NaNoWriMo Prep: Character Exploration
Ten Questions and a Main Character Profile
It’s October! So our November NaNoWriMo prep is in full effect. Last week my students used two tools to explore the main character of the novel they hope to write in November.
One tool is the Main Character Profile I have loosely adapted from Edward Allen’s The Hands-On Fiction Workbook. This profiling worksheet helps them develop their main character’s physical appearance, preferences/tastes, family and personal life, childhood, background, and personality.
However, while high school students love spending time developing what their characters look like and what they wear, they don’t spend as much time understanding what makes their characters human.
To that end, I have adapted a list of ten questions from John Truby’s Anatomy of a Story to help them work through the inner character arc and the outer story arc. (And if we have time, students take The Enneagram Personality Test and the Briggs Myers Typefinder Personality Test , answering as if they are their main character. It’s a hoot.
The below questions also give students a lot of information about their character that help them with plotting and narrative design.
List five things your character values. Now list the associated emotions that come from those values. EXAMPLE: My character values perfection. My character experiences insecurity and shame.
What is my character’s main weakness (which only hurts the character) or main need (which hurts other people)? The main weakness is the starting point for the inner avenue of change, sometimes called the character arc.
What is my character’s main desire/goal? The main goal or desire sets up the outer avenue of change, sometimes called the story arc.
In the story arc, who is my character’s main opponent?
In the story arc, who fights whom over what?
In the story arc, what is my character’s plan or action to overcome their opponent and gain their goal?
In the character arc, what is my character’s inner battle over the course of the novel?
In the character arc, what is my character’s self-revelation over the course of the novel?
What is the final action your character has to take by the end of the novel? This ends the story arc.
What is the final moral choice your character is faced with at the end of the novel? This ends the character arc.