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Hey guys! I know we’ve already had some of these topics, but I made another one! I don’t like to go into TOO much detail about my characters, but I’ve found that answering a few important questions can go a long way in fleshing them out.
I just made this questionnaire the other day, and it’s helped me a lot so far! If any of you wants to use it, I would love to read your answers for the character, or to know what you guys normally use for your characters!
Name (full, nickname, anything important) —
Race/desc. —
Personality type —
Are they confident or insecure? —
What/who do they love? —
What’s their relationship like with their family? —
Who else is important to them? —
Strongest character traits? —
Weakest character traits? —
What do they fear? —
Who do they relate to? —
What do they want? —
What do they need? —
(Note: what they want should relate to what they need, because ultimately the character will have to choose between the two.)
Are they impulsive or practical? —
What are their hobbies? —
What’s their job? —
Who do they trust? —
Do they trust easily? Why or why not? —
Who are they closest to? Who understands them? —
How do they change over the course of the story? —There is always light behind the clouds.
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott@esther-c @freedomwriter76 @euodia-vision @smiley @whalekeeper @kyronthearcanin @savannah_grace2009 @rae @highscribeofaetherium @jonas @spinner4him @aranel @everyone!
There is always light behind the clouds.
- Little Women, Louisa May AlcottA lot of these are things I ask already, but it’s useful to see them all in the same place.
One question though: what does “weakest character traits” refer to? Is that for negative traits, or does it relate to how dominant that trait is in their personality? It might be better to rephrase those two as “strengths” and “weaknesses” instead, or just to consolidate them into a single “character traits.”
🏰 Fantasy Writer
✨ Magic System Creator
🎭 Character RPer
📚 Appreciator of BooksI use it to mean negative traits, but you’re right, it’s a little confusing. I’ll change that.
Lol never mind, can’t edit it anymore.
There is always light behind the clouds.
- Little Women, Louisa May AlcottThis is a good idea! 😃 (Can I share my questionnaire answers?)
“What be a cretin?”
“Of course you wouldn’t know. It’s a… bread you put in salad.”Usually, I just develop my character’s personality in my head, and don’t write about it really. A lot of my old characters I know really well at this point, but newer ones I only have a general idea. Using a questionnaire like this might help me speed up the process.
🏰 Fantasy Writer
✨ Magic System Creator
🎭 Character RPer
📚 Appreciator of Books@hybridlore @anyone
So, I decided to create a doc and just put all the characters I’ve created into it and do the questionnaire for each of them in there, but one thing I realized is that this questionnaire doesn’t necessarily work for non-major characters. Side characters aren’t supposed to be super fleshed out, they’re supposed to be flat, so which questions do you think should be kept/removed to make a questionnaire for side characters. I suppose there are multiple levels of “flatness,” so it might depend on the character which ones are relevant.
🏰 Fantasy Writer
✨ Magic System Creator
🎭 Character RPer
📚 Appreciator of Books- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 692
Name (full, nickname, anything important) — Alec “Lick” Eaton
Race/desc. — Human
Personality type — Ambivert
Are they confident or insecure? — Insecure
What/who do they love? — His love interest Jessica
What’s their relationship like with their family? — He hates his father due to his abuse and barely knows his mother. No siblings.
Who else is important to them? — Jessica, his best friend, Kyle
Strongest character traits? — leadership, true friend
Weakest character traits? — easily angered, physically abusive when angry
What do they fear? — Losing those he loves, being hurt physically and emotionallyWho do they relate to? — He relates to both Kyle and Jessie as they all have been abused by someone
What do they want? — friends, not losing loved ones
What do they need? — someone he can trust that won’t leave him
(Note: what they want should relate to what they need, because ultimately the character will have to choose between the two.)
Are they impulsive or practical? — practical.
What are their hobbies? — sports, studying, reading
What’s their job? — teaching sports to younger kids
Who do they trust? — Jessica and Kyle (for awhile, his mentor, Mike
Do they trust easily? Why or why not? — No way! He’s been betrayed way too many times!
Who are they closest to? Who understands them? — Jessica and Kyle
How do they change over the course of the story? — He becomes a Christian and isn’t angered as easily- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 692
Name (full, nickname, anything important) — Jessica “Jessie or Jessi” (no last name as of yet)
Race/desc. — Human
Personality type — introvert
Are they confident or insecure? — insecure
What/who do they love? — Alec Eaton, her oldest brother and oldest sister
What’s their relationship like with their family? — Her mom, twin brother and younger siblings all hate her, her dad’s a workaholic and she barely knows him, and she adores her 2 oldest siblings but they moved away
Who else is important to them? — Alec and her 2 oldest siblings are it
Strongest character traits? — Smart, kind
Weakest character traits? — Socially awkward, easily offended and emotional
What do they fear? — Her mother, being away from Alec
Who do they relate to? — Alec
What do they want? — Alec to be/stay her friend
What do they need? — Someone to trust
(Note: what they want should relate to what they need, because ultimately the character will have to choose between the two.)
Are they impulsive or practical? — practical
What are their hobbies? — reading, writing, drawing
What’s their job? — librarian
Who do they trust? — Alec Eaton, her 2 oldest siblings
Do they trust easily? Why or why not? — She does with Alec but everyone else she doesn’t, she’s been abused too many times
Who are they closest to? Who understands them? — Her 2 oldest siblings, Alec
How do they change over the course of the story? — She learns to trust again, she becomes a Christian- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 692
Name (full, nickname, anything important) — Kyle “Ky” Peter Smith
Race/desc. — Human
Personality type — very introverted
Are they confident or insecure? — very insecure
What/who do they love? — Alec, his mother, 2 sisters and grandpa
What’s their relationship like with their family? — His mom’s dad is the only one living and lives at his home, his mother works but also takes care of his family, making sure to spend plenty of time with them, his sisters can be annoying but also his best friends, his dad faked his death when Kyle was 2 so he never really met him and definitely doesn’t remember him
Who else is important to them? — Alec, his family (besides his dad), God
Strongest character traits? — Kind, Christian
Weakest character traits? — Doesn’t trust easily, is bitter towards his father
What do they fear? — abuse
Who do they relate to? — Alec
What do they want? — To have a trustworthy friend
What do they need? — A friend, one he can rely on
(Note: what they want should relate to what they need, because ultimately the character will have to choose between the two.)
Are they impulsive or practical? — practical
What are their hobbies? — He doesn’t have time for hobbies
What’s their job? — He’s a slave to one of the villain’s henchmen
Who do they trust? — Alec, his mother, grandpa, and sisters
Do they trust easily? Why or why not? — No, besides his family and Alec, he’s been betrayed and abused too many times
Who are they closest to? Who understands them? — His family and Alec. Alec
How do they change over the course of the story? — He forgives his dad and learns to trust- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 692
Name (full, nickname, anything important) — Benjamin Eaton
Race/desc. — Human
Personality type — extroverted
Are they confident or insecure? — overly confidentWhat/who do they love? — His wife and son
What’s their relationship like with their family? — his wife left him and his son hates him, his parents stopped contacting him after he didn’t respond for years
Who else is important to them? — That’s it
Strongest character traits? — Smart, organized
Weakest character traits? — greedy for power, overconfident/prideful, easily offended
What do they fear? — Not being in control
Who do they relate to? — His mentor and nephew
What do they want? — To be in control and have power
What do they need? — power/control
(Note: what they want should relate to what they need, because ultimately the character will have to choose between the two.)
Are they impulsive or practical? — impulsive
What are their hobbies? — tinkering
What’s their job? — Engineer, politics
Who do they trust? — His closest henchman, Mike
Do they trust easily? Why or why not? — No, his past abuse made him skeptical of others
Who are they closest to? Who understands them? — His mentor and his henchman, Mike
How do they change over the course of the story? — He gets caught, doesn’t change though*Is trying to think of a character to use this on* *Doesn’t want to spoil anything in Healer/the sequel* XD
Oh btw I think I might call the sequel “Outlaw,” to fit the character sort of like “Healer” did. 😉
You can make anything by writing - C. S. Lewis
lol! Thats how I’m feeling… I might have to share side characters or something….
“What be a cretin?”
“Of course you wouldn’t know. It’s a… bread you put in salad.”So, I decided to create a doc and just put all the characters I’ve created into it and do the questionnaire for each of them in there, but one thing I realized is that this questionnaire doesn’t necessarily work for non-major characters. Side characters aren’t supposed to be super fleshed out, they’re supposed to be flat, so which questions do you think should be kept/removed to make a questionnaire for side characters. I suppose there are multiple levels of “flatness,” so it might depend on the character which ones are relevant.
Sorry it took me so long to respond to this, lol. Yeah, I see what you’re saying. So far I’ve used it on a few of my side characters, but I think it depends on the arc you’re giving the character and their role in the story. And I actually think that side characters are supposed to be fleshed out–that’s what makes them more realistic–but not too detailed to the point where they become too big in the story, unless that’s the point, if that makes sense.
For a character I need a little info on, but not a large amount, I would probably just ask myself:
Personality type —
Are they confident or insecure? —
Strengths—
Weaknesses—
Are they impulsive or practical? —
Do they trust easily? Why or why not? —
Who are they closest to?—And then depending on the role of the character,
What do they fear? —
What do they want? —
What do they need? —I think wants/needs are most important for the main characters, but any character that’s going to play a major role in the story should probably have them, too. Unless you’re going for a completely flat character. Anyway, hopefully that helped. I really tried to just narrow it down to questions I felt were actually important, but I think these are the biggest ones.
@sarafini
Awesome!
Sorry, I didn’t get your tag for some reason.. :/
Oh I love that!! It works so perfect with the first title XD and it sounds really cool.
There is always light behind the clouds.
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
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