Character Design Assignment

Story Assignment

ACT I: The sun is high. Wahida walks aimlessly in the desert, vaguely remembering her ultimate goal. All she knows is she must move forward. She pulls her poncho slightly over her head in a feeble attempt to protect herself from the harsh, desert sun. She continues onward, walking toward a rock formation. Nearby, a bunch of cacti are grouped together at the bottom of the rock formation. Wahida glances upon the cacti. She does a double-take. At the top of the cacti, a single, bright red, prickly pear gets Wahida’s attention.

ACT II: Wahida approaches the cacti. She bites her lip. Her eyes are fixed at the prickly pear. Atop the rock formation, she attempts to reach for the prickly pear. Being nearly a foot away, she carefully shifts herself forward and reaches again. Wahida loses her balance and falls into the cacti. Later, she sits upon a nearby rock and carefully uses her fingers to take out the spines. She glares at the pear. Out of frustration, Wahida grabs a nearby rock and throws it at the pear. She throws a couple more rocks. One manages to knock the pear down into the middle of the group of cacti. Smiling, she runs over to the cacti and attempts to look where the pear had landed. She spots the pear on the ground. Wahida carefully adjusts herself in a way where she can attempt to reach the pear without getting too close to the cacti’s spines. She gets close, but a fennec fox picks up the pear and scrambles away.

ACT III: The fox runs out of the cacti and Wahida chases it. Suddenly, a horned owl swoops in and picks up the fox. Startled, Wahida quickly grabs a rock and throws it at the owl, hitting it. The owl releases the fox and it drops to the ground. Wahida rushes over and steals the pear from the fox’s jaw. She opens her mouth, but she glances at the fox, struggling to get up. She closes her mouth and looks sadly at the pear. She places it before the fox. The fox looks at Wahida and then back at the pear. Wahida turns and walks away. Later, Wahida sits at a nearby rock with her hands around her stomach. She stares into the desert with a blank face. She suddenly feels a paw touch her leg. She glances over, and sees a group of a half-dozen foxes with pears in their mouths. She looks at them with a raised eyebrow as the foxes put the pears in a pile. Wahida hesitantly reaches for a pear. The foxes scamper away, with one lagging behind, looking at Wahida briefly. Wahida makes a half-smile and picks up a pear and eats it, eyes closed. 

Character Development Assignment

Wahida’s Backstory:
Old prompt:

Wahida is the second child of the King of the capital city of Iona. During her childhood, she only had a close bond with her older sister, Hadima—King Zahi VII’s first born. When she was four years old, Hadima read a book to Wahida about the goddess of water, Akia, and a city she had created called, “Suihira,” an oasis on this desert planet. Wahida was immediately enchanted by the goddess and her city. Hadima told Wahida that Akia will show her the way to Suihira if Wahida proves to Akia that she is faithful to her. Growing up, Wahida prayed to Akia, often with Hadima, in hopes that one day, Akia will lead her to Suihira. Problems arose when Wahida eventually found out that most people—including her parents, the King and Queen—believe that Akia had abandoned humanity centuries ago. Worst of all, the people of the desert planet believe that Suihira is nothing more than a fairytale for children. Wahida ignores these beliefs and continues to pray to Akia. Later on, her older sister, with the encouragement of her new husband, tells Wahida sternly that she is wasting her time praying to Akia, and that the goddess had, in fact, abandoned the desert. Distraught over her sister’s words, Wahida secludes herself within the city’s temple as frequently as she can help it. On the week of her own wedding, Wahida overhears her fiancé, the prince of the nearby Kingdom of Alde, tells her father that he feels Wahida is unfit to be Queen. In tears, Wahida rushes to the temple and begs Akia to show her to Suihira. Suddenly, Akia appears before her and tells her that she has proven herself worthy to be lead to Suihira. Wahida quickly packs her bags and stows away in a howdah on a camel among a caravan leaving the city. When the caravan stops for the day, she gets caught and accused of stealing. Unaware that Wahida is the princess, the person who caught her chases with a gun. Wahida, out of panic, runs away from the caravan. She manages to evade the gunman, and realizes she’s stranded in the middle of the desert wilderness without food or water. For what seems like forever, Wahida wanders aimlessly to the direction she feels is the way to Suihira… until she finds herself with an empty stomach, with a lone prickly pear atop a bunch of cacti.

New prompt:
Wahida grew up attached-to-the-hip, so to speak, of her older sister. Since her parents were the King and Queen of the capitol city of the desert, she was essentially raised by her older sister, Hadima. At a young age, they invested time into worshipping the goddess of water, Akia, in hopes the goddess will hear them and show them the way to an oasis called, "Suihira." Passionate about finding the oasis, Wahida didn't do anything but pray to the goddess, causing her to be shut-in from society, save for her older sister. Later on, when Hadima began her studies, she learned that the oasis is a complete myth, and that Akia had abandoned . Not wanting to break Wahida's heart, Hadima continued to pray and worship the water goddess together for a number of years. Hadima couldn't keep Wahida from the truth forever, and eventually broke it to her that the oasis is a myth and that the goddess abandoned humanity centuries ago. At this point, Wahida was so obsessed with praying to the goddess that she accused her sister as being a nonbeliever, and completely shut herself from society. One day, the goddess approached Wahida and told her the way to the oasis. Unprepared for the desert wilderness, Wahida boldly runs away from home--quickly learning the has no idea how to survive in the wild.

Wahida’s Attributes:

Naive -
Stubborn -
Obsessive -
Close-Minded -
Determined +
Sensitive -
Foolish -
Polite +
Timid -
Generous +
Religious o
Fearful -
Introverted -
Goal-Oriented +
Soft-Spoken -
Quiet +
Inept -
Direct +
Honest +
Socially Awkward -
Modest +
Passionate +
Aloof -
Moody -
Resentful -

14 - / 9 +

Tollbooth Exercise:

Wahida drives toward the tollbooth, eyes fixed to the traffic gate. She pulls up to the booth, and opens her glove box to grab change. Wahida freezes in place, realizing she had left her money at home. She slowly puts her hands back on the wheel and stares at the road beyond the traffic gate. Wahida bites her lip. The car behind her starts to honk. She looks in her rear-view mirror, looking at the driver behind her with his hand in the air in a confused gesture. Wahida looks forward again and rubs her neck. She hesitantly opens her car door and attempts to yell to the driver, “Excuse me! Do you have any change?” “What?” She sighs, unbuckles herself, and gets out of the car, approaching the other driver. She plays with her fingers as she walks up to the driver. The driver glares at Wahida as he rolls the window down. Wahida starts to repeat herself, “Excuse me sir—“ “What the hell are you doing? Don’t you see we’ve got places to go?” Wahida bows her head down, hearing other drivers start honking. “I’m so sorry, but I have neglected to bring any change. Do you think you can perhaps loan me some?” The driver sighs and reaches in his glove box. He hands her the change with an annoyed expression. Wahida’s face lights up, “Oh, thank you so much, sir!” “Yeah, yeah. Now get going.” Wahida nods and scrambles back to her car, drops the change into the booth, and crawls back into her car. As the gate raises, Wahida hastily drives away, nearly hitting the bar.