>>> from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
>>> from itertools import izip
>>> def characterstoxml(names, remarks):
	root = ET.Element()
	for name, remark in izip(names, remarks):
		c = ET.SubElement(root, , {'name': name})
		c.text = remark
	return ET.tostring(root)

>>> print characterstoxml(
	names = [, , ],
	remarks = [ ,
		    'Burns: ',
		    'Short & shrift' ] ).replace('><','>\n<')