Fiction writers may use it more, but any writer in any field can benefit from understanding the art of drawing characters. Drawing characters encourages observation, a writer’s most powerful asset.
Writers are readers, too, and as readers we may have read a good deal of good (and bad) fiction. The stories that impacted you the most, the ones you enjoyed the most, and the ones you remember the best, are the ones with a great plot, memorable characters, or a combination of both. For professional authors, the value of a good character sketch is priceless. It is the difference between being published or being sheltered.
So how would you use a character sketch in writing a daily article? Frankly, the possibilities are endless. Take the world of affiliate marketing as an example. There is multi-billion dollar trade going on online every day with buyers, suppliers and middlemen chasing deals. Who are these people? The top echelon has had their names sprinkled all over the net for many years, but what do we really know about them?
There, in itself, is an untapped niche for writers. Internet celebrities like these could be interviewed, observed, and personality or human interest articles published for our reference. You may say this is just another way to write a biography, but a character sketch involves so much more. The following is a summary of some key questions a character sketch might cover:
physical appearance
Age, gender, height, weight, complexion, hair and eye color and so on, including personal appearance (dress, grooming, etc.).
Speech
Do they speak confidently, demurely, and in a high or low tone of voice? Are they teachers of the language they are using? Do they use jargon?
personality
What is the character’s self-opinion about himself. How do you or others perceive the character?
Do they have any peculiarity or certain traits or habits that differentiate them from others? How about body language, posture, and behavior?
These are just a few points, but great fiction writers keep strict records of their characters. Many have pre-printed character sketch forms that an author uses to bring a fictional character to life. A copy of this can be found on my blog. Feel free to copy/download and use as you wish. All copyrights are disclaimed.
It’s all very well to understand SEO tactics, AdSense, AdWords, keywords, and the like, but without an injection of personality, the human touch, you’re just another affiliate marketer staking out a sale. Talk about real life people and you will begin to create a human interest story, the most popular and easiest selling type of article in the magazine/newspaper world.
A well-prepared character sketch can be used as a reference point when interviewing personalities in any type of medium. Give direction to the interviewer and the interviewee. Not to mention that during writers’ dry spells, rereading character sketches can invigorate the mind and direct the writer to a new story. With a decent character sketch on hand, you can write about your subject with confidence.