Getting to Know Your Characters

In a way, stories are like a living body. Many moving parts work together to give your writing life: the plot creates the story’s bones, the structure holds it all together, the conflict flows between everything and, at the heart of it all, are the characters. No matter what genre you enjoy, crafting fully fleshed out characters can elevate a story and make it memorable. Because of this, truly getting to know the depths of your characters is a vital part of the writing process.

There are many methods out there to get to know your characters. Some writers will pick a name, a base description, and dive right into writing, letting the drafting journey itself teach them about the people they create by letting them take the reins. Others will create full, thorough outlines for their characters before even starting their first draft. For me, sometimes too-little planning or trying to box myself in with the many, many character sheets available out there leave me with characters that still feel like strangers. When this happens, these are the methods I like to use for getting to know my characters at the start of any new project:

Character Interviews: a Close, Personal Conversation With Your Characters

Once I have a basic character profile–such as name, age, and general appearance–interviewing my characters usually acts as a helpful next step. Beyond the three big questions that should always be asked of your characters (What do they want? What do they most fear? What are they willing to do to get what they want?), questions relating to their family backgrounds, occupational backgrounds, and other backstory related lore can help understand a character’s motivations and goals. Do they have any siblings? Where do they work, and is it the same as where they would want to work? What do they study in school? What was their life like growing up? Do they have any past trauma and if so, how does this make them think differently of the world around them in comparison to before? 

Questions like these can be essential in creating a character that interacts with the plot, giving meaning to their actions and the way they respond to and view the world they live in. It can tell us things like their aspirations, the protectiveness that could come from raising younger siblings or the self-centeredness that might stem from being an only child. It could tell us where their anger for the world came from or their unrelenting optimism or their innermost insecurities–all of which make it easier for a reader to understand and relate to a character. 

Some writers might look at questions like these and find that they are enough to liken them to their characters but others, like me, might desire more. Character interviewing can go even further beyond this when you look at questions that don’t necessarily relate to the story you are trying to tell. Perhaps knowing a character’s worst injury isn’t specifically necessary to your plot, but it could give meaning to the way they carry themselves or the slight ache they sometimes feel in that once-broken knee. Asking and knowing what their favorite meme is or what their favorite sitcom would be might not be vital to establish on page, but it could help you understand their humor. Here are unusual questions I like to ask my characters when I’m trying to construct personalities and unique quirks:

What is their worst habit?

What is their favorite and least favorite trait in a person?

What is their ideal life?

I’ve found that these questions help ground me in a character’s head the best, providing me with flaws, personality markers that might merge well with other characters, and dreams that don’t necessarily coincide with the specific want driving the actual plot.

For example, a character’s focal, plot-related want might be to find their missing sister, but their ideal life could be living on a beach alone with a litter of cats—it might be unnecessary to know but it adds fundamental layering to how well you know your own characters. A lot of readers enjoy characters who feel real, and the best way to do this is to make them feel real to you first. Asking them questions–no matter how small or unrelated they might seem–can be a great way to do this.

Character Soundtracks: Music as a Window to the Soul

Like character interviewing, music is another common tool for many steps in the writing process. It can help set the mood, help ground you in the atmosphere of the settings you create, and even help connect you to the themes and motifs at play within your work. In a similar vein, for characters, it can help you dig deeper into who they are as individuals outside of the story you are placing them in. 

For example, what would they listen to on a day-to-day basis? Who would be their favorite artist or their favorite song? Is there a song they hate, or a song they would play over and over again until they were sick of it? What is a song that reminds you of them? Or, for character pairings, what is a song that reminds Character A of Character B? These are the kinds of questions I use as a basis in creating character playlists. Even if the characters don’t exist in a modern setting or one with the music we listen to, imagining the answers to these questions can help make them feel more real regardless. 

Curating playlists based on how you believe they would answer questions like these and incorporating their personalized music into your writing process can help create a strong character presence that will stand out in your writing. When I am listening to music I imagine they would connect to as well, I find it is so much easier to find and stick with their voice while drafting. 

Character Prompts: Placing Your Character Outside of Your Story

Another step in the character crafting process that I have found to be helpful when beginning a new draft is character prompts. When beginning longer projects, starting with something smaller—like a single scene or a short story—can allow you to play around with your characters outside of an official drafting space. Place them in a different genre to challenge their voice consistency, or write a scene in which their worst fear comes to fruition in order to develop their emotional range. Getting to know them in unrelated scenarios can feel less daunting than beginning a draft with a character you don’t truly know. 

To further develop personalities and establish character dynamics, writing conversations between your characters can be a great way to play around with how they interact with one another to pinpoint the kind of dynamics you wish to have in your story. Providing two characters, or even a group of characters, with a conflict and writing out a dialogue-only script as they work through it together can be a helpful exercise in banter. Sometimes when diving into a project, already having an idea of how the characters will play off one another is helpful for building chemistry and relationships that will have readers emotionally invested.

Outside of scene prompts, character conversations, and short stories, journal entries can be a great place to get to know your characters as well. Having an entry where your character reflects on a typical day in their life can help you build their backstory and voice. If you are finding yourself stuck in the drafting process or questioning whether you truly understand your characters, placing them in unrelated spaces can sharpen them even more into a rounded, fully formed person. 

From Idea to Person

Getting to know your characters can be an on-going process, one that doesn’t truly end until your project is complete. It is not vital to know everything about them, but the more time you spend with them, the easier it can be to craft a story around them that takes into account their personality, motivations, and breaking points. Knowing your characters before you draft can make it easier to allow them free range in the story if you are not constantly worrying about deciding what they would do and why. If you already know these answers, all you have to do is let your characters go forth and do. 

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About the author:

Amy Roewe graduated from Maryville University of St. Louis with a degree in English and a minor in creative writing. She spends most of her time reading across a wide range of genres, plotting her own fantasy series, and playing videogames with her partner. Amy has several publications in Maryville’s Magnolia Literary Magazine and has contributed content articles for The Daily Fandom website. She currently resides in what could only be described as a labyrinth of bookshelves with her partner and their three cats.