Getting to know your characters through a character diary

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There are at least as many different ways to create believable, interesting characters your readers can care about as there are good writers. In fact, after all the time I've spent running around looking for resources on character creation in the last couple of weeks, I suspect there might actually be more character creation and development exercises than there are writers--quality or otherwise. One of my favourite ways to get intimately familiar with my characters is to create a character diary for them. Here's how it works: Every day for a specified period of time--whether it's a week, a month, or just until Nanowrimo starts--you write one page describing a normal day in your character's life. This should be at some point shortly before your story begins, so you know…
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Diving into your character’s mind

Nanowrimo, Workshops, Writing
Hopefully by now you have a fairly solid main character to work with if nothing else. You want to know that character as well as you possibly can before you start writing your actual novel. This is particularly important if all you have is a character, because an entire novel can spring up naturally around a good character you know well. Their family, friends and lovers can become characters and their lives can become plots. You can either discover a period of their life worth writing about, or you can learn how they react to things and throw them an entirely new challenge that will test their strengths. Every writer uses different techniques to get into their character's minds. Some use character interviews, others create detailed character charts. Some even…
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Character Creation

Nanowrimo, Novels, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process
You might have already gotten a few ideas for characters during your brainstorming last week. Or you might be scrambling to figure out who might fit into the plot you've been trying to plan. Whether you've got a host of characters and are trying to figure out who will be your main character or you're just starting to delve into character, there are a few simple questions you can ask yourself to create the best characters to match your story and your world. But first, a warning. The best characters take on a life of your own, and will do unexpected things, occasionally drastically changing your plot. This can happen even in later drafts. If this starts happening--or you realize during this line of question that the person you thought…
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