In an article for Writer’s Digest, Carly Schabowski suggests 19 questions you can ask to help you get to know your characters backwards and forwards. “Even though you might not be writing a character’s early childhood or their death, you need to know what their life was like before you present them to a reader, as what has happened in their past informs who they are in the present, and this then shapes them in the future,” she says.
Some big picture character items to consider include:
- Voice. How does your character speak? “Do they ramble, or do they speak in succinct sentences?” Schabowski asks. “What your character doesn’t say is just as important as what they do.”
- Action and Interaction. Is your character active or passive? How do they interact with people and their world?
- Nature. “Our nature is something intrinsic to us, and your character has their own nature that comes across through how they act, interact, speak, etc.,” Schabowski writes.
- Flaws. We all have them, so your characters should too.
Schabowski recommends creating character profiles to get to know your cast. She suggests 19 questions to get you started.
