Building Characters - With Questions!


Now that we've covered some of the basics, let's go a bit closer. Like I said yesterday, I'm going to share my list of the things I ask my characters when I'm creating them.

What's your name? How old are you? What's your gender identity? Do you have family? Who are they? Where did you come from? Where are you now? What do you look like? (Hair, eyes, body type, etc)

Do you have special abilities? What are they? What are you good at? What are you bad at? What's your biggest strength? What's your biggest weakness? What are you scared of?

What's your favorite memory? What's the last nightmare you had? What is your main goal in life? What do you want? Does that change in the story?

What's your favorite: Food? Drink? Quality in a person? Color? Person to be around? Environment? (You can go as far or not as you like with this.)

I usually start with the biggest things, put in what I know, and add later as I figure things out. If you struggle with giving your character a unique personality, try taking inspiration from some of the people around you. Steal quirks or traits from a number of people, and combine them in a way that brings this character to life. 


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