Like last week the NaNo Prep site has a generous and fun list of resources. And I throw in an extra one in this blog post.

Even though the prepping started with a general plot idea last week it is very much character-based which is also the theme for this week which is “Create a complex character”.

I often start with a setting or an idea and from this, I welcome any character who wants to inhabit that world. So this is a bit different for me.

Also, I find it much easier to come up with sidekicks and villains than the protagonist. My lead character often annoys me a little but I learn to like him or her during the travails I put them through.

My protagonist based on questionnaires

But here are some of the things I came up with after answering the questions from the workbook and the additional questions from the blog post. (Both links found on NaNoWriMo)

She is twenty years old named Joan and lives in Cincinnati and is a Bengals fan. She has never met her father who the mother met in Malta during a family vacation.

Joan dreams of going to London to live but for now, she lives in a tiny designed house on her Mother and stepfather’s ground. She also dreams of becoming a well-renowned photographer but makes a living as a school photographer and is not making much progress regardless of the many classes she takes online and in person.

She cares about the environment, her favorite outfit is a shirt and jeans. She is embarrassed that she likes to take selfies and she hides the fact that she spends time editing them on her phone when she is passing time.

She has a minor cross on one of the school teachers she meets on the job. She is longing for something to happen and finally, something does when her aunt on her father’s side shows up.

Favorite questions to ask a character

One of my favorite questions was from the blog post. It read “When was the last time they were held? By who”? I think this is the perfect scene for showing a bunch of things without so much telling.

For my protagonist, her mother held Joan the last time she thought her life was going nowhere as a school photographer without a lucky break for her ambitions as a nature photographer. But more interesting is the story I will make up for the aunt who shows up and who sets the story in motion.

If you want an additional set of questions I made this printable with the Marcel Proust questionnaire a while back.

Prepping on Pinterest

I love Pinterest. So I don’t know why I only first now thought of creating a board for the NaNo Prep 101 weeks. I think it will give me a lot of material for developing other boards for my new NaNoWriMo project in November.

This is my board for NaNo Prep 101 (in its very early stage when this blog post was written)

I am looking forward to getting to know my protagonist Joan better over the next couple of months.

And if you want to see all the resources from this blog collected one place go here