Character Profiles: Les Gillespie's Gold

Over the past few days I have been working on character profiles for Les Gillespie's Gold. This is a departure from the way I wrote KUNDELA. There the people seemed to come from nowhere and their character was developed on the run. This caused me to double up on names and traits and descriptions.

With Toby Farrier I wrote a short story I called The Character Bus and used it as a plan to work out who the people were and how they interacted. It was a great tool but I still had to do charts for each one of the characters to create an easy reference to follow.

Les Gillespie's Gold follows on from Kundela, so some of the characters are known. Now others need introducing to keep the tension in the story and for over a week that is all I have done. Names may change to more suit the story later but by doing it this way a decision is made when the character is created. this has a two fold benefit to prevent duplication of Christian names and it also addresses the problem of ensuring the name is correct for their generation and position in time.

Thanks go to Merlene Fawdrey for providing the draft character charts through her Novel Writing Workshop sessions.

Here is one of my favourite characters who appeared in KUNDELA but takes a bigger role in Les Gillespie.

NAME:                    : Fiona O'Rourke

Position in story       Secondary -  Tilly’s Friend

Age:	37
Nationality:	Australian
Socioeconomic level as a child:	Good
Socioeconomic level as an adult:	Good
Hometown:	Sellicks Beach
Current residence:	Orroroo Police House
Occupation:	Home Duties
Income:	Family Benefits + husbands wage
Talents/skills:	Was a school teacher before marriage
Salary:	Gets some part time teaching work at Orroroo & Jamestown will go back to work
Relationships:
Birth order:	Second of two children
Siblings (describe relationship):	Stuart----43
Spouse/partner (describe relationship):	John  Police Constable in Orroroo for over 3 years)
Children (describe relationship):	Four: Ashleigh, Zac, Harry, Maxine, (Max)
Parents (describe relationship):	Sam and Joan Styles
Grandparents (describe relationship):	N/A
Grandchildren (describe relationship):	N/A
Significant others (describe relationship):	John (Husband)
Relationship skills:	Good
Physical Characteristics
Height:	160
Weight:	62 kg
Race:	Aussie
Eye Colour:	Green
Hair Colour:	Changes, most of the time she is blonde
Glasses or contact lenses?	Neither
Skin colour:	Fair
Shape of face:	Narrow
Distinguishing features:	Broad nose
How does he/she dress?	Simple smart
Mannerisms:	N/A
Habits: (smoking, drinking/drugs/addictions etc.)	Non smoker social drinker (has an image to protect)
Any physical illnesses?	None
Health:	Good
Hobbies:	Netball and gym
Favourite sayings:	I was like that once
Speech patterns:	N/A
Disabilities:	None
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.):	Yummy Mummy
Greatest flaw:	Says yes to everyone
Best quality:	congeniality
Personality Attributes and Attitudes
Educational Background:	Teachers College in Adelaide
Intelligence Level:	High
Any Mental Illnesses?	None
Learning Experiences:	Life in country towns has rounded her life skills
Character's short-term goals in life:	Get back to work to contribute to the family’s security
Character's long-term goals in life:	Be happy with lots of grandchildren
How does Character see himself/herself?	Confident strong supportive
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others?	As above
How self-confident is the character?	She is happy with who she is
Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof?	Emotion features heavily in her judgement but measures it with logic
What would most embarrass this character	Family scandal
Spiritual Characteristics
Does the character believe in God?	Unsure
What are the character's spiritual beliefs?	She takes her children to Sunday School
Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life?	Not really but she likes rules and the Christian religion provides that
If so, what role does it play?

As you can see Merlene's chart has helped reference this person's features characteristics and beliefs. giving me a ready reference to what I might need to know as the book develops.

Thanks Merlene.