As a writer, I spend a lot of time researching ways to be a better writer, to have stronger characters, to build richer worlds. It's one of the many ways I write without actually doing any writing. I call it honing. And oddly enough, I usually end up with a wind in my sails that pushes me to actually work on my novel. It's the articles that I read that inspire me, they lead me to try their ideas and I am always pleased with what I have done.
I recently read an article from Writer's Digest called How to Craft Compelling Characters. The article provides tips about creating characters that readers will love, and hate. This article got me thinking about my characters and how compelling they really are. So I decided to interview them based on the article's ideas of what good character development means. I won't share the details of the interview here, as I'm disappointed in where some of my characters are at in their development and I'm hoping you'll learn about them as you read the story. I will, however, share the questions that I asked so that you can use them on your characters.
I answered the questions based on only what is written in the story so that I could see if there were any gaps that needed to be filled. Keep in mind that not every character will answer every question, but try to answer as many as you can. And if you see a question with no answer that should have one, make sure you find a way to answer it.
- What's really important to you?
- What do you need that you do not have?
- What do you have that you can not live without?
- What keeps you from getting what you need?
- What have you tried and failed in your quest to get what you need?
- How would you describe your current circumstances?
- What would make your circumstances worse?
- What would make your circumstances better?
- What keeps you from improving your circumstances?
- Who is your best friend? Why?
- What person do you distrust? Why?
- Do you think that people like you as a person?
- Does anyone openly dislike you? What about private dislike?
- Is there anyone in the world that you would give your life for? Why?
- Do you have any secrets?
- Do your secrets affect anyone around you?
- Who else knows your secrets?
- What do you think your best quality is?
- What do you think your worst quality is?
- What frightens you most?
- What makes you feel powerful or strong?
- What makes you sad?
- What makes you happy?
- Have you experienced shame or guilt?
- Have you caused grief?
- Do you believe yourself to be a generous person?
- Do you believe yourself to be forgiving?
I know that's a lot of questions to ask but the character that can answer most of them will be a deeper character. And when you're reading over the answers, think about the age of the person talking. For example, I found that one of my characters who is older than most of them read as if he were a young boy. I have some life experience to add to make him feel more realistic.
I hope you enjoy the interviews with your characters. This was a fun exercise for me. And add more questions if you feel that they'd fit into your story better.
