When you write a character sketch, you are trying to introduce the reader to

someone. You want the reader to have a strong mental image of the person, to know
how the person talks, to know the person's characteristic ways of doing things, to
know something about the person's value system. Character sketches only give snap
shots of people; therefore, you should not try to write a history of the person.
A good way to write a character sketch is to tell a little story about one encounter
you had with him or her. If you do that, you could describe a place briefly, hopefully a
place that belongs to the person you are describing, focusing on things in the scene
that are somehow representative of the person you are describing. Describe how the
person is dressed. Then simply tell what happened as you spent time together. From
time to time, describe the person's gestures or facial expressions. It is important to
put words into the person's mouth in direct quotations.

As you work on this paper, you should decide what kind of emotional reaction you
want the reader to have in relationship to this person. What kind of details can you
select to create that emotional reaction? Avoid making broad characterizing
statements; instead, let the details you give suggest general characteristics. Let the
reader draw her own conclusions.

*****************************************************

What to include in a character sketch

Here is a list of what all you will need to include in your character sketch -

• Character name, age, gender

• Appearance
(Face, hair, weight, height, structure, features, skin color)

• Physical and personal strengths and weaknesses

(Body type, hair, eyes, facial features, dress, posture, movements, mannerisms,
speech)

• Background that may influence motivations

(Education, religion, family, childhood experiences, financial situation, profession,
marital status, other relationships, habits, surroundings/environment, health)

• Likes and dislikes

• Feelings and behavior towards other characters

• Feelings of other characters towards the character

• Feelings of character towards himself/herself

• Personality at the beginning of the novel

(Distinctive traits, self-image, yearnings/dreams, fears/apprehensions, sense of
humor, code of ethics, attitude)

• Changes in personality as story progresses

• Your opinion about the character

• Other details
(Hobbies, skills, favorite foods, colors, books, music, art)

• Positive traits

• Negative traits (character flaws)

• How these characteristics are relevant to the story?

• What complications arise from this character?

• What is his/her most unusual characteristic?

• How is this person’s view of life different from that of most people?

• What is the first impression he/she creates on other people?

• Do other people enjoy being around your character?

• What things irritate your character?

• What is your character’s strong point that will make him/her weather the storms?

• What does your character think is his/her best feature? Worst feature?

• What is your character’s attitude toward money?

• What are your character’s talents?

• What is your character most proud of? Most embarrassed about?

• Who are your character’s heroes?

• Is he/she comfortable with her life?

• How does he/she behave around people and when alone?

• What is your character afraid of?

• What gives your character joy?

(Not the short-lived pleasure of a momentary accomplishment, but joy found deep
within. Family? A creative pursuit? Service to others? Finding one’s place in the
world? Write a scene showing this.

• How does your character show love?

(A hug? A gift? A smile when he/she helps someone? Write a scene with your
character expressing his/her love for someone else. Include both large and small
actions.)

• What makes your character angry?

(How does he/she react? With a verbal tirade? Physical violence? Fuming inside?
Write a scene showing him/her dealing with a frustrating situation.)

• How competitive is your character?

(What is worth competing for? Job? Sports? Sibling Rivalry? Write a scene where your
character loses. Write one where he/she wins.)
• What does your character think about during downtime?
(Past experiences? Philosophical questions? Hopes? Disappointments? Put your
character on a boring freeway drive and get inside his/her head for a scene or two.)

• What “unreachable” dream does your character have?

(Climbing Mt. Everest? Becoming a heart surgeon? Why is this important? Write a
scene when your character realizes he/she will never achieve this dream.)

• What would your character have to give up to realize this dream?

(Write a scene where your character figures out that the dream is possible. Show
him/her choosing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve the dream. Or write a
scene where your character decides that the dream isn’t worth sacrificing other
things of value.)

**************************************************************************************
*****************************************'

How to write a Character Sketch

A film can be of two types – character driven or plot driven. Great films work by
bringing emotions to life and building a connection with the audience. Only films that
are capable of doing this keep audiences hooked on to the screen. Characters are the
elements which help build this connection. At this point, your film’s screenplay is not
yet on paper. You are not limited by actors, budget, locations, editing, music etc. All
that matters right now is how you wield your pen in a way that makes your
characters more believable.

Every character in your script should have a place and definition. A believable
character entices a variety of emotions in you and your audiences. When you are
writing your script you see an awe-inspiring character in your head. You are amazed
by your imagination. You write a brilliant script but half way through you realize
something. You can no longer identify your awe-inspiring character. This is when the
wise among us use something called the Character Sketch.

Types of Characters

Protagonist: The protagonist is the main character of your film who drives the story.
S/he is also the character who faces a conflict that makes her/him undergo some sort
of character change. The protagonist is someone the audiences identify with. There
are many ways to build a connection between the protagonist and the audience.
They might be likeable, inspiring or even evoke sympathy to keep the connection
going. In Lagaan for instance, Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) is the protagonist who leads a
team of villagers in a fight against a British ruler to set his village free of taxes. In
Sholay, all three protagonists, Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar), Jai (Amitabh
Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra) are men who exude strength and will.

Antogonist: The antagonist is the character who prevents the protagonist from
getting what he wants. Continuing with our previous example, the antagonist in the
movie Lagaan would be Captain Andrew Russell (Paul Blackthorne), the British
commanding officer who sets momentum to a change in our protagonist (Aamir
Khan), by introducing a conflict in the name of a fateful cricket match.

In both cases the protagonist and antagonist may not be easily defined. The main
character might be fighting a myriad of internal and external forces at the same
time. An antagonist might not always be in the form of a human. Hence, antagonistic
forces can be natural disasters (storms, earthquakes, volcanoes), aliens or man made
disasters (nuclear bombs, plane crashes, wars) etc.

A Character Sketch is never complete. It is the known which acts as a security

deposit and the unknown that keeps us filling the pages. Your characters should
never cease to surprise you. A character might start off being an archetype, but great
characters are ones that somewhere deviate from what you expect from them.

Every character has three broad dimensions – Physiology, Sociology & Psychology.
Writing these dimensions for your characters helps you understand them better. You
quickly grasp why a character reacts in a certain way because you know what makes
him/her tick.

Physiology: Perhaps the most obvious dimension of a character is his physiology. A

deaf person will react differently from someone who isn’t. Similarly someone can be
short, beautiful, blind, handicapped – every physical feature makes a difference to
the character’s psyche. The way we are made and physically shaped affects our
sensitivities to the world around us.

Sociology: The second dimension that should define your character is Sociology – the
environment that surrounds your character. If your character grew up on the streets
his reactions would have a certain unique characteristic. This is further defined by
asking more questions about your character. Did he have parents? How did they
treat him? Did he have a sibling? Did he face sexual abuse? Interaction with people,
economy, city, education, friends, family and religion all make an impression on a
person’s character.

Psychology: The third and final dimension of your character is what you get when you
put your character with a certain physiology in a certain societal setting. It is the
result of the two dimensions. For example, if a character meets with an accident,
what does he do? If he has lost a loved one before how will he react? Has he
experienced such loss before? If his face was damaged beyond recognition how will
that affect his psyche? Was he happy with the way he looked before the incident?
Will his personality cause him to go into depression or get on with life? The
psychology of your character reflects his mental state and thus forms the final
dimension.

Only on understanding the three dimensions of your character will you be able to
create an effective character. The character sketch will enable you to predict how
your character will react realistically. Even if your character is performing an
uncharacteristic action it needs a motivation that can be traced back to your sketch.

A character sketch is drawn out using the following parameters:

Physiology

1. Sex

2. Age

3. Height and Weight

4. Colour of hair, eyes, skin

5. Posture
6. Appearance (Good looking, obese, lean, pleasant)

7. Defects

8. Heredity

Sociology

1. Class (lower, upper, middle)

2. Occupation (type of work, attitude towards work, income)

3. Education (type of school, level of education)

4. Life at home (parents, siblings, earning power, parents separated, divorced,

character’s marital status, children)

5. Religion

6. Race, Nationality

7. Place in community (head of a club, respected, wanted)

8. Political affiliations

Psychology

1. Sex life, moral standards

2. Personal premise, ambition

3. Frustrations, disappointments

4. Temperament (easygoing, pessimistic)

5. Attitude towards life (resigned, militant)

6. Complexes (obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias)

7. Extrovert, introvert

8. Abilities (languages, talents)

9. Qualities

10. I.Q.

Following these guidelines, you can write a detailed character sketch for a character
you have in mind. It is imperative that you spend good time and cover some
important traits of your characters.

An example of a character sketch:

Abriti Shah
Physiology:

1. Abriti is a 31 year old working professional. She is tall and fair complexioned with
brown eyes. She is always well dressed and pretty looking but if you look closely you
will see a tinge of tiredness in her face. She prefers to wear bright colours and
branded clothes. Likes to flaunt her wardrobe.

2. She suffers from fatigue and stress.

3. Likes to smoke cigarettes but doesn’t admit she is addicted to them.

Sociology:

1. She comes from a middle class background but has worked her way up the
corporate ladder. Works as the Vice President of Human Resources at an airline. She
has changed many jobs but has not let that fact affect her career. She used to enjoy
her job but now is losing sight of her goals. She always wants to quit and discover
what she really wants to do.

2. Has been involved with only two men in her life who left her for other women. She
shows no interest in relationships anymore and has built an invisible shield around
her.

3. Her family died in a car accident when she was seven. She has one brother whom
she doesn’t relate with; he is married and lives in Australia. No immediate family
except her aunt who raised her and is no more. She has many friends but none is too
close.

4. Her only pleasure in life in traveling. She takes two weeks off in a year just to
travel. She is a globetrotter and likes to explore the history of every place that she
visits.

Psychology:

1. Aggressive and meticulous at work, she sets the highest standards for herself. She
hates failures and doesn’t like dealing with them. She is afraid of no one and makes
sure her competition is wary of her. Her sex life is dormant.

2. Wants to be happy.

3. She hates herself for not marrying her first boyfriend when he asked her.

4. She believes in giving everyone a fair chance but is unforgiving when someone
goes wrong.

5. She is stubborn and doesn’t believe in taking advice.

6. Doesn’t get emotionally involved with anyone.

Exercise:

Write a character sketch that will help you discover your characters. Remember, a
character sketch reflects everything your character does from the way s/he dresses,
the kind of shoes s/he wears, the way s/he eats, speaks, etc.
Audiences like to relate with characters they see on screen. But at some point, your
characters need to make that leap out of their ordinary self. Give your characters
conflicts that will enable them to exhibit shades of grey that will inevitably make
them different from the rest of us.

**************************************************************************************
*************************************************************************************