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Character Record Sheet (Creative Writing Exercise)

This is another one of those obvious writing exercises. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you have already done it, after yesterday’s post. If you haven’t, it’s time to start.

I want you to make a Character Record Sheet for an interesting character. I’d recommend developing a character from a Work-in-Progress (or a Work-in-Sort-of-Thinking-about-It), but of course you’re welcome to make up a totally new character just for this exercise. If you actually follow through on it, I suspect that character will work its way into one of your stories eventually anyway.

Anyway. Write a Character Record Sheet. I was going to suggest you dig up an RPG CRS like I was talking about yesterday (and you can email me if you don’t have one handy) or, if you’re working any genre other than Fantasy, develop a Facebook profile for your character. Either one would give you physical descripti0n, relationship status, family background, core beliefs, profession, and personal interests.

Nursery Class Questionnaire

That was my plan, but then on Sunday at church they handed out a questionnaire for each of the kids in the nursery (and I’ve got two). We started flipping through, and some of the questions felt kind of ridiculous for that purpose, but as soon as I saw it I thought, “This would be perfect for a character profile!”

So that’s your job. Answer the nursery questionnaire for two of your characters. Obviously, your perspective is different as the writer than as a parent, but the answers should be a lot more interesting, too.

  • Child’s name
  • Birthdate
  • Time of day born, birth weight, length
  • Parents
  • Brothers and sisters and ages
  • Grandparents
  • When this little one arrived, our reaction was…
  • People said…
  • Our child likes to…
  • He/she enjoys…
  • He/she does not like it when…
  • It warms our hearts when we see him/her…
  • Our prayer for our little one is…
  • Additional remarks about this little one or thoughts to share with the congregation

Your blog readers would probably find it interesting, too. You can post your answers in the comments, but I’d encourage you to post it on your blog and just share a link with us.

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