Character Questions I find helpful

Athame2010 · Feb 1, 2007

1. Who influenced them most growing up?
2. Who do they respect or aspire to be?
3. How do they feel about their parents?
4. Did they have siblings? How did this affect them?
5. What would they say was the most pivotal moment in their childhood?
6. What did they want to be as a child?
7. What is the thing they regret most?
8. What motivates them to do what they do now?
9. What would be the thing they most want to do in the future?
10. What do they wish they were like?
11. What is their favourite book?
12. What was their favourite lesson at school?
13. If they could be anywhere in the world where would it be?
14. If they could meet anyone in the world who would it be?
15. What are their religious beliefs?
16. What would be the way they would most want to die?
17. What is the thing that frightens them most?
18. What is their opinion on love?
19. What qualities do they admire in other people?
20. What qualities do they hate in other people?
__________________

Sweetlebee · Feb 1, 2007

Will they share household chores 50-50?

ChaosTitan · Feb 1, 2007

Hey, Athame. Glad to see you found your way here. Thanks for posting the list.

Cassiopeia · Feb 1, 2007

Athame said:
1. Who influenced them most growing up?
2. Who do they respect or aspire to be?
3. How do they feel about their parents?
4. Did they have siblings? How did this affect them?
5. What would they say was the most pivotal moment in their childhood?
6. What did they want to be as a child?
7. What is the thing they regret most?
8. What motivates them to do what they do now?
9. What would be the thing they most want to do in the future?
10. What do they wish they were like?
11. What is their favourite book?
12. What was their favourite lesson at school?
13. If they could be anywhere in the world where would it be?
14. If they could meet anyone in the world who would it be?
15. What are their religious beliefs?
16. What would be the way they would most want to die?
17. What is the thing that frightens them most?
18. What is their opinion on love?
19. What qualities do they admire in other people?
20. What qualities do they hate in other people?
__________________

Wow sounds like a job interview

bunnygirl · Feb 1, 2007

Thanks! I always find these types of questions much more likely to result in my understanding a character than the standard "How tall is s/he and what color are his/her eyes?" sorts of questionnaires.

Blue eyes tell me nothing, but it says something if expert outdoorswoman Great-Aunt Trudy was my character's childhood hero.

Mr. Funktastic · Feb 1, 2007

Nice list. You can never know too much about your characters.

Raphee · Feb 3, 2007

More interview points.

Here's some more that I saw in an article written by someone.

Name:
Address & Phone Number:
Date & Place of Birth:
Height/Weight/Physical Description:
Citizenship/Ethnic Origin:
Parents' Names & Occupations:
Other Family Members:
Spouse or Lover:
Friends' Names & Occupations:
Social Class:
Education:
Occupation/Employer:
Social Class:
Salary:
Community Status:
Job-Related Skills:
Political Beliefs/Affiliations:
Hobbies/Recreations:
Personal Qualities (imagination, taste, etc.):
Ambitions:
Fears/Anxieties/Hangups:
Intelligence:
Sense of Humor:
Most Painful Setback/Disappointment:
Most Instructive/Meaningful Experience:
Health/Physical Condition/Distinguishing Marks/Disabilities:
Sexual Orientation/Experience/Values:
Tastes in food, drink, art, music, literature, decor, clothing:
Attitude toward Life:
Attitude toward Death:
Philosophy of Life (in a phrase):

victoriastrauss · Feb 3, 2007

If a character questionnaire helps you build an understanding of your character, that's great. But I think that it also can be a trap, because it's all outside stuff, and isn't necessarily helpful to understanding your characters from the inside. Think about someone close to you, whom you love and understand. Do you know what their favorite color is? Do you care? With the questionnaire approach, you run the risk of winding up with an arbitrary assemblage of facts, but no greater understanding of what's inside your character's head, or how the world looks through his or her eyes. That's where great characters come from, not from the quirks you bestow on them.

- Victoria

Athame2010 · Feb 3, 2007

I completely agree, yet, there are some things about a person that a psych type questionaire will tell you that remain static, or can be used to show how the interactions and exposures in their environment through out the novel alter the perception. It can show growth. I personally find that I sometimes change that character behavior and my spot reader show me that it does not sound like her/him. Then I have to go back a bit and show how this changes within the character. Where, if I have those few questions handy I remain true to my characters.
It works well for me in that regard.

Athame

Susan Gable · Feb 3, 2007

victoriastrauss said:
If a character questionnaire helps you build an understanding of your character, that's great. But I think that it also can be a trap, because it's all outside stuff, and isn't necessarily helpful to understanding your characters from the inside. Think about someone close to you, whom you love and understand. Do you know what their favorite color is? Do you care? With the questionnaire approach, you run the risk of winding up with an arbitrary assemblage of facts, but no greater understanding of what's inside your character's head, or how the world looks through his or her eyes. That's where great characters come from, not from the quirks you bestow on them.

- Victoria

Right, Victoria. Once you have an answer to one of those other questions, a better follow-up question is WHY? Like, what's your job? WHY?

I have an activity where you ask what's in the character's purse. (Of course, that mainly works for FEMALE characters in contemporaries, but maybe you can ask what's in their backpack, or glove box of their car, or something like that. What's in the storage closet of his spaceship? <G> His locker?) But more important than the actual item in the purse is, why is it in there?

Like, there's a pebble in her purse. Why? That gives more insight into the character's backstory and personal philosophy.

The same thing applies to items in their home/workspace, etc. Why is it there? What does it show about the character's personality?

Susan G.

verbie · Feb 3, 2007

interesting thread. I've never approached it this way. I'm always working on at least two projects at a time, and I don't begin one until the character has intruded on my space with enough info to force me to pay attention. The plot is always secondary to character and takes me longer to figure out.

But until the character is fully formed, and the circle of friends/relationships, I just allow space in an idea file. If the character isn't intruiging enough, I'm not going to waste a year of my time tryping to "plump up" the atributes.

It's interesting to see the way different writers think and work. Novel writing is so overwhelming. There are so many ways to go about it.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 3, 2007

Characters

Just a personal preference, but I don't want to know much of anything about my characters. I learn about them as they do things, and as they reveal things about themselves in their own good time. I much prefer to learn about my characters just as I learn about real people I meet, a little bit at a time, as they choose to tell me.

I've also found such a list of character traits may be just the opposite of what a story actually needs.

I don't even know who my characters will be, or what characters will be in a story, until after I write it.

Cassiopeia · Feb 3, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
Just a personal preference, but I don't want to know much of anything about my characters. I learn about them as they do things, and as they reveal things about themselves in their own good time. I much prefer to learn about my characters just as I learn about real people I meet, a little bit at a time, as they choose to tell me.

I've also found such a list of character traits may be just the opposite of what a story actually needs.

I don't even know who my characters will be, or what characters will be in a story, until after I write it.

I agree with you. To write up such a list seems way too pedantic for me. I also prefer to see the characters develop along with the story.

Hillgate · Feb 3, 2007

Or you can even use large bits of people you know...the trick is ensuring they don't realise it.

Athame2010 · Feb 3, 2007

I stay very flexible within my short list, and sometimes don't fill in some of those questions until the character identifies themselves. I just find it helpfull for continuty ( yet i change a few things sometimes) so that i am not writing contradictory characters.
A

scarletpeaches · Feb 3, 2007

I'm not too keen on questionnaires because they tend towards the formation of identikit characters.

In Write Away, Elizabeth George does give the reader what she calls a 'character prompt sheet' but specifically recommends NOT filling it out item by item; rather, she says one should write a description of the person using the items on the sheet as a prompt, just as the name says and to allow your mind to wander into all aspects of the character's personality rather than making up a name/age/eye colour kind of form.

Hillgate · Feb 3, 2007

Totally agree with Scarlet Peaches on the identikit character thing. If you have a questionnaire that you apply rigidly to each character then you will subconsciously roll out an indentikit cast even if your answers are different to each question for each character.

johnzakour · Feb 3, 2007

Yeah lists just seem way to organized for me.

If I was going to use a list I'd use more fun questions:

Chocolate or Vanilla ice cream?

If they were an animal what animal would they be?

NPR or Fox News?

Would they watch say, Vegas?

Would they admit to watching Vegas?

Elvis, Zeppelin or Sinatra?

Do they steal the covers?

Have they ever gone streaking?

Do they know what streaking is?

Do they think string theory has something to do with sewing?

What’s their Myers Briggs?

Steak or soy?

Do they see Jack Black and go “huh”?

Have they named any of their kids after the Simpsons?

Is book a four letter word to them?

Are they gelling?

Who's their favorite muppet? ;-)

Actually, I've decided I like this list and I'm going to use in from now on!

Hillgate · Feb 3, 2007

That's more like it...

Judg · Feb 3, 2007

I'm still developing my methods, and so far I've been operating more like JAR, discovering my characters as the story unfolds. But I do find it helpful to keep a little card or file on each one where I write down the things I'm discovering about them so I keep it all straight. Not so much necessary for the main characters, because they take up a lot of room in my mind, but those that just pop in and out on occasion.

farfromfearless · Feb 3, 2007

Hey Athame, just wanted to say hi to a fell Cannuck! (I used to live near Langley - in Abby). Interesting nic, are you a wiccan?

Pagey's_Girl · Feb 3, 2007

One of my writing friends suggested another sort of "interview your character" technique:

What do you want?
What, if anything, is keeping you from getting it?
What will you do to get what you want most?
What do you think is your greatest strength?
What do you think your greatest weakness is?

It sounds simple, but it proved rather illuminating...

farfromfearless · Feb 3, 2007

There are times where I start new stories by writing disparate scenes to see how my characters react and get a feel for them - it's a much longer process than the interviewing I'm sure, but its like the 12 labors of Heracles.

bunnygirl · Feb 3, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
Just a personal preference, but I don't want to know much of anything about my characters. I learn about them as they do things, and as they reveal things about themselves in their own good time. I much prefer to learn about my characters just as I learn about real people I meet, a little bit at a time, as they choose to tell me.

All of my main characters are this way, but sometimes a secondary or tertiary character can seem flat or stereotypical. I don't put the same emotional or creative investment in, say, the regional commander who my MC meets once and is shot in the next scene. And a minor characer isn't likely to "say" much to me, either. That's where a list can sometimes help, by providing new avenues of thought.

Lists aren't to be followed slavishly, like SAT questions. They're supposed to open up avenues of thought. How did the regional commander like school? He was a truant. (Or perhaps he was a pefectionist with perfect attendance.) I can extrapolate a few things about his character off of that and end up with something that will hopefully keep his scene with my MC from looking like something from a B-movie script.

If anyone is using these lists for MCs, I have to wonder if their story might not need more mental work before sitting down at the keyboard. MCs should feel as familiar as your closest friends and family members before you sit down at the keyboard. But the right kind of list can be great for stimulating thought about how to make a walk-on character more real. Finding the right kind of list is hard, though. So many of them are focused on height/weight/eye color stuff that one wonders who they were written for. Surely they weren't written for writers, but for cops putting together a rap sheet. You can't even get a good tertiary character out of some of the stuff that's out there.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 4, 2007

bunnygirl said:
All of my main characters are this way, but sometimes a secondary or tertiary character can seem flat or stereotypical. I don't put the same emotional or creative investment in, say, the regional commander who my MC meets once and is shot in the next scene. And a minor characer isn't likely to "say" much to me, either. That's where a list can sometimes help, by providing new avenues of thought.

To be honest, nearly all my minor characters, and even the major characters other than the protagonist, are usually real people I've known. Often I even use real names and real descriptions. I even used Billy Martin, volatile manager of the Yankees once. Stuck him in a cowboy outfit, and placed him in a novel.

And when I do use real people I've known, I try to stay as close to their personality, and to their physical and mental abilities, as possible.

Character Questions I find helpful

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