Q: I am having a hard time keeping track of my character's motivations. Do you have any suggestions?
A: I have discovered an outline to help flush out a character's background so that their motivations and feelings make sense. It helped me develop a better understanding of each individual personality. I call it Character Development.
CHARACTER'S NAME:
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:
Shape of face:
Distinguishing Marks:
Predominant feature:
Physical disabilities:
Eye/Hair/Skin color:
FAVORITES:
Food:
Literature:
Expressions:
Mode of transportation:
Daredevil or cautious?
HABITS:
Smokes:
Drinks:
Other:
FAMILY:
Mother:
Father:
Siblings:
Other important relatives:
ATTITUDE:
Character's greatest fear:
What is the worst thing that could happen to him/her?
Character is most at ease when:
Past failure s/he would be embarrassed to have people know about:
If granted one wish, what would it be?
PERSONALITY:
Greatest source of strength in character's personality:
Greatest source of weakness in character's personality:
Character's soft spot:
Is this soft spot obvious to others?
If not, how does character hide it?
TRAITS:
Optimist or pessimist:
Introvert or extrovert:
Drives and motivations:
Talents:
Extremely skilled at:
Extremely unskilled at:
Good characteristics:
Character flaws:
Mannerisms:
Peculiarities:
Biggest regret:
Minor regrets:
Biggest accomplishment:
Minor accomplishments:
Character's darkest secret:
Does anyone else know?
If yes, did character tell them?
INTERRELATION WITH OTHERS:
Is character married? single? divorced?
How is s/he perceived by
Strangers?
Friends?
Wife/Husband/Lover?
Hero/Heroine?
How does character view hero/heroine?
First impression:
What happens to change this perception?
What do family/friends like most about character?
What do family/friends like least about character?
GOALS:
Immediate goals:
Long range goals:
How does character plan to accomplish these goals?
How will other characters be affected?
PROBLEMS/CRISIS:
How character reacts in a crisis:
Kinds of problems character usually runs into:
How character reacts to NEW problems:
How character reacts to change:
UNCATEGORIZED:
Person character secretly admires:
Person character was most influenced by:
Most important person in character's life before story starts:
How does character spend the week before the story starts?
