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[ROM] [FAN] Working to flesh out my Protagonist, Kiseki

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YugureIko

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PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:48 pm
Okay, I have this character; she is the main character for a piece of original fiction that I am working on. I have already written a few chapters of it but have recently stopped and begun to work on fleshing it out more, being more detailed and just starting from the beginning again with the same story and just rewriting it with a higher quality.

Here is a character record sheet that I filled out using a form posted by Lyvidian in the Character Reference Sheet thread.

My main problem is that this is my main character and I just don't have a lot in my head about her personality and her character, in general. I've also been working on another character sheet for her that I pulled from mangatutorials.com that is much more detailed. If you would like to see that one as well, I'll be happy to post it, and I probably will anyway, just in another post because it's LONG.

anyway, here is the one made from Lyvidian's form -

BASIC INFORMATION_
Name: Kiseki
Nickname: None
Age: 16
Birthday: July 7th, 1482
Gender: Female
Nationality: Japanese/Chinese
Hometown: none, really, earliest memory has her living on an island in the Sea of Japan, lives in the wilderness with her mother at the start of the story
Current residence: Side of a mountain in middle Honshu, Japan
Social class: lower

APPEARANCE_
Height: 4' 8”
Weight: 105+ (approx.)
Hair color: Dark Brown
Eye color: Green
Glasses or contact lenses? No
Skin tone: pale
Dress style: one piece dress – similar to a short kimono but does not have the sleeves

EMOTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS_
Strengths: kind, persistant
Weaknesses: weak, overly trusting, easily discouraged, has difficulty saying “no,” can't make many decisions for herself, relies on dreams/her ideal more than reality, can be flighty
Introvert or extrovert? introvert
How does the character deal with anger? Doesn't, passive aggressive, often cries to express anger
With Sadness? Basically crawls into a crying hole or just stares passively, brooding, ignores consolation
With conflict? Avoidance, distress, becomes frightened; often runs away
With change? adapts surprisingly well to change
With lose? Blames others, even if she doesn't say it, blames herself, has difficulty with acceptance, if she does accept or has no choice but to accept, does so with a great deal of resistance and extreme distress, does not cope particularly well at first, but calms down after a short period of time
What does the character want out of life? Peace, just to be left alone... wants her parents back and wants all the new things in her life to go away
What would the character like to change in his/her life? Everything... complete reversal of almost everything
What motivates this character? Will to survive (very small), the need for self-improvement, need to please/survive for others
What makes this character happy? Quiet, being comforted, love
What makes this character mad? Betrayal, loss, pain, her own mistakes
Is the character judgmental of others? She comes to hate warriors for a time, but it doesn't last long
Is the character generous or stingy? generous
Is the character generally polite or rude? polite

FAMILY/HISTORY_
Mother: Took care of her for her entire childhood, the only parent or family she's ever really had, lost at the beginning of the story
Father: died before she was born
Siblings: none (the people that had sworn to protect her when she was little are the closest things to siblings but she hasn't seen them in many years so the bond has worn and faded a great deal)
History: When she was young, her and her mother lived on an island in the Sea of Japan, protected by her grandmother and several children her grandmother had adopted and trained, each swore an oath to protect their family. Some of them were the same age as Kiseki when they joined and devoted themselves to the service of her grandmother. They were charged to protect and care for Kiseki specifically, but when the island was attacked by some of the antagonist's followers they fled for a while until they settled down, in hiding, on the side of a mountain, alone.

CHARACTER CHEMISTRY_
Characters role: protagonist, lead female
Relationship with other characters:
1. Kozuka – main love, distrust then betrayal than a slow renewal of trust
2. Jisatsu – antagonist to this protagonist, pursued by this woman she knows nothing about, Kiseki never really hates Jisatsu but is frustrated and distraught by her determination to have Kiseki killed
3. Mamoru – father figure, protects her
4. Momine – becomes a mother-like figure, sworn to protect her
5. Hinode – becomes like a sister or daughter-like person for Kiseki

ADDITIONAL NOTES_
· Character's short-term goals in life: escape Jisatsu and her men
· Character's long-term goals in life: live peacefully, she hasn't really thought beyond this
· How does Character see himself/herself? Lot of self-hatred, blames herself for the death of her mother and is disgusted by her own weaknesses and shortcomings
· How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others? The same way she perceives herself, but without the full knowledge of herself that she has.
· How self-confident is the character? Not really confident, at all, but she is very determined and persistant
· Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof? More emotion than anything
· What would most embarrass this character? Being seen as the coward she believes she really is, running to protect herself while those she cares for are still endangered

Please share any comments and suggestions. I feel like I have a lot of fleshing out to do for this character because I like my characters to be dynamic and multi-faceted, and especially because she's my main character, I want her to have the most depth, rivaled only by the antagonist (but she's already fairly dynamic). I just need a lot more than I already have.

Please help/comment, etc.

Thank you.

love
dani
dude  
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:09 am
Inconsistencies:
1. She's persistant and easily discouraged at the same time? Either you, uh, forgot, or you meant them in different ways, in which case - specify.
2. The "adapts surprisingly well to change" bit ... doesn't really fit in with the rest of it. It just rears its ugly head and sits there. I can't say exactly what's wrong with it, but it kind of pokes out and calls attention to itself.
3. If she's lived out in the open sun for most of her life, she shouldn't be too pale. Asians tan, too.

Potential problems:
1. Her past is a touch too tragic; shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't dwell on it.
2. Couldn't you just make her Japanese? The "/Chinese" bit doesn't really seem to do much.
3. Asians don't really have eyes in colors other than brown. Hers could be, oh, lighter brown than usual?
4. As far as I am aware, "Kiseki" isn't even a Japanese name; it's a vocabulary word, meaning scar/mark, miracle, or whatnot, depending on the kanji.  

Candra delune

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Character Concepts

 
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