Do you make bios for your characters when you outline scripts? What things do you put in the bios?
Here’s what I put in a major character’s bio (a minor character’s bio is usually shorter):
Age
Personality
Appearance
Strengths
Flaws
Fears
History
Hobbies
Daily routine
Secret(s)
Story goal(s)
Life goal(s)
Relationship/interaction with the major characters and sometimes the minor characters
Character Arc (if need)
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This is really, really good! All the important details. Thanks for sharing with us Maurice Vaughan
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Very good idea, I'm adopting this. Thanks for sharing.
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I like the "secrets" category. There is a "quirk" one on my list.
Thanks, Michael David. You're welcome.
Thank you, Solomon Unoke. Great! I hope it helps.
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Hi, Jill Godley. The "secrets" category is the newest one. I heard the tip somewhere. I can't remember where. It can be small secrets or big secrets.
Cool. I put a character's quirks in the "personality" category or "history" category.
Everything in a character bio doesn't make it into the script, but it helps knowing those things.
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Thanks for sharing, Maurice. You've pretty much got your character's internal and external traits covered.
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I always do and also I create with AI several images of my character in their life with their different moods ( fear, confident, happy, sad…) I call that Characters Avatar :)) I am visual, so I join both worlds in one :)) Thanks for sharing Maurice Vaughan
You're welcome, Marina Albert. You're right. I think it's easier to figure out these things in the outline than the script. I've tried to skip it during outline and figure it out in the script, but it doesn't work for me. Everyone is different though.
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You're welcome, Sandra Isabel Correia. Using pictures is a great idea. I use actor photos and stock photos sometimes.
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I like that also Maurice Vaughan :))
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Definitely a really useful exercise and the writing can only benefit from having clearly drawn characters who you as the writer totally understand down to the minutiae
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I suppose you aren't going to place all those character bios in order but enter them as your story progresses?
Some writers might do it that way, Claude Gagne. I start by making the protagonist’s bio, then I make bios for the major characters, then the minor characters.