Jordan Fay

Character Development Activity!

nanowrimos:

Have you ever come up with a great plot, or a great scene and started to run with it only to feel like your characters are falling a little flat? Sometimes it can be really hard to make your character seem more like a real person than just a pawn to advance the storyline, especially with such a time crunch.

I usually find that it helps to write a short bio of each of my major characters, I usually do this by creating a character survey. Once you can really get into the mindset of your character you should be able to intuitively feel the kind of things they would like or dislike, for example their favorite colors, based on their personality. I usually try to use the basic things that you would find on a Facebook profile or that you would use as small talk with someone you want to get to know. 

I’m going to create a basic character survey here for anyone to use if they are stuck! If you have a few minutes, take the time to fill one out for your main character. Sometimes it will take a little practice to separate the things you like and may be projecting onto the character from the things your character may like on their own if they did exist irl… But you never know! You may surprise yourself with what you come up with!

Full Name:
Age: 
Astrological Sign:
Relationship status:
Current Town/Hometown:
Height/Weight: 
Eye/Hair Color:
Career/Education:
Favorite Food/Drink:
Favorite Color:
Favorite Band/Music:
Favorite Movies/Books:
Favorite Sport:
Favorite Ice cream flavor:
Favorite Smell:
Favorite Season/Holiday:
Favorite Place:
Pets or Favorite Animal:
Hobbies: 
Fears: 
Biggest Pet Peeve:
Significant object from their childhood: 
Transportation they use:
Religious Affiliation:
Political Affiliation:
Dream Vacation:

I’m sure you get the idea! Like Billy mentioned in his post before, this exercise is something that can be really helpful to developing your characters personality even if you never plan to use these specific details in the text of your story. They really just exist to get you thinking about things that make your character who they are outside of the details you come up with that are important to your plot.

I hope this helps for some of you, and I hope you all had a great day 3! 
Happy Writing!

-Camille