Lesson 3

Character Sketch Template








Name: Pandora
Age: 18
Location:
Family History: Fortress Magnifico
Career aspirations: Becoming Queen
Race: Evlenhume
Features: Piercing Eyes, pointed ears, full body, Red hair
Appearance: Attractive female coming into fullness of bodily development
Likes: Exploring, Dreaming, Practicing Magic
Dislikes: Cruel People, Being Talked down to, told she can't do something
Physical condition: Helalthy
Ailments: Migranes, and bad dreams
Education: Home schooled
Socioeconomic background: Affluent
Parents: Merlin, Millicent
Siblings: None
Ambition: Become Queen
Hobbies: Needlepoint
Significant Others: Prince Comely
Intelligence: Bright
Emotional Stability: Short Temper, Intolerance of Fools
Flaws: Acts impulsively. Speaks without thinking
Other Traits: Dark and moody at times
Pivotal events in life: About to face LCE
Favorite foods: None
Favorite music: None
Favorite reading material: None
Religion: None
Personality: Outgoing
Habits:
Favorite thing to do:
Comfort level with opposite sex: Comfortable
Things he/she takes pride in: Needle point and magical skills
Things that bother him/her: Cruel people, Being talked down to , Told she can't do something
Things that make him/her laugh: Jesters using slight of hand and calling it magic
Speech patterns: Normal, sometimes speaks with aristocratic disdain

Prose description of Scene in Story World

Sir Festus was master of Poor Man's Keep and vassal of the "Great" King Midas. The Keep was an isolated, far flung bastion, atop a ridge that extended deep into the lands known as the Fertile Kingdom. The view from the battlements was spectacular. The landscape that fell away into the valley into an expansive vista of virgin forest. The surrounding were ancient trees that stretched back into antiquity.

King Midus feared the ruler there and hence had the Keep raised to give him warning should his rich neighbor demonstrate any hostile intentions. Finding someone to take charged of this dreary outpost had been no easy task and in the end the King knighted a Man at Arms, Festus who agreed to serve as Captain.

Poor Man's Keep was everything the name implied. It was an all male garrison. Surrounding it was an earthen foundation atop of which stood a palisade of felled trees. These were erected in a circular fashion, by public works "volunteers." In the center was a stone tower. Around the base were the stables, barracks, and common hall. The captain conducted his business inside the tower on the first floor. The second level was a store room and the third his private chambers.

Lesson 3 Writing Assignment:


Week Three – Writing Assignment *Beach* Using the Character Questionnaire you completed for your Noveling Exercise and the concepts covered in this lesson write a short scene (500 to 750 words) in which your character is introduced into your story for the first time. Describe some of your character’s physical traits. Reveal something important about him or her through actions and dialogue that will have a bearing on the story later on. Also use the setting to reveal something about your character and your world, the location of story, something about the society, and to describe or enhance the mood of the scene.

Chapter 1: Fortress Magnifico

Pandora bolted wide awake! Her forehead was clammy with sweat. It was another one of those terrifying dreams. Hounds were in hot pursuit and her legs were lethargic. She was trying to run and get away but her feet felt like lead. In slow motion she floated along with an agonizing lack of urgency as the pack got closer and closer, barking ferociously, nipping at her heals... Then they were upon her, and Pandora's heart clutched. She woke up. Damn stupid wolves..., and that stupid ass dream. The migraine headache which always followed her nightmares began building behind her forehead.

Knowing she could no longer sleep the young princess, climbed out of bed and put on her robe. She was tall with thick red hair and piercing blue eyes.Taking several tapers she lifted the latch to her oaken door and set her shoulder against it. It swung open with a screeching made louder by the quiet of the morning hours. The hall was illuminated by torch light casting dark shadows along the walls. Pandora lit a taper and proceeded down the main staircase to the first level. She moved like a wraith with the fluid grace of one completely familiar with her surroundings. Her eyes illuminated her way, giving off a soft bluish sheen. Upon reaching the ground floor she proceeded down the main hallway towards the southern entrance. At the end, just before the massive siege door, was a small portal leading to a steep stone staircase. This led down to the first subterranean level where the the stores were kept. A huge cistern brimming with water reflected the candlelight. Another portal led to a second stop stone stair case which led to a basement level where the dungeons were.

Pandora's mother, Millicent was a stickler for the clean and orderly. When she was home, the queen always reserved a day for inspecting the fortress. There was no room too great to escape her attention to detail and no cubby hole, however remote that escaped the probing scrutiny of her eyes. For most, this was one of many of the dark queen's enigmatic qualities, but to Pandora it was not enigmatic at all, but rather a rational and perfectly understandable way of operating. You see Pandora was her mother's daughter and the acorn hadn't fallen far from the tree. She shared with Millicent that same way of looking at things and that obsessive piercing look that glowed in her eyes.

It didn't matter that nobody was locked up in the dungeon, and hadn't been for years. They were maintained, along with everything else in a neat and tidy state of readiness. Her mother was a stickler for cleanliness and order and it resonated as completely natural in Pandora's soul.

She proceeded down a long corridor. Her long legs had a willowy grace and she moved briskly. The passageway opened into what had once been the torture chamber. It had a vaulting ceiling and high above was a marvelous glass skylight. The moons rays shone down onto the forge, Iron maiden and an ominous stretching rack with its dark iron wheel. Her head was starting to throb and she sat down and reclined onto the wooden frame. An oppressive fear still permeated the walls and lingered in the air, even after long years of disuse. The Princess often came her in the search of solitude. During the day it was the brightest room in the fortress and she often came here to do needle point. This room, a horrific reminder of a terrible past, had quite the opposite effect on Pandora. The ambient light from the moon and stars had a soothing medicinal effect and already her headache was beginning to pass. She used the wooden axle shaft that connected the gears as a pillow and yawned. No sooner did her eyes close than she drifted peacefully back to sleep.