Young Writers Society

I've noticed that pretty much almost (and I say "almost" as in "rarely") every time I've looked for character profile question ares to fill out for my characters, most of them have questions that would apply to characters in a modern day fantasy world rather than something similar to Middle-Earth and the like. Questions such as "what kind of coffee does the character drink?" are not the kind of questions I'm looking for. So I was wondering what questions YOU would find ideal for characters in a fantasy world that you may have created.

Questions such as "What kind of coffee do they drink" are really not important- more fun- questions. You only need a few main questions i think about a character to get them substained.

There is no point listing every single detail, every little bit about your character as there is no room for development if everything is already set out for them. And your never going to be able to list every single detail.

Some good ones are:

Appearance:
Age:
Born:
Name meanings:
Personality:
Bio:
Family:
Likes:


If you want to add more details in, then do so. You should really focus on more important things that just things that you might never use in your story

~2pence worth.

I usually go with:

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Born:
Personality:
History:
Relationship(s):
Flaws:
Hobbies:
Habits:

It's just nice to get it down on paper, and some people like to record the smallest details - but usually their more for a fun thing that only you'll know.

I think writing extensively about a character in the sections of a profile that do apply is most beneficial. I know that Character Skeletons and Conflict Charts (and a writing tip further down) have been most beneficial to my character development, but it varies for everyone.

To add to everyone elses points, I think you also need to put down any distinguishing features, it adds character and helps you visualise them.
Oh, and also you might want to delve quite deeply into their history. I find that quite useful when writing fantasy.

Bedhead

It's going to depend on the world, but stuff about the characters attitudes towards certain things can be very important. I was never one for character charts or questionaires, but certain questions pop up often, usually relating aspects of worldbuilding to what a character thinks about them.



What is the characters attitudes towards magic? Creatures that are magical? are there certain types of magic that they consider to be bad/good/some other value? how common are these beliefs?

What do they think about the government in place? Do they even care that much? likewise: if there is a local system of religion, do they agree with it? what's the norm? Are they involved/not involved to any appreciable extent?

How did they grow up? How does this compare to other people in their world/in their area/others they know?

What do they think about technology?

If there's a class system, how aware of it is the character? How involved?

I would debate that knowing what coffee your character drinks is important no matter the world. But I wont. As for me, I second everything WD has to say, I also have different templates of interviews set up and when I first create a character I interview them. Character development like research is weird in the way that you don't just vomit everything on the page, you space it out, you add subtle hints, and a lot of it doesn't come out on the page in flashing neon lights.

You could take these 'fun' questions and put them in your world - take coffee, what is teh equivilant in the world you've created? Is there even anything like it. If it were what is their favourate tv programme, think about what they do instead (is it reading, performing, singing, like in the past...), is there something as destructive as tv in the world or with similar effects...

Hhhhhhhmmm... It would certainly strengthen the world and environment they live in than the character themselves. But it could be fun...