Real Giraffes Cook

…and other things I learned about Paige and Webb today.

I wasn’t really looking forward to the work I needed to do today. Today I needed to work on one of the things the Tassey Walden Award judges from last year told me I needed to improve. Specifically: “devise some unique aspects/personalities that distinguish these characters from one another.”

Which means I needed to fill out a character sheet. I don’t know why I don’t like doing this task. I mean I get to make stuff up. But for whatever reason, I want to have the characters already flushed out so I can just write their stories and draw character sketches of them. Maybe it is some deep dark reason that I’ll need a therapist to help me unravel. More likely it just feels like work. Since work was what I had to do today, I pulled out a worksheet from the Children’s Book Pro class I bought last year called “Creating a Memorable Character” and got to work. (There are lots of similar character sheets that you could fill out on your own character. You will probably find one for free if you look or if you go to a character development class, you’ll probably be handed one.)

I started with what I already know about Paige and Webb: They had a ski adventure. Webb loves to ski and has gone skiing multiple times. She wanted to show Paige how much fun skiing is. It took her awhile to convince Paige, but they finally went. Paige is new to skiing and steep hills are fear inducing. This is NOT modeled on me despite, that when I did research for Ski Adventure I chose not to take the ski lift up at Sundance because I knew I would need to traverse the last steep mountain in order to ski back to my car. I chose instead to stay on the bunny hill. No. Paige is not modeling after me and my fears. Not at all. Even though I experience absolute terror at the top of a steep hill or the top of a roller coaster. Nope, not me…

After I had plugged in the characteristics I already had for Paige and Webb, I started answering the prompts on the worksheet and I’m liking what I’ve discovered about Paige and Webb.

Paige loves to cook. He collects funny baking aprons like “Real Giraffes Cook” and “Baking is my video game”. Paige is afraid of skiing, heights, spiders, mice, and dust bunnies. He enjoys baking pies, bread, and pastries. He also likes to dust and clean. A clean kitchen is very motivating for him. All is right in his world when everything is clean. His favorite music is acoustic guitar and he plays around on the guitar but not enough for him to know more than a few simple tunes. He likes to go to the beach with Webb and he does yoga. He has a tough time with change and likes things to stay the same. He is afraid of anything that is unfamiliar. He stays local when he goes on vacation but enjoys getting postcards from Webb’s vacations. Webb recently talked him into going skiing and he made some new friends. That was really awkward since he crashed into them first. Fortunately, everyone was ok and they forgave him. Someday he wants to write his own cook book, and be on the Great British Bake off. His most treasured possession is his marble rolling pin. His hidden talent is singing in the shower. And besides his love of pies, pastries, and bread, his favorite meal is peaches and meatballs over rice. His deepest secret is he did have fun skiing with Webb even though he is still terrified to go skiing again.

Wendy Evelyn Beatrice Bluff, or Webb, loves a good adventure. She loves to travel and has traveled to Paris, the African Savana, and Australia. She always sends her best friend Paige a postcard from wherever she is. She wants to climb Mt Everest, visit the Great Wall of China, and circumvent the globe in a sail boat. She loves to ski, go on long bike trips and go to the beach with Paige. Her favorite food is pizza because you can put anything on it. She loves to try new toppings on her pizza. Her most treasured possession is her passport. She is most afraid of having nothing to do, trip cancellations and losing her passport. Her hidden talent is wiggling her ears. She does a good job of rolling with the punches of life. Her favorite music is country music. She recently went country line dancing and loves it. Trying something new is always a good motivator. She loves to read mystery novels and her deepest secret is that sometimes she likes to just sit by the fire with a good book all… by… herself!

Doing this work today has given me a treasure trove of new images to draw as I continue to develop characteristics and personalities of Paige and Webb. If you like Paige and Webb, they have their own Instagram account! You can follow them @paigeandwebb