Wednesday Writing Challenge: Who Are You?

Welcome to the Wednesday Writing Challenge! 

It's the Last Wednesday of the Month!

Our final Writing Challenge!

And this one's a toughie...

~~~ 3 Challenge Entries for Participating! ~~~

Every Wednesday, I pose a new writing challenge here on the blog. These challenges come from books on writing, classes I've taken on creative writing, or sometimes just from my own imagination. If you're an author, hopefully they will help you get your writing juices flowing and help you improve your craft.

 

Some of these challenges may be very good ones or may include an element I consider highly important for writers to learn...so occasionally I may cycle through some of my favorites more than once. 

 

??  Want to Participate  ??

The Wednesday Challenges are open to all readers. In order to participate, simply comment on the challenge post with your response to the exercise. Not only is it good practice, but you could win something nifty and fun!

 

August Prize: A Lotus Petals journal

Including a personalized message from Brantwijn Serrah

~ For Full Contest Details, See Here ~

PLEASE REMEMBER YOU MUST BE SIGNED UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER. OTHERWISE I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO NOTIFY YOU IF YOU WIN!

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 And now...

***Here's Today's Challenge!***

Every character is more than what you can possibly see in the scope of one story, and perhaps even over the scope of a series. Every character has (or should have) inner feelings, motivations, philosophies, values and beliefs that make up their very core.

Today's challenge is this:

 

Choose one of your (existing!) characters. List the following:

1. Name and age.

2. Brief description (hair color, eye color, height)

3.  Astrological Sign and why it is their sign.

4. Political feelings.

5. Religious feelings.

6. Favorite pizza topping.

 

But wait a second, Brantwijn, you say.  A lot of that isn't relevant to my story!

 

Sure it is. It is part of who your character is. Even if it doesn't come up in a written form, you should be able to know your character well enough to know what they'll ask for on a pizza.  Maybe there's something in their attitude that just screams at you that they're a spicy sausage kind of guy, or that she loves pepperoni and pineapple. You should know where they'll fall on a political spectrum and on a religious one (politics and religion can be found in any setting; another part of knowing your character is knowing their background world).

 

Think of it this way: you are sitting down to a nice glass of wine with your character and interviewing them. You're interested in the whole package, not just what comes up in their story. You want to get a good scope of their personal feelings, beliefs and wants.

 

Now, obviously, these things can't be summed up in just six bullet points. This is just a stepping off exercise to get you thinking about the scope of your character's beliefs and experience.

**NOTE**

This is not an exercise in language. You don't have to write a flowing narrative to include all these details. This is an exercise in getting familiar with your character "offstage". You can list responses as bullet points, just like I have, with a brief "why?" to accompany your answers (1 sentence or less).

 

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Hints and Tips:

Astological Sign: You'll probably figure out your character's astrological sign one of two ways. First, you know when their birthday is. No need to delve into how it affects their personality or if they are a fire or air sign; simply, "she was born June 13th". Second, you have an idea for their personality and you find a sign that fits it, such as: "she's passionate and a little stubborn and hot-headed, so she's an Aries".

 

Politics: Every world has politics, but not every political system is going to be divided into the parties and platforms as here on Planet Earth. If your character does not belong in an established modern political system, you'll need to know a little bit about the system he does exist in. You don't have to list a party but give a generic idea of progressive/conservative/liberal/radical/fascist/anarchist, at least. Include a short one-sentence "Why".

 

Religion: Same as above. Even if your character does not belong in a world populated by those religions we know and accept in ours, give an idea of his religious views anyway. Monotheistic, Polytheistic, Pagan, Agnostic, Atheist (please do not choose Atheist to get out of choosing a religion... remember your character needs to have a reason to believe what he does!). Include a short one-sentence explanation.

Give me your best, darlings!!