Character Development: Questions for Creating Realistic Characters

An author who wants to create a realistic character needs to know everything possible about that character, not only to keep the facts straight, but also to understand that character’s motivations. While critics often differentiate between a plot-driven and a character-driven story, a writer who does his or her work well will find that the character’s motivations will drive the plot, and understanding the character’s past is the key to understanding his or her motivations for the present and the future.

Why should you develop character questions?

Asking the character a series of questions not only helps to create a realistic character, but often the oddest or seemingly most random questions will result in new information about the character that can help a writer to overcome writer’s block. Creating a character questionnaire for each major character can lead to richer fiction and greater focus. Following are some sample questions to ask your character. Envision the character sitting in the room with you and telling you about him- or herself. Then fill in the answers to the questions as they are provided. Depending on your character, you might find many other questions to ask that will provide you with an additional understanding of the character and more material for your story.

FACTS QUESTIONS:

1. What is your full name?
2. How did your parents decide on your name?
3. How tall are you?
4. What color is your hair?
5. What color are your eyes?
6. How much do you weigh?
7. What is your birthday (month, date, and year)? (Note: It’s important to pinpoint this date so you can figure out details about the character’s past and how old he or she would have been during certain events. It might be a good idea to create a character timeline.)
8. What is your father’s name?
9. What is your mother’s name?
10. What are your grandparents’ names?
11. Do you have any siblings? What are their names, birthdates, and birth order?
12. Where were you born?
13. Where were your parents born?
14. Where were your grandparents’ born?
15. Where do you live now?
16. Do you have any medical problems, diseases, injuries?
17. Do you have any distinguishing marks on your body (a mole, a birthmark, a missing finger, a tattoo, etc.)?
18. What religion are you, and why?
19. What is your annual income?
20. How much money do you have saved?
21. What kind of house/apartment do you live in?
22. What kind of car do you own?
23. Do you have any pets?
24. When will you be able to retire?
25. Are you married? If so, what is your spouse’s name?

(Note: You can make a new character sheet for the spouse if the person is significant and ask that character all of these questions as well. Depending on the main characters in your story, you might also do the same for the parents, grandparents, siblings, children, etc. It might be interesting to ask your characters to describe a specific event that happened to the family to see how they might all describe and respond to it differently).

HISTORY QUESTIONS:

1. Where did you go to school?
2. How many times have you moved in your life?
3. When did you move to where you live now?
4. Did you attend college, trade school, etc. and where?
5. What did you study in school?
6. When you were a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up?
7. What jobs have you held and what years? (What does your resume look like?)
8. What is the first historical event you remember? (The Great Depression, Kennedy’s assassination, the moon landing, September 11th)?
9. How did you feel/react to (Princess Diana’s death, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the Columbine shooting, Michael Jackson’s death, the O.J. Simpson Trial, Betty White’s 90th birthday, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, The Super Bowl in 1989, 2004, 2012, etc.)?
10. Who did you vote for in the (1960, 1972, 1980, 1992, 2008) presidential election?
11. What places have you visited on vacation?
12. Have you visited any interesting places for work?
13. Who was your best friend as a child?
14. Who was your best friend in high school?
15. Who was your best friend in college?
16. Who is your best friend now?
17. Who are all of the people whom you have dated?
18. Why did your relationship with each person you dated not work out?
19. What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?
20. What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
21. Who was your fourth grade teacher and what influence did he/she have on you?
22. Who did you take to the prom in high school?
23. What groups, organizations did you belong to in high school, or what sports did you play?
24. How did you meet your current significant other?
25. Who important to you has died in your life and how did you cope with their deaths?

PERSONALITY QUESTIONS:

1. What is your favorite color?
2. What is your favorite place to vacation and why?
3. What is your favorite book?
4. Who is your favorite actor?
5. Who is an actor you can’t stand?
6. What is your favorite movie?
7. Which movies do you absolutely hate?
8. What is your favorite TV show?
9. What is your favorite food(s)?
10. What is your favorite restaurant?
11. What most annoys you about (your mom, dad, brother, sister, wife, son, daughter, best friend, boss, co-worker)?
12. How often do you exercise? What are your exercise goals?
13. Which of your buttons does your mother (sister, brother, son, wife, girlfriend, etc.) like to push that sets you off?
14. Do you believe it’s okay to tell a lie and under what circumstances?
15. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
16. What things might you be asked to do that you hate doing but do anyway (attend birthday parties, weddings, do chores for your elderly aunt, etc.)?
17. Have you ever been arrested and why?
18. Who would you lay down your life for?
19. Who would you really like to tell off?
20. What are your spending habits?
21. Do you enjoy hot weather, or do you prefer colder temperatures?
22. What kind of relationship do you have with God?
23. If you could describe yourself in one sentence, what would you say?
24. If your (best friend, wife, daughter, boss, neighbor etc.) were to describe you in one sentence, what do you think he/she would say?
25. What do you think is the meaning of life?

Hopefully, those are enough questions to get you a start in developing your character. Some of them may be irrelevant, but I suspect a lot of them will trigger more ideas and questions for you to ask.

Conclusion

It’s important to spend some time getting to know your character. Hang out with him or her. Envision the person riding in the car with you, spending time with you, going to dinner with you. After all, you might be spending the next several months or years writing about this person, so you want to get to know him or her as well as you can. I find that asking questions and letting the characters answer in their own voices can take a story to new and exciting places and make both the characters and the plot richer as a result. Don’t be shy. Ask your characters these probing questions and you’ll discover enough about them to fill many books.