Young Writers Society

Here's a bunch of questions to flesh out a great character; it's a conglomeration of other questionnaires I've found on the Internet, and I have no claim on any of them. Hope it helps you make great characters!!!


Character Profile Worksheet 1
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Name:

Reason for Name:

Hometown:

Current Residence:

Talents/Skills:

Birth order:

Siblings (describe relationship):

Spouse (describe relationship):

Children (describe relationship):

Relationship skills:

Height:

Weight:

Age:

Eye Color:

Body Type:

Scars (if any):

Tattoos (if any):

Unusual proportions:

Style of Clothes:

Hair Type:

Hair Color:

Shape of Eyes:

Jewelry:

Shape of Nose:

Length of Hair:

Glasses or contact lenses?

Skin color:

Shape of Face:

Distinguishing features:

How does he/she dress?

Mannerisms:

Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.)

Health:

Hobbies:

Favorite Saying/s:

Speech patterns:

Disabilities:

Style (Elegant, shabby etc.):

Greatest flaw:

Best quality:

How they walk:

How their voice sounds:

Accent:

Sentence Structure:

Vocabulary:

Pace of Speech:

Fingers clumsy or deft:

Any Mental Illnesses?

Character's short-term goals in life:

Character's long-term goals in life:

How does Character see himself/herself?

How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others?

How self-confident is the character?

Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof?

What would most embarrass this character?

Sensitivity level (tactful, unaware, empathetic, uncaring):

Social type (extrovert, introvert, leader, follower, loner):

Level of Responsibility Generally Assumed:

Ethical Background:

Political Standings:

Dependency Level:

Educational Background:

What’s their dirty little secret that no one else knows about?

Consciously or subconsciously know what they do:

Strengths/Weaknesses:

Introvert or Extrovert?

How does the character deal with anger?

With sadness?

With conflict?

With change?

With loss?

What does the character want out of life?

What would the character like to change in his/her life?

What motivates this character?

What frightens this character?

What makes this character happy?

Is the character judgmental of others?

Is the character generous or stingy?

Is the character generally polite or rude?

Does the character believe in God?

What are the character's spiritual beliefs?

Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life?

What do they use as transportation?

What does their apartment/house look like?

Where do they get her income?

Where do they frequent?

Who are their friends & where did they meet them?

What do they like to eat?

Where did they go to school?

Any pets?

What’s in their wallet or purse at any one time?

Biography: (A paragraph will do)


Body Type: (wiry/agile/works out/thin/skinny/small-boned/sturdy)

Face Type: (baby face/sharp/chiseled/gaunt/lean/puffy/square/rectangular/ oval/expressionless/stolid)

Complexion: (ivory white/cream and coffee)

Career:

Prejudices:

Best Qualities: (List three or four)

Worst Qualities:

Weaknesses:

Past Successes?

What is the character most proud of?

Past Failures?

What is the character least proud of?

What opportunities have been missed?

What does the character most regret?

What were/are family like? Abusive? Supportive? Alcoholic?

Marital status/history?

When and how did s/he discover sex?

If single, is there a significant other?

Best friend(s)?

Lover?

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
Ears?Hands/fingers?Hair length? Legs?Nose? Cheeks?Beard?Mustache?Arms? Butt?Nose?

Body:
Fat? Bloated? Thin? Bony? Frail? Muscular? Stocky?

Movement:
Clumsy? Graceful? Stiff? Leisurely? Smooth? Brisk?

Walk:

Military? Brisk? Saunter? Hip-swaying? Leisurely? Graceful? Clumsy?

Complexion:

Sallow? Pale? Ruddy? Blotchy? Pockmarked? Pimply? Glowing?

Gestures:

Animated? None? Big & sweeping? Small & economical?


How does the character see the future?

What makes life worthwhile for the character?

What does the character see as worth dying for?

What does the character most hate?

What does the character try to avoid?

What is the character most fixated on?

Any chemical substance use/abuse?

How does the character handle change?

Can the character easily empathize with others?

Does the character experience severe mood swings?

How does the character see his/herself?

What kind of a person would the character want to be?

How far away is s/he from achieving this ideal?

What strengths does the character think s/he has?

What weaknesses does the character think s/he has?

Current Driving Motivations
Greed? Power? Love? Revenge? Money? Material Possessions? Winning? Territory? Lust? Hatred? Freedom? Self-respect? Respect from others? Curiosity? Life/survival?

Internal/External?
How does the character know when he's doing a good job? Must the feedback come from outside of him/herself?

Does the character look at things from the perspective of what's in it for him/her?

What does character want or what doesn't the character want?

Does your character respond to the world by trying to find similarities or dissimilarities?

What does it take to convince your character of something?

How does the character decide something is true? Does he/she have to see it happen?

Does the character have to hear others say it's true? Does he/she have to be involved with it directly to believe? Does he or she have to read it in print? How often does this truth have to be demonstrated? (Once, two or more, over a period of time, consistently?)

Motivated by possibility or necessity?

Does the character tend to do things only when he or she must? Or is he or she motivated by he or she wants to do, seeking out options, experiences, choices, paths?

Is the character only happy when working independently? Does the character function better as part of a group? Or does the character prefer to work with people while maintaining sole responsibility for a task?

Behaviors
Is the character typically a leader or a follower?

What kind of public face does the character display normally?

How does the character show affection/love?

How does the character show handle grief? Can the character cry?

How does the character handle pain?

Is the character self-effacing?

Does the character apologize frequently?

Does the character have a temper? How is it displayed: actively or passive-aggressively?

Can the character keep a secret?

Would the character drop everything and help a friend in need?

Is the character always there for a friend in need?

Does the character "crutch" on other people?

Does the character like to be the center of attention all of the time?

Does the character tell friends what's wrong with them?

When a person is telling a story, does the character always try to outdo that person with one of his or her own?

Does the character have a clique of friends s/he associates with to the exclusion of others?

Is it easy for character to find good things about others?

Does the character promise to do things and then forget?

What role does humor play in the character's life?

What kind of energy level does this person typically display?

Habits/Mannerisms
Chews gum? Smoke? Cigar, cigarette, or pipe? Drugs? Nervous twitch? Plays with mustache? Twirls hair? Twiddles fingers? Plays with beard? Doesn't walk under ladders? Doodles? Compulsive organizer? File-pile artist? Favorite jargonese? Sucks on Lifesavers? Drinks alcohol? Drinks coffee? Favorite candy? Morning ritual? Nighttime ritual? Drinks soda pop? Reads before bed? Sleeps on bus? Reads on bus? Gig line always straight? Military/business haircut? Whistles? Plays music to think or calm down? Picks nose? Pulls at ear? Holds chin in hand when listening? Oscillating leg? Moistens lips? Chronic U-know-itis or equivalent? Pushes glasses up on nose? Hums? Favorite clothing? Talks/mumbles to self? Folds arms? Steeples fingers? Sniffles? Clears throat? Eats in exaggerated delicate fashion? Compulsive cleaner? Calling card? Makes body contact? Talks same subjects? Symbol/sign? Falls asleep during presentations? Hand on knee? Sidles close? Hand or arm on shoulder? Taps foot? Stutters? Trances when thinking? Walk or run daily? Blinks a lot? Closes eyes when talking intimately? Nervous grooming? Cracks knuckles Nervous grinning? Pencil tapping?

Does your character habitually lead off conversation with verbalisms like "so I said . . .," "let me ask you a question . . .," "I've been thinking . . .," "ya, but . . .," etc.?

Does the character talk incessantly? Seldom? Only when important s/he do so?

How Others See the Character
Kind? Generous? Fun-loving? Nervous? Loving? Angry? Irritable? Cheerful? Depressed? Polite? Clean? Dirty? Cool? Warm? Stern? Easy-going? Mellow? Curious? Intelligent? Stupid? Ignorant? Perky/lively? Honest? Sneaky? Docile/meek? Courageous? Stubborn? Timid? Loyal? Trusting? Doubting? Outgoing? Persistent? Respectful? Irreverent? Principled? Patient? Impatient? Sharing? Stingy? Cruel? Manipulating? Suspicious? Aloof? Deceitful? Dishonest? Destructive? Accident-prone? Greedy? Sadistic? Masochistic? Power-hungry? Crazy? Forgetful? Hedonistic? Rebellious? Independent? Dependent? Impulsive? Meticulous? Insecure? Self-assured? Patronizing? Reclusive? Unfriendly? Slothful/sloppy? Unprincipled? Unscrupulous? Vengeful? Weak/vapid? Withdrawn? Spontaneous? Introverted? Extroverted? Self-centered?

What is most likable about the character?

What is most disagreeable about the character?

How do others react to the character?

I love filling out these things for my characters...don't know why...but they are pretty helpful. Let you get to know who they are a little bit more!

Just remember... filling these things out can be immense fun, bu sometimes can distract you from the story. I've done those RPG stories where you fill it in, and later on I've changed everything about the character besides the name. So this is good, but never let this stand in the way of a story... and don't get too nit-pickish over details. And be careful! Sometimes hen you fill out these lists, sometimes you rush to finish it, only realizing later your character was too hastily drawn.

That is absolutely true. Don't get so into the questionnaire that you forget about the story; only use it to flesh out the motivations of why the character might do something. I also use an article from Writer's Digest that asks, "Who Will This Hurt?" It basically says, who will be hurt (emotional or physically) by the events of the story? What can go wrong? After you're done with all that, add more things that can go wrong. I did that for a story I'm currently working on, and it's turned out to be a great story. I filled this sheet out for the main character to help explain why everything devastates him so much; but you're totally right, Snoink. Thanks for pointing that out.

Oh, I do these things for my characters all the time, but never with this much stuff! This is great thank you so much! I think it's really important to know a lot about your character, even if you don't use a lot of it because it really helps me write about them and their actions.

I will definitely do this to help expand my characters.

SingingTelegram wrote:Here's a bunch of questions to flesh out a great character; it's a conglomeration of other questionnaires I've found on the Internet, and I have no claim on any of them. Hope it helps you make great characters!!!


Birth order: ...


Speech patterns:...


Sentence Structure:...


Does the character "crutch" on other people? ...

On those first three I wasn't really sure what you meant, and um... what do you mean by "crutch?"

Ooooh, not only will tis be fun, but I can make sure my characters have FLAWS!
That's really helpful. If there is one thing that annoys me, it's how some people make their characters perfect. A character witha tragic past is still perfect, because they don't get all depressed and such by it. So, good!

Joe, try not to double-post. If you need to add to your previous statement, use the edit button.

Anyway, to answer your question, birth order means whether they were first born, third of five, etc. It's how many kids there were at the time of his birth, including him, if that makes any sense. Speech patterns and sentence structure, by my guess, would just mean how the character talks, although I'm not sure of the specifics. Finally, I would guess that "crutch" means leaning on the other characters, or using them to help himself.

Hope that helped. This is a very thorough and helful questionnaire for sure.

Thanks Bobo. Sorry about the double posting. I did the first post about a week before my other one, so I guess I thought someone would have posted again already.

These things are really helpful, but if you then take this and just write a few random scenes with the character you've created, it really gets the character into your head just a little bit more. This is a great place to start though.

This is such a big help! Now i really do care about my characters and wont kill them all off while im in a bad mood, I'm extreamly good at that!

This makes making a character easier, thanks.

Wow! Would you believe that took up eight pages on Word?!

I've already started doing synopses on my characters, and I'm quite proud of how much I've outlined so far, but this should really help when I start doing my more detailed, longer summaries. So thanks for that!


~KayJuran~

I only used a few of the questions, my novel characters are based on real people so I don't really need to get to know what they might feel or think about.

This is quite helpful for other short stories.