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Challenge DescriptionsCharacter - Formal - Genre - Object - Tonal The Character ChallengeThe goal of the character challenge is to focus on creating strong, distinct protagonists. All of our characters are extensions of ourselves, but we often subconsciously imbue our characters with too many of our own qualities, neglecting to consider the differences in upbringing and social situation that shape them into rich, unique individuals. While a character's opinion on baroque architecture or the role of religion in politics may or may not be relevant to the story we're telling, it is important to consider how factors such as their upbringing, ethnicity, gender, age, profession, etc. influence their values, opinions, and interactions with others. Example: Why did she become a plumber? Maybe her father was a plumber; plumbers are traditionally male. Perhaps she was an only child, so her father had no son to carry on the business. Maybe she just really enjoyed helping her father at work, despite her mother's efforts to interest her in more womanly activities. Or maybe she grew up in a family where the traditional gender roles were blurred or nonexistent. How does she feel about those gender roles? How does she feel about being a woman in a traditionally male profession? How do her co-workers, male and female, react to her as a person and as a woman? How does she feel about her clients? Plumbers are not generally terribly wealthy, yet they work in the homes of people of all socioeconomic levels. How aware is she of these differences? Do they make her uncomfortable, amuse her, etc? Maybe she's unclogging the pipes in the home of an upper-class family where the wife doesn't work. What does the plumber think of the wife? What does the wife think of the plumber? Maybe one is scornful of the other. Maybe each assumes the other is judging her for her decisions. Maybe they can't stand each other; maybe they become lifelong friends; maybe they're barely aware of each other's existence. Is the plumber married? etc. The Formal ChallengeAs the name implies, the formal challenge is a more formally structured challenge that combines both the character and object challenges. For more detail, see the descriptions of those two challenges. Example: The man with a girl's name presents an interesting situation in combination with the army base, traditionally a very macho location. Is the man in the army, or is he a civilian? Is he the groom or part of the wedding party? Maybe he's the luckless 2nd Lieutenant who got stuck with the job of looking after the bride. He already gets a lot of flak for having a girl's name; now he's getting teased even more. But why is the wedding on the army base? Probably it's a diplomatic wedding of some kind; they need the security or something. Then the |