Lesson 2

[Kenneth Johnson]

Kenneth Johnson -Character Profiles Part 1

I learned quite a bit more about my characters. They have begun to talk with me in their own voices.

2. Pick the type of role your Protagonist will play and give us a few sentences on how they will fulfill that role.
Michael is a Dreamer
3. Pick the type of role your Antagonist will play and give us a few sentences on how they will fulfill that role.
Lee is a Change Agent
4. What other characters might be necessary?
Supporting characters: Wife, Daughter, Two Running Buddies, Uncle and Aunt
Minor roles: Korean War Veteran’s Group
5. Pick your genre.
Drama – This story is a Drama
6. Fill in whatever answers come to you about your lead character profiles.
Role in the story: Michael Jones is the Protagonist
Age range and Description: Michael is a family man in his 40s. A pleasantly handsome black man who stays fit and is quite full of himself.
Internal Journey: Michael must learn to love himself and care about others
External Journey: Michael must learn to love his father and realize that they are the same person, which allows him to love himself.
Motivation: He must sell a script or lose his house and his marriage
Wound: As a child of divorce, he was raised by his mother to loathe being anything like Lee, his father.
Mission/Agenda: Michael has a guaranteed sale for his script if he can get Lee to tell the story of his all-Black army unit in the Korean War.
Secret: Michael doesn’t like himself
What makes them special? He has a good heart and he is determined to do the right thing.

Role in the story: Lee Jones is the Antagonist.
Age range and Description: Lee is a Black man is his 70s. He is not healthy, prefers beer over water and only just finally gave up smoking. Has always been a lady’s man and still keeps two steady girlfriends.
Internal Journey: Lee wants to be free of the shame and guilt of surviving the battle when all of his friends died around him.
External Journey: He wants Michael’s respect
Motivation: Lee wants a better relationship with his son before he dies.
Wound: Lee is ashamed of how he survived the massacre of his army unit in the Korean War.
Mission/Agenda: Lee does not want to tell his combat story, but feels compelled to share parts to demonstrate why the story should not be told.
Secret: Lee knows that white army officers retreated their units and abandoned Lee’s all Black unit just prior to the final battle.
What makes them special? Lee appears to be deeply racist, but he is really bitter about how the Army treated him and his friends during the Korean War.

[Jan Lloyd]

Jan Lloyd’s Character Profiles Part 1
What I learned doing this assignment: To organize my characters and think of what type of arc their personalities will undergo.
1. I’ve listened to the 3 minute Empowerment Audio and will listen to it before every lesson. It never hurts to be reminded.
2. The type of role my Protagonist will play:
I have two protagonists. They are heroes (and explorers) to the few friends they have at school. Two of the Nerdiest in their entire class, they are brilliant with computers and creating games. They also help protect their nerdy group of friends from the Bradford Bullies, the meanest gang of thugs in their school.
3. The type of role my Antagonist will play:
My Antagonist is Bradly Bradford, leader of the Bradford Bullies. He is a villain who could be described as a predator when he steals lunch money and makes smarter kids do his homework.
4. What other characters might be necessary?
• My protagonists supporting characters play minor roles – the twins nerdy friends, their teacher, the principal of the school. There are also supporting characters for my antagonist – his thug friends.
5. Pick your genre.
• My genre is sci-fi for young teens.
6. Fill in whatever answers come to you about your lead character profiles.
• Role in the story: The twins are heroes. They build computer games to help others learn math skills and they give the money they earn from the games to the school lunch program. They are good kids, but very naive. It is this very naivety that gets them in trouble.
• Age range and Description: As 12-Year-old fraternal twins in the foster care system, they are best friends. Who else have they got but each other? Named Dolphyn and Clay Oceano by the hospital where they were abandoned when they were just a few months old. They are continually overlooked for adoption as most people don’t want to adopt two kids at the same time. And nobody knew their history either. Where did they come from. What kind of medical conditions would come with them. They have beautiful bronze skin with freckles that zigzag across their cheeks. No animal is a stranger and they tend to find and collect some unique creatures. Some so unusual, there is no report of anything like them in all the research they do.
• Internal Journey: They are small for their age, but incredibly brilliant. This brilliance marks them, in some ways, for trouble. They are naïve and can easily be manipulated.
• External Journey: They have moved from foster home to foster home, but this latest foster home is only a very small part of their external journey.
• Motivation: They want to prove themselves worthy, and assist someone with a hacking project. They think they are helping.
• Wound: They think they are hacking into the FBI site to help the FBI learn to secure their site better. But they find themselves in deep trouble when they find out they just helped criminals hack into the FBI site. This gets them sent to the juvenal authorities.
• Mission/Agenda: For their innocent crime, they are sent to a special school in New Mexico where they will learn new technology and meet like-minded students. The courts hope this will help them turn their lives around for the good of humanity instead of the havoc they wreaked unintentionally.
• Secret: Their secret is these unusual animals who befriend them. One is a small mouse that Clay named Stinky because he would let out stink bombs anytime danger was near. The only problem is that Clay often didn’t know what the danger was until it was too late. Dolphyn has an unusual octopus that can unlock doors. She named the Octopus Freckles for he unusual freckles that run across her head.
• What makes them special? There are a ton of stories about orphaned kids who are bullied. It’s popular almost to the point of being overdone. However, not many kids have a Stink Bomb mouse that warns them of trouble and an octopus that can unlock doors. Not many kids have their special brilliance with computers either.

[Ayesha Morris]

Ayesha’s Character Profiles: Part 1

I learned how to begin sketching out personality traits and add some depth to main characters in the story, in particular for the antagonist, who I hadn’t considered as thoughtfully before. Being able to choose clear roles from them to fulfill also provided a clear framework to add layers around.

Hilda Simon
Role in the story: Victim. An unassuming 19th century coal worker, a bamboula dancer, trying to make a dollar at a time when money is scarce, and options are limited. She must face greedy authorities in an island port, and lead a fight for justice.
Age range and Description: Female, 18 to early 20s, lean, Caribbean accent.

Internal Journey: From feeling helpless to having the strength to confront the steamship agents, military, and government.

External Journey: From a nameless worker who is a pushover to a respected leader who motivates hundreds to strike for better pay

Motivation: Needs to feed her family

Wound: Mother had to do this work for free at the crack of a whip, lost her life to black lung disease
Mission/Agenda: To get the true value of her pay “dollar for dollar” in Danish silver, not the devalued currency she’s being offered.

Secret: She’s had to do sex work to make ends meet.
What makes them special?
She finds strength and rare skill in the bamboula dance, not only does it help her balance the heavy loads of carrying coal, but grounds her in a time of distress.

CONSTABLE GELLERUP
Role in the story: Authority. Obsessed with order, good at his job.

Age range and Description: Male, 40’s, wears his uniform like he defends his country, serves as police, judge, steamship agent all wrapped into one.

Internal Journey: From powerful to powerless.

External Journey: Goes from rich to losing a bunch of money when the strike happens.

Motivation: Greed. Control of labor force to ensure his wealth.

Wound: Father lost money when workers refused to load a particularly toxic type of coal.

Mission/Agenda: To expand wealth while keeping control.

Secret: Was Hilda’s client at a point

What makes them special? Danish transplant who realizes he is drawn to West Indian food and culture

Other characters that might be necessary:

Supporting characters: fellow coal worker Dorothea Scatliffe, best friend;
Minor roles: coal workers Thomas Phillip and Lucretia Quinones; Gellerup’s wife;
Background characters: Hilda’s mother, Gellerup’s father; other coal workers, police, militia, steamship agents

[Jan Ostegard]

Jan O’s Character Profiles Part 1

This assignment helped me to think about the characters’ backgrounds and motivation in order to bring some much needed depth to each role.

Protagonist:
Emily is a runner who will become a fighter. She avoids confrontation and when things get tough she normally bails. Being trapped in the haunted cabin forces her to face her fears (both past and present) and then decide if she wants to live or die.

Antagonist:
The Ghost is a vicious predator and will do everything in his power to destroy anyone who invades his space. He feeds off of his victims’ fear and pain. He is unrelenting when terrorizing the cabin guests to the point of retreat or death.

What other characters might be necessary?
• Supporting characters: Emily’s husband, their son, her best friend, her ex-husband and their daughter.
• Minor roles: Additional friends and plus-ones.
• Background characters: The owner of the cabin.

Pick your genre: Horror

Fill in whatever answers come to you about your lead character profiles:

Emily:
• Role in the story: Protagonist. She’s had a tough life and is recovering from a mental breakdown. Everyone loves her and wants to support her through her healing journey by celebrating her big birthday.
• Age range and Description: Female. Turning 50. Disheveled. She looks on the outside like she feels on the inside. However, even under the weight of her depression she still has a spark in her eyes.
• Internal Journey: From feeling anxious and depressed to finding confidence, strength and hope.
• External Journey: From being too scared to make any decisions to literally taking control of the situation and fighting for survival.
• Motivation: Her husband and kids. She wants to get better so she can finally enjoy life with them.
• Wound: She lost her parents at an early age and was raised by a violent and narcissistic relative who didn’t want her.
• Mission/Agenda: To get through the weekend without having another breakdown. She’s still unstable and is not comfortable being around people yet.
• Secret: She sees ghosts. Everyone thinks her mental health issues are related to her past, but ever since her parents died she has been able to see and communicate with ghosts. It weighs on her.
• What makes them special? She’s an empath. She truly cares about those around her even after everything that she’s been through in life.

The Ghost:
• Role in the story: Antagonist. A vengeful spirit hellbent on destruction.
• Age range and Description: Ageless but died in his 20s. A dark figure always lurking in the shadows.
• Internal Journey: He’s used to easily scaring people away, but has never met a human who could fight back until now. That enrages him beyond his control.
• External Journey: Comfortable in his “living” space, but is forced to the basement by the guests not willing to leave.
• Motivation: Protecting his space.
• Wound: He’s trapped where he died a very violent death.
• Mission/Agenda: Forcing guests to leave or die.
• Secret: He died as a commander during the Civil War and is still considered a leader among his fellow ghosts haunting the property.
• What makes them special? He can physically hurt humans. So he can scare them by haunting the space or kill them.