A Vocabulary Refresher
for Self-Publishing Authors
You’ve been researching how to publish a book, and you’ve made up your mind to be a self-published author. Now, your next step would be talking to one of our publishing consultants here at AuthorHouse. We’ve compiled a list of terms you might want to learn or brush up on so that your conversation flows smoothly.
Step 1: Chart their personal history
No man is an island, so start off with the societal aspects of your character.
Basic details
Family background
- What's their family's economic status?
- Who are their friends?
- Who are their enemies?
- How are they involved in their community?
- How much do they travel?
- What’s their criminal record?
Step 2: Develop their external characteristics
Your protagonist’s hair style may not be crucial to the plot, but it could affect their interactions with other people.
Appearance
Other physical characteristics
Step 3: Shape their personality
Time to get into your character’s head.
- What type of childhood did they have?
- What were their hobbies growing up?
- Who were their role models growing up?
- What's their earliest memory?
- What's their happiest memory?
- What's their saddest memory?
- Are they introverted or extroverted?
- What's their biggest strength?
- What's their biggest flaw?
- What’s their idea of happiness?
- What's their biggest fear?
- What’s their biggest accomplishment?
- What's their greatest regret?
- What secrets do they keep?
Step 4: Decide on their capacity for change
A dynamic character undergoes substantial change throughout the story, while a static character stays exactly the same. But contrary to what you’re usually taught about protagonists, the latter can be just as worthy of the limelight as the former. So ask yourself:
- How much will a character change?
- Do they change the world and/or people around them?
- Do they change for the better or worse?
- What inspires their change?
Whenever you think of follow-up questions and additional details, don’t hesitate to include those in your character profile. Feel free to go down rabbit-holes and discover more about a character.
After going through all these steps, you can proceed with other elements of your story like setting, plot, and more. You can also backtrack and tweak your protagonist’s goals, motivations, and conflicts according to the details that you now know about them. Take as much time as you need to make all the pieces of your story fit together.