MARION CRANE
Age: 28
General physical description: medium height, blonde, short hair, somewhat curvy, very pretty
Hometown: Phoenix - she and Lila live in the house they grew up in.
Type of home/neighborhood: lives with her sister in Phoenix (okay part of town, not great).
Relationship status: dating Sam Loomis. would like to marry him.
Current family: one sister, Lila, younger
Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.): father absent, mother passed away while Marion was in college. before then, she was kind and intelligent, but also generally tired and not mentally present. spent most of their childhood supporting the two sisters on her own. provided a strong role model in that she was so independent, but didn’t push her kids a ton. Lila was the stronger-willed of the two, and pushed herself and Marion on her own. neither finished college, though - both ended up in day jobs.
Friends: friendly with fellow secretary; also close with a number of other young, single working women (though they might be starting to get married - adds to her urgency about it). closest with her sister.
Other close relationships: just Sam and Lila
Relationship with men: they hit on her a lot. her romantic expectations are realistic and somewhat old-fashioned. strongly believes in the idea of respectability, but also meets her boyfriend for sex on her lunch hour, so. grapples with the difference a lot. Sam is more outgoing, and helps her to be more outgoing. they have fun together.
Relationship with women: generally fine; she tends to befriend women far more than men.
Job: secretary at a real estate agency.
Attitude to religion: grew up going to church every week; doesn’t continue, but still holds a lot of traditional values.
Hobbies: very good piano player; could teach if she wanted to. in general, very good with numbers, as well. her best subjects in school were math and music. could have gotten into a conservatory, but didn’t think to apply until it was too late. enjoys puzzles. also very big into reading.
Strongest positive personality trait: resourceful, realistic. generally very polite and charming. doesn’t say a lot, though - Sam is more outgoing than she is.
Strongest negative personality trait: unmotivated. doesn’t have enormous expectations for herself in terms of how far she can go. sort of knows that she has a lot of potential, but kind of in a rut at the moment.
How other people see her: seems pretty average. people tend to like her, but she’s quiet. does become more social when she gets close to people, i.e. Sam and Lila.
Opinion of herself: likes herself. tends to make a lot of halfhearted plans without following through - focusing on music, for example, or marrying Sam. stealing the $40,000 was unusual for her in that it was a drastic action she took without thinking or planning it out. not usually so impulsive, but getting really fed up with the Sam situation. it’s gone on roughly eight months at this point.
Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story: recap - resourceful, realistic, unmotivated, talented, intelligent, quiet.
Ambitions: maybe pursue piano, but not quite driven enough about it yet. doesn’t want to be a secretary forever. not sure what she’ll do if/when she gets married - would probably end up becoming a housewife, and then maybe a teacher.
Will readers like or dislike this character, and why? Marion is a good person. she’s relatable, even though she’s a little bit old-fashioned. people will like her (ideally).
NORMAN BATES
Age: 32
General physical description: tall, skinny, dark-haired, effeminate, adorable
Hometown: wherever the Bates Motel is
Type of home/neighborhood: hella isolated upbringing with Mrs. Bates. no father figure.
Relationship status: very single. obsessed with his mother.
Current family: his mother. she is dead.
Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.): grew up alone with his mother, who was SUPER controlling and unpleasant. no dad. no siblings.
Friends: his mother.
Other close relationships: his mother.
Job: runs the bates motel
Attitude to religion: maybe went to church when he was a kid. his mom is super religious, but less because she finds solace in it and more because it means she can judge people really hard for everything. he’s not super into it, but doesn’t really care one way or the other.
Hobbies: stuffing things
Strongest positive personality trait: very sweet and caring. actually incredibly endearing.
Strongest negative personality trait: thinks he is his mother. no but actually he’s very weak-willed, not good at lying or standing his ground...
Sense of humor: he has one, but it’s sort of awkward and nervous.
Temper: foul when he’s his mother
How other people see him: kind of weird, but generally pretty harmless. very similar to Harold from the Undertaker Musical. probably (definitely) not a coincidence.
Opinion of himself: somewhat low because his mother’s always tearing him down.
Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story: Norman is very child-like. he has dreams of leaving, but at the same time he can’t fathom leaving at all - can’t imagine leaving his mother, and can’t imagine what he would do without her. the very idea of having other ambitions or moving away launches him into turmoil, because his mind literally fights himself over the idea of leaving. he wants it, but at the same time refuses to even consider it. he’s not able to.
Most important thing to know about this character: basically what I said just above this. also, he thinks he’s his mother.
Will readers like or dislike this character, and why? Norman is incredibly endearing, even after he hides Marion’s body. he’s very sweet and very sympathetic, and the audience should root for him throughout the show.
SAM LOOMIS
Age: 33
General physical description: tall, built, dark-haired, very handsome. looks kind of like clark kent.
Hometown: a small town in the midwest
Type of home/neighborhood: pretty much the all-American boyhood scenario - baseball and a dog and Boy Scouts and camping trips. his dad had financial trouble, though, but that became a bigger deal when he was in his late teens.
Relationship status: dating Marion Crane.
Current family: his mother, living by herself in his hometown. in her mid- to late-50s.
Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.): ex-wife - a college girlfriend, married 10 years. not on good terms. lots of alimony.
Friends: friendly with most of the people in his town. probably some very guyish friends from college, very similar to him. same with the people in the town. he’s pretty likable.
Other close relationships: some close male friends, in a bars-and-sports games sort of way.
Job: owns a hardware store.
Attitude to religion: went to church as a kid. not that religious. doesn’t care too much.
Hobbies: pretty traditional. likes sports - especially baseball - and camping. good at building and fixing things. very knowledgeable about the things he’s passionate about, in a cute, dad-like sort of way. can tell you a LOT about these things.
Strongest positive personality trait: a really good guy. respectful, polite, caring. almost the caricature of, like, the all-American good guy.
Strongest negative personality trait: kind of bland? really not super interesting.
Sense of humor: it exists. relatively playful.
How other people see him/her: a solid, handsome guy. actually truly a good guy. people like him a lot.
Opinion of himself: he likes himself a lot too, although he’s a little bit frustrated by his lot in life at the moment.
Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story: very outgoing and playful. works to bring Marion out of her shell. really, really cares about her - seems kind of casual on the surface, but as we see as he’s searching for her, he really is very passionate about her.
Ambitions: marry Marion, perhaps expand the hardware store, start a family. finish paying off his debts. a better version of what he currently has.
Will readers like or dislike this character, and why? yes. he’s a good guy. in kind of an annoying clark kent-type way - the cheesy male hero of old-timey musicals - but a good guy nonetheless.
LILA CRANE
Age: 25
General physical description: shorter than Marion, near-shoulder length blond hair, pretty.
Hometown: Phoenix (again, same house where she and Marion grew up).
Type of home/neighborhood: lives in her childhood home with Marion. they're both getting a little bit sick of it.
Relationship status: she goes out on dates occasionally. nothing serious. not a huge concern.
Current family: Marion.
Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.): see Marion's background.
Friends: similar to Marion, she has a number of single female friends in similar positions to hers. she's more outgoing than Marion, but also more callous. makes more interesting friends - some couples, some single.
Other close relationships: a lot of people she's good friends with, but Marion is closest.
Job: sales clerk at the Music Makers’ Music Store. it helps a lot that she’s outgoing.
Attitude to religion: was raised with it, but doesn’t stick to it religiously. heh. probably goes once or twice a year for major holidays.
Hobbies: writes poetry and plays piano - but not quite as well as Marion. also a decent singer. probably pretty good at most traditional female tasks - sewing, knitting, cooking. she likes poetry best, though. also, like Marion, she reads a lot.
Strongest positive personality trait: outgoing
Strongest negative personality trait: overly aggressive
How other people see her: pretty much as she sees herself - cool and attractive, but also somewhat callous.
Opinion of herself: see above. she’s very self-aware.
Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story: very protective of her sister, even though she’s younger. encouraged her when no one else did. still does.
Ambitions: perhaps she’d like to settle down at some point, but for now she’s very happy where she is. she has a lot of freedom, a job she’s good at, and few responsibilities. it’s a good position to be in.
Will readers like or dislike this character, and why? in the second half of the show, Lila may become a surrogate for the audience - someone who cares about Marion and wants to find her. she’s more outgoing and more callous than Marion is, but is generally pretty likable.
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