John is a character in my book that’s to be released in March 2008. He’s unsaved since he’s an agnostic, he’s not sure if God exists. However, by the end of John’s Quest, my novel, he does accept Christ.

I wrote a character sketch for him before I began the novel. The sketch reveals his struggle, and when I did it, I discovered the reasons why he has a hard time believing in God.

When you fill out character sketches, that’s when you really get to know your characters. If it’s the character sketch of an unsaved person, like John, his viewpoints about certain things may be somewhat un-Christian. As you answer the questions for an unsaved character, you’ll find ways to turn those doubts into positive thoughts about God. I’m talking about the story that you’ll write may portray your unsaved character finally accepting Christ throughout the course of the novel.

After I fill out the character sketch, I will sometimes write a few paragraphs in first person from the viewpoint of the character that I’m creating. It just gives me more of an overview as to what makes this person tick, therefore making him seem more real to me.

Below is my character sketch of John French. It’s not necessarily grammatically perfect since I’m just doing this to get to know my character, and I’m the only one who will use this information as a guide when I write my novel.

CHARACTER HISTORIES

Character Name: John French

Age: 39

Physical Characteristics: Tall, milky brown skin, dark curly hair

Best Feature: His piercing dark brown eyes and pretty hair

Worst Feature: His ugly feet

Feelings about their own looks: He’s somewhat arrogant about his good looks.

Clothes: Wears a lot of black clothing, he thinks it brings out his best features

Ethnic Background: His father and mother were African American

Siblings/Relatives: He has one deceased brother, who was seven when he died. He was blind and died of a rare form of blood disease. The heartlessness of his brother’s death just gave him more cause to not believe in God. Currently, since his brother is deceased, he’s an only child.

Neighborhood of Youth: He lived in a well-to-do affluent neighborhood. Both of his parents were tenured professors at a Virginia University. During the summer, they had jobs working in the labs. Both parents were scientist/atheists.

Education: He has a PHD in Science and a BS in Biology.

Church affiliation: none/Currently, he’s not sure if he believes in God, or if He even exists in this vast universe.

What they believe about God: Agnostic

Parent’s Attitudes about: Money/Getting Ahead: His parents always taught him about the value of saving money to get ahead. He considers himself to be very thrifty.

Discipline received: His parents were very strict in their discipline of him. He received whippings for things he’d done wrong.

Friends: Has a few friends from college, but he’s not as close to people as he’d like to be.

Special Opportunities: Since his parents were scientists/professors, he’s inherited a great scientific mind and he always feels there should be a logical explanation for everything. He’s unsure about God, but feels there should be proof about His existence before he accepts Him.

Spouse/Children: No spouse and no children.

Job: He’s a Biology/Science professor at Virginia Beach College.

Neighborhood: Lives in an affluent neighborhood in Virginia Beach.

Attitude about: Money/Getting Ahead: It’s important to save money and to give some money back to the community.

Sex: He loves having sex with beautiful women.

Hobbies: Gourmet cooking.

Favorite Foods: Spicy Cajun and Jamaican food.

Favorite Music: Old soul tunes and blues.

Favorite Movie/Book: Books about science and experiments. He also reads a great deal of science fiction.

Friends: He has two friends from college, who are his fraternity brothers, that he still has close contact with. He pledged Alpha Phi Alpha as an undergraduate, and his two best friends are his line brothers.(Berry and Marlon)

Fears/Inhibitions: He fears spending the rest of his life, lonely and alone. Since he has no living family, he hopes his friendships with his fraternity brothers last. He hates spending the holidays by himself, and he wonders, if it’s ever going to happen where he’ll have a wife and family.

Guilt: He feels guilty about not having a better relationship with his parents before their untimely deaths. As he got older, he became somewhat of a problem child for his parents, ignoring their rules. He never got over the death of his blind little brother, and since he shuns God, he desperately tries to find happiness through drugs, alcohol, and relationships with others. He’s always felt something has been missing in his life, however, he does not realize that “something” is a relationship with Jesus.

Longings/Goals: He longs to find the missing “something” in his life. He also wants to find a woman who is not merely dating him for his good looks and doctorate degree. Over the last few years, he’s only dated superficial women, and he has not been pleased with his love life. He longs to have a long-term, possibly marriage to a nice woman and have a few kids.

Weaknesses: He’s afraid of what might be lurking in the heavens. Does God really exist? His parents recent deaths, two years ago, have caused him to yearn to find the true meaning of God. He was shocked to discover that his parents had been studying the Bible, and had accepted Christ, shortly before they were killed in a car accident. His father had mentioned that he and his mother wanted to talk to him about something important. But John did not realize what that important “something” was until after their deaths. He figured they wanted to talk to him about their newfound Christianity.

Strong Points: He has a brilliant scientific mind, and he can usually figure out the solution to most common, ordinary, everyday problems.

Habits: Reads constantly. Will argue his point until the other party cries out “uncle!”

Pet Peeves: He hates materialistic, opportunistic women who are only wanting to date him because of his credentials. He also hates it when people give an opinion about something, but can’t back it up with fact. He likes having evidence to prove opinions(or to prove the opinion is wrong).

RULING TRAIT: the driving force, the trait that affects all their actions and reactions:
His bold argumentative mind. He is determined to argue down all things that don’t agree to his views. He hates being wrong, and he’s so stubborn and pig-headed that he has a hard time accepting others’ views, and understanding why others’ feel the way they feel about some things.

A character question: Does your character MAKE things happen or REACT to what happens? He makes things happen! Especially if he’s trying to prove a point!

What is the most significant/emotional things that have happened in your character’s life? Not solving the rift with his parents before their untimely death. He feels horrible about their rocky relationship, and since their deaths, he’s often wondered if things could have been patched up between them before they died. He wonders, if God really does exist, why he allowed his parents to be killed before they lived a full life.

He also wonders about his parents’ newly-found Christianity, shortly before they died. He wonders why they finally accepted Christ after raising him as an agnostic for his entire life.

He also wonders about the death of his blind little brother, Mark. John was a teenager when his brother died, and he wonders what life would have been like if Mark had lived. Due to his brother’s blindness, he’s felt an affiliation to blind people. He gives back to the community by tutoring visually impaired children as time allows. After his brother’s death, he felt torn and shattered. He then felt determined to make life easier for other blind children. He learned Braille and learned as much about blindness and visually impaired children. He got a special education degree, along with his BS in Science, since he wanted to be prepared to make a difference in blind young people’s lives.

_______________________________________________________________________________

He works as a scientist. Is he a research assistant? A researcher? Since his parents died fairly recently, he inherited both life insurance policies. He’s a fairly wealthy man right now, and doesn’t have to work if he doesn’t want to.
After his parents’ sudden death, he finds the courage to go through a box of their stuff. Two-three years after his parents’ deaths, he goes through boxes of stuff that has been left in their attic, unseen, since their death. He goes through the stuff, and discovers their recent church salvation, and discovers they’d planned on telling him about it. Stunned that his agnostic parents were Christians upon their deaths, he decides to go to church to see what he’s been missing in his life.

He doesn’t want the congregation to know about his background because he feels they’ll be shocked and judgmental. He keeps it a secret, for a while, and spends time within the church, seeing what it was that his parents saw in organized religion and in God’s plan for mankind.

Hi, my name is John French. The first thing you should know about me is that I’m an agnostic. That’s right, I’m not sure if God really exists, and if he does, I don’t understand why he allows things to happen. For example, why did my parents have to die? They hadn’t even reached retirement age yet, and they were killed in that car accident, shortly after they accepted Christ. Seems to me, if they accepted Christ, as I heard they did, they would have survived that accident and still be here with me today. Also, if God existed, why did my little brother Mark die? Not only was he sick, but he was blind, too. In spite of his illness, Mark was a happy child. I don’t even thing he suffered all that much before his death. I just don’t understand why he had to die so young. Why?

The second thing you need to know about me is, I’m a science professor at Virginia Beach University. I teach Biology and Chemistry to undergrads. I enjoy teaching kids about the world of science and explaining why things are the way that they are. I guess you could say my scientist mind is a reason why I’m an agnostic. Why does God exist? Prove it! I just want proof, and that’s it.

Not only do I have my PhD, but I also have two bachelor’s degrees, one is in special education. I’m licensed to teach special education, but I rarely use my talent in the classroom. I usually teach blind and visually-impaired children that need extra help on the side. I tutor kids, as time permits, as kind of a community service thing. The school board has my name on file, and when parents contact me, the first thing they want to do is know how much I charge. Half of the time they think I’m kidding when I say that I don’t charge anything for my services. I like teaching kids, and being around blind students makes me feel like I’m with my little brother again, helping him with his lessons.

Lately, I’ve been feeling lonely. Why? I’m not sure. I’ve been craving the company of a nice woman, but I can’t seem to find somebody who wants to just be with me because I’m me. They’re always amused to find out that I have a PhD, and then, after a few dates, I swear they’re singing the Wedding March! I’ve been feeling disgruntled lately, wondering what to do with my life. I enjoy teaching, and helping the blind kids, but I feel as if I should be doing more, but I’m not sure what. Should I quit teaching and try to find a job in a lab, trying to find some miraculous cure for a deadly disease? Should I sign up for more community service work to fill those empty hours?

My parents have been dead for two years, and during those years, I’ve been going through an emotional dilemma. After their deaths, I was contacted by the members of their new church home. I’d discovered that both of my parents had been recently baptized, only a few weeks, before their deaths! The last time I’d spoken to my dad, he said he’d wanted to discuss something important with me, but not over the phone. I’d agreed to come and visit sometime over the next month or so, but that time never came since they died in the car accident.

I’d always wondered how my parents came to know Christ, and had kept it a secret for so long. I recall when one of the congregation people called me to express condolences that I could be assured that my parents were in heaven. What’s heaven? Just the sky and the stars! I grew up being taught there was no heaven or hell for that matter. I’d wanted to ask the pastor questions about their salvation, but couldn’t bring myself to do so. I was so sick with grief, and now…now, I wish I had spoken to him. I might contact him to find out just how he was able to convince my parents to become Christians.

I’ve also thought about going to church myself, but just haven’t found enough courage to go into the building. I usually pull into the parking lot and sit there, but not go into the building. To tell you the truth, I’ve only been inside churches for weddings and funerals. I’ve never taken it upon myself to go inside to just hear the message. I didn’t think it was important.

Now I’m starting to wonder, and I hate to say, I’m starting to doubt my upbringing. I’m thinking about attending that small church called Virginia Beach Christian Church. It’s not far from where I live and I pass it everyday when I drive home. It’s a small white church with yellow and white flowers planted on the grounds. A few times I’ve driven past and seen a gardener working the soil, preparing it for new flowers to be planted.

I might show up and see what it’s all about. Of course, I’m not going to let the people know that I’m an agnostic. I don’t want to shock them, after all.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

I started talking about this subject a little bit here.

When creating characters, you’ll need to get to know them. I do this by filling out a character chart, where I’ll answer a series of questions about my characters. It’s good to use a chart because you want a broad range of information about your character, however, you don’t want to overload your mind with useless information. For example, it might not be important for you or your reader to know that your character had a cat named Spencer when she was in the fifth grade. However, your reader may find it interesting to know that your character likes animals, and that your character’s love of animals inspired her to become a veterinarian! The following list of questions can be used as a guide. You can probably find a similiar list of questions on other writers’ websites if they have sections on character development.

CHARACTER HISTORIES

Character Name: Age:
Physical Characteristics:

Best Feature:
Worst Feature:
Feelings about their own looks:
Clothes:
Ethnic Background:
Siblings/Relatives:
Neighborhood of Youth:
Education:
Church affiliation:
What they believe about God:
Parent’s Attitudes about: Money/Getting Ahead: Sex:
Discipline received:
Friends:
Special Opportunities:
Spouse/Children:
Job:
Neighborhood:
Attitude about: Money/Getting Ahead: Sex:
Hobbies:
Favorite Foods:
Favorite Music:
Favorite Movie/Book:
Friends:
Fears/Inhibitions
Guilt:
Longings/Goals:
Weaknesses:
Strong Points:
Habits:
Pet Peeves:

RULING TRAIT: the driving force, the trait that affects all their actions and reactions:

A character question: Does your character MAKE things happen or REACT to what happens?
What is the most significant/emotional things that have happened in your character’s life?

Also, another list of questions I’ve used in the past, is from a book entitled The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon ISBN: 0-89879-683-0 Pages 34-48. I did not post the list from this book here, however, I encourage all who are struggling with character development to get this book and use it as another guide in helping with building characters. I used this book a great deal when I first started writing and was just learning how to develop my characters.

Also, if you are writing an inspirational novel, it’s important to know your character’s views about God and religion before you begin your story. Also, maybe you’ll want a focus a bit about your character’s religious upbringing. For example, was he/she raised in a Christian home? Were his/her parents atheists?

Here is a blog post where I fill out a character sheet for the hero in my Christian Romance Novel, John’s Quest.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com

I’ve found that I’m drawn to stories with strong, memorable characters. I’ve received questions from readers, who would like to pen a novel, asking how I create my characters. Every author has their own method, so this way might not necessarily work for everyone, however, I hope my advice, doled out over the next few days, will help aspiring writers to create wonderful people that readers will remember for a long time.

First off, your characters have to be real to you. They can’t be make-believe people because if you think of them as unreal, then your reader will too, and you want to avoid that.

I usually start by thinking about the person I’m trying to create. I get a mental image in my mind of what this character looks like. Sometimes, it might help to get an actual picture of a person in a magazine or a catalog, that closely resembles the person you are trying to create.

I then think about this person’s thoughts, mannerisms, likes, dislikes, upbringing, etc. These things roll throughout my head for several days before I even start doing my character sketches.

More about this subject tomorrow….

Later!

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com