Saturday 4 February 2012

Follow-up on characterisation - My WIP characters

Today, I just want to share the notes I have on my own characters. Enjoy!


My protagonist (Faith)
She is lonely and weak, broken since the day her father died to save her. She keeps it all to herself, however, and never shows herself weak in public. She doesn't believe in fairytales and she doesn't understand love. She doesn't trust people. She constantly feels abandoned and lonely, but her fear of trusting people - of coming close to them only to have them taken away - keeps her from people's company. She avoids close contact with anyone because she fears to again experience someone she loves disappear. ("Someday the ones you love will come to disappear, so isn't it better not to love at all? To spare you that grief and hurt?")
She is somewhat of a hypocryte: she keeps secrets, but feels betrayed if others do. She wants people to trust her, but can't trust others. She hates feeling lonely, but doesn't allow people to become her friends. She admires courage, strength, and confidence, but can't exercise these things herself. She wants people to love her, but doesn't know what love is. She thinks she's all alone, when she in reality has friends and family who care about her - she just doesn't see it in her isolated grief.

Faith's lover (Seth)
The son of a human and the Devil, he has always been able to question his father's actions. He hates his father for having killed off his mother, as if she meant nothing to him. Seth is cool, laid-back, and calm. Before he met Faith, he wasn't sure of his place in the world, but she gave him the love he had always sought, and it made him realise that there was actually something worth living for. When she was reborn as a human, he swore he would find her again. He is determined and faithful, and as long as Faith exist, he will make sure she is protected from the world he grew up in.

Faith's best friend (Em)
She is the social, ambitious girl who seeks love, happiness, and security. Her late brother was her source of security and comfort because her parents were constantly arguing with each other. When he passed away, she got lost. Faith helped her back on her feet and they've been best friends ever since. Faith never asks for much, so when she does, Em will do anything to protect her smile.

Faith's enemy and Em's lover (Damon)
He is the self-confident, tough guy - sarcastic and critical, but calm, collected, and patient. As a son of the Devil, he likes to play with people's emotions. He's manipulative and doesn't understand human emotions. He doesn't believe in love, but in lust.

Faith's friend, who secretly loves her (Raphael)
Although he is an angel, he's bold and always completely honest, even when he probably shouldn't be. He dares disobey God and so he isn't always the best angel, but his heart is in the right place. He is the self-confident, teasing, athletic (soccer) type.

Faith's mother (Susan)
She wants nothing more but for Faith to be happy. She hasn't yet stopped grieving her husband, but she doesn't show her sadness to Faith. At home, she puts on a brave face and is always smiling. At work, she works so hard that she doesn't have time to think about that which saddens her.

Faith's late father (John)
He was a very ambitious lawyer who firmly believed in hard work. As a result, he didn't have much time for family life, but he accepted every opportunity to be with his family. He believed in justice and thought that lawyers would bring it. He had a strong sense of moral.

The novel is up on 70.000 words right now! (For those of you who don't know, an average-sized novel has about 80.000 words.) I've estimated that it will be finished at about 100.000, so I'm slowly getting there! If not for NaNoWriMo, I would probably still have just about one chapter, or something... ^^ I'll have to rewrite it again, of course, but at least I have the basic storyline. Yay!

2 comments:

  1. Keep at it! It sounds like you've created some really good characters! :D

    -Joseph
    www.josepheastwood.com

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  2. I sure hope so! :D Thanks for reading! <3

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