This is something I picked up from a creative writing book called The Five-Minute Writer; I don't know how we could do this on this forum but it's useful if you belong to a writers' circle. If not, just respond to as many questions as you can in five minutes.
In the group exercise, you write down a character's name and approx. age. Then you pass the sheets around the room, responding to each prompt, much like in the game "Consequences," until you have a bank of suggestions that can "plump up thin characters."
Here's the list (add to it if you so wish):
1. Whom does your character turn to for advice?
2. What are the character's "hidden" attributes: qualities known to the person but not to others?
3. What are their "blind" attributes: ones they cannot see but others know of. (Remember, these can be positive as well as negative.)
4. Identify a frightening moment or situation from their childhood.
5. With whom does he/she feel most relaxed or at ease?
6. What is their driving force in life?
7. What is the first thing people notice about them? (This doesn't just have to be visual.)
8. Who is their best friend?
9. Name an event or incident the character would prefer to forget.
10. In close relationships, are they more likely to be the comforter or the comforted?
11. When the character is angry, how does he/she express it? (If they don't get angry, what does he/she do instead?)
12. Are they a spender or a saver?
13. What is their weakness?
14. What is their relationship to food? (E.g. where, when and what do they eat? Are they overweight? Eating habits?)
15. (My own.) If their plane crashed on a desert island, what three things would they save and why?
16. (My own.) What is their worst fear?
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