Character Development Worksheet

This is something I've posted on another site and a friend asked me for a copy of it and suggested I post it here to help all of you out. Filling out a fun questionairre on your characters can be a great way to get to know them better. It's one of my essential tools when I'm brainstorming a story.

Character Development Questions

1) What is your full name? What name do you go by and why?
2) What do you look like? What are your best and worst features?
3) What is your birth date? Do you celebrate or avoid it and why?
4) How do you prefer to dress? Do you wear any jewelry?
5) What are your parents and siblings names? How old are your siblings? Do you get along?
6) What type of people do you fit in best with?
7) Who are your friends? Enemies?
8) Who is your role model or idol?
9) Do you have any hobbies? Sports? Interests? Talents?
10) What do/did you want to be when you grow up?
11) What kind of music do you like? Movies? Books?
12) Do you have any bad habits? What habits in others can't you stand?
13) What do you do to relax? What do you do to have fun?
14) What is your favorite food? Drink?
15) Does anything in particular embarrass you?
16) Are you agreeable or do you argue your point?
17) Do you have a temper?
18) Who is the most important person in the world to you?
19) Is there anything you're afraid of?
20) Do you have any secrets?
21) What is your most prized possession?
22) Which of the five senses is strongest~or do you notice most? Sight, taste, touch, smell, or hearing?
23) What is your most powerful memory? Or do you not have one?
24) What quality do you most respect in others?
25) What is your best quality? Honesty, integrity, loyalty, honor?

Just add lines to write your answers on and you've got a great way to get to know your character. What are some of the tricks you use to develop your characters?

~Heather

Fixing Character Errors

Unless you have only one reoccurring character in your novel there is a very good chance that somewhere you made a mistake where they are concerned. I have a few tricks I use to help me keep track of every character detail so I don't accidentally change an eye color, age, or something else. The first thing I do is start a notebook at the outlining stages of my novel. I jot down every main and supporting characters description, birth dates, any habits, catch phrases, or quirks of their personality. This helps reduce the amount of errors I have to look for when it comes time to edit.

Once the novel is finished I get a different colored highlighter for each of my reoccurring characters. I go through and highlight every time they appear in the novel, whether it is dialogue, action, or just an appearance. Then I cross reference with my description in my notebook and make sure I haven't made any mistakes. I almost always do.

After that I take note of how often a character showed up in the novel and what type of scene it was, tension, action, or development. Sometimes I find that I have to add scenes because I didn't develop an important character enough. Sometimes this reveals that a character is unnecessary and it results in having to cut them from the novel. The end result is not only stronger characters, but a stronger novel as well.
 
Whatever method you use, just be sure that you are checking your character details to make sure they stayed consistent throughout the novel. I once ended up with a character with two different colored eyes. It was not on purpose. Worse, I almost sent a partial of it out! Don't let this happen to you!
 
~Heather

Characters: The Key To Success

Creating a living, breathing character that readers sympathize with, love, or hate is often the key to a successful novel. Coming up with one that isn't clique or run of the mill is the hard part. How many tough P.I.'s with a penchant for drinking and fast women, or teen girls pining for the untouchable guy have you read about? Far too many I imagine. Does that mean you can't put one in your story? No, not at all. However, if you want your novel to be successful all elements of your characters cannot be clique.

Your main character, or characters, must have depth. Not to say you can't have a shallow character. Every now and then I love a shallow character but even they have to have depth. Think of why they're shallow, what made them that way? There's your depth! Adding small things like habits, nuances, likes, and dislikes will make them more relatable. If readers can't relate with your characters in some way they probably won't keep reading.

One very important thing to remember is that your characters shouldn't be too perfect. If they're gorgeous, charismatic, and completely without flaws they aren't going to be someone readers will sympathize with. In reality, no one is without flaws, our characters shouldn't be either. They don’t have to be physical flaws, they can be emotional. A flawed character is a beautiful character. If you tend to make your characters too perfect make that your mantra.

How does one come up with characters? Observation of people is one of the best ways. Take a little bit from here, a little from there, and create someone unique. I'll reveal a secret of mine here. Sometimes I'll do those personal questionaires, you know the fun ones will all the questions about your likes, dislikes, and history. It creates a great spring board for ideas. Remember to have fun with it!

~Heather