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    Story Sensei Characterization Worksheet: Story Sensei, #3
    Story Sensei Characterization Worksheet: Story Sensei, #3
    Story Sensei Characterization Worksheet: Story Sensei, #3
    Ebook74 pages46 minutes

    Story Sensei Characterization Worksheet: Story Sensei, #3

    By Camy Tang

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    About this ebook

    Whether your story is plot-driven or character-driven, characterization is important. Your readers identify and/or empathize with your characters, and that's what keeps them on the edge of their seats, wanting to know what happens next to your characters.

    When your reader is apathetic about your character, they are more likely to put your book down. They simply aren't as invested in the character and are not as interested in the conflict surrounding them.

    A three-dimensional character with flaws and strengths usually doesn't just jump out of a writer's head. Typically, writers spend a great deal of time embellishing and digging deeper into a character, whether before the book is written or as they're editing. Three-dimensional characterization is usually a deliberate, concentrated effort.

    Also, sometimes when a writer has hit a wall when writing their novel, it could be that the writer just doesn't know the character well enough.

    This worksheet will help you develop your story characters. By the end of this worksheet, you will have:

    1) a solid grasp of who your character is—and I'm not talking just favorite ice cream flavor

    2) your character's flaws and heroic qualities to make him/her truly sympathetic to the reader

    3) the character's unique qualities to make him/her stand out from all the other characters on the Barnes and Noble shelves.

    4) your character's desire and external goal (you'd be amazed at how this can change from your original ideas about your character as you dig deeper and discover who your character is!)

    5) the motivation behind your character's actions—and not something done over and over again, but something really juicy and unique that shapes your protagonist to make him/her a richer, deeper character

    6) conflict and obstacles that directly impact your character's external goal

    7) the riveting climax of the story—both external events and also internal arc

    This worksheet will guide you through several steps and questions that will help you delve deeper into your characters to make them realistic, heroic, and memorable.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCamy Tang
    Release dateNov 26, 2018
    ISBN9781502292247
    Story Sensei Characterization Worksheet: Story Sensei, #3
    Author

    Camy Tang

    Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands, the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. And on her Facebook page, the silliness is unleashed. Join her online!

    Read more from Camy Tang

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      Book preview

      Story Sensei Characterization Worksheet - Camy Tang

      Story Sensei Characterization worksheet

      by

      Camy Tang

      INTRODUCTION

      Whether your story is plot-driven or character-driven, characterization is important. Your readers identify and/or empathize with your characters, and that’s what keeps them on the edge of their seats, wanting to know what happens next to your characters.

      When your readers are apathetic about your character, they are more likely to put your book down. They simply aren’t as invested in the character and are not as interested in the conflict surrounding them.

      A three-dimensional character with flaws and strengths usually doesn’t just jump out of a writer’s head. Typically, writers spend a great deal of time embellishing and digging deeper into a character, whether before the book is written or as they’re editing.

      Three-dimensional characterization is usually a deliberate, concentrated effort.

      Many times, when a writer has hit a wall when writing their novel, it could be that the writer just doesn’t know the character well enough. It doesn’t take much to hinder the creative process. Even something silly like not knowing a character’s preference for vanilla or chocolate ice cream can cramp the flow of words.

      Not knowing more major things like the character’s deep inner values behind their motivations can be even more deadly to a novel’s progress.

      I’ll be working with you to develop your story characters. By the end of this worksheet, you will have:

      1) a solid grasp of who your character is—and I’m not talking just favorite ice cream flavor

      2) your character’s flaws and heroic qualities to make him/her truly sympathetic to the reader

      3) the character’s unique qualities to make him/her stand out from all the other characters on the Barnes and Noble shelves.

      4) your character’s desire and external goal (you’d be amazed at how this can change from your original ideas about your character as you dig deeper and discover who your character is!)

      5) the motivation behind your character’s actions—and not something done over and over again, but something really juicy and unique that shapes your protagonist to make him/her a richer, deeper character

      6) conflict and obstacles that directly impact your character’s external goal

      7) the riveting climax of the story—both external events and also internal arc

      Please note: This worksheet works best if you’re writing popular fiction or genre fiction. For literary fiction or fiction with a leaning toward literary, this worksheet may not be as helpful to you because literary fiction tends to excel at bending reader expectations. Popular fiction and genre fiction tend to be popular because they appeal to a larger group of readers with certain expectations of the genre or class of fiction they’re reading.

      You do not need to have a completed manuscript in order to do this worksheet. Actually, it’s probably best if your manuscript is only partially completed or even just in the brainstorming stage. That way, if you make any major changes, there won’t be major revisions to be done on your manuscript. If you do have a completed manuscript, your advantage is that you’ll have a more complete understanding of your characters and will be able to answer the worksheet questions in more detail. Whether your manuscript is completely done or just in the beginning stages, this worksheet will be helpful for you to solidify your characters.

      You can do the entire worksheet for one character at a time, or do several characters at each lesson. It’s entirely up to you. You do not need to do this worksheet in detail for each of the minor characters, but if you do the lesson 1 free-write for the minor characters, that is often enough for you to get a good enough handle on them for the purposes of the story.

      A writer must spend time to know and polish a character to make the best possible lead for a novel. So my suggestion is that you spend some quality time using this worksheet, getting to know your character, whether before you write or while you’re writing your novel.

      LESSON 1: FREEWRITE

      I want this lesson to take you TWO DAYS. YES, I AM SHOUTING, TWO DAYS.

      It will not be two days of work, but I want you to have 24 hours between when you do the day 1 homework and the day 2 homework.

      Why? Because certain things happen to our brains when we let things meld over time. We catch more plot holes, we come up with more interesting plot twists, we gain more insight into a project that we’ve left alone for a little while. And this lesson is so important that I want you to spend more time on it.

      Taking two days will enable you to really focus on the beginning of your story for day one and the end of the story for day two. It is going to be hard for you not to write about the ending on day one, but you have to force yourself to focus. It will improve your creativity if you do.

      So read through parts one and two below, but only do part one today. Wait at least 24 hours before you do part two.

      Part one: Freewrite the beginning

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