General writing discussion.

Schitzo

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER

Name: Sylvia Cruz

Physical Appearance: Waifish, Unkempt wild hair. giant headphones. DIY questionable T Shirts

Conflict she faces: a school full of idiots, and the consequences of having burned as much bridges as she has.

Perspective: frustrated both with her peers, but especially at her own socially retarded self.

Attitude/Personality (Just use adjectives here): blunt, morbid, ironwilled.

Change (As in, how does he change across the story): Becomes much more accepting of people, and works towards change in her environment instead of complaining all the time.

MillerCross

blagh, just noeiced.

Perspective is simply how they feel about the conflict, not how the story is told. 

Didn't notice cuz I was reading the Change and Attitude thingies all the time. >_<

ClockworkUniverse

Whoops >.>

Fixed mine.

AHR

Perspective: PURPOSEFUL IGNORANCE!

--done--

Schitzo

Fixed both of mine.

Chagen

Fixed

MillerCross

Also...

Conflict he faces: Way too many to count.

no no no. Just count the main plot, if you don't feel like counting secondary plots, but don't go null on me.

Icalasari

Any limits on the character bio? Other than length

MillerCross

Nope.

Chagen

Juan: Alright, edited it.

MillerCross

Oh, neat, you used the types of conflict.

(Not necessary, but greatly appreciated)

Forzare

*cough*

ClockworkUniverse

Again, I has homework. I'll read it at some point.

Vivi

Fixed mine.

And my character is more suited to film anyway.

Also, three film majors, wow.

ClockworkUniverse

I'm majoring in Computational Media, which is kinda relatedish.

Chagen

I want to major in some kind of Liguistics.

Forzare

I might major in film or theater.  I haven't decided yet.

Vivi

I decided to major in Film about a year ago, and it's now my true chosen path.

MillerCross

Forzare: Join us. We're cool. Also, I think you learn some theater stuff on film. Not much, though.

All Nines

I'll probably major in English, with minors in whatever possible combination of creative writing, music, or editing/publishing, because that can take me a bunch of places. And I'll try out the character bio for a character I've been thinking up. I don't want to do film because, since I don't actually watch any movies, it would be presumptuous, though taking classes on screenwriting might be nice.

Now for the character exercise.

Name: Billy Weston

Physical Appearance: He has mid-length blond hair, glasses, chiseled features, and fair skin. He's generally considered beautiful/beyond merely handsome. He usually wears bland polo shirts and jeans.

Conflict he faces: He's trying to find love, but he's a borderline shut-in.

Perspective: Thinks that he's to be blamed for his problems, which is mostly true.

Attitude/Personality (Just use adjetives here): Subdued, morally antiquated, tongue-tied, uninspired.

Change (As in, how does he change across the story): His outlook worsens as his college life continues, but he eventually finds someone whom he isn't compelled to push away.

MillerCross

Conflict he faces: Despite his looks and outward kindness, he has difficulty talking to people, and his worldview creates tension that most people would consider unnecessary (e.g., he probably could have had sex by now, despite his crippling awkwardness, if he weren't saving himself for someone who had done the same for him). He's trying to find love, but he's a borderline shut-in.

This is all you needed, truth be told.

Then again, the exercise is based on the fact that writing a script demands you to be laconic as possible, as pages are minutes and all that, so, take the advice with a grain of salt and all that. 

Vivi

What exactly is this for again?

AHR

Wrote a page. Progress!

ClockworkUniverse

You know, I didn't actually know what this was for either. I just kinda did it.

All Nines

"This is all you needed, truth be told."

Ah. I wasn't looking at it as a scriptwriting exercise, and there's more conflict there than just his love life problems--it's just that that's the most pressing one, at least in his mind.

Vivi

If this is gonna be a scriptwriting exercise, I'm much more interested.

MillerCross

this is an exercise on character profiling and laconism.

the thing is, many writers come onto film expecting complete freedom, but they don't. Screenwriters have to take into account things like time of the movie and production values. Specially as many of them tend to go into full blown purple prose mode. 

You need to be as descriptive as necessary. It's not necessary for me to know that the character has "Long flowing brown hair that would make even the prettiest hair product model blush".

All I need to know is "She has long straight brown hair". And even then, I'd question the need for us to know the color of her hair unless there was a point to it. Beyond a silly joke, that is.

Ah. I wasn't looking at it as a scriptwriting exercise, and there's more conflict there than just his love life problems--it's just that that's the most pressing one, at least in his mind.

Hence, the second paragraph, but it bears mentioning that I did say "Conflict" as opposed to "Conflicts"

The thing is this profiles are just basics. Character skeletons, if you will. They help you to get to the core of the character and understand his basics. When you have this basic little things, then you can build up the touches that make him a character and not just a skeleton. 

AHR

Well, CLEARLY you now need to rate our script writing abilities.

Although, I find I can get pretty laconic, to the point that it's detrimental. Too laconic. All that.

MillerCross

Also, I suggested that because that was what I had to do when I posted it. 

OK, yours was first, so here I go:

Name: Nicholas Cuantine

Physical Appereance: Short, stocky, hooked nose, blond hair that covers eyes.

This description works perfectly, indeed. Short and to the point.

Conflict he faces: Man v. Society. Getting rid of his powers.

Also, simplistic and to the point. No need for subconflicts and subplots. Those come up later.

Perspective: Err...third person?

Sorry, but

Attitude/Personality (Just use adjetives here): Immature, hotheaded, judgemental, repressive

I'd say that Hotheaded is redundant when you have immature there, but that's just me. >.>

Change (As in, how does he change across the story): He grows up. Learns that his attitude was poisonous.

He learns that, but what does he turn into?

AHR

As I said before:

Perspective: PURPOSEFUL IGNORANCE!

--done--