An author who wants to create a realistic character needs to know as much as possible about that character, not only to keep the facts correct, 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 their job well will discover that the character’s motivations will drive the plot, and understanding the character’s past is the key to understand their motivations. for the present and the future. Asking the character a series of questions not only helps create a realistic character, but often the most bizarre or seemingly random questions will result in new information about the character that can help a writer overcome writer’s block.

Creating a character quiz for each main character can lead to richer fiction and greater focus. The following are some sample questions to ask your character. Visualize the character sitting in the room with you and talking to you about himself. Then fill in the answers to the questions as they are provided. Depending on your character, you can find many other questions that will provide you with additional understanding of the character and more material for your story.

FACTS:

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 note this date so you can find out details about the character’s past and how old they 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 brothers? What are their names, dates of birth, and order of birth?
12. Where were you born?
13. Where were your parents born?
14. Where were your grandparents born?
15. Where you live now?
16. Do you have any medical problems, illnesses, injuries?
17. Do you have any distinguishing marks on your body (mole, birthmark, missing finger, 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 have?
23. Has pets?
24. When can you retire?
25. Is married? If so, what is the name of his spouse?

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

HISTORY:

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 go to college, trade school, etc. and where?
5. What did you study at school?
6. When you were a child, what did you dream of being when you grew up?
7. What jobs have you held and for what years? (How is your resume?)
8. What is the first historical event you remember? (The Great Depression, the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, September 11^he)?
9. How did you feel/react to (the death of Princess Diana, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Columbine shooting, the death of Michael Jackson, the OJ Simpson trial, Betty White’s 90th birthday)?^he birthday, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Super Bowl in 1989, 2004, 2012, etc.)?
10. Who did you vote for in the presidential elections (1960, 1972, 1980, 1992, 2008)?
11. What places have you visited on vacation?
12. Have you visited any interesting place to 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 the people you’ve dated?
18. Why your relationship with every person you dated didn’t work out?
19. What is the worst thing that has happened to you?
20. What is the best thing that has happened to you?
21. Who was your fourth grade teacher and what influence did he 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 partner?
25. Who important to you has died in your life and how did you deal with their deaths?

PERSONALITY:

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’s an actor you can’t stand?
6. What is your favorite movie?
7. What movies do you absolutely hate?
8. What is your favorite TV series?
9. What is your favorite food(s)?
10. What is your favorite restaurant?
11. What annoys you the most 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 provokes you?
14. Do you think it’s okay to tell a lie and under what circumstances?
15. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
16. What things can you be asked to do that you hate to do 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 give your life for?
19. Who would you really like to scold?
20. What are your spending habits?
21. Do you like warm weather or do you prefer cooler 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.) described you in one sentence, what do you think they would say?
25. What do you think is the meaning of life?

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

It is important to spend some time getting to know your character. Go out with him or her. Visualize the person riding in the car with you, spending time with you, going to dinner with you. After all, you may spend the next few months or years writing about this person, so you want to get to know them 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, as a result, enrich both the characters and the plot. Do not be shy. Ask your characters these probing questions and you’ll find out enough about them to fill many books.