Ten Questions for Your Character

It’s time to do one of our favourite things: chat about our characters as if they’re real people. Whether you’re working on a novel, a short story or a script, we all know it takes time and thought to build a character who comes alive on the page. If you’ve already taken our ultimate character questionnaire, here are ten new questions to help you get to know your protagonist even better.
 

• What did/would your character do during lockdown? (Even if Covid will – understandably – not feature in the world of your novel, it’s useful to think about how they’d react when their everyday routine is taken away. Are they the friend who organised the Zoom quizzes each week or did they isolate themselves? Learnt a language or binge-watched endless Netflix shows? Worked out with Joe Wicks or snuck out to illegal raves?)

 

• What is the thing in their life they feel guiltiest about? What would they do if they were given an opportunity to atone for or correct it?

 

• What was the last thing they purchased?

 

• Last message they received?

 

• The last thing that made them truly angry?

 

• If they could live in any other time period, which would they choose? Why? Do they feel at home in the time they live in?

 

• If they had to describe their current state of mind in a single word, what would it be? How about three words? Five?

 

• What was the first thing they thought when they woke up this morning?

 

• What’s the last thing they do before they go to bed?

 

• What is the biggest mistake they’ve ever made? And what about their best decision?