10 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOUR CHARACTER

How can you write about what a character will do or say if you don't know how they think, or what is "in character" for them? If you're writing from the point of view of one or more of your characters, it's even more important to know them as well as you know yourself. Often, you need to be able to put yourself in a character's place, to get right inside their head to see what they're thinking. One way to do this is to ask them questions. These ten probing questions will get you started.

1) Who are you?
Answers to this question can range from simply a name to a deep exploration of the character's inner landscape. Asking a character this who they are may not tell you the character is, but who they think they are, which can be very revealing of their thought processes. Think of all the different ways you might answer this question yourself, and you'll see the range of possible information you might learn from a character.

2) What are you?
This question is similar to question one, but not quite the same. Different characters might see different distinctions between "who" and "what." Answers to "What are you?" might be something like, "I am a 15-year-old girl who likes to sing," or "I am a huge, green alien." Or they might be something like, "I am the one who mediates between the other members of my family," "I dream of being a dancer, but am afraid I'm too clumsy," and so on. The possibilities are wide open.

3) Where are you?
1. This question can be answered with locational information--such as the name of the country or city the character lives in--or more specifically: "I am sitting at the kitchen table in my mother's house, writing." The question can also be answered with information about time: "I am in the 27th century; AD 2675, to be exact." Or the answer can be about the "time" or "place" a character has reached in their life's journey: "I am at that point where I have to decide what to do with my life."

4) What are you like?
Asking what kind of person a character is can give you some interesting material to work with. You may not find out what the character really is like, but you will certainly find out what the character thinks they are like (if they answer honestly), or what the character wants you to think they are like (if they are less honest). The degree of honesty or dishonesty when they answer may not be conscious. However they answer, you'll get good material for characterization in your story.

5) What do other people think you're like?
The way a character thinks other people see them can tell you a lot about how that character sees herself. It can tell you how well the character's attempts to project a certain image fits with the way other people perceive that image. It can also tell you how self-deluded a character is. Imagine a character who thinks that everyone sees her as a sweet, giving person who helps everybody. But what if those other characters really think she is a stuck-up prig who only helps others to get praise?

6) Who are your friends?
This question is related to question 5, but has more to do with the characters perceptions of others. Which other characters does your character see as allies, and do those characters have the same perception? Also consider asking the character why those others are friends, and even how they became friends. The answers can give you important information about the relationships between your characters, information you can use in characterization and developing conflicts, among other things.

7) Who are your enemies?
Like question 6, this question explores relationships between characters. It can also tell you about the state of mind of individuals. What if a character thinks everyone is an enemy? Or how about if a character sees some others as enemies who think they are friends? Again, answers to this question will provide you with tools for characterization in your story, and for developing conflict and other interactions between characters. You might even find a subplot in there.

8) Why are you here?
This question can mean "Why are you here, in this place?" or "Why are you here, now?" or even "Why are you here, in this story?" Ask your character and see how they interpret it. Then see if you can find out why they are in the story. Of course, they're there because you put them there, but imagine your story was real--why is the character there? Because their best friend is? Because they're curious? Every character should have a reason to be in the story beyond you putting them in.

9) How did you get here?
Like question 8, the answer will depend on how "here" is interpreted. The answer can deal with the physical elements of a character's arrival--by car, on foot, along the highway, via a bicycle path--or the route through life that ended in their being in a particular place and time, in a particular story. What events or patterns of thought resulted in them being here (in whatever way you want to interpret "here").

10) What do you want?
This is the single most important question you can ask of a character, and you should ask it of every character--including background characters. You may find that the answer to this question is closely related to the answer to question 8. A character's reasons for being there (beyond the fact that you wrote them in) are probably closely tied to what they want to achieve. Every character need a motivation, and if you know what it is, you can write them more effectively.