A Bear & A Bird Fought the Winter - Process #1
This is a character board I set-up for developing the characters in the new story I’m working on.
The top has the title of the story: A Bear & A Bird Fought the Winter.
The topmost row is colored orange. It stores story conditions and main concepts to keep in mind (only two characters, major themes, logline, etc).
The middle section is divided into two:
The left side is colored blue. It has ideas for character traits that the Bear has. Furthest to the left are things that pertain only to him (brash, courageous, reckless, etc).
To the right is the equivalent, but for the Bird. Her traits are colored pink (for no other reason than stick notes come in those colors and they stand out).
Traits that they share are closer to the middle. Things they have 100% in common are in purple.
The bottom row has potential plot threads based on the character traits described above. These are just interesting situations that might negatively or positively affect the characters based on their fears, goals, and aspirations. The idea is to throw as many ideas up there as possible. Ideas that don’t work will be taken down as the story begins to take shape.
Like with the character traits section, Bear is blue and Bird is pink. Purple notes are plot threads that cannot be overcome by one animal alone.
I’m still adding to this board. I brought it over to Tavia and Bowman’s house the other day. I explained the story to passers-by and let them add sticky notes at their leisure. Ideas I like stay. I deas that don’t work with the story get taken down.
I got some great suggestions. Definitely worth making the whole board.
Next week I’ll be laying out an outline of the story based on what ends up on this board.
-Jona
