Get to Know Your Characters: Extremes

Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters

This is part of the series:


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This entry is part 0 of in the series, Characters.

You’ve already worked on fleshing out your characters. Let’s start thinking a little more about their personality, goals, quirks, background, etc. In this case, I’d like to think about some of the extremes, that is, what your character likes most, least, etc.

For this part of the character building series, I thought a list of questions would be useful. You can print this out and use it for each of your characters. Just copy/paste the questions into your word processor. Answer as few or as many as you think helpful. In some cases, the question may lead you to more back story. That’s okay, just go with it.

  • What is the accomplishment your character is most proud of?
  • What is he most ashamed of?
  • What is his biggest regret?
  • What was his first love like?
  • How old was he when he left home?
  • What was high school/college like for him?
  • What kind of work does he do?
  • How did he get into that line of work?
  • What are his hobbies?
  • How does he dress? Describe a typical outfit.
  • What’s his house like? Describe its size, decor, etc. Is it neat or messy?
  • Is he an introvert or extrovert?
  • Who’s his best friend?
  • Who is his biggest rival or worst enemy?
  • If he could do anything with no consequences, what would it be?
  • Is he religious?
  • What did he do last weekend?
  • Who is he dating / married to now? Why are they together (or why is he not dating)?
  • What does he want? This might be in the context of the story, or in general.
  • What does he worry about?
  • What is he afraid of? This might be something big (like dying of cancer like his dad) or small (spiders, the dark).
  • Does he have any prejudices? Beware the character who has none. Do you know any real people who don’t?
  • Would you want to work for him? Why?
  • Would you want to marry him? Why?
  • If he were someone you knew, what would you say his best qualities were? What are his biggest faults?

I wouldn’t spend more than a few minutes on each of these, unless it seems particularly fruitful. If one seems to lead you to an interesting trait, or to something that might explain his behavior in the story, then pursue that. If not, then don’t spend too much time (or skip the question altogether).

Most of this will never make it to your story, but you can certainly work in a few that will help your readers understand who he is and why he behaves as he does.

While you’re at it, see if you can come up with a few questions that would be useful to developing your character and post them below.

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Comments (1) | June 13, 2007

One Response to “Get to Know Your Characters: Extremes”

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