Character Bios

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Character Bios

When writing a novel you will probably have some characters and creating them is possibly the hardest part. Everyone wants to have as much knowledge as possible on their character. But where are you going to keep all that information? How long will it take? Will you be answering the right questions? Well I have the answers to all your questions!

http://www.panix.com/~felicia/character/character.php - I found this website really useful as you just answer the questions about your character (Basics, Looks, Personality, Family, Goals, Religion, Strengths, Weakness) and makes you think about the things you wouldn't usually think about. It even has examples of voice types and what your character smells like! It even has longer questionnaires for more detailed characters and short questionnaires for extra characters. Some people might say filling in questionnaires is useless but I found that the questions helped me think more about what my character is like, how he thinks, how he would react in certain situations. But don't feel the need to use every single piece of information you find. Some of it might be unnecessary to your story and fill it with useless garbage (not saying that extra details are garbage).

Make sure all the characters who are main characters or have some kind of significance have a bio. You may think it's unnecessary but it's so helpful when you want to make links back to their personalities. But make sure it coincides with the plot e.g. Harry Potter was mentally abused from being a young child but that didn't affect his life at Hogwarts at all. Some of the behaviour he faced at the Dursley's should have stayed with him longer than a few chapters, with the amount of abuse he suffered. Characters may change after their arc but they will still have some traits from their past lives.

You might also need to add extra information depending on the genre e.g. Powers for Fantasy, Abilities for Action and so many more.

Remember - reality is an illusion, the universe is an hologram, buy gold, BYE! - Bill Cipher

Liya xx



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