I put this up ages ago before the board crash and just thought it should appear again. It's a handy resource that I made myself. Basically, if you are creating a character, you need to know the answer to every single one of the following questions to really get an idea of who they are. And you can't say "I don't know" to anything! If you use it and it works, please feel free to show us. Hope you find it useful!
Note: It is written for real world stories and some of the things in it are English so if something doesn't make sense, I'm sorry! Just skip it or ask me what it means or something. It can be altered slightly for fantasy settings.
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1. What is the full name of your character?
2. What is their date of birth?
3. What race are they?
4. Where were they born?
5. How tall is he/she?
6. How much does he/she weigh?
7. What is his/her hair like?
8. Is it natural or does he/she do something to it?
9. What are his/her eyes like?
10. What is his/her skin like?
11. What is his/her facial shape like?
12. What are his/her facial features like? (Eyebrows, nose, cheeks, ears, etc)
13. If male, does he have facial hair? What is it like?
14. What is his/her torso like?
15. What are his/her arms like?
16. What are his/her hands like?
17. What are his/her legs like?
18. What are his/her feet like?
19. What is his/her shoe size?
20. Does your character have any distinct features?
21. What is his/her stance like?
22. What are the general facial expressions of your character?
23. How does your character walk?
24. How does your character run?
25. How does your character dress? Describe three common outfits that he/she wears.
26. How does your character speak?
27. What is your characters speaking manner?
28. Does your character gesture a lot while speaking?
29. What habits does your character have? (Good and bad!)
30. Does your character have any catchphrases?
31. What are the full names of your characters parents?
32. What are their ages, nationalities and dates of birth?
33. What do they look like?
34. Are they still married? Are they still alive? How did they meet? When did they get married?
35. Give details of anything else we should know about them.
36. Does your character have any siblings? What are their names?
37. What are their dates of birth? Are they in relationships?
38. What do they look like?
39. Give details of anything else we should know about them.
40. What other relatives does your character have? Give appropriate details on them, depending on how important they are to the story.
41. What is the familys social class?
42. How did they reach this class?
43. Does the family have any traditions?
44. Does the family have any heirlooms?
45. Does the family have any stories that are passed down through generations?
46. What is your characters occupation?
47. How long have they held this position and how did they get it?
48. Is this the job they wanted or were they forced into it? What did they want to do?
49. Do his/her parents approve of this job or do they wish they were something else?
50. What other jobs has your character had?
51. Does your character enjoy his/her job?
52. What hobbies does your character have?
53. Does he/she like people who have the same hobbies?
54. Why does he/she enjoy these hobbies?
55. Who is his/her employer? Describe him/her.
56. Who does he/she work with? Describe at least four co-workers.
57. What is your characters religion?
58. Is this forced or is it a decision that they made? Have they always had religion?
59. Does your character have any titles?
60. What is his/her status in society?
61. What is his/her reputation?
62. What is the name of his/her best friend?
63. What is his/her date of birth, nationality and occupation?
64. How long have their been friends? How did they meet?
65. Give any other details about this friend. Give details of anything.
66. What is his/her martial status?
67. Has he/she ever been married or in a serious relationship?
68. Does he/she have any children? If male, does he perhaps have any children he is unaware of?
69. Give details of these children.
70. What is his/her full address?
71. How long has he/she lived here? Does he/she like it?
72. Does he/she own it or rent it?
73. Describe all the rooms, their colours and furnishings.
74. What motivates your character?
75. What are your characters lifetime goals? Have they achieved any? Are there some they will probably never achieve?
76. What food does your character like most?
77. Is there any food that he/she does not like?
78. What food does he/she have a total weakness?
79. In general, what does your character like?
80. In general, what does your character dislike? Is there anything he/she totally abhors?
81. What is the nature of your character?
82. What is the demeanour of your character?
83. Does your character have any mental or physical disabilities?
84. What quirks does your character have?
85. Does your character smoke or take drugs?
86. Have their ever done either of the above?
87. Do they drink alcohol? How much? Do they have alcoholic problems? Did they ever?
88. What is your characters favourite colour? And worst? Why?
89. Does he/she have any pets?
90. Did he/she ever have any? What were their names?
91. Does he/she still remember them?
92. Are there any pets he/she wants to get?
93. What is his/her earliest childhood memory?
94. Does he/she often think about his/her childhood? Was it a happy childhood?
95. Was he/she bought up well? Where was he/she bought up? What was the address?
96. Who has your character telephoned at three oclock in the morning?
97. When has your character intentionally set out to hurt someone? Why?
98. What are the three secrets that your character would never tell anyone?
99. Who does he/she trust more than anyone else?
100. Who does he/she respect more than anyone else?
101. Which historical figures does he/she admire? What about living people?
102. What pushes your characters buttons?
103. What makes your character happy?
104. What makes your character angry?
105. What makes your character upset?
106. What makes your character depressed?
107. What makes your character excited?
108. What makes your character scared?
109. When was the last time he/she was really worried? Why?
110. What confuses him/her?
111. Who would he/she take a bullet for?
112. Who was his/her teenage crush? Why? Did they find out?
113. How many partners has he/she had?
114. How old was he/she when he/she had his/her first kiss?
115. When did your character lose his/her virginity? Was it an accident?
116. When was the last time your character was drunk or stoned? What happened?
117. Where did he/she go on his/her last holiday? What happened on it?
118. What about the first holiday they ever went on?
119. What other places in the world has he/she been to?
120. Did he/she go to school? What was it called?
121. Who was his/her favourite teacher? Worst?
122. What grades did he/she get for GCSEs?
123. What grades did he/she get for A-Levels?
124. Did he/she go to university? Did he/she enjoy it?
125. What grades did he/she get at university?
126. What is the biggest risk he/she has ever made?
127. What is the biggest mistake he/she has ever made?
128. When did he/she panic most? Why?
129. What incident could be used against him/her if she ever ran in government?
130. What award did he/she win in the school yearbook?
131. Describe the worst date of his/her life.
132. What is his/her favourite book? How many times has he/she read it?
133. What is his/her favourite song?
134. What is his/her favourite film? How many times as he/she seen it?
135. What phobias does he/she have?
136. What allergies does he/she have?
137. What protests has he/she taken part in? Were they successful?
138. What is the most serious illness/injury he/she has ever had?
139. When has he/she seen or been involved with anything supernatural, such as ghosts, aliens, poltergeists, etc?
140. What is his/her star sign?
141. Does he/she believe in horoscopes/rune stones/tarot etc?
142. What is the saddest moment in his/her life?
143. When has he/she been falsely accused of something?
144. Has he/she ever been in love?
145. Who is his/her archenemy? Does he/she have any others?
146. When did he/she last run away from something? Did he/she run away from home?
147. What is the most unusual herbal remedy he/she has ever used?
148. Describe his/her flirting technique.
149. Would he/she sleep with someone on the first date?
150. What is his/her sexuality? Has he/she experimented with others?
151. Use the remaining space on this page for any other things you may need to know about the characters that I have neglected to ask.
---
Note: It is written for real world stories and some of the things in it are English so if something doesn't make sense, I'm sorry! Just skip it or ask me what it means or something. It can be altered slightly for fantasy settings.
---
1. What is the full name of your character?
2. What is their date of birth?
3. What race are they?
4. Where were they born?
5. How tall is he/she?
6. How much does he/she weigh?
7. What is his/her hair like?
8. Is it natural or does he/she do something to it?
9. What are his/her eyes like?
10. What is his/her skin like?
11. What is his/her facial shape like?
12. What are his/her facial features like? (Eyebrows, nose, cheeks, ears, etc)
13. If male, does he have facial hair? What is it like?
14. What is his/her torso like?
15. What are his/her arms like?
16. What are his/her hands like?
17. What are his/her legs like?
18. What are his/her feet like?
19. What is his/her shoe size?
20. Does your character have any distinct features?
21. What is his/her stance like?
22. What are the general facial expressions of your character?
23. How does your character walk?
24. How does your character run?
25. How does your character dress? Describe three common outfits that he/she wears.
26. How does your character speak?
27. What is your characters speaking manner?
28. Does your character gesture a lot while speaking?
29. What habits does your character have? (Good and bad!)
30. Does your character have any catchphrases?
31. What are the full names of your characters parents?
32. What are their ages, nationalities and dates of birth?
33. What do they look like?
34. Are they still married? Are they still alive? How did they meet? When did they get married?
35. Give details of anything else we should know about them.
36. Does your character have any siblings? What are their names?
37. What are their dates of birth? Are they in relationships?
38. What do they look like?
39. Give details of anything else we should know about them.
40. What other relatives does your character have? Give appropriate details on them, depending on how important they are to the story.
41. What is the familys social class?
42. How did they reach this class?
43. Does the family have any traditions?
44. Does the family have any heirlooms?
45. Does the family have any stories that are passed down through generations?
46. What is your characters occupation?
47. How long have they held this position and how did they get it?
48. Is this the job they wanted or were they forced into it? What did they want to do?
49. Do his/her parents approve of this job or do they wish they were something else?
50. What other jobs has your character had?
51. Does your character enjoy his/her job?
52. What hobbies does your character have?
53. Does he/she like people who have the same hobbies?
54. Why does he/she enjoy these hobbies?
55. Who is his/her employer? Describe him/her.
56. Who does he/she work with? Describe at least four co-workers.
57. What is your characters religion?
58. Is this forced or is it a decision that they made? Have they always had religion?
59. Does your character have any titles?
60. What is his/her status in society?
61. What is his/her reputation?
62. What is the name of his/her best friend?
63. What is his/her date of birth, nationality and occupation?
64. How long have their been friends? How did they meet?
65. Give any other details about this friend. Give details of anything.
66. What is his/her martial status?
67. Has he/she ever been married or in a serious relationship?
68. Does he/she have any children? If male, does he perhaps have any children he is unaware of?
69. Give details of these children.
70. What is his/her full address?
71. How long has he/she lived here? Does he/she like it?
72. Does he/she own it or rent it?
73. Describe all the rooms, their colours and furnishings.
74. What motivates your character?
75. What are your characters lifetime goals? Have they achieved any? Are there some they will probably never achieve?
76. What food does your character like most?
77. Is there any food that he/she does not like?
78. What food does he/she have a total weakness?
79. In general, what does your character like?
80. In general, what does your character dislike? Is there anything he/she totally abhors?
81. What is the nature of your character?
82. What is the demeanour of your character?
83. Does your character have any mental or physical disabilities?
84. What quirks does your character have?
85. Does your character smoke or take drugs?
86. Have their ever done either of the above?
87. Do they drink alcohol? How much? Do they have alcoholic problems? Did they ever?
88. What is your characters favourite colour? And worst? Why?
89. Does he/she have any pets?
90. Did he/she ever have any? What were their names?
91. Does he/she still remember them?
92. Are there any pets he/she wants to get?
93. What is his/her earliest childhood memory?
94. Does he/she often think about his/her childhood? Was it a happy childhood?
95. Was he/she bought up well? Where was he/she bought up? What was the address?
96. Who has your character telephoned at three oclock in the morning?
97. When has your character intentionally set out to hurt someone? Why?
98. What are the three secrets that your character would never tell anyone?
99. Who does he/she trust more than anyone else?
100. Who does he/she respect more than anyone else?
101. Which historical figures does he/she admire? What about living people?
102. What pushes your characters buttons?
103. What makes your character happy?
104. What makes your character angry?
105. What makes your character upset?
106. What makes your character depressed?
107. What makes your character excited?
108. What makes your character scared?
109. When was the last time he/she was really worried? Why?
110. What confuses him/her?
111. Who would he/she take a bullet for?
112. Who was his/her teenage crush? Why? Did they find out?
113. How many partners has he/she had?
114. How old was he/she when he/she had his/her first kiss?
115. When did your character lose his/her virginity? Was it an accident?
116. When was the last time your character was drunk or stoned? What happened?
117. Where did he/she go on his/her last holiday? What happened on it?
118. What about the first holiday they ever went on?
119. What other places in the world has he/she been to?
120. Did he/she go to school? What was it called?
121. Who was his/her favourite teacher? Worst?
122. What grades did he/she get for GCSEs?
123. What grades did he/she get for A-Levels?
124. Did he/she go to university? Did he/she enjoy it?
125. What grades did he/she get at university?
126. What is the biggest risk he/she has ever made?
127. What is the biggest mistake he/she has ever made?
128. When did he/she panic most? Why?
129. What incident could be used against him/her if she ever ran in government?
130. What award did he/she win in the school yearbook?
131. Describe the worst date of his/her life.
132. What is his/her favourite book? How many times has he/she read it?
133. What is his/her favourite song?
134. What is his/her favourite film? How many times as he/she seen it?
135. What phobias does he/she have?
136. What allergies does he/she have?
137. What protests has he/she taken part in? Were they successful?
138. What is the most serious illness/injury he/she has ever had?
139. When has he/she seen or been involved with anything supernatural, such as ghosts, aliens, poltergeists, etc?
140. What is his/her star sign?
141. Does he/she believe in horoscopes/rune stones/tarot etc?
142. What is the saddest moment in his/her life?
143. When has he/she been falsely accused of something?
144. Has he/she ever been in love?
145. Who is his/her archenemy? Does he/she have any others?
146. When did he/she last run away from something? Did he/she run away from home?
147. What is the most unusual herbal remedy he/she has ever used?
148. Describe his/her flirting technique.
149. Would he/she sleep with someone on the first date?
150. What is his/her sexuality? Has he/she experimented with others?
151. Use the remaining space on this page for any other things you may need to know about the characters that I have neglected to ask.
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