It is important to get to know your characters when writing. The more familiar you are with them, the better you will be able to bring them to life. Often what happens when people are writing shorter fiction, or writing for a young audience, they skip the “homework” and don’t develop their characters as fully. While this is faster, you may be doing a disservice to your readers, and to your story.

Those subtle details that pop up in your writing once you’re on a roll need to come from somewhere. Jared and I have both used the interview method to get to know our own characters better, so if any of you out there would like to try it – feel free to use the template below.

Just paste the questions into a word document, or a notes document, and answer the questions from a first person perspective as if you ARE your character.

Feel free to add questions to your interview as they come up. You may surprise yourself with what you learn in this process (I changed the entire planned plot of a novel once because of a secret I learned while interviewing the main character!!!). And don’t just limit yourself to main characters. Your supporting characters should all be playing integral roles as well – or you should be getting rid of them!

This particular interview was revised to fit creating characters for children’s and YA books – so if you’re writing adult fiction don’t hesitate to dig a little deeper into the closet for all the good skeletons.

Feel free to add any great questions to the comments box and let us know if you find out anything surprising during an interview!

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Character Sheet & Interview Questions

Name:

Sex:

Age:

Eyes:

Hair:

Body Type:

Facial  features:

Skin type/tone:

Ears:

Interesting physical characteristics:

Background:

Where and when were you born?

Where have you lived?

Family members?

Schooling?

Interview:

In what situation is your self esteem most at risk?

What are you keeping a secret?

What are you lying to yourself about? To others?

Is there anyone in your life that you are attracted to?

What scares you about this person?

What do you think he/she can do for you that no one else can?

What does this person know about you that no one else does?

How do you decide of you can trust someone?

How do you know you love someone?

What parts of loving come easy to you ?  Hard?

When you walk into a room what do you notice first? Second?

How would you change the world?  The things around you? The people around you?

How do you learn best?

What are your goals in life?

What unusual hobbies or interests do you have?

What are you most afraid of?

If you had one wish, what would it be?

What do you like best about yourself?

What do you like least about yourself?

What do you like best about your best friend?

What do you like least about your best friend?

What do you think other people think of you?

Teachers:

Other kids:

Best friends:

Parents:

Siblings:

Other family members:

What’s your greatest source of frustration?

What’s your greatest source of joy?

What are you especially proud of in your life?

If you could change anything about your life what would it be?