But what does he look like? - WriYe

Description
How much is too much for you? How little is too little? How do you find your happy medium? What must you describe about every character when you write?

I don't think I've mastered description yet. If anything I tend to do too much description, tossing it in all over the place - 'she shook her head, her brown curls falling into her face' or 'her blue eyes took in the forest scene with its lush green leaves and red and yellow wildflowers' type of thing. Possibly not quite to that extant though...

I always at some point include hair colour and general body type/size/height because I like to know what characters I read about are like, so I want to include information I look for in stories. That wouldn't be 'he's 6ft tall with short spiky black hair and a toned body' though, it's more likely to be dropping his hair colour in at one point and later mentioning his height compared to, say, a shelf he's reaching something off, or a small child who's talking to him.

Body type can be slotted in at any point - a woman not being able to make her hands meet while giving a friend a hug, or someone calling an insult to someone (stick insect or fatty, maybe) or describing the type of thing that person does for fun. Someone who spends all his time in fast food restaurants is likely to have a very different body type to someone who's a member of a running club.

What's the worst way to use and/or reveal character descriptions?

The worse way is when you get paragraphs of description with nothing to move the story forward at all. I try to avoid that! The second worse way is the 'looking in a mirror' technique, or the variation 'another character looking at him/her'.

How much of the scenery do you put into your novel and why?

I like to include scenery if it's relevant, but it not I just like to set the scene. If someone is in a train station you can have the noise of a train pulling interrupting a phone call and that's all you need to include, but if someone is meeting underneath a clock at the railway station you might want to add detail as the person searches for the clock - because in that instance, it might add to the tension as the person tries to find the clock in time.


Bonus: A picture is worth a thousand words... Draw us your main character!

I can't draw people very well, and I especially can't get people to turn out the way I imagine them in my head. I usually do internet searched to find a picture of someone who looks like how I imagine my main characters. This is the picture I found for Dawn Bell, the main character in my July Camp NaNoWriMo novel.

Q is for Questions

Surprisingly I managed to think of three Qs I could write about - Query letters, Quotes and Questions.

I feel entirely unqualified to write about query letters since I've never actually written one, and while I could write about my favourite quotes from books I've read, I decided to go with questions instead.

When I create a character I'll often start off with a list of questions I ask myself about the character. Sometimes I'll write them down, most of the times I won't, but my basic list is:

What's their name?
What's their age?
What's their nickname/other name that they're called? (eg, Mrs So-and-so, Captain Whatsit)
What do they look like?
Do they have any mannerisms or habits? (Do they bite their nails, or play with their hair, or doodle while they talk?)
What do they want? (Could be as big as rule the world or as simple as to be left alone)
What's in the way of getting what they want?
Who are their friends?
Where do they live?
Do they have any special possessions?

There are other questions that might be added to the list depending on what genre I'm writing. In a sci-fi or fantasy that might be 'what species are they?' or 'what magic do they have?', or in a supernatural is might be 'how did they die?' or 'what is their special vampire-killing talent?'

Does anyone else have lists of questions they use to flesh out characters?

The sci-fi saga is over

After six months of frantic writing, Alive! finished this week. Reading back through it there are several things I'd change if I'd been writing it as a straight novel, not in parts, but generally I'm pleased with how it's come out.

For those who like stats, it finished at 34,500 words, was completed in 25 installments, filled 75 A4-type pages on the net and would be 189 pages of an 8.5"x5.5" book (I'm looking into editing it properly and making print copies available via Lulu or some other POD publisher).

If anyone wants to read the finished story click here - it's going to stay up on The Novel Factory site for the immediate future at least.

Character profiles: Jackson Brown

Name: Jackson Brown
Age: 35-40

Position: Inventory & logistics and assistant engineer, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Can seem to be quite inapproachable at times as he prefers to keep his own counsel. He is always certain of his own mind and isn't slow to tell other people if he thinks they or a situation is wrong, bad, or being handled wrong.

Misc: A mixture of hired muscle and a steady mind, Jackson is in charge of dealing with port authorities, sourcing cargo, and dealing with any problems that arise. One of Dak's most trusted friends, he is also the one the captain turns to when something needs to be done.

“Jackson seems to be alright, and judging from the language he used when I told him he was restricted to the medical bay this morning I would say he’s well on his way to recovery,” Dr Rivers said, smiling slightly.

Inspiration & character creation: Jackson began as little more than an additional crew member but has become more and more part of the plot as the story has progressed. He has a sense of mystery around him in the story - partly because sometimes when I write him I'm not even sure myself what's going on. It was fun to give him a more key role in discovering the saboteur on board the Crazy Horse - especially as I'd noticed his main role up to that point seemed to be to get injured!

I didn't base his character on anyone in particular, and although I'd had his name in the back of my mind for use in a story for a while, he hadn't really got any personality to go with the name before Alive!.

Character profiles: Elliott Macintyre

Name: Elliott Macintyre
Age: Early 30s

Position: Second in command and helmsman, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Fairly laid back and experienced in startship operations, Elliott is the one Dak relies on to make sure paperwork is in order, timetables are kept and the ship is all working properly.

“Hey, Brown, open your eyes, look at me, Jackson.”

The voice sounded far away and Jackson wished it would go away. His head hurt like the worst hangover he’d ever had, although he couldn’t remember drinking anything.

“Brown,” the voice wouldn’t shut up, and now whoever it was talking was shaking him as well.

“Go ‘way,” he groaned, keeping his eyes shut.

“Hey, you scared me for a minute, Brown,” Macintyre said, sitting back on his heels as he opened the first aid kit he’d grabbed from the bridge. “Hey, stay put,” he added as Jackson tried to get up. “You’ve got a gash on your head and you’re leaking red stuff all over the place. Keep your butt on the deck ‘til I’ve cleaned you up a bit.”

Jackson made a noise which could have been taken as a grumbling assent or as a swear word. Elliott ignored it as he poured a liberal amount of coagulant powder onto the three inch cut on the hairline of the other man’s head, then wrapped a bandage around it.

“There was a hull breach,” Macintyre continued. “Looks like you were in your bunk when it happened, and you got thrown out and hit your head on that cabinet there,” he pointed to a low cupboard with a brown-red stain on the corner. “Don’t you remember anything?”

Jackson shook his head then winced in pain.

“You sit there a while longer before you try moving,” Macintyre told him. “You’re not bleeding any more, but you’d better let the doc see you to patch up that cut. If you can stay put for a minute I just need to check on Anna. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Character profiles: Dr Connor Rivers

Name: Connor Rivers
Age: 45-55

Position: Senior doctor, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Serious, intelligent and with a weakness for a good whisky.

Dr Rivers sat upright studying a hand held computer pad. He looked worried, but he often did when he had patients, thinking through every possible complication and treatment.

Inspiration & character creation: Dr Rivers was one of those characters that was necessary to create for reality's sake but didn't have a fleshed out character when I started writing. I knew it would be likely that people would need a doctor on a several-month-long interplanetary trip, but I wasn't sure how much he'd get involved with the rest of the story.

Of course, after Pilar Perez got ill, he became more central to the story, providing background information and eventually turning into something of a sounding board for Dak. He also seemed to be quite fatherly towards Anna, which was a nice development.

Character profiles: Anna Smythe

Name: Dr Anna Smythe
Age: 25

Position: Trainee doctor, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Quiet and caring, Anna is a thoroughly nice person. She can be quite shy in large groups but she makes friends easily.

Misc: Not long out of medical school, Anna is working on the Crazy Horse to get experience in the field. She is eager to learn and very competant at what she does.
Although she is fully qualified she very rarely introduces herself as 'Dr Smythe', although she has been known to take refuge in her professional standing if she feels unsure or nervous in a situation.
She seems to be comfortable on board the MF Crazy Horse, although at first glance it would appear to be a station entirely unsuited to her character. Much of that seems to be down to Dr Rivers, who treats her with an almost fatherly manner.

“Mr Perez? It’s Anna Smythe. Are you alright?”
“Señorita Smythe?” Carlos went to the door and put his head against the cool metal. “My wife – is she...?”
“She’s doing just fine,” Anna replied. “I just thought you’d like to know Dr Rivers says she’s stable, though he doesn’t think she’ll be waking up before we reach Mars.”
Carlos breathed a sigh of relief. “Then... Can I see her?” he asked.
There was a pause before Anna answered. “I’m sorry, I can’t let you in to see her. Not without someone else to watch you. Captain’s orders, sorry.”
“But she is alright?” Carlos asked again.
“She still needs to get to the proper hospital facilities on Mars, but don’t worry, she’s fine at the moment,” the trainee doctor reassured him.
“Thank you, Señorita. And you will take good care of her?” he asked.
“I will, I promise,” Anna answered seriously.

Inspiration & character creation: Anna is in some ways a character who is still in development. Because I made her quiet and shy, she hasn't featured prominently in the story so far, and when she has it's been mostly professional.
Her inspiration was the traditional English rose - pale complexion, blonde hair, beautiful, refined and intelligent. I really don't know what path her character will take as the story progresses, but I like that. She's very much a predictable, stable character, whereas most of the other people in the story are liable to lose tempers, make rash decisions and get into arguements. In that way she provides the backbone and in some ways the conscience of the story, although the last thing I want is for her to become goody-goody.
In some ways she could be likened to KayLee in Firefly, but in other ways she's a very different character.

Character profiles: Shanran Dak

Name: Shanran Dak
Age: 45

Position: Captain, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Grumpy, stubborn, smart as hell and very determined.

Misc: The captain of the MF Crazy Horse isn't always an easy man to get along with. He's conscientious about completing a job, but always wants to do it on his own terms. Because of this he doesn't get on well with people in authority, which can occasionally get him into hat water, and isn't shy of telling people exactly what he thinks.
If he's given options he will always look for the one which will benefit his ship and crew the most.
He trusts very few people, and even among his own crew there are few that he completely trusts all the time. Jackson Brown is probably his closest friend, although he has also been known to enjoy a drink with Dr Rivers and John Park. His loudly professed opinion of women in general is that they cause trouble, but despite this he carries two women on his crew, perhaps suggesting that his bark is worse than his bite?

“Major, what the hell are these orders about?” Dak snapped, taking the seat as Macintyre closed the office door and leaned against the doorframe. “You want me to carry passengers on our next run? Are you out of your fricking mind? You know we don’t have the facilities to do that, not to mention the inclination.”

~*~

“He won’t change his mind,” Macintyre stated, folding his arms as he watched John finish transmitting Keller’s schematics to the stranded ship.

“How do you know unless you try?” Keller countered.

Macintyre laughed and shook his head. “I’ve been working with Dak for long enough now to know a hopeless cause when I see one. Even if he thought he was wrong – which he doesn’t by the way – then you’d be hard pushed to get him to admit it. Trying to change his mind’s nearly impossible.”

Inspiration & character creation: It was fun coming up with the character of the captain. He started out as an idea for a first officer on a much more classy ship than Crazy Horse - think more Enterprise than Serenity. Something wasn't quite right about him in that position though, so Macintyre became first officer and Dak got a promotion.
His character was partly inspired by Joss Wheden's Firefly character Malcolm Reynolds, but I also liked the idea of having a grumpy captain and the challenge of trying to make him sympathetic and likeable. I hope I've succeeded!
His ethnicity is a mystery, even to me, but his name seemed more Indian-feeling than western. I'm probably going to get complaints from Indian people about that now, so sorry in advance, but if you think I'm wrong just remember that this is the 22nd century and Keller is a made-up western name...

Character profiles: John Park

Name: John Park
Age: 38

Position: Odd job man, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Laid back and likeable, John is good at finding information and tracking down hard-to-locate objects - as well as talking his way into free drinks at the bar!

John went into the kitchen area and Dak heard him open one of the storage cupboards and open a can.

“That’s coming out of your rations,” he called, going over to join John in the kitchen.

John shrugged, taking a swig from the can. “I’ll get us more at Mars,” he told the captain.

Inspiration & character creation: John wasn't Korean until I decided on his last name. Park seemed to suit him, then I realised there seemed to be a lot of Korean actors and actresses with that surname - Enterprise's Linda Park and Battlestar Galactica's Grace Park to name just two. I Googled it and what do you know - it's one of the most common Korean surnames. You learn something new every day!

Character profile: Keller Anis

Thanks to the brilliant character creator in Star Trek Online I can actually show you how I envisage some of my characters. First up is Keller Anis, engineer of the MF Crazy Horse in my seriel novel Alive!

Name: Keller Anis
Age: 30

Position: Engineer, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Stubborn, dedicated sometimes to the point of losing focus on other things, serious at work but relaxed off-duty.

Misc: Keller is a very talented engineer and looks on her ship almost as her child. She believes she can fix anything, given the time and equipment, and so far hasn't been faced with a situation to prove her wrong.
She can be stubborn and hard headed at times, and often butts heads with the captain when she believes her solution is better. They have a love-hate relationship where they both respect each other and can rub along quite well, but often find themselves argueing. The captain reserves his favourite insult - 'damned woman' - especially for Keller.
Keller enjoys playing basketball and has rigged up a net in the engine room storage bay.

Captain Shanran Dak frowned and punched a button next to the speaker. “Dammit Keller, could you try not to scrape the paint quite so hard next time?” he growled into the microphone headset he was wearing. “She gets enough battering through the asteroid belt without you adding more dents.”

“I’ve told you before, Captain, I’d have no problems fixing the dents up if you’d get me a proper repair kit,” Keller replied. “Besides, don’t blame me – you were steering,” she added.

Dak scowled at the speaker and swore under his breath as he punched buttons on the control panels to shut down the ship’s engines. “Damned woman, got an answer for everything,” he muttered.

Inspiration & character creation: I really don't know how I came up with Keller's first name. It just popped into my head one day when I was thinking about Star Trek - I know, geeky, sorry! Her last name came from the 'star anis' plant.
Her original incarnation was as a half-Betazoid half-Romulan counsellor in the 27th century in a Trek fan-fic, which was never designed to be read by anyone other than me. I didn't really flesh out her character very much to start with, although she's always had a stubborn streak. When I started writing Alive! I was looking for a strong female character and she came to mind. A few tweaks later and she appeared in current form.
The quote above was actually the first line I ever wrote for her in Alive! and once she'd said that it helped set her character even more for me.
I think Keller is now one of my favourite characters - strong, clever, argumentative, stubborn - and I'm looking forward to exploring her more as the story progresses.