Character Descriptions

Time to makeover your boring characters!! Just to exercise our writing skills, my writing group has been giving a hum-drum character named Gabe some new life. We started from a boring character and ended up with a secretive professor, a charming golfer, and a drug dealer with a past to hide.

How long has it been since you've given your characters a makeover? C'mon, dust off those characters and polish them into someone your readers won't forget! No more stereotypes and characters whose only purpose is to fill up space on your page!

To challenge yourself as well, here is the description of the character my writing group has been re-doing. Then, below is my spin on reviving the character. Once you've read the beginning description, comment on this post and give your own makeover of this character!

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Gabe is of average height and weight. He has brown hair, brown eyes, and likes the color brown. He wears brown shoes (no surprise there) and a brown shirt. Oh yes, and he has brown freckles.

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My personal rendition of the new Gabe:

A fashion consultant and a man named Gabe stepped up as the camera lights started to roll for the Makeover show.

"So Gabe, why do you always dress in brown?" asked the consultant, her face agast and her hands placed judgementally on her slender hips.

"I feel that colors reflect personalities, life interests. For me, this color represents all that I enjoy in life."

"Ah, but has anyone ever told you how drab you look in brown? From a fashion standpoint, a monochrome style of dressing isn't very creative. Why not try some other color? "

"It wouldn't be me," Gabe said simply.

"So what exactly does the color brown mean to you?"

"I told you, it represents what I enjoy most in this life."

"Oh, I see... you enjoy brown because you love nature and gardening perhaps?"

"No."

"You wish to make a statement that we should take better care of Earth and it's resources?"

"No."

"You love chocolate? Perhaps you want to look like a human chocolate bar?"

"Hardly. I despise those disgusting little pieces of sugar."

"Then perhaps you like brown because it it is the name of your favorite football team, the Cleveland Browns?"

"Absolutely not. Quite making assumptions."

"Then why?" the fashion consultant said, her face hinting at a frustrated scowl, which then quickly turned into a smile as soon as the camera was poised in her direction. "How could this color possibly represent what you enjoy in life?"

"I'm a gravedigger."