Despite hating these questionnaires I appreciate that some people prefer to map out their characters through such questionnaires. So in order to flesh out a vague idea of a person - here's a handy checklist:
1 - Name, age
2 - Sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression
3 - Physical appearance; how the character feels about their physical appearance
4 - Race, class, ethnicity
5 - Childhood experience, family relationships, friends and key figures, lifestyle, education, activities and interests
6 - Education level, intelligence level, military service (if applicable)
7 - Attitudes and moral beliefs
8 - Current relationships - parents, siblings, romantic partners, friends, children etc.
9 - Sex life; attitudes and feelings about sex
10 - Religious background and current religious beliefs
11 - Occupation; relationships to boss and coworkers
12 - Hobbies and non-work activities
13 - Politcal views
14 - Main aspects of personality - introvert vs. extrovert, pessimist vs. optimist, thinking vs. feeling, and the like
15 - What are they proud of? Ashamed of?
16 - State of health
17 - Fears
18 - Sense of humour
19 - Core characteristic
20 - Inherent contradiction - the most interesting characters are already in conflict with themselves
In addition to these 20 questions, you can ask yourself loads of bizarre questions like, "what would you write on their tombstone?" and "how would they react to a Japanese game show?" but I find this checklist to be the best place to start building real, solid groundwork that leads to a firm character, rather than just a list of fun facts and like and dislikes.
Two final items to consider:
- What is the best thing that could happen to this character and how could that turn out to be the worst?
- What is the worst thing that could happen to this character and how could this turn out to be the best?
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