Free Character Writing Prompts #63: Sages

These character writing prompts are very wise for their age and they can be looked to for some wise characters for whatever script or story you're looking to polish off. If intellectuals are people who have great knowledge of books, films and music, sages are people who have great knowledge of the world itself. They may not be able to analyze a painting or a sculpture, but they are able to tell you great truths about the universe and the self. A sage may take the form of some kind of monk or spiritual leader, but a sage may also be a regular person with profound insight. A sage may even be a child. The character can be used in a science fiction sense but also in a story in which the protagonist needs to learn something about life to move forward. 

Free Character Writing Prompts #63: Sages

1. When the world came crashing down, he was the one who had the insight to know where to patch it up. Even though he was only 16-years-old, he somehow knew how to lead his family and his town to safety in the middle of what many believed to be the apocalypse. He'd had a gift of great wisdom for most of his adolescence and his teachers often recommended he be transferred to a school in which his gifts could be fully realized. By asking not to be transferred, he must have somehow known that the key to their salvation rested below the school itself. How did he know how to be safe from the worldwide disaster and what will happen next to him and his family?

2. Even though he'd been retired from teaching at the university for nearly a decade, he still had students coming to seek his counsel nearly every week. He'd become too infirm to go back and forth between the school anymore, but his legend was so great that he continued to hold something resembling office hours in his own study. Students would enter his house, have a cup of tea and ask questions about their future career, academia and their lives. His answers were brash, unorthodox and completely modern, as he kept up on all current technologies and industry shifts. What was this brainy man like in his adolescence and young adulthood when he needed advice himself?

3. She was a goddess when it came to relationships of any kind. It didn't matter if you were a guy or a girl and it didn't matter what your sexual preference was. She could tell you exactly how to proceed in a given situation because she understood people like nobody else on the planet. She had a modest one-bedroom apartment that she shared with her partner and they had such an amazing relationship that you couldn't help but envy her. She ran a website about relationships which had over a million visitors each month, but you were fortunate enough to know her in person. She had helped you through multiple difficulties and she always seemed to know what to say. How did she become so proficient when it came to relationships and how did that knowledge translate in her own relationships?

4. From looking at the success of the school's athletic program for the last 20 years, you might think that the success was mostly a result of the coaching staff, the recruiters or even a few of the star players over the years. You would be wrong. The true catalyst for their success was the team tutor. After years of having star players become ineligible, she revealed her tutoring talent as a senior and helped multiple players to boost their grades to As and Bs from Fs. She had an uncanny ability to make someone understand anything and everything no matter what the person's intelligence level. The school took riskier and riskier athletes who had little to offer academically and turned them around using her skills. What are some of the ways in which she helps these athletes to hit the books better?

5. This local millionaire never had one of those jobs that took him away from his family and had him slaving 80 hours a week. He realized early on that he didn't need that to become rich. Through his brilliant strategies of saving and investing, he slowly but surely grew a fortune. He also grew a steady stream of passive income that let him retire before the age of 40. Since that time he's counseled thousands of people on their money issues which has yielded several millionaires during that time. No matter what level these people were at coming to him, they left him in much better shape. How did he learn such secrets of money and how to employ them for all comers?

6. He originally came to the big city to become an actor, but when that didn't work out, he turned his hand to being the most athletic, in-shape person in existence. His physique caught the eye of a exercise video company and within a couple of years, his workout routine had become the most well-known, hardcore fitness plan in the country. He loved advising people on how they could turn their lives around through physical fitness and he felt he had truly found his calling in the exercise industry. He even became one of the key advisors for the government when it came to childhood obesity and fitness. What is an average day like for this guru of the fitness goal?

7. When you think of a wise Buddhist monk, your first image might be a wrinkly, old man at the top of a mountain. You wouldn't expect this person to be an attractive 30-something woman living in a mansion, but that's just who she was. After her family experienced a major windfall during her teens, she was surrounded by luxury and comfortability. She never truly felt peace and happiness though until she went away to Tibet and learned everything she could about deep meditation, which clicked with her much more than with most. After her parents passed away, she continued to live in their giant property and continued to teach the art of happiness to students throughout the week. What was it like when she felt this sense of peace for the first time?

8. She was a revered television host who was the guru when it came to putting your life together. She had personal development and self-help guests from around the world on her program and through their collective advice, women changed their lives. Her popularity grew so much that she would crash websites just by mentioning them on her program by sending millions of people there in a matter of hours. Her recommendation could send a business to the top of its industry and had on multiple occasions. She loved the fact that she was able to so positively impact the world and hoped to do it for the rest of her life. How have the people she's met and interviewed changed her own life?

9. He was one of the most famous movie producers of all time, not because his movies were critical darlings or started the careers of great actors, but because they always made money. They didn't make as much as a Titanic or an Avatar, though they never failed as spectacularly as some studio movies did each year. Many directors who later became big shots worked for him early on and were amazed by how effectively and cheaply he could bring a movie to life and often sought his counsel early in their careers. He was mocked by movie critics for his low-budget wizardry that hardly ever rose above the level of popcorn fare. He was a guru of the movie business and all producers took cues from him to make sure their movies could be even close to as successful as his were profit wise. How did he get his start and learn to make money off a risky business?

10. It all started with a $1 million prize after creating a perfect NCAA tournament bracket, launching her into prominence as a sports guru. When she repeated the feat two years later, she changed her love of sports into a career and became one of the most sought after interviewees when it came to tournament time in March. She loved sports and she was glad to turn her life to such an area, she just never expected to become famous as a result of her expertise. When February and March would roll around, she would receive hundreds of e-mails and texts from friends trying to win their pools and she simply laughed at her sudden Spring popularity. How did she get to be so skilled at picking winners in college basketball? 

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