Character Sheets
Gleaned from various workshops, tutorials and speakers, I use these bunch of questions when I need to get to know my characters. They ask pertinent details that get you thinking about goal, motivation and conflict, as well as back story. The best layout for these questions is in a Word table - simply copy the text here and paste it into Word.
Text copyright © 2011 by Paula Roe Cover art copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited.
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NOVEL TITLE
- Projected length
- Targeted market/publisher
PERSONAL DETAILS
- Names
- Reasons or meaning of names
- Possible nicknames and why
- Race/culture
- Religion
- Birthplace and year/date
- Basic astrological features
- Age
- How old does s/he look
- Hobbies/Interests
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Eye colour (descriptive tag)
- Eye type and shape
- Hair colour (descriptive tag)
- Hair style
- Weight
- Height
- Type of body or build
- Physical condition
- Skin tone/type
- Shape of face
- Distinguishing marks
- Physical Imperfections/ would most like to change
- Predominant features
- Most looks like
CHILDHOOD AND FAMILY
- Mother
- Her occupation/talents
- Relationship with her
- Father
- His occupation/talents
- Relationship with him
- Hometown
- Type of childhood
- First memory
- Most important childhood event/experience that still affects character (Primary Motivating Event)
- Current lifestyle of/ relationship to siblings
- Financial/social status of family of origin
PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS
- Married? Describe it
- Divorced? Reasons for the breakup?
- Single? Previous love experience
- Dependents
- Character’s attitude to relationships
- Character’s attitude to children
EDUCATION AND CAREER
- Where educated and highest level
- Best subject and why
- Worst subject and why
- Relationships at school
- Career goals when young
- Skills, abilities, talents
- Past occupations
- Current occupation
- Is this what they always wanted to do?
- If not, what changed their mind?
- Current income
- Occupational duties
- Feelings about current occupation
- How does character get on with boss/work mates
- How do work mates/boss perceive character
- Career ambitions
- Special occupational training
GENERAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
- To relax I like to...
- My biggest time waster is...
- I have a problem with...
- My life would be perfect if I could just...
- My friends say that I am...
- To achieve a higher level of happiness I would...
- I want to/don’t want to fall in love because...
- My ideal partner would be someone who...
- I’m most at ease when...
- I’m ill at ease when...
- My life philosophy is...
- I react in a crisis like...
- The most important person in my life (before the book begins) is... because...
- I spent the last week (before the book starts)...
- My biggest regret is... because...
- My biggest accomplishment is...
- My darkest secret is...
- These are the people who know about it...
- My biggest fear is...
CHARACTER TRAITS
- What gets the character into the most trouble?
- Basic personality – extroverted, introverted, independent, insecure, etc
- Other aspects of the character that influence how they think/feel
- Keyword which summarises and characterises their personality
- The character's self-descriptive quote