Help me make this Character

[veryblessedmom]

I have a character in my head and I can't give him/her a face or body yet. I don't even know gender yet. So let me tell you a little about this person, who isn't really a person, just looks like one and you tell me who you picture. (The setting is Earth, now.)

This Character is named Chie-Ree-Hlo-Theo. He/she's name means Assitant painter to Theo. (Theo is a scatter brained painter Chie-Ree is assigned to)

Chie-Ree's idea of a good time is making a to-do list and checking it off.

Super organized and orderly. Does not understand the creative mind at all.

Is a little snotty to others.

Chie-Ree's idea of decorating a room is clean white walls and floor with no furnishings to clutter the perfectly cubical room.

Chie-Ree looks at a beautiful painting and thinks the canvas looked better when it was blank.

I can't get an age, gender or face for Chie-Ree. Tell me what you see and that might help.
Thanks.

[Jeff Gerke]

What do you want to do with this character?

If you're wanting a romantic thing with Theo, maybe Chie should be female. If you're wanting a rival or disciple, maybe male is better.

You knew this was coming, I'm sure, but of course I think Character Creation for the Plot-First Novelist would help you figure out this character to a wonderful degree.

Jeff

[veryblessedmom]

Thanks Jeff. I've got it already, but thanks.

This character is a loyal assistant. No romance possible here.

I know the character on the inside, but I can't figure out the outside.

My husband suggested Chie-Ree look like I child. Now I'm thinking a 6 year old boy in a suit holding a clip board.

[Teskas]

It sounds to me as though your assistant, if an adult, has a shut down personality. Six year olds who compartmentalize tend to be in a kind of transitional phase of personality development. In either case, if he's so tactile with notepad and checklist, you could always have him filled with hidden creativity which painting doesn't express. He could have a hidden talent for sculpture--black basalt abstracts exhibited in white rooms--which only comes to light as your story progresses.

[lexkx]

This character sounds fascinating. And while you could go to an extreme for gender, age, or appearance, there is more than enough personality just from the things you've listed for Chie-Ree to be exceptionally...invisible, for lack of a better word. Indeterminate age. Severe, borderline androgynous clothes. Stark, neat features that do not attract attention. Someone who does not understand the creative mind will not necessarily be completely without creativity, but it's always such a beautiful foil to have in a story with artsy people. As in real life, come to think of it. The personality you've developed (or discovered?) is strong enough to only need minimal physical descriptors to make the character life-like. Chie-Ree sounds like a force to be reckoned with, and a fully-rounded physique might overpower the adventure of the artist Chie-Ree serves.

[Jeff Gerke]

If you've got the character creation system, have you used the CharPick utility? It's a great way to generate instant character possibilities with the press of a button. Great idea-launcher.

[Andy]

To me, the name of the character has a Korean ring to it. Perhaps given her spartan simplicity, she's got a shaved head and wears simple white robes like a monk.

[veryblessedmom]

Hmmm...a bald Asian woman. That could work.

I had considered a Japanese drift driver. Even the idea of a child was always Asian to me.

This could work.

Thanks :-)

[tris]

Too bad the setting has to be realistic. The first image that came to mind was a prim little squirrel with old fashioned square eyeglasses (what we used to call granny glasses).

[Kristen]

Dec 21, 2009 8:09:52 GMT -5 veryblessedmom said:

...let me tell you a little about this person, who isn't really a person, just looks like one...

When you said Chie-Ree isn't really a person, I thought you meant it was some kind of automaton. Is that right? Or did you just mean s/he isn't a person yet because of the lack of details?

I pictured a sort of robot with a big round white head like an oversized Web cam. Then it would be an it. Still bald, though.

[veryblessedmom]

I've got my character now. He's a green man and quite irritated about that.

He's not human but looks male. I've decided the Painters got to paint their own assistants and Theo made his green. Sometimes he repaints Chie-Ree other colors in the rainbow just to to irk him.

Thanks all.