So–tell me about your character?

I took this out of my textbook for creative writing, then added a question to handle the science fiction / fantasy character’s that I typically deal with. It’s actually kinda cool how it comes out. I did it for two characters so far and it was rather fun. Especially for the one chararacter that I just randomly started writing for.

What is your character’s name?  What sounds right for this character?   What fits? What does this name suggest about your character’s personality?  Does your character use  his/her given name or a nickname? If so, why?  Has your character ever had a nickname?

If you were going to buy a casual outfit for this character, what would you buy?  What image does he/she cultivate?  What does this image say about him/her?

If your character could have three wishes granted, what would they be?

Likewise, what three things does your character most want NOT to happen to him/her?

Does this character have any special skill or ability; if so, what? How did he/she discover this ability? How did he/she train? What limits does he/she have on this ability?

If you were to enter this characters’ bedroom for the first time, what would you notice? Name four objects that immediately stand out. What are the dominate colors of the room? What sounds do you hear?. If you were to spend an hour snooping in this room, would you find anything hidden? If so, what?

What obsessions does your character have?

Describe your character’s belief systems–or lack of belief system–and sketch out how he or she came to believe these things.

Your character is in an uncharacteristically honest mood. How would he/she finish these statements?

To understand me, you first need to understand….

I don’t usually tell anyone this, but when I was a kid… 

If I had a million dollars I would…. 

Where does your character work?   What specifically is his/her job?  How does your character feel about this job?  How long as he/she worked there?

Describe your character’s average Wednesday? Where is your character at 8AM, 10 AM, noon. 3 PM, 6 PM and 10 PM? How does this compare to an average Saturday?

How much money does your character have in the bank or in investments? Where did this money come from?

What are your character’s most substantial character flaws or shortcomings or personality? Does he or she recognize them?

What are your character’s most significant character strengths?

Does your character have any brothers or sisters?   If so, which one is his or her favorite and why? If your character only has one sibling, what does your character like best about this person and like the least?  If your character is an only child, did he/she ever want another sibling? Why?

How many closes friends does your character have? Name them.

Who is your character’s closest friend and why? Describe their history as friends.

What is the worst thing your character has ever done? What is the worst non-illegal thing your character has ever done?

Describe your character’s relationships with his/her parents.

If your character were in to die today, what would he or she be most like to be remembered for?

List three things about your character that will most likely NOT be included in your story.

Random Prompts

A friend of mine just posted this, and I actually liked it so much that I decided to share it with you.

Prompts for writing

What if…? Your turn!

Once again, It is time to have prompts for stories. I’m going to just let go with everything I’ve thought of this whole month and it’s your choice if you want to use any of them. Sometimes we all just need ideas.

• How would you tell the Chanukah or Christmas story to someone who doesn’t know it?

• What if a king marries an enemy spy instead of the neighboring princess he is suppose to?

• What if your dog dies?  What would you miss? How would it happen?

• What if you couldn’t drive a car?

• What if your religion was banished?

• What if you woke up one morning to a not forecasted  blizzard?

• You’re leaving earth. Why?

• If you could jump ahead ten or twenty years, what would your life look like? What might it look like? (Thoughts I’ve had from the movie 13 going on 30.)

• What if you needed to go to the enemy to keep your sister safe?

• What if your siblings were born in a different order?

• What if you were suddenly going to have a baby?

• What if you could automatically gain any skill you want? (I know, matrix-ish, but I think about it often enough.)

•  What if you were given three wishes?

• What if aliens were really in the solar system and we just haven’t seen them?

• What if you failed at your current goal?

• What if cars were banned?

• What if guns were banned?

More from the Random Mind of Abigail

I know that I said I would post prompts on the first Monday of the month, but I forget and then it’s gone. Because of that, I’m doing it this week and my originally scheduled post will go next week.

So here are some random thoughts I’ve had throughout the last while. I just cleaned out my drafts folder, which is where I store these thoughts, so some of them are very old actually.

• The EPA wants to ban farm dust. Farms cannot  without producing dust.
• It’ll illegal on terraformed planets to plant plants from Earth.
• A nurse that can feel the patient’s feelings.
• What would happen if every plane that flew over your house might be a bomber?
• Venus is the result of greenhouse gases gone awry.
• Save the males, until we can learn how to make sperm and then we don’t need them anymore.

I actually thought I had more, but as I’m reading them, they don’t fit into prompts as much as science fiction plot elements that might help you out. And that is more a Wednesday post. :)

So, hope that got your brain working. That last one there I’m considering doing a story about myself.

Global flooding.

We always talk about how the cities will be wiped out in global warming. What about how the tall ships will pass under bridges?

Ship barely passes under a bridge because of weather conditions and swells.

A future of genetic testing.

I’ve said many times before, I’m a science fiction writer. My biggest question in life is “What happens if…?”

I read an article earlier this week that gave the suggestion of a mommy gene, and the physical possibility of it. She had an interesting line in it.

“More Mommy genes!” the headlines raved. Mice and humans share many of the same genes, so these genes may influence women’s nurturing instincts, too. Perhaps we can test every wannabe mom to see if she has working copies of FosB, Peg1/ Mest, and Peg3. [The mommy genes identified in mice.] Then we’ll know who can soothe babies into submission and who thinks it’s a good idea to leave them to cry under the stars.

So, this started me thinking, What if a place did test women to see if they were able to be nurturing or not? What if they started tying this into the adoption process? What if they didn’t let anyone have a baby who didn’t have this gene?

So there’s a thought for you. You can find out more about mommy genes here.

Walking past a thousand story ideas.

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.

–Orson Scott Card

This quote made me think that I’m missing something. And because of that, I’ve decided to start Prompts of the First.  The basic idea is I’m just going to bounce out with a bunch of random ideas for writing. Anything that comes into my mind that oculd possible, with some delicate writing, be made into a story.

Understand I’m not asking you to write the story for me. I am merely recommending story ideas for you to write and make your own.

Why am I doing this?

Two reasons. First of all, when I started looking for writing prompts, they were all too specific. Examples:

• You have been captured by cannibals. How do you try to convince them not to eat you? If that fails how do you attempt to get away?
• In the middle of the night, you get an urgent call from a friend you haven’t talked to in years. Something terrible has happened. What is it and why is he/she calling you? (Okay, that one might be fun.)
• You’ve left town—ditching your old, miserable life—hoping to start a new life for yourself. You’ve given yourself a new name, fake background and style. Write about your first encounter in your new town.
• Storms have knocked out the power. You find the flashlight and make shadow bunnies on the wall, but you can tell the kids are not amused. So instead you decide to tell a scary story. Create a story that would scare even the toughest of teenagers.

I didn’t like that. I wanted something a little more vaguer, that doesn’t involve me.

The second reason why I’m wanting to do this is I want to notice more of the plots in every day life. I want to notice seven or eight of them a day. Right now, if I can come up with thirty prompts, I’ll be happy, but this’ll be an ongoing goal for me throughout the month.

At the first Monday of the month, I’ll share them with you. Feel free to post your own however.  The more the merrier.

That being said, here we go.

• What can you hide in a tooth?
• A death ray that feels like a gust of hot air. Once someone crosses it, they’ll die, but no one can see it.
• If you stop feeling a part of your body, it stops existing.
  One word– Shape shifters.
• By now, everyone has secrets–the kind of secrets that’ll cost a man his life.

So, there are my five ideas. Hopefully, I’ll get more next month. And maybe…. i’ll remember to write more down, because I know I had more.