Day Thirty Four: Creating Characters

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When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends--Japanese proverb

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing--Abraham Lincoln

Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street--Elbert Hubbard

Today's exercise:
For this exercise you may use a character you've already written, or create a character from scratch. Imagine the character is sitting in a chair in front of you. If you don't have a clear vision/picture of your character, imagine that he/she is partially obscured or out of focus. Conduct an informal interview using the following questions or improvising with some of your own.

• What is the name of the character?
• How old is the character?
• What does the character look like?
• Is the character married or dating anyone?
• Does the character have any siblings or children?
• What is the character's family like?
• Where does the character live?
• Does the character live in a home or apartment?
• Who does the character live with?
• What type of education does the character have?
• What are the character's hobbies?
• What does the character do for a living?
• What does the character do when not working?
• Who is the character's best friend?
• Who is the characters enemy?
• Does the character have any secrets?
• What are the character's strengths and weaknesses?
• How does your character deal with conflict and change?
• What kind of childhood did your character have?

Now, allow your character to talk at length (at least one paragraph) about whatever question they would like to expand upon.
For an extremely detailed list of questions go here