Character Development Exercises

# Your protagonist and antagonist are each required to write a letter of introduction for your reader, describing themselves, their goals and motivations, and you. (This exercise gives you valuable insight into the way your characters think about and describe themselves)

Letter the First (Protagonist):

Greetings, Elizabeth:

        The dreams, though they have decreased in frequency, seem to have increased, with intent to my father. You should well think that I would be over them, and him, by now: but at times it's all Sunshine can do to comfort me in those diminutive hours of the morning.
        Perhaps as a counterpoint to this, we have had a visitor from Keyon. He was part of the skirmish that out Freylissian army fought two days ago, with the enemies' side; but you have to feel as sorry for him, as for our side.It's those accursed brigands, who feel as if they own the woodsland between our kingdoms.
        If there were only some way to negotiate a truce, for the purpose of routing out the brigands, perhaps it would open a path towards peace between out realms.



Good day, madam.

        The Freylissian hostage who ran on to our lands the other day has been most uncooperative. I think that His Majesty entertains the idea of using him to negotiate a minor truce to route this—distraction—and get back to the serious business of warfare. Freylissia is a strategic location from which to expand out base of operations and defense. We can use it for a satellite and an addition to take charge of the front on other kingdoms. They also have resources that we lack, and that are sorely needed if we are to continue to thrive and grow.
        I've gone to the Celestial Chamber a lot for meditation upon our difficulties. It contains portraits of all the older kings of the realm, plus their souls, which are ensorcelled into carnelian stones. There is a pair for each king, actually. the left of each pair contains the soul of the king who was magicked into it before being lost to death, and its opposite is the control which ensures that the soul of its respective king will return to its sto0ne, rather than overshadow the soul of the person possessed by the soul, when it is released from its bounds.
        If there was only a way to call the soul back after death, in much the same fashion: we could recall old allies that way, ones who might not like the directions in which their countries currently lead...