“Developing a Character”

A character can be developed simply by asking and answering the right questions. Always know more about your character than you need, because you never know what might come in handy. Let’s play a literary 20 questions to discover him or her.

1. What is the character’s name?

2. What is the character’s gender (sex)?

3. How old is the character?

4. Where does the character live?

5. How does the character make a living?

6. What time period does the character live in?

7. How well off is the character with money?

8. What does the character look like [physical features]?

9. Does the character have living parents? If so, who and how old are they?

10. Does the character have brothers & sisters? If so, who are they, and what are their ages?

11. Who lives with the character?

12. What is the character’s natural personality?

13. What is the character’s current temperament?

14. What are some of the character’s good habits?

15. What are some of the character’s bad habits?

16. What is there about the character that others like?

17. What is there about the character that others dislike?

18. What is important to the character?

19. What could the character care less about that others feel is important?

20. What is a brief history of the character?

21. What is the character’s favorite phrase or expression?

22. What does the character like to read?

23. What does the character think of religion?

24. What does the character think of politics?

25. What does the character do with spare time?