List of Questions for Character Development

These are questions for you to ask your characters or yourself about them, to better develop your characters.  Imagine you are in a dark cave with your character or are a part of a role play in which you yourself are a character conversing with the characters you made.  It's pretty fun. :)




Questions to the Author about the Character

1.  What does the character's voice sound like?  Do they have an accent?
2.  What language/s do they speak?
3.  Explain how and when and where the character learned these languages?
4.  Do they naturally tell the truth all the time or do they have a habit of telling lies?

To the Character (Experimental questions)

5.  Will you please tell me the truth when I ask you the next questions?(to the character)
6.  Do you trust me?(make sure each character's answer is considerably different than the others and unique so that you may tell them apart)

Identification:

7.  What is your full birth name?
8.  What name do you use now?
9.  When and where were you born?

Family Questions

10.  Who was your mom?
11.  What was she like?
12.  Where is she now?
13.  Who was your dad?
14.  What was he like?
15.  Where is he now?
16.  What was your parent's marriage like?  Were they married?
17.  Do you have any brothers or sisters?
18.  Who were they?  What were they like?
19.  What was the worst thing a sibling ever did to you?
20.  What is the worst thing you ever did to your sibling?
21.  What is the best thing you ever did for your sibling/s?
22.  What is the best thing your sibling/s did for you?
23.  Have you met any other people in your family?  What were they like?
24.  Describe growing up with your family.

Description:

25.  What is your eye color?
26.  Skin color?
27.  How would you describe your hair?
28.  Are you short, average height, or tall?
29.  Are you thin?
30.  How would you describe your own face?  Or, how might others describe it?
31.  Do you have any lost limbs?  If so, how did you lose them?  Are you right or left handed?
32.  What are you wearing at the moment?  What do you normally wear?

Personality: Likes and dislikes (Questions to the author about the character)

33.  What is the Character's favorite color?
34.  What is their favorite animal?
35.  What is their favorite food?
36.  Do they like to act?
37.  What books do they like to read?
38.  Do they like school?  What school do/did they go to?
39.  What is their favorite magical ability?
40.  What is their favorite season?
41.  What is their favorite weather?
42.  What is their favorite possession?
43.  What is their favorite piece of clothing?
44.  Do they like interacting with lots of people?
45.  What are their favorite passtimes?  Are they a collecter?  What do they collect?
46.  Do they like experiencing adventures?
47.  Do they like exploring?
48.  Do they like themselves?
49.  What music do they like?
50.  What is their favorite way to write?  With a pencil, pen, quill pen, calligraphy pen, or something else?

Personality (Questions to the author about the character)

51.  Do they tend to be optimistic or pessimistic?
52.  What do they have in their pockets a lot of the time?
53.  Are they talkative?
54.  Are they shy?
55.  Are they smart?
56.  Are they mature?
57.  Are they reliable?
58.  Are they organized or messy?
59.  Do they have any quirks?
60.  Do they have any strange mannerisms that would give them away if they were in disguise?
61.  How do they talk?
62.  Do they have any favorite words or phrases?
63.  Are they able to kill?
64.  Under what circumspances do they find killing acceptable or unacceptable?
65.  Do they believe in the existance of soul mates and/or true love?
66.  How honest are they concerning their thoughts and feelings?
67.  Do they have any biases or prejudices?
68.  How do they treat others?
69.  Do they tend to argue with people a lot or do they avoid conflict as much as possible?
70.  How close are they with their family?
71.  If they died or went missing, who would miss them?
72.  Who do they trust to protect them?
73.  Who do they respect the most?
74.  Who is their best friend?
75.  Who would they turn to if they were desperately in need of help?
76.  Do they tend to lead or be led?
77.  Do they like interacting with lots of people?
78.  Do they care what others think of them?
79.  What makes them laugh?
80.  What shocks or offends them?
81.  Are you spontaneous, or do they always need to have/make a plan?
82.  What annoys them?

Routine:(Questions to the character)

83.  Describe the routine of a normal day.
84.  How do you feel when your routine is disrupted?

Personalities: Strengths and weaknesses (Questions to the author about the Character)

85.  Is procrastination a weakness of theirs?
86.  Name three things they are good at and three things they are bad at.
87.  Do they find it hard to trust people?
88.  Do they consider themselves ugly or beautiful/hansome?
89.  What are their weaknesses?
90.  If he/she could change one thing about himself/herself, what would it be?
91.  What are their strengths?
92.  Do they read the Bible?

  Last Questions:

93.  Do they have any secrets?
94.  Are they like Tom Sawyer in any way?
95.  What fictional character is most like them?
96.  What are their reasons for wanting adventure?
97.  What minor things do they care about?  What is the biggest thing they care about?

Questions to Character:

98.  What goal do you most want to accomplish in your lifetime?
99.  Where do you see yourself in five years?
100.  If you knew you were going to die in twenty four hours, what would you do in that time?
101.  If you could choose, how would you want to die?
102.  If you could choose, where would you want to be buried?
103.  What is the one thing for which you want to be remembered?
104.  What three adjectives would you use to describe your personality?
105.  What three adjectives would someone else use to describe your personality?

Questions to author about Character:

106.  What virtue does the Character have?
107.  What undeserved misfortune does the Character have?
108.  What negative trait does the Character have?
109.  How will the setting of the story effect the Character?
110.  How might this character show humility?
111.  Courage?
112.  Humor?
113.  Morality?
114.  Anger?
115.  Sorrow?
116.  How might the character demonstrate Self Sacrifice?

2013:
117.  Does the character know who they are/are they confident in themselves?
118.  Do they think they know their role in life but really don't know beyond the fact that they are so and so's daughter/son?
119.  Are they proud?
120.  Are they famous?  If so, how do they react to being famous?
121.  How do they hold their head?  Do they let others step all over them with insults without even thinking about striking back or are they very defensive of themselves and their opinions?

122.  What is their love language? (see this post: http://emilynwriter4christ.blogspot.com/2013/05/your-characters-love-language.html )
123.  How late do they get to bed and how early do they get up?
124.  Childhood and how each phase has affected the character:

If you ever think of other questions to ask yourself about the characters, do so and think hard about it.



I hope this helps you write out your characters and make them unique!  Then, when they are ready, let them live; don't control them like a father arranges an unwanted marriage between a daughter and man.  I hope this helps you on your writing journey! :)