So there I was, editing chapter 4 of the sequel to Dominatrix Boss, and I ran into a reaction that Toni has in a community BDSM dungeon. The problem was that her reaction just didn’t feel right.
I stopped what I was doing right then and began to implement a character creation template that I’d been building for two years.
This is part of my Character Creation Sheet for Toni
Toni appeared a few times, briefly, in Dominatrix Boss. She is one of Goddess Ava’s closest friends, and she’s known around the office as a member of, what the mail room calls, the “Hot Squad.”
Toni takes on a much more prominent role in the sequel to Dominatrix Boss (along with Mitzy), and it’s likely that I will be writing a book featuring her down the line.
Getting her character, her arc, her quirks, and everything else right about Toni was not just important for the sequel, but it would become even more important down the road. If I missed this juncture and just carried on, I’d have major regrets in the future.
New Character Template
I started developing a character template over the last two years. I needed something that would make me feel confident that I knew what each character was like from many different angles.
I read a bunch of books on the subject of character creation (I read books about writing constantly) and captured all of their ideas. I got a character sheet from my friend, author Beth A. Freely. And I added several important things myself.
Some of the things that I have in my Basic Section:
- Name
- Role in story
- Physical description
- Age
- Personality Enneagram
- Character Alignment
- Distinctive skills/abilities
- Describe a typical outfit
- What is their method of manipulation?
- What do they most criticize others for?
- Bad habits
- Good habits
- Three things they love the most (food, movies, books, etc.)
- Typical expressions
- Unusual mannerisms
- Distinctive characteristics
- Extrovert or Introvert?
- Optimist or Pessimist?
- Temperament
- Mood
- Weaknesses
- Strengths
- Sense of humor
- Job/title
- Loves to do
- Hates to do
- Related to
- Pets
Then I also have an area where I can capture information directly from what I’ve written or extra notes that all of the previous questions don’t answer.
The enneagram question was mine. I wanted something that would easily give me a personality type and would come with a lot of additional information from outside sources. I have two books full of insight into these different personalities, and I will probably get more later. It worked like a charm! It might have been my most successful question.
If you’re interested in more on enneagrams here is a link with some information: The 9 Enneagram Types
I also added an old-fashioned Dungeons & Dragons character alignment. If you’re familiar with alignment from the game, it just gives many great ideas on how your character would react in a given situation. Are they selfish or selfless? Do they follow the law? Are they evil? Character alignment covers all of that.
Want to know more about D&D character alignment? Here’s a great article with character examples: D&D Alignments Explained and Character Examples
How I Use the Template
I went through each of these questions and did my best to answer them. Some were easy, and others were going to require some thought. The Enneagram personality type helped a lot to establish some of the other answers. Everything else required a brainstorming session.
When I was brainstorming a particular question I just put down tons of things that came to mind and then weeded out everything that didn’t fit. I might look around the internet and see if there’s a list of say…weird mannerisms. Keep in mind that these things should “fit” and reinforce the character you’re creating. If everything is wildly random you’re going to have a character that makes no sense. Even The Joker, has consistent mannerisms, despite his unpredictable nature.
If Toni was the main character in the book I have two more sections where I get into their backstory, their character arc, their emotional wounds, and much more. In this book, all I needed was the basic questions.
Toni Comes Into Focus
I think I spent about an hour or two going over all of this with Toni. When I came out the other end I felt like I knew her so much better than before, and that would affect everything that I did in this 2nd draft and anything that came after.
That strange mannerism that was in the story, the thing that caused me to pause, was totally rewritten. I also went back to the beginning of the book and inserted things I learned. I did the same process with Mitzy and she got a few rewrites as well.
I feel highly confident about getting those two characters right from now on. I won’t write another story without going through this process with the main characters and important supporting characters. The few hours that I spent nailing down this stuff is already paying off with more consistent characters, and more interesting prose about the characters, and will give me confidence about where they are going in the future.
By the way, if you like the illustration above, it’s one of many promotional illustrations that fetish artist Dirk Hooper is creating for me, including the covers of the re-release of Dominatrix Boss, and the sequel.
