This week with the Red Writing Hood the assignment is to write a character sketch of a villain.
Take their unpleasant traits and exaggerate. Make them as nasty as you wanna be. Tell us what she/he/it looks like. What are her/his/its motivations? No one is all good or all bad, which makes a villain complex and interesting. Tell us everything you need to know about this character.
I had a lot of difficulty with this assignment but I wanted to do it because I can see the value of creating the basics for a character. It’s all well and good to just free-write but in the end the story might not gel together as well if you start confusing motivations.
I suspect I will be expanding the story of Amy I posted last week and the week before so I took the character Abigail and tried to figure out what made her tick.
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Character Development: Abigail Lawrence
Age: 35
Appearance: blonde, blue-eyed, height 5’6, weight 120lbs
She is essentially perfection in human form. Her face is a perfect heart shape and each feature is symmetrical. She dresses in clothes that are made for her so they fit her perfectly. At first glance you would think she was angelic and innocent
Biographical history: born in Rivers Edge, Texas, a small town 50 miles from Austin. Her mother dies in childbirth, her father is unknown. She is raised by her maternal grandmother. Her grandmother was denied much in her young life and decided to live vicariously through her only grandchild. She believes Abigail is destined for better things and raises her to use her beauty as a weapon. She is taught etiquette, posture, and public speaking from the time she is able to walk and talk. She enters numerous pageants as a child and teen. She wins Miss Teen Texas and goes on to Miss Teen USA, placing in the top 10. Abigail earns a scholarship to the University of Texas and obtains a business degree. She receives a large inheritance from her grandmother that bankrolls her early years in corporate America.
Personality: to most people, she is a personable, friendly woman. She is an extrovert and always strives to be the center of a gathering. Once she gets to know a person, and their weaknesses, she makes calculated measures to either bring this person under her influence or to use their strengths against them. In this manner she quickly rises to higher and more powerful positions within the companies she works.
She is a snob to anyone who she thinks is below her in appearance or social standing unless they happen to already be higher in the corporate pyramid. She has no qualms about using her sex appeal to get what she needs and regularly seduces her boss(es) to obtain a raise or promotion.
Abigail has her own weaknesses she works very hard to keep hidden. She has extremely low self esteem, despite her upbringing and has a terrifying fear of closed spaces. She is determined to never be in a position where her weaknesses can be used against her.
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Judging from all the other entries this week I suspect I should have woven this into more of an actual “story”. Oops 
Next I suppose I should do a character study of Amy…but I’m not sure if I will post that one. I don’t want to give too much away before the next installment 
This is a fantastic way to really figure out what makes your character tick. I may very well do this as well. Thanks.
Actually, the way you did it is more of how I would have done it. It’s always good to have that kind of info laid out so that you can then start the writing.
With this being my first time, I had no clue what was meant by character sketch, but I bet you were more on target.
THANK YOU! I love how you did this and if you don’t mind, I think I need to do this for my characters for my upcoming “novel”
Yeah, so glad I was able to read this just before NaNoWriMo.
I love these writing pieces. They’re really good. I think we all forget how important description and characters are in writing. I did like that she was from River’s Edge, Texas, LOL!
Sometimes a character comes across better when you’ve sat down and really disected them, which you did here. Great way to start or work on if you get stuck during writing. : )
This is a true character sketch. You know all the facts about her and then you can weave them – and refer back to them – as you go.
I think this character sketch is a great idea. As someone who is just getting into writing, I really appreciate reading this. This is definatelly something that I am going to start incorporating into my own writing area.
I could see her as ‘the popular one’ in high school for sure.
Great sketch – I think I may have run up against an Abigail or two in my life too…We were never friends:)
this is a really effective way to do your characters. F Scott Fitzgerald used to write character sketches and plot lines and rough drafts and hang them on the walls around his office so he could look at them constantly while he worked on a novel. I don’t think there is a “wrong” way to go about your own process!
I think sometimes doing a mechanical, clinical character study is important. It’s good to have notes.
I do mine on index cards.
Seriously.
I love everyday, real villains like your Abigail.
Honestly? I like the way you wrote this. It’s organized and concise, and would be good to flip back to if you are trying to decide how to develop the character or story. In fact, I might use this as a template for a few characters I have floating around in my head.
Yes it would have been better to get a story about this character but i think you have excelled in creating a great sketch. because i could use this sketch to think of every situation and how she would have responded to it… nonetheless i enjoyed this character Abigail.
I think the way you did it is great too! No one right way. I think I know a few Abigails – very “real” descriptions.