More Help With Characterization

A few useful and different questions to ask when developing your characters:

·       What did your character’s mother tell her/him never to do? What happened when he/she did it anyway, and he/she will.

·       Tell about a secret your character did not keep and why? What happened? Regrets?

·       What is your character’s biggest regret? What does he/or she not regret one ioda?

·       Describe the first time he/she was ever felt humiliated?

·       What would be the theme of your character’s life?

·       What inanimate object is your character attached to and why?

·       If your character found out he/she only had one month to live what would he/she do with this time? What would he absolute not do?

·       What is a guilty pleasure for your character?

·       Is there a reason your character is glad a prayer wasn’t answered. Or was it and that wasn’t such a good thing?

·       Give an eulogy about your character.

·       What out-of-character thing would your character do. What would he never, absolutely ever, do?

·       What are the rumors going round about your character? People will talk. Are they true? If not, how did they get started?

·       What animal would describe your character? (I mentioned before that Anson Mount from Hell on Wheels used this method to help him with his character. He thought a horse and the way a horse thinks and reacts worked for visualizing his character.) Or tree a la Barbara Walters?

·       Your character is lost or stuck somewhere. What does he do? Wonder if he’s stuck with someone he loves? Someone he hates? Someone he doesn’t know?

·       What would your character do if he needed to apologize? Do it? Avoid it? Never apologize? How would he? What reasons would he or not?

·       What is your character’s phobia or fear. Like Indiana Jones’ fear of snakes, we all have things we do not like, will not do.