So today, I dont have anything specific to talk about. So rather than wasting time trying to find a plot to write about, I would try and create something. A character map! When I say I’d create a character, I mean that I would think of a man and try to create a world around him. Most movies, novels and other such things make these character maps to ensure that character and his behavior is consistent in different situations while he is in the plot. After from helping me reach the 1000 word a day goal, this would help me create characters and use them, as and when that elusive book happens.
I’d start with the most cliched character of them all, a computer hacker.
So we start with the basics. Facts.
Name: Joe Nobody
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Height: 5′ 11″
Body type: Athletic, fit
Education: Dropout from college but very good with computers
Family, Friends and Key People in Life
He is the only son of a single mother. His mother stays in a different city with her sister and both of them work in a hospital. The mother is perpetually worried about his health and marriage but Joe pays no heed. Joe meets the mother once every month or when he drives down to meet her. Joe also has a cousin from the aunt. She lives in the same city as Joe and they get along well. The cousin works with a bank and has no clue about Joe’s personal life. This last Sunday of the month is a routine that has been around for more than three years now. All four get together and goto a movie and have dinner. Its as definite as the sun rising in the east. In last three years, Joe has never missed this meeting with his mother and aunt.
Till about a year back, Joe was seeing a woman from work. The woman was two years older to Joe and worked with the marketing team. Now, she has moved onto a different man and a different job. They are no longer in touch. He sorely misses having that female company and is on the active lookout for someone.
His best friends are friends from work. He gets along really well with A, B and C. A and B are managers with electronics and gaming sections respectively. C works in B’s team. All 4 are very close friends and hang out together after work and all. Their common interests include hiking, biking, gaming and pub hopping. Apart from that all four are huge fans of the local cricket team, especially when the cricket season is on.
While in school he was very quiet and kept mostly to himself. He had only a couple of friends back then and he has lost touch with them. He has fond memories of the school but he often quips that if he was to get back to school with his friends, it would be so boring.
Overall he is content with having a few people in life. He has largely been independent and likes to be alone. And yet he misses that female company
Occupation
Joe has been working at BestBuy for more than 5 years now. He started as a sales rep and has grown through the ranks to become the highest level an employee can reach on the shop floor. The next promotion, due in another 6 months will see him become the lowest “suit”. Right now, he is the supervisor of the computer hardware section. Has about 15 retail employees reporting into him. His key responsibilities are to train and supervise the on floor employees. His job requires him to stay up to date with latest happenings in the computer hardware. He knows more than he speaks and most people around him know this and thus treat him with respect. He is known as a true geek that knows everything about hardware. However when it comes to software, he seems to know nothing and relies on his team for help. At times he even calls his team from home and asks them how to fix Internet.
On the other hand, the 8 hours that he is not working at the BestBuy, he is a very active member of the underground hacking community. And he is considered as an authority here as well. He does all these things from a van parked in his garage. If someone comes and looks at his home, there is only one desktop in the living room where he checks his email. In his van, however, there are two row fulls of computers and electrical equipment. There are times when he goes to the BYOC hacker conventions. He prefers to keep things in the van as he loves to work in solitude and space in the van is really limited and thus there cant be anyone else around when hes working.
Personality
Like most geeks he likes to hang out with his kinds. He thus gets along very well with his team. He is good natured and always has a smile on his face. He is always willing to help and actually goes an extra mile to ensure that he is liked by everyone. At times people do take him for granted. And he knows that people take him for granted but he still lets go.
He lives by the maxim of “live and let live”. Though he does things that arent really on the right side of the law, he has had no brush with the criminals as yet.
He does not believe in showing off. In fact he wants to keep as low a profile as possible. At times he gets himself called stupid because of how he acts to conceal his secret identity.
What made him what he is?
While growing up, he has heard stories of people living in fancy mansions and access to clubs and lounges that reek of money. He wants all those things. And he wants them bad. He is very happy go lucky and very content with his life, except for a woman. He like living and he ensures that he has a lot of fun. He has no major hangups in life. He has no dark secrets. The darkest is the fact that he got his first girlfriend when he was 31 and despite that he could not keep the relationship going.
What keeps him awake at night?
At the job front, he is worried about his promotion. He realy likes it on the floor and does not want to move away from there. And on the side project, he wants to win the upcoming hackerCon. He knows that he can easily win it but he still needs to practice and beat competition. And since he has been doing it for some time now, he doesnt really get kicks out getting secrets or winning a competition but its like the trophy that everyone wants!
What is his role in the story? Why is he important?
Depends on the story. If my life was fiction, I would use Joe to help me hack into the banks and get all the money from all the places.
That’s about it. And here is a humble request to more established writers and authors, what did I miss in this character map? What are best practises in the same? How can I improve this? Thanks a ton!