Need help developing characters?

Happy Australia Day, Aussies!

For those of you not from our sunshiny land, Australia Day is the day cars are adorned with the Australian flag, the air is filled with the aroma of BBQing meat, and other indulged-in delicacies include lamingtons, pavlova, tim tams and vegemite. And BEER. Lots and lots of beer.

Backyard or beach cricket is played and an afternoon nap is compulsory. Not a bad way to spend a day, I reckon.

But I am not here to talk about Australia Day - I am here to talk about a FREAKING BRILLIANT resource I have discovered, on the art of creating unique, whole characters.

Adventures in Childrens Publishing did a series on character development back in 2010, and part of that series included a Character Profile worksheet. This one, in fact.

Click on me go to to the Character Profile of Awesome.

As a part of my "2012: The Year Sarah produces 30 new ebooks" extravaganza (a little ambitious? At the moment, survey says yes.) I am plotting a collection of shorts in which there are bucketloads of characters. Most of whom will be a leading character at some point. I need to know them inside out. And this character profile sheet is sheer brilliance in helping me work out their quirks and habits and what they stand for.

Thought it might help you, too. And if you're not a writer, well, I guess it gives you a bit of insight into this whole book creation process, huh?

Later gators!

Sairz