Chapter Three Newsletter issue #67 (07/13/2021) ✏

Since issue #59 of Chapter Three, I have been describing my method of story construction as an example, with the intent that you cherry-pick those concepts (if any) that might work for you. So at this point, I’ve described how I construct a story scene-by-scene and have described the elements of a scene that I construct before I ever begin drafting. At this point in my current story (Legacy of the Ancients), I have a five act skeleton (because it includes Prologue and Epilogue acts) built that contains twenty-nine scenes.

So far, I have been concentrating on the story’s primary dramatic arc—the main plot. There are also secondary arcs (subplots) and character arcs. And there are a lot of other elements to consider in writing a complex novel. I next want to describe the main “supporting material” that I believe is necessary in a major work of fiction. Those I will cover are:

1. Character Descriptions (main and secondary)

2. Location Descriptions

3. Conflicts Matrix

4. Subplot Worksheet

Today, I’ll review the worksheets I keep for my main and secondary characters.

Working on a novel, it is important to keep up with your characters. You must remember physical descriptions, motivations, histories, flaws, etc in order to keep your story consistent. This is especially true if you are writing a lengthy novel with lots of characters and you switch between Points-of-View.

I have also seen many story-creation procedures where the author is directed to create his characters first. Robert Ray’s Weekend Novelist follows this prescription. Mr. Ray makes the point that story flows from character. It took me a while to understand this, but now I see where it is true. Consequently, while I still tend to create plot first, that plot with its subplots are always heavily influenced (changed, turned, directed) by character. That is, my characters’ agendas, needs and wants, play into what happens in the story (story events). Ergo, I can see why it is quite possible to begin with characters and pull your story from them.

So, especially if you are starting with characters, you really need to capture the basic info for all your characters, especially developing their goals, needs, and wants. I have made use of many recommended forms to do this (Mr. Ray offers a form in Weekend Novelist). What I found is that simple lists of characteristics are boring by themselves. You do need to have a reference that contains eye color, hair color, weight, etc, so that your narrative will be consistent from the first through the last scenes. To really get understand a character, though, you need to spend some time considering his/her life.

Here is the form I settled on for capturing data on a main character. Note that it contains the descriptive basics (Name, Gender, Age, etc) along with story-related information (value movements, education, religious beliefs, storyline summary). Here it is:

MAIN CHARACTER

Name:
Gender: Born: Died:
Age (at story opening):
Ext value progression:
Internal value progression:

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Eyes: Hair: Height: Build:
Physical Flaw(s):

HOME AND FAMILY
Residence:
Parents:

Siblings:
Mate:
Children:

PERSONAL
Strengths:
Character Flaws:
Love interest:
Occupation:
Education:
Religion:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Notes:

CHARACTER-PLOT WORKUP
A one-sentence summary of the character's storyline:
The character's motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?):
The character's goal (what does he/she want concretely?):
The character's conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?):
The character's epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?):
An extended summary of the character's storyline:

STORY TRACE
Scene number: Scene Event
Scene number: Scene Event
Scene number: Scene Event

It is lengthy, but flexible in its use. I will probably fill it in fully only for my main characters. I will add notes, quotes, even web links for any section I feel it helps. I think most of the fields are self-explanatory and mostly they mean whatever they mean to you (it is YOUR story).

I do recommend filling out the CHARACTER-PLOT WORKUP as fully as you can for main characters. This section has helped me tremendously in working out the motivations and story arc for main characters. If I do this early in the story creation process, this section will inevitably evolve with the story.

The STORY TRACE can be helpful, though I am not fanatical about keeping it. It is simply a list of the scenes where the characters appears in the story. Mostly, it is helpful as an indication of how prominent a given character is in the story as a whole.

For secondary characters who appear sporadically in the narrative and only in supporting roles, rarely taking the POV, I have another Character Worksheet. It is very flexible, allowing you to just capture that information needed for the limited role of this character. Hopefully, it will be enough to allow the character to feel as developed as any other.

Here is my secondary character worksheet:

SECONDARY CHARACTER
Name: Gender: Race: Born: Died:
Age (at story opening):

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Eyes: Hair: Height: Build:
Flaw(s):

NOTES

TRAITS

HISTORY

STORY TRACE
Scene number: Scene Event
Scene number: Scene Event
Scene number: Scene Event

Again, this should be pretty self-explanatory. Now let me give you a couple of examples as to how I have used these character worksheets in my novel, Power of the Ancients.

First, here’s the worksheet for my main character, Zane Landstrom:

Name: Zane Landstrom

Gender: M Born: 2310 Died:

Age (at story opening): 17

Ext value progression: (worldview-disillusionment-return): Sage apprentice to warrior to Sage apprentice

Internal value progression: (Unhappy-meaning-disillus-comfort): servant-trainee-unit-questioning servant

Physical Description
Thick, light brown hair that falls in loose curls over his ears and reaches the base of his neck. His forehead is underscored by dark, brows surmounting dark blue eyes. His nose is straight and round at the end, though not overly large. His face is somewhat long with a smile that reveals dimples when stretched. His teeth are even and as yet, without gaps. His jaws and chin are strong and well-formed. He has a good shadow of a beard but keeps it shaved, following the custom of most sages.

He is 5' 10" in height. His frame is lean but muscled, from hard work on the farm and from the exercises that are part of his sage training.

Eyes: blue Hair: light brown Height: 5’10” Build: medium but strong

Physical Flaw(s): Scar on left side of face from childhood injury.

Home and Family

Residence: Family farm outside Dentville

Parents: Cole and Veera Landstrom

Siblings: Nic (20), Oldest brother Reev died 8 years ago at the age of 21

Mate: none

Children: none

Personal

Strengths: Good health and physically strong; Keen mind; Great sense of integrity and loyalty; Compassionate; Psychic;

Character Flaws: teenaged angst;

Love interest: Nia Bellengrath, the 16-year-old daughter of Dentville's Military Elder, Kent Bellengrath.

Occupation: Zane is an apprentice sage, though, like most everyone else, he works the land with his family and supplements their food supply with hunting and fishing.

Education: The basic reading, writing, and calculation that is the education given all the children of the Dentville settlement, along with the folk history of the destruction of the world by monster storms and how some of the survivors came to Dentville. Such education was primarily administered by Miz Lustig with some helpers.

His education is extended when he is apprenticed at 13 to Branch, the settlement's sage. Branch's teaching improves Zane's literary skills enough to read the few books from the Ancients that they have and to make copies of them. He learns a wider knowledge of the world beyond Dentville and more history as the sages in Sedona teach it.

Branch also teaches Zane the martial arts of Sedona that is used to promote physical fitness and the heightened consciousness that helps meditation and shamanic journeys into the spirit realm.

Religion: Zane accepts the nature religion followed by the Dentville clans and promoted by the sages. It's a belief in a spirit world that is closely associated with and influences the physical world. They believe the dead are close and accessible so they pray to their ancestors as well as the spirits that guide the world. Their spiritual leaders are people who have the gift of communicating with the spirits (sages) and of interpreting signs and visions.

Zane showed signs of shamanic ability from early on. He would see spirits and hear voices. So his parents apprenticed him to Branch.

Likes: stories of wars and warriors; His mother's honeyed cakes; Learning about the ancient world from Branch; Reading books of the Ancients; Animals;

Dislikes: Farmwork; Being underestimated; boredom

Notes:

CHARACTER-PLOT WORKUP

A one-sentence summary of the character's storyline:

Zane uses his psychic abilities to help his mentors and friends save Dentville (and Nia) from being destroyed by the discharge and explosion of an ancient cold fusion trans-dimensional reactor.

The character's motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?)

He wants to be a warrior (as was his brother, Reev, and his father, Cole).

The character's goal (what does he/she want concretely?)

To quit his apprenticeship and join the army, becoming a warrior.

The character's conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?)

He is apprenticed to Branch to become a sage and quitting would disappoint/enrage his parents and Branch. Since his apprenticeship was endorsed by the Council of Elders, if he just quit, he would be outcast.

The character's epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?

* Warriors are ignorant and brutal; better to be a sage.
* Authority figures can be deceitful and manipulative (Kent’s manipulations via Elgarth and Branch keeping the existence of the TDR secret).
* His feelings for Nia are a strong motivation for him, prompting his psychic capability as much as fear for his own life.
* His world is threatened by the coming Corbyn.

An extended summary of the character's storyline

In preparing for his sage’s ordeal, Zane is chased by a boar-wolf to the “House-int-the-Hill” ruins where he hides. He also detects, and is empowered by, an energy coming from the ruins. Elgarth reports Zane’s detection of the Power to Kent who seeks to obtain Zane’s help to find the Power by letting him join the army.

Zane is estranged from his father (mother is dead) and Branch but feels empowered by Kent and Nia’s attentions. He leads Nia and Elgarth to the point of strongest energy in the ruins but it’s behind a locked door.

When Elgarth finds the TTR, Zane is abandoned by Kent and Nia and faces the cruelty of the warrior’s life. He begins to regret his decision, but tries to accept his fate and perform his duties. At the council, he emotionally sides with Branch and Cori, but can’t support them and obey his orders.

When the TTR causes the destruction in Muddy Square, Zane aids in the capture of the TTR and is appalled at the warriors’ indifference to the suffering around them. He does reengage with Nia in her suspicions about what her father is up to.

When Sartis steals the TTR, Zane is part of the pursuit. At the North Gate standoff, Zane tries to use psy to push Sartis off the TTR, but fails. Elgarth appears, though, and does the job.

Zane helps with the transport of the TTR to the Spirit Mound and is with the group at the South Gate when Kent fails to launch the TTR discharge. Cori encourages Zane to launch the discharge with psy, but he can’t until Nia is endangered and then he is able to throw the switch.

The group finds Nia and Kent alive, though Kent is radically changed by his proximity to the TTR’s discharge. He absolves Zane of his army service and Branch accepts him back as apprentice.

Zane’s Story Trace

A1-001: Attacked by the boar-wolf; detects psy at HITH.
A1-002: Saved by Cori; His ordeal journey is delayed.
A1-004: Breaks into HITH with Elgarth, looking for psy source.
A1-015: Extended offer from Kent to join army; he turns it down.
A1-018: Attacked by bandits in Muddy Square and saved by Fennec.
A1-020: Tells his pa that he’s joining the army.
A1-022: Quits his apprenticeship.
A2-001: Zane joins the Dentville army.
A2-004: Nia orders Zane to locate the psy source in the HITH.
A2-006: Gets Aries to accept Nia when breaking into HITH.
A2-007: Find TDR in HITH; psy energy drains Zane.
A2-021: Zane does not tell Cori about the TDR.
A3-001: Verifies the TDR for Kent.
A3-007: Is a guard when Vandishar keeps TDR; ordered to guard it?
A3-013: Cullar orders Zane to change Sartis’ horses.
A3-015: Helps place the TDR on the SM; released from the army.
A3-018: Attempts remote TDR discharge.
A3-019: Achieves remote TDR discharge.
A3-020: Finds Nia after the TDR discharge.
A3-021: Finds Kent after the TDR discharge.

Here is a secondary character worksheet for my secondary character, Whatley:

Name: Galen Whatley Gender: M Race: Cauc Born: 2287 Died:

Age (at story opening): 40

Physical Description
Fairly tall and heavyset, looking like he may have been strong in his youth. Heavy jowls, long black hair, though thinning on top. Large nose, thin beard.

Eyes: black, drooping lids Hair: longish, black/gray; balding Height: 6’0” Build: large; heavy

Flaw(s): overweight; large nose, heavy jaw; greedy and manipulating

Notes:
Because of his money-changing business. This makes him anticipate the coming of the Corbyn, though he has to keep this a secret desire.

Traits
Greedy, though prudent in business; sympathetic to hurting people but only to a point.

History
Born around Dentville on a farming commune of the Ebberhart clan. Taught to brew spirits by old “master” Ebberhart and eventually surpassed his teacher. His enterprising ways led to his purchase of an old longhouse in Dentville, which he converted to a beerhouse. The quality of his brew led to local fame and much business. He expanded to offering hard-to-find products (dealing with the Spanics), then to women, money, and lodgings.

Story Trace
A1-009: Whatley is called for by Taulber. He is known by the TV because they’ve taken lodging there. Erna answers for Whatley, who is not there. Erna notes that Whatley is “good for all the local coins.” First hint of Whatley as a businessman.

A1-010: Whatley indicated by Nia as a trader in commodities (tea and apples). Also the Spanics are mentioned as a source of foreign goods. Bartering is implied. Whatley is also noted as an information conduit between Kent and Elgarth, so the implication is that Whatley is also a broker of intelligence.

A2-013: Fennec and Mithra noted as renting a room from Whatley. Indication of Whatley as a innkeeper.

A2-016: Whatley introduced on-stage. He is seen as Erna’s employer or pimp, getting a cut of Erna’s action.

A2-017: Whatley seen actively using Erna here to cater to Sartis. His greed and shady business sense is emphasized. Also noted that he trades with the Spanics for wine. Erna notes that she “brings in business for Whatley.” Whatley’s avarice is seen in his relationship to Sartis, doing anything for gold coins.

A3-001: Kent orders Nia to setup the hospital at Whatley’s.

A3-004: Branch gets the story of the TDR explosion from Whatley. It is clear that Whatley’s beer-house was commandeered for the hospital and he didn’t offer it. Whatley leaves his place, after having been up all night, with Erna. So there is some kind of trust relationship between them.

A3-020: Last mention of Whatley’s beer-house.

Again, note the flexibility of how I have used these worksheets. If it seems like a lot of work, it is. It also goes a long way towards creating a story that works.

COLA III Meeting Recap for 07/13/2021

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