Character Profiles are something that many authors use to get to know their characters better personally. They help the writer connect to the characters as well as helping the writer make the characters seem more human. (They also can take a very long time to put together!) Though this is usually something of a private journey, for the sake of my stories and my continued progress I will share them with you on this website. And just to help myself (and you) a little more, I'll be writing them in order of importance. Which means the number one most important character gets his life sprawled out for you today here!
Basics.
Name: Jackson Avery David.
Age: 20
Birthday: May 8th
Height: 5'11"
Home: Greenville, South Carolina
Current address: college campus
Family: one younger sister, Karen, and a mother, Carol. Father, deceased.
Health: Completely healthy
Ethnic background: Caucasian, of English decent.
Lifestyle. (from the perspective of the character)
Nickname: Jack. My sister loves this show on tv and it drives me nuts because the main character's older brother is named Jackson and he's a total idiot. So I go by Jack.
Occupation: Well, right now I work right now on the stage crew, but I'm studying to be an artist and would like to some day work with some kind of animation. My mom wants me to be a teacher or something, but that's one thing I could never do. She's good at it, but I'd never have the patience.
Religion: I was raised in a Baptist church but sometimes Baptist churches take things too far. I follow what the Bible says, nothing else.
Political affiliations: I vote Republican, but never pay much attention to all that political stuff.
Education: I'm in college now. I spent all of elementary and high school in the same school, Grace Christian Academy, where my mom works.
Hometown: Greenville, South Carolina
Children: None yet, but someday after I'm married. I like kids.
Pets: Three dogs, but they are all staying with my mom while I go to school and live on campus.
Hobbies: I like to read...comic books... and I like to draw and I really enjoy playing board games and stuff. I collect stuff from....comic books. (Don't judge!)
Likes.
Board games.
Pool.
Leather jackets.
Making people laugh.
Watching people have fun.
Doing something to make someone smile, even when they don't know it was me.
Christmas.
Birthday cake.
Snickers.
BBQ anything!
Friendly banter.
Someone to talk to.
Having lots of friends.
A cappella music.
New Country music.
Holding someone's hand and feeling them squeeze my hand back.
Long car rides.
Hugs.
Catching up with old friends.
Falling asleep in class and not getting caught.
Dislikes.
Stuck up people.
Liars.
Clingy friends.
Seeing someone hurt or upset.
Ranch dressing.
Rock music.
Driving at night.
Bullies.
Being made fun of or seeing someone else getting made fun of.
Not getting a good grade on something I put a lot of work into.
Fruit pies.
Cheese.
Long lectures.
History class.
Writing English papers.
Seeing a girl cry.
Being so far away from my family.
Short Bio.
I was born the first child of Carol and Jackson David. I was brought home to the same house where we live now. I don't remember much about my childhood. But I do remember when I was three my parents brought home my younger sister, Karen. As soon as I could start school my parents put me in Grace Christian Academy where my mother taught first grade. The "school" was little more than twenty kids studying in the empty classrooms of Grace Baptist Church Monday through Friday and cleaning the church for service on Saturday afternoons. But my parents enjoyed being part of running it and I didn't mind being the only student in the fifth grade. I made my way up through the grades until I was about fifteen. That's when my dad got sick. Blinding headaches would keep him in bead for days at a time and they only got progressively worse and made him progressively weaker. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Finally one doctor took special interest in our case. After several extensive tests, he diagnosed a rare form of aggressive brain cancer. He was only with us another year. I was seventeen when he passed away. You can't imagine how hard that was for all of us, but especially my mom and sister. They were devastated. My sister and I stopped going to school for a while to mourn him, and mom got a substitute. We drove up to Michigan and spent two weeks with my mom's parents.
When we got back, mom went back to work and Karen went back to school, but there was no way I could move on. No, they hadn't moved on either, but they were dealing with it and getting on with their own lives. I couldn't do that. I dropped out of school and stayed around the house, taking care of the chores, getting a job to help with the hospital bills left. This went on for about a year. Mom let me deal with dad's death in that way for as long as she could, but finally she took me aside and told me I had to at least finish school. So I went back, finished out my senior year, graduating at nineteen. All my classmates were really supportive, but it was still hard. By graduation though, things had gotten easier. Mom was even able to convince me to go to the local Christian university. So that's where I am now. I don't like living there because it's harder to help my mom, but she insisted it's what was best. It was cheaper too so I couldn't argue. I guess we'll just see how this year turns out. I might stay, I might drop out. Who knows.
