Character Journals

There is a new trend in blogging, or at least new to me, that I have recently discovered. People blog journal entries for their characters. The idea baffled me until I stumbled upon a blog that does this. The entries are relatively short. As I read it, the ideas started to turn. I have one series that is in the works. Currently The Curse of Atlantis is the first published, but I have finished a second book and have started on the third. I love this series. I never would have thought I would write one, but the characters just captured me. I thought, it would be perfect to do a journal entry for Pandora. She has been through a lot. The trouble is, how to do it so as not to give anything in any of the books away. But it would also be a great way to explore this world I created and have fallen in love with.

The first obstacle I have when thinking about this blog is capturing the character. I can’t write her as she currently is…she’s had three books of experiences most have not read. I must write her as she was at the end of the first book. As I thought, I remember a writing book I once read. CreativeJuice by Terra Pressler is a book I purchased as a teen. It is meant as a prompt book to help create authentic writing. I never used it for this, but what I did use it for was to build a character breakdown sheet. I looked through the prompts and put them together into a worksheet. It is by far the best way for me to dive into who my characters are. It actually helped me write The Lord of Nightmares. That was such a weird character, when I first wrote it, he came off feeling flat. After, I using the worksheet, I would like to think it fleshed him out some. I decided for this week’s blog, I’d share the information. Hopefully it will help you whether you are diving into a character from another author or one you’ve created.

Name:
Age:
Health and appearance:
Occupation:
Educational background:
Marital history:
Family background:
Intelligence level:
Values/Spiritual beliefs:
               How tightly held 1-10:
Greatest desire:
Greatest obstacle to that desire:
Goals/dreams:
Deepest fear:
Need to control environment 1-10:
Self esteem:
Where live: