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After making my worksheets on character development, I decided, let’s try it out. For my main character who I felt that I didn’t know well enough, it appears that behold! I do actually know her. In fact, I know quite a bit. Whew! And the worksheet has just served to help me see what I already knew and now I can hopefully carry it through a little better than I was. So, it looks like I may have another edit coming. On the other hand, I think it will be quite useful in learning who my characters are in a piece I am just starting.

One thing that sort of jumped out at me with the worksheet was the whole ‘ethnic background’ context surrounding the character and its influence on making them who they are. This is something that I have not thought about. I suppose because in real life, it isn’t something that I take into account. I don’t look at my friends and say, ‘”Ah, yes. That would be their German heritage influencing their behaviour right now.” I suppose, really, I know very little about the different ethnicities and the behaviours, attitudes and philosophies that come with them. Is that because of the wonderful melting pot that Canada is? Out my way, are we just a mish-mash of humanness?

In a lot of ways, I think we are quite removed from our ethnicities. For example, I have Irish, Scottish and Finnish heritages. But I don’t think they particularly influence me–at least not in a large, noticeable way. I think there are much, much larger influences in my life. For example, the way other kids treated me in elementary school has influenced my attitudes and behaviours a lot more than my ethnicity.

So, despite my lack of awareness in regards to ethnicity, it is an interesting part of the character development study.

Tags: character development, writing //