I am currently designing a character for a novel I intend to write, probably after the current one is finished. I need some help fleshing her out. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /> Caroline (temporary name, may change) is around 23 years old. Her father was a survivalist and she picked up many skills from him. She trained as a teacher of young children with ambitions for going into a private school as a teacher. She’s very clever, in short. Now, what kind of skills could she reasonably have? Any help would be appreciated. Chris
if family is from a rural farm area the following butchering canning firearms poultry small mammals swine dairy farm equipment operations cooking fishing hunting gardening as a matter of fact she went to college to get away from the farm... you see daddy really wanted a boy.....
Being almost that person 20 years ago I think a pretty reasonable skill set would be one I had. -Sewing (though I found it tedious) -Canning (but usually as the assistant so may be worried and tentative and unsure when put into a position where there is no one to ask questions of first.) -Gardening (again, may be a little unsure of details if she's always had someone to be the leader and face it, who gets a word in edgewise with an Alpha grandma around. Dad's sort of may count. ) -Chickens (she would likely be very confident in this one since chickens are the first thing to get turned over completely) -Chicken butchery...though she may not like it at all and look for reasons NOT to do it and keep them around. -Meat prep but not necessarily real butchery. As in, cutting up the meat well into the right cuts but only after the hunks or quarters are cleaned up. -Dehydrating and managing a smokehouse -Swine maybe, but in most of the families around where I grew up, boys and men did swine and girls did chickens and other fowl. Probably the basics. -Horses...hello, she's a girl. If she had access to any animals she definitely wangled a pony or horse and became a "horse girl" LOL -Cooking, creative cleaning and a few other household items but not necessarily everything. Trying to imagine your character I think of myself at her age (only I was schooling to be a scientist) and my oldest now. She's always lived with a prepper, namely me, and yet her skillset is based on what we do here and I'm a military scientist that moves every three years. Not every survivalist makes their kids live in buckskin tents and turns them loose with a knife and loincloth to see if they survive. Most live fairly normal lives with a little bit of expanded skillsets and a bit more creativity and tolerance for what "fun" is. If she has been going to college she has very likely taken that opportunity to follow interests of her own. Most do. Particularly if their exposures have been limited up to that point. Can you tell me a little bit about how she was raised? Country, suburban, rural. Was Dad a crazy survivalist, mindful prepper, adventuring skill builder type? Was her childhood an attempt to like everything he liked (selfish dad) or Dad trying to incorporate himself into her growth and interests as well as incorporate her into his (super dad). Just keep in mind that at 23 years old, if she lived with a good parent and hasn't faced sustained trauma that hardened her, she will be in her "tender years". Girls at that age often, very often, earnestly believe they can make everything better and that niceness cures all ills. Can't wait to see your next one!
But her other sister was an Obama supporter, and rejected her sisters survivalist ways, only to be torn to shreds by roving hordes of looters that took her child and sold her into sexual slavery after they killed and ate her mom. That would be a good contrast to the story.
Might be fun for a survivalist story. But I was thinking of a story where our heroine is sucked into another world, a primitive one. Think 'To Bring The Light.' Chris
while not truly " a skill set" she would probably have a good sense of humour, a sense of what sarcasm is and ascerbic wit. If she was raised by a survivalist, she would have learned some mistrust in the "system" depending on who she is, she may have a real sense of discovery when learning new things. This would depend a lot on the instructor. she might have the ability to look at a problem from an external viewpoint and break it down logically and without emotion realistically she would have an ability to articulate what she believes. I have yet to meet a prepper who can not articulate why they do what they do and be very persuasive at their explainations while at 23, she may not have the weight of personal experience behind her argument, she will have had the theory taught to her. hope this helps it seems a bit rambling to me, but those are the things I hope I give my kids through the skill sets I try to teach them.
The concept of wonder woman bores me. I don't think you can realistically flesh a character out based on her old man being a survivalist. I might suggest going the opposite direction with her having rebelled at the notions her dad espoused, even though she loved him dearly and maybe she picked up a valuable skill set, maybe an RN? with her liberal agenda, the **** hits the fan and she , with her innate intelligence, recalls what her father tried to teach her that she scoffed at her entire life and learns by a harsher teacher, the real means to survive has nothing to do with stuff but more to do with attitude.
