Creating the characters

 In order to create the synopsis, I need to flesh out the characters, and give them clear and 3D personalities. 

So far, the only clear character I have is the one in my logline:

When lonely village postman Ted starts receiving anonymous love letters he goes on a clumsy adventure to find his secret admirer

But, since working out the plot (detailed in this post here) I know I need to create these characters:

• Ted, the postman
• Lazarus, his parrot
• Lizzy, the shop lady
• Mary, the village hall cleaner
• Patricia, the opposite neighbour who loves her garden (and Ted)
• Colin, the village busybody

Once I had their names and roles in the story I was able to create their personalities:

Ted, the postman:

• 65 years old
• Loves toffees
• Been a postman for the village for 43 years
• Wife died a few years back
• Extremely awkward and socially anxious 
• Wants to not be lonely 
• Wears a lot of sweater vests 

Lazarus, the parrot:

• Greedy
• Lived with Ted for 25 years
• Moody
• Likes to laugh at people

Lizzy, the shop lady:

• Very bubbly
• Always trying to sell people her homemade cakes, in particular the lemon drizzle 
• Calls everyone hun

Mary, the village hall cleaner:

• Quiet, hides in corners
• Makes you jump 
• Swears she can see ghosts

Patricia, the neighbour (and admirer):

• Loves Cluedo 
• Spends a lot of time in her front garden tidying the flowers (or spying on Ted)
• Quiet, in a nervous, bashful way
• Gives a lot of flowers to Ted

Colin, the village busybody 

• Always complaining about the dog poo
• Throughout Ted's adventure gets in his way, interrupts him, tries to take the attention 
• Grumbles, a lot
• Secretly, just lonely too
• Ends up with Mary