Hey there, writing friends. We’re halfway to the finish line! Great job!
So I am still trying to nail down character backstory. I spent my 60 minutes this evening working on the hero’s character sheet.
I have a pretty awesome character sheet that I made up that I will share with you guys soon. (I will edit this post with the link when it’s ready). It’s for those of you who like to really get your characters down on paper before you start writing. What I like best about it is that in many places I include areas like character log lines that force me to think about goal and plot. I find this super helpful.
Anyway, here is a snippet of it so that you can see what I mean about loglines, based on the hero of this book, Micah:
Physical Description
Micah is a tall man (6’0”) with a lean, elegant build, and dark brown hair that he keeps short and artfully tousled. Rather than being the big and rugged type, everything about him is stylish and expensive: designer fashion, tailored suits, and expensive shoes. When he was a child, he was injured in a plane crash, suffering a concussion, broken right arm, broken ribs, whiplash, and a broken and crushed right foot and leg. The severity of the injuries to his leg left extensive scarring on his shin and the top of his foot. So much so, that the bottom of his right leg is not only scarred, but thinner and disfigured, as he lost a lot of skin in parts and underwent several skin grafts. Additionally, he has damaged nerves and weakened muscles there, and when he walks for too long, he experiences deep somatic pain in his foot. He keeps fit by swimming, which takes weight off of his foot, and strength training. He also does physical therapy to his foot and leg, acupuncture, and massage to try to keep the worst of the pain at bay.
Character Summary/Character “LOGLINE”
Hotelier and plane crash survivor Micah Herren is flying first class to Vail, Colorado to turn over management of Herrenhaus to his successor before he leaves to manage his family’s five-star hotel in Austria. When his plane loses an engine and Micah’s PTSD overwhelms him, his seat mate, cute hairdresser Ashlee Zelazny, comes to his rescue. The pair get to know each other even better during dinner at their forced layover in Cleveland, and when Ashlee’s B&B reservations in Vail are canceled, Micah steps in and offers her a room in his hotel suite for the week. But how will he be able to leave for Austria at week’s end when every minute he spends with Ashlee only deepens the bond that was forged between them during their emergency landing?
This is rough, and usually for my eyes only. Also included on the character sheet is backstory, outer goals, inner goals, obstacles, and much more. Since in romance books the heroine is co-lead protagonist, I like being able to put in her logline as well. It is a neat way to put in her goals and obstacles too, and keep them foremost in my mind while writing.
So Micah MUST leave to do his family duty, but Ashlee is the big obstacle to this goal. This is why he fights the budding relationship for so long. Right there in his logline.
Anyway, I will likely work more on his tomorrow. You can see that I included all of my recent grisly research into physical trauma in Micah’s description, and now will be mindful of how it affects him.
We are officially halfway done with November, friends. I hope that you guys are hitting your goals and happy in your writing!
–Karyn