character questionaire

7/23/2019 Character Questionaire

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/character-questionaire 1/8

1. Communication style: How does your character talk? Does she favor certain words orphrases that make her distinct and interesting? What about the sound of her voice? Much ofour personality comes through our speech, so think about the way your character is going totalk. Her style of communication should be distinctive and unique.

2. History: Where does your character come from? hink out his childhood and adolescence.What events shaped his personality? What did his father do for a living? How about his

mother? How many siblings does he have? Was it a loving family or an abusive, dysfunctionalone? What events led him to the career choices he made? !ou may not need to provide all thisbackground to your reader, but it"s good to know as the writer. #t helps give him substance inyour mind as well.(How much should an outside edit cost writers?)3. Appearance: What does she look like? his may be the least important ingredient to makeyour character a person to the reader, but you should still know it in your own mind. $ot everycharacter needs to be drop%dead gorgeous, by the way. Most people aren"t.4. Relationships: What kind of friends and family does he have? How does he relate to them?#s he very social or reclusive, or somewhere in between? &eople can be de'ned by thecompany they keep, so this can be a good way to de'ne your character.5. Ambition: (ust as this is the central letter of the acrostic, so too this concept is absolutelycentral to your character and plot. What is her passion in life? What goal is she trying toaccomplish through your story? What is her unrecogni)ed, internal need and how will she meet

it?6. Character defect: *veryone has some personality trait that irritates his friends or family. #she too self%centered? oo competitive? oo la)y? oo compliant? oo demanding of others?Don"t go overboard on this. +fter all, you want your reader to like the character. ut he"ll feelmore real if he has some -aw. his is usually connected to his unrecogni)ed need see+mbition/ and often gets resolved through his character arch.. !hou"hts: What kind of internal dialogue does your character have? How does she thinkthrough her problems and dilemmas? #s her internal voice the same as her e0ternal? #f not,does this create internal con-ict for her? #n real life we don"t have the bene't of knowingsomeone"s innermost thoughts, but a novel allows us to do 1ust that, so use it to youradvantage.(Can you query an agent for a short story collection?)#. $%eryman&ness: How relatable is your character? While (ames ond is fun to watch onscreen, most of us aren"t uber%trained special agent%assassins so it"s a little hard to relate tohim on a personal level. 2n the other hand, 3urt 4ussell"s character in the

movie Breakdown was far more ordinary and relatable, creating a more visceral e0perience. ecareful not to make your character too elite or he may be too di5cult to live vicariouslythrough. +nd that, after all, is the key to suspense.'. Restrictions: More than a personality -aw, what physical or mental weakness must yourcharacter overcome through her arch? +fter all, even 6uperman had 3ryptonite. his helpshumani)e your character, making her more sympathetic and relatable.

• We are all greatly influenced by our relationship with our parents.How was this character's relationship with his/her parents? Whatkind of people were the parents? Did they have any oddbeliefs/habits that your character has adopted or is rebellingfrom? In one story I was working on I had two competingviolinists one from a family that was musically!oriented withmusician parents and one whose father considered it a greatdisappointment that his son did not play football as he had. "anyou see how these family relationships will affect the attitudes ofthe two violinists?

http://tinyurl.com/cb4n8le

http://tinyurl.com/lk4vzqw

http://tinyurl.com/lk4vzqw

http://tinyurl.com/cb4n8le



• What are your character's vices? #nfortunately we all havethem. $ vice for your character doesn't necessarily have to bedrinking or swearing!!perhaps your character is a compulsivespender. %erhaps your character's vice is something asinnocuous as a habitual over!consumption of sweets& maybe yourcharacter is a chocoholic. $nd perhaps your character has ustbeen diagnosed with diabetes. $s you can see what isconsidered a vice will depend largely on your character's situation.

• What are your character's pet peeves? (ometimes a person's petpeeve can give you insight into their personality and what thingsare important to them. )or e*ample one of my biggest pet peevesis people who say things like +the floor needs swept+ or +thedishes need washed+. )rom this you can tell that grammar isimportant to me ,and a good thing too or I would have a hardtime of it as a writer- If I had a character whose biggest petpeeve was having a pair of slacks without creases what wouldthat tell you?

• What is your character's typical daily schedule like? #nless yourstory is the sort that will completely disrupt the character's life andput everything in limbo you're going to have to weave your talearound this schedule. It wouldn't hurt to know what it is.

• What is your character's strong point? very story involveshardship and your character will need a way to survive thishardship. #sually this involves the character's strong personalitystrength or plays off of that strength somehow. (carlett 0'Harasurvived Gone With the Wind because of her strength of will hersingle!minded determination to get what she wanted. What isyour character's strength?

• What is your character's middle name? How does he/she feelabout it? (ome people are embarrassed by their middle names



other people are proud of them even preferring them to their firstnames. Does your character routinely use a middle initial?

• What about a nickname? Does your character want to be called1ill or William 1 Holladay the 2hird? (ometimes you can tell3uite a bit about someone by what their friends call them.

7. How does your character think of their father? What do they hateand love about him? What in-uence % literal or imagined % did thefather have?

8. heir mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? 9ove?What in-uence % literal or imagined % did the mother have?

:. rothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despiseabout their siblings?

;. What type of discipline was your character sub1ected to at home?6trict? 9enient?

<. Were they overprotected as a child? 6heltered?

=. Did they feel re1ection or a>ection as a child?

. What was the economic status of their family?

@. How does your character feel about religion?

A. What about political beliefs?

7B. #s your character street%smart, book%smart, intelligent, intellectual,slow%witted?

77. How do they see themselvesC as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?

78. How does their education and intelligence or lack thereof % re-ectin their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

7:. Did they like school? eachers? 6choolmates?



7;. Were they involved at school? 6ports? Elubs? Debate? Were theyunconnected?

7<. Did they graduate? High%6chool? Eollege? Do they have a &HD? +F*D?

7=. What does your character do for a living? How do they see theirprofession? What do they like about it? Dislike?

7. Did they travel? Where? Why? When?

7@. What did they 'nd abroad, and what did they remember?

7A. What were your characterGs deepest disillusions? #n life? What arethey now?

8B. What were the most deeply impressive political or social, nationalor international, events that they e0perienced?

87. What are your characterGs manners like? What is their type of hero?Whom do they hate?

88. Who are their friends? 9overs? GypeG or GidealG partner?

8:. What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel ofse0?

8;. What social groups and activities does your character attend? Whatrole do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?

8<. What are their hobbies and interests?

8=. What does your characterGs home look like? &ersonal taste?Elothing? Hair? +ppearance?

8. How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear theirclothing? 6tyle? uality?

8@. Who is your characterGs mate? How do they relate to him or her?How did they make their choice?

8A. What is your characterGs weaknesses? Hubris? &ride? Eontrolling?

:B. +re they holding on to something in the past? Ean he or sheforgive?



:7. Does your character have children? How do they feel about theirparental role? +bout the children? How do the children relate?

:8. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively?+ggressively? *vasively?

::. Do they drink? ake drugs? What about their health?

:;. Does your character feel self%righteous? 4evengeful?Eontemptuous?

:<. Do they always rationali)e errors? How do they accept disastersand failures?

:=. Do they like to su>er? 9ike to see other people su>ering?

:. How is your characterGs imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worriedmost of the time? 9iving in memories?

:@. +re they basically negative when facing new things? 6uspicious?Hostile? 6cared? *nthusiastic?

:A. What do they like to ridicule? What do they 'nd stupid?

;B. How is their sense of humor? Do they have one?

;7. #s your character aware of who they are? 6trengths? Weaknesses?

#diosyncrasies? Eapable of self%irony?

;8. What does your character want most? What do they need reallybadly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacri'ce, toobtain?

;:. Does your character have any secrets? #f so, are they holding themback?

;;. How badly do they want to obtain their life ob1ectives? How do theypursue them?

;<. #s your character pragmatic? hink 'rst? 4esponsible? +ll action? +visionary? &assionate? ui0otic?

;=. #s your character tall? 6hort? What about si)e? Weight? &osture?How do they feel about their physical body?



;. Do they want to pro1ect an image of a younger, older, moreimportant person? Does they want to be visible or invisible?

;@. How are your characterGs gestures? Iigorous? Weak? Eontrolled?Eompulsive? *nergetic? 6luggish?

;A. What about voice? &itch? 6trength? empo and rhythm of speech?&ronunciation? +ccent?

<B. What are the prevailing facial e0pressions? 6our? Eheerful?Dominating?

EH+4+E*4 *J*4E#K*6

7. H* M2$292FL*

2b1ectiveC 9earn a character"s insights, thoughts, and feelings.

*0erciseC Write a monologue 7 page/ that accurately portrays yourcharacter. What is heshe feeling at that moment? What is hisherhopes? Hisher fears? What does heshe love? Hate?

4ememberC he character is speaking to himherself.

HintsC Lse the character"s speech patterns and vocabulary % theirvoice.

8. H* 6&**EH

2b1ectiveC Lse e0position to learn a character"s past e0periences.

*0erciseC Write a speech 7 page/ in which your character describes,e0plains, tells, or preaches about a speci'c event, e0perience, or idea.Here are some suggestionsC

% *0plain hisher N#46 92I* +NN+#4.

% 4ecall hisher e0perience of D#6E2I*4#$F + D*+D 2D!.

% Describe the #4H 2N H#6H*4 N#46 EH#9D.

% 9ecture on a situation of #$*4$+#2$+9 M#9#+4! E2$N9#E.



% &reach about the &4+E#E+9 I+9L* 2N +H*#6M.

4ememberC he character is speaking to someone or even to a groupof people. Decide who your character is addressing. he speci'cs of

your character"s audience will a>ect word choice and presentation.

HintsC Lse the character"s speech patterns and vocabulary % theirvoice.

:. EH+4+E*4 *$I#42$M*$ 422MM+*6/

2b1ectiveC *0plore the things people surround themselves with thatde'ne character.

*0erciseC Describe a bedroom where two people live. hey can be

college roommates, siblings, lovers, husbandwife % itGs up to you. !ouare to describe the room three times in script form $2 D#+92FL* % W2 &+F*6 M+J#MLM/C

7/ he 'rst time the two people live in harmony.

8/ he second, there has been a 'ght between the two roommates.

:/ he third, one of the roommates has moved out.

4ememberC he tricky part is you are to describe only the room. here

are no people in any of these scenes. Lse ob1ects, furniture, clothes,etcO to di>erentiate between the two roommates. DonGt 1ust listob1ects. Write with a sense of discovery. he way in which you revealinformation is important. #t a>ects our understanding as well as ouremotions.

HintsC 6ubtle, but clear, changes should occur to the room as theirrelationship dissolves. We should know from the descriptions whothese people are, what happened, which one started the 'ght, whatthe 'ght was about and who moved out.

uestions that should be answeredC Who are these two people? Whatare their ages? What do they look like? How long have they livedtogether? What was the argument about? Who started it? How didthey deal with it? Who moved out?

;. EH+4+E*4 #2C L$+9* 2 92I*



2b1ectiveC Dig deep with a character, discovering background history,personality, psychology, and current goals.

*0erciseC Write a character biography 7 page/ of a person who isunable to love. ase this on someone you know. 3now everything

about this characterC looks, family, religion, childhood, etc. Lse thedetails of real life % the life you know. hen select from what you know,and describe the character in dramatic, cinematic terms % that is, inways that are of use to a screenwriter.

4ememberC Most of all, you must know and articulate the reason whythis character is unable to love. What is holding himher back? Whatdoes he or she fear will happen if heshe fear will happen if heshe fallsin love? 4e1ection? Eertain disappointment, e.g., was there oncesomeone he loved that no one can ever live up to?Ninally, how does heimagine himself at moments when he has a chance to love someone

but doesnGt? Nragile? ired? &rotective? $oble? Wise?

<. EH+4+E*4 #$42DLE#2$

2b1ectiveC Make your character stand out.

*0erciseC Write a scene 7%: pages/ that introduces your character. Lsedescription, props, wardrobe and dialogue that give your character aunique voice.

4ememberC #ntroduction scenes are often scenes of the Pstatus quoQ %the character living his or her everyday life before the inciting incidentpropels the character into a new con-ict.

HintsC +ction speak louder than words. #f your character is in a group,have them do something speci'c and unique that makes themmemorable and interesting.

*0ampleC E229 H+$D 9L3* 7A=/ % he opening scene to thescreenplay by Donn &earce and Nrank &ierson originally had twosections of dialogue of 9uke talking to himself as he cut o> the parking

meters. What you will read here is the way we see the 'nal edit of the'lm. Elearly, dialogue was unnecessary to illustrate 9uke"s tragic -awCde'ance.

character questionaire

Documents