Character Charting

Tonight I spent my working time thinking about my characters as a group. I spent a little time in Google Wave updating their entries by listing off some attributes or facts about several of them that I want to keep in mind going forward.

I also sat down with a blank sheet of paper (okay, it's the back of a take-out menu) and set about charting what my main protagonists think of one another. The idea here, is so that I'm establishing how they interact with one another. This should help me 'hear' them more clearly, so I don't find myself wondering "How would this character react to what THAT one just said?". I've got some dynamics going on - pity, respect, jealousy... I think it all feels pretty good. I'm not done with my chart yet, but I've gotten a lot down.

I really like a couple of my characters. Part of me would really like to spend more time on one of them. (One of the characters my friend Caine helped get me rolling with. I wonder if he can tell which one, just from reading the threads on Wave.) I think that character has a lot of room for storytelling, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more elements of their story show up by the time I'm done.

Tomorrow night, I need to see if I can put in a bit more character work, and then some more thinking about plotting. My third act is still almost a complete mystery to me.

I definitely got some work done, so I'll still tag this as 'progress' but I think I was slacking off a little more than I'm happy with. I'm not sure if that's motivation, or other factors. I'm hoping to do better tomorrow, though.