December Allbingo: Defining Character
Dec. 1st, 2015 02:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dialecticdreamer posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
allbingoDecember Allbingo: Defining Character
Describing, or defining, character can be as troublesome as Justice Stewart's opinion on pornography (“I know it when I see it.”) This month, let's find some unusual words for abstract character traits to help spur our creativity.
If I say 'cowardly,' many people immediately picture the Cowardly Lion, whose one-dimensional problem was “solved” when he faced his fears in “The Wizard of Oz.” His original 'cowardly' trait was replaced with 'brave,' to make the point more obvious but less practical or realistic. That's a good starting point of character development, and often sufficient for our myriad spear-carriers and crowds. But we can also play with the very idea of a trait being either negative or positive, useful or useless, and more. Ideas are often more malleable than Silly Putty, after all! Writing a 'dedicated' character is very different if thon is a doctor focused on a safe and effective medical treatment to cure cancer to writing a doctor focused… on creating and documenting the eugenic 'cure' for cancer. The same 'dedication,' focused differently, could show your readers a horror novel, or the first glimmer of a bold new future.
Writing someone as 'shy' is a great start, especially if 'shy' is as far from your wheelhouse as 'sunny' or 'optimistic' is for me. But let's use a smaller bingo card this month, and focus on details rather than massive swirls of words, because sometimes the difference between 'charming' and 'conceited' is in the shift of a comma or a hinted facial expression. Show it, with more than just the 'key' word. (I know I am working on this in my own work!)
Because this is detail-work, rather than plot-driven, I'm hoping the players will also pick and choose between other 'stuck' stories, or very early character drafting, or simply playing around with a new frame of reference. Fills can be second-draft revisions of older prompts, or drabbles, or poetry. I'm just hoping to toss a little confetti in the air to see what sparkles! The point is, as always, to enjoy what we're writing!
I chose 120 descriptive terms, plenty for any size bingo card, but that's just the beginning. Even the weight of positive/negative associations with the listed words can create impressions of a particular card, so please feel free to choose your own card for the month. The end of the calendar year is stressful and grown-up enough; I'm hoping this bingo card is an invitation to PLAY.
I am creating another banner for the monthly award, and as always, please specify a favorite color when announcing a bingo fill. I'll post the image and code in a reply along with cheerfully cheerleading your accomplishments. (I couldn't resist!)
Let's end the year on a win!
The bingo generator link: http://an.owomoyela.net/fun/bingo_generator#generated_card
The full list of words, with plenty of space to avoid grabbing 'extras.'
absent-minded, adventurous, affectionate, aggressive, ambitious, angry, careful, careless, cautious, charismatic, changeable, charming, clever, clumsy, coarse, cold, compassionate, competent, complacent, conceited, confident, conscientious, considerate, cooperative, courageous, dedicated, depressed, disorganized, disillusioned, easygoing, efficient, eloquent, fastidious, fussy, generous, gentle, gullible, gloomy, greedy, happy, harsh, hesitant, honest, insolent, inventive, kind, languid, insipid, intolerant, jolly, domineering, disrespectful, haughty, harried, precise, formal, boisterous, patriotic, lackadaisical, neurotic, driven, daydreaming, lonely, tentative, outspoken, pessimistic, subtle, paranoid, trusting, timid, yearning, mellow, comforting, bubbly, disillusioned, droll, cold, indifferent, venal, secretive, snappish, boastful, boorish, tired, dependable, sincere, diligent, discrete, solitary, brave, forgiving, fun-loving, frustrated, moody, nagging, ungrateful, violent, weak, indecisive, indiscriminate, tactless, decisive, apologetic, wild, average, awkward, insincere, thrifty, deferential, dangerous, cultured, facetious, humble, impotent, crafty, average, resourceful, malicious, immature, stingy
The code for the sample card:
Describing, or defining, character can be as troublesome as Justice Stewart's opinion on pornography (“I know it when I see it.”) This month, let's find some unusual words for abstract character traits to help spur our creativity.
If I say 'cowardly,' many people immediately picture the Cowardly Lion, whose one-dimensional problem was “solved” when he faced his fears in “The Wizard of Oz.” His original 'cowardly' trait was replaced with 'brave,' to make the point more obvious but less practical or realistic. That's a good starting point of character development, and often sufficient for our myriad spear-carriers and crowds. But we can also play with the very idea of a trait being either negative or positive, useful or useless, and more. Ideas are often more malleable than Silly Putty, after all! Writing a 'dedicated' character is very different if thon is a doctor focused on a safe and effective medical treatment to cure cancer to writing a doctor focused… on creating and documenting the eugenic 'cure' for cancer. The same 'dedication,' focused differently, could show your readers a horror novel, or the first glimmer of a bold new future.
Writing someone as 'shy' is a great start, especially if 'shy' is as far from your wheelhouse as 'sunny' or 'optimistic' is for me. But let's use a smaller bingo card this month, and focus on details rather than massive swirls of words, because sometimes the difference between 'charming' and 'conceited' is in the shift of a comma or a hinted facial expression. Show it, with more than just the 'key' word. (I know I am working on this in my own work!)
Because this is detail-work, rather than plot-driven, I'm hoping the players will also pick and choose between other 'stuck' stories, or very early character drafting, or simply playing around with a new frame of reference. Fills can be second-draft revisions of older prompts, or drabbles, or poetry. I'm just hoping to toss a little confetti in the air to see what sparkles! The point is, as always, to enjoy what we're writing!
I chose 120 descriptive terms, plenty for any size bingo card, but that's just the beginning. Even the weight of positive/negative associations with the listed words can create impressions of a particular card, so please feel free to choose your own card for the month. The end of the calendar year is stressful and grown-up enough; I'm hoping this bingo card is an invitation to PLAY.
I am creating another banner for the monthly award, and as always, please specify a favorite color when announcing a bingo fill. I'll post the image and code in a reply along with cheerfully cheerleading your accomplishments. (I couldn't resist!)
Let's end the year on a win!
The bingo generator link: http://an.owomoyela.net/fun/bingo_generator#generated_card
The full list of words, with plenty of space to avoid grabbing 'extras.'
absent-minded, adventurous, affectionate, aggressive, ambitious, angry, careful, careless, cautious, charismatic, changeable, charming, clever, clumsy, coarse, cold, compassionate, competent, complacent, conceited, confident, conscientious, considerate, cooperative, courageous, dedicated, depressed, disorganized, disillusioned, easygoing, efficient, eloquent, fastidious, fussy, generous, gentle, gullible, gloomy, greedy, happy, harsh, hesitant, honest, insolent, inventive, kind, languid, insipid, intolerant, jolly, domineering, disrespectful, haughty, harried, precise, formal, boisterous, patriotic, lackadaisical, neurotic, driven, daydreaming, lonely, tentative, outspoken, pessimistic, subtle, paranoid, trusting, timid, yearning, mellow, comforting, bubbly, disillusioned, droll, cold, indifferent, venal, secretive, snappish, boastful, boorish, tired, dependable, sincere, diligent, discrete, solitary, brave, forgiving, fun-loving, frustrated, moody, nagging, ungrateful, violent, weak, indecisive, indiscriminate, tactless, decisive, apologetic, wild, average, awkward, insincere, thrifty, deferential, dangerous, cultured, facetious, humble, impotent, crafty, average, resourceful, malicious, immature, stingy
The code for the sample card:
| eloquent | boisterous | ambitious | immature |
| inventive | disillusioned | snappish | generous |
| clumsy | fastidious | awkward | subtle |
| complacent | disorganized | driven | secretive |
