedia". Then came puberty and black hair dye.
5 (41.7%)

One eyed Lill. Still called that, don't know why!
0 (0.0%)

10. If I had to describe myself with one word...

messy hair. Wait, what do you mean that's more than a word?
2 (16.7%)

supercalifragilisticexpealidotious.
0 (0.0%)

I'd say I was a romantic. I think it's because my mother always made me watch the afternoon soap operas when I as a kid.
1 (8.3%)

hypocrite.
1 (8.3%)

hairy.
1 (8.3%)

I'd pick one at random from the dictionary.
5 (41.7%)

neurotic.
1 (8.3%)

I'd say "robotic". No one asks why I cover that eye.
1 (8.3%)

Looking forward to everyone's selections! Additional comments may be posted below after the end of the contest!

Edit: Contest is now closed! Comments have been enabled and both readers and writers are encouraged to share their thoughts about the contest entries: what worked, what didn't, which responses were intriguing/funny/engaging/colorful and why...

Comments

I guess I'll be the first to comment?

[cheyinka]

I started off thinking mundane but surprising - so for 1 I said "small-town Montana", because Montana is so amazingly homogenously white that no one would ever guess that for her. None of the options - including mine - really grabbed me for that one, though, upon reread.

4 was the hardest for me - I just could not think of a catchphrase. I really like "I can fix that," and wish I had come up with it! (That one was not mine.)

5 I knew I had to explain why she was apparently topless, and went for "the human bonfire" as a plausible explanation. I like "What friends?" and "lacking in dress sense" better than that, though, since they seem to open more possibilities for writing about Ms. 5.

6 I wanted something clever - at least as clever as "the human bonfire" - and none of the book titles I could think of were satisfactory. I have no idea how I came up with "the one my daughter wrote before disappearing," except that that's the one, of all ten, that I'm most pleased with. I wish I could say I had a story in mind beyond just that!

7 was tough, and finally I decided that picking a color would be too much of a dead-end; the idea that the little girl is seeing beyond the normal visual spectrum made me giggle, so I went with "ultraviolet".

For 9 I wanted to go for the "very unexpected" again, like with 1, and came up with "Human Encyclopedia". The hardest part was getting an answer that was no more than 10 words, because I knew what I wanted to get across but wasn't sure how to do so and still comply with the length restriction.