I’m working on a couple of projects and it’s been hard to stay with each character. I knew that I needed to dive in deeper to each first draft. This questionnaire helped me focus and know each of my friends better. It’s a cheat sheet in a sense. It might help you. If so, use it, change it to suit, pass it along.

CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

• Date of birth: when and where were they born?
• Astrology! Why not, eh?
• What do they like to eat, drink?
• Favorite clothes
• Favorite music
• What do they do on their time off?
• Where did they grow up?
• Who was a best friend and why?
• What mischief did they get upto?
• How far did they get in school?
• What are the priorities? The goals?
• What are they scared of doing?
• Being?
• What is the social place (class, access) your character lives in?
• What is the story that can only happen to them?
• Find a specific gestures, walk, or look for them
• How do they rationalise their actions to themselves?
• To others?
• Find the details that are so telling, a gesture, word, action
• A memory from pre-teens
• A memory from teens
• From twenties
• What will they sacrifice for dreams?

Print out copies for each character, and scribble down ideas and play with it. Find them. They’re sticking around until you tell their story so you might as well listen to them. Have a chat, why not?