This is the bare bones stuff, but I find it handy. I don't want anyone's eye color to change mysteriously during the story.
I spent a considerable amount of time naming my imaginary friends. (That's what Daughter #1 calls them.) I had borrowed a book from the library which contained the names of many of the original families who settled in this county, which is the setting of this novel. I did not want to use any of those names in the book because my people are fictional.
Still, they had to have fairly common names for the time period, 1778. Of course, everything is subject to change. If a better name floats into my head for a character, I will use it. The heroine in my last book had another name at first, but when I realized I had too many names starting with the letter m, I changed her name. It isn't difficult with a computer. :^)
I set up this chart in Word. I can add lots more people simply by adding more rows to my table. I do much of my writing by the seat of my pants, but even I need some organization.
4 comments:
It almost reads like genealogy. I like what you've done. I started something similar not really knowing what I was doing. Good to know I actually have a clue :-)
Some writers make up very detailed character charts for each character. I don't. I keep it simple, but it does help.
I find other writers' processes so interesting...thanks for sharing this, Penelope!
Jenny,
It seems there are almost as many methods as there are writers. :^)
Post a Comment