Tag: characters

Tumblrweed: The Composites

If you’re one of those people who prefers to imagine characters from the page with your own imagination, and thus you avoid film versions of your favourite books – then look away.

But if you love the idea of using police composite software to bring book characters to life – then click this link. The Composites.

Here’s a sample – Rochester from Jane Eyre…

“Mr. Rochester, his foot supported by the cushion; he was looking at Adèle and the dog: the fire shone full on his face. I knew my traveller with his broad and jetty eyebrows; his square forehead, made squarer by the horizontal sweep of his black hair. I recognised his decisive nose, more remarkable for character than beauty; his full nostrils, denoting, I thought, choler; his grim mouth, chin, and jaw—yes, all three were very grim, and no mistake. His shape, now divested of cloak, I perceived harmonised in squareness with his physiognomy…My master’s colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, firm, grim mouth.”

Character checklist

If you’re like me you know all about narrative, have grand plans, but fall at the most basic hurdle. Naming and developing characters. I am terrible at coming up with names that I like. But even worse at developing a character past that point. It’s why I steer clear of writing fiction.

Wikihow has a handy guide.

And a video. Which is boring. Don’t watch it.

Map with character

If you thought yesterday’s movie map was confusing here’s a breath of fresh air from XKCD.

It tracks character arcs and interactions in a bunch of popular movies. And two I’ve never watched or heard of.

A novel solution

I started writing a novel once – well, a few times – and one of the problems I came across was settling on names for characters. This is why I think many authors stick to historic fiction. Sadly, others have issues coming up with the right plot devices – this will be a problem no more thanks to this great character reference card