how to write an investigatory report? and character sketch?
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Ol
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So you want pen a story that is as captivating as it is believable? That is a great intention for your story. But while great intentions are a good way to get started on your story, whichever genre it is you are working on, you might be doing your story more harm than good if you are not familiar with your characters.
Captivating stories are mostly character-driven. Successful writers know this. Stories are rarely ever interesting if the characters are not in charge. It should not be the story telling the characters what to do; it is the characters that should drive the story.
But you can only make your characters grip your readers’ attention only if you know your character to the depth of their persons. A good way to ensure the development of consistent, realistic characters that make your story compelling enough for readers is to start out with a character sketch.
But first, what is a character sketch?
A character sketch is a description made for the purpose of guiding the writer on such assignments as introducing a particular character to the reader in such a way that both the writer and readers can have a quick overview of a character’s attributes; including, but not limited to physical appearance, idiosyncratic tendencies in different circumstances, state of mind as shaped by former experiences and how these will affect their future actions.
Okay, we admit that was a lengthy sentence aimed at explaining the simple idea of “describing your character.” There you have it. You want to describe your characters in ways that are necessary to the successful delivery of your story. You want to create an impression of your character so that your audience can know the characters as enough as is necessary for the story.
Your character description should answer all the questions that your audience wants answers to: What are the physical attributes of the character? What is their background story? What is their psychological state – their dominant emotions, goals and fears? How do they talk? What is their general view of life? How will these pieces of information contribute to the story?
The questions are not exhaustible, just as the answers. You should know your characters well enough. And while there is no one-way approach to writing a good character sketch, you should consider following the procedures explained in subsequent paragraphs. The idea is to answer a number of questions on your characters. Let’s get started, shall we?
What are the Physical Attribute of Your Character
Although it is possible that physical appearance is not the first thing that pops into your head when thinking about your character, you’d better know who they are physically. What are the first things you notice about a person you are meeting for the first time? You probably will remember someone you met at the supermarket by their face (if they are not wearing a mask, anyways), height, their beard, complexion and their attire.
If you want to relay your supermarket experience to family member, how do you start?
Hey Tom, I met a young lady at the mall today. You should see how attractive she looks in her gown. She’s somewhat petite, and blonde-haired like Aunty Sarah. And I think she’s also a fresh student of the university because she held a brown file. You know, one of those things needed for registration.
In those few sentences, you have told Tom, (your brother, maybe) about the lady’s age, her stature, color, occupation and you have connected her look to Aunty Sarah’s. The point is you can remember the lady’s physical attribute, although you don’t even know her name (perhaps you could talk to her because she frowned in all those seconds you spent taking in other details), you can remember her physical attributes. Now, next time you see her in the university library, you can easily chat her up;
‘hey lady, I must have met you last week at the mall. You put on this flowery gown, and held a brown file…’
Now you see that physical attributes create the larger part of the first impression of your character. And while you might be tempted to drop this part of your character for the purpose of exploring their in-depth psychological state, remember that these physical details propel your story in ways that contribute immensely to the plot. In fact, in some cases, the physical attributes of a character might help you bring their psychological state to the fore.
Take, for example, a woman in front of a cemetery; she’s likely dressed in black, and she probably looks sad if she had gone to drop a bouquet at a relative’s grave. Another example is a young, muscular man in joggers; he is sweating and drinking from a bottle of water. If you come across him in the morning that way, he is likely someone who pays attention to physical fitness and so exercises daily.