Questions for Characters

Beyond The Basics in Building Characters
(Or making your 'house' come alive with interesting tchotchkes)


This isn't going to be the typical character questionnaire that asks what the character's height, religion, job, ect. I like knowing things about characters beyond their likes, their height and weight, parents' names, and such. I like putting them in hypothetical situations and watching them…come alive, so to speak. If naming and assigning appearance to a character is laying the foundation and giving them background information is building the house, then think of this questionnaire as filling the place with tchotchkes! Sure, you might not mention Bob's scaly feet in your story, but it's nice to know something about him besides his being five feet three inches tall and bald. Yeah, there are 75 questions. I'm sure there are other things I could have asked, but have fun with the ones I have here.


1. Would your character rob a bank if they knew they could get away with it?

2. If your character could go back to college (or to college), what would they major in?

3. Did they ever bully anybody in school? Were they ever bullied? How did they react to the bullying or what prompted them to bully someone?

4. Your character's car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. What do they do?

5. Your character needs to go clothes shopping. Where do they go? What do they buy?

6. Oh man! Your character failed a class with flying colors! What class is it and how do they react?

7. Your character is given a choice to read Harry Potter or Twilight. Which do they choose and why?

8. Your character is given an opportunity to travel to a different time for a week. Where do they go? What do they do?

9. Your character is to get one super power. What do they choose and why?

10. Your character's boss is coming over for dinner. What do they cook?

11. Does your character believe in the supernatural? Why or why not?

12. If your character was to write a book, what would it be about?

13. Where would your character take a date? The diner? The opera?

14. What's your character's idea of rebellion?

15. Is your character a trend-setter or trend-follower?

16. Awww, your character is sick! Do they like to be tended to or left alone? At what point would they go to the doctor's?

17. Uh-oh. Your character was just canned from their job. How do they handle this?

18. What is your character's idea of paradise?

19. What is your character's idea of hell?

20. So your character has an enemy. What is their past? Why do they hate each other?

21. Describe your character's first kiss.

22. Describe your character's bedroom.

23. If your character won the lottery, what would they do with the cash?

24. If your character had to donate money to a cause, what would it be?

25. Your character's at a bar and there's a jukebox stocked with every kind of music you can think of. Do
they pick something to be ironic? Or do they pick songs they like? What kind of bar is it? Swanky? Frat
boy? Hipster dive bar?

26. If your character were to open a business, what would it be?

27. Your character finds a bug in their house. What do they do with it?

28. Your character hears strange noises from the basement. What do they do about it?

29. Your character is walking down a dark alley and a person steps out in front of them. What happens next?

30. What's the cruelest thing your character ever did to someone?

31. What's the kindest thing your character ever did for someone?

32. Your character is falling in love. Do they take things slow or fast? Do they make decisions or do they make a lot of compromises? How secure are they?

33. Is your character insecure or confident?

34. What are your character's workout habits?

35. Does your character like children? Why or why not? How do they react to bratty children? Do they want children of their own? Do they already have children?

36. Describe your character's ideal wedding.

37. Your character gets a new bulldog for Christmas. What would they name it?

38. Your character is applying for college. What kind of a college would they apply to? Tech school? State university? Art school?

39. What kind of art does your character appreciate? The old masters? Modern art? Impressionism? Or have they no interest in art?

40. What section of a museum interests your character the most? Dinosaurs? Native Americans? Food court?

41. What does your character smell like?

42. What is your character's ideal weather?

43. How well does your character sleep?

44. Has your character ever been in a physical fight? Describe what prompted it.

45. Does your character have any nerdish leanings?

46. Has your character ever written a story? A song? What was it about? Have they ever painted/drew anything? Describe it if they did.

47. What is your character's handwriting like?

48. A typical weekend for your character is like…

49. Your character finds a skeleton in the basement. What happens next?

50. Your character gets the opportunity to have five famous people, living or dead, over for dinner. Who do they pick and why?

51. What kind of video games does your character play? If your character from a different time, what video games would they play if they lived in the present?

52. Where was your character on September Eleventh? On the day Neal Armstrong walked on the moon? When President Kennedy was shot? When Pearl Harbor was bombed? Or, if they didn't live during any of these time periods, what significant world event occurred in their lifetime and how did they respond to it?

53. Your character is in a post-apocalyptic world like Cormac McCarthy's The Road and they're allowed to only have one person with them as they struggle to survive. Who would it be and why?

54. If your character were on a diet, what kind of a diet would they go on? South beach? Atkins? Tape worm? Would they succeed or fail? What kind of a toll would it take on them?

55. Your character is at a poetry reading. What kind of work would they appreciate? Not appreciate?

56. Your character passes a homeless person in the street. Do they give them money or walk past them? Why?

57. What is your character's favorite holiday? Why?

58. If your character could be any character from fiction, who would they be?

59. Your character wants to go on vacation for a week. Where would they go? Why?

60. If your character were to play a professional sport, what would they choose? Why?

61. Your character is at the county fair. Where do they go? Beer tent? Games? Rides?

62. How good is their sense of direction? Do they oftentimes get lost or are they good at finding their way around?

63. Is your character good at keeping their checkbook balanced? Have they ever bounced a check? Are they generally pretty good with money? Do they pay their bills on time or do they tend to forget?

64. Has your character ever tried sushi? Would they?

65. Your character is going to get one service from a spa. What would they get done?

66. It's Christmas and your character is going shopping! What do they buy for other people? How much
do they tend to spend?

67. Has anybody ever been discriminatory toward your character because of his/her race, gender, religious beliefs? Describe the event and how your character reacted?

68. If your character had a child, what would they name it?

69. Would your character have a Facebook account? Do they? Why or why not? How often do they update their status? How many friends do they have?

70. Has your character ever trolled a forum? Why or why not?

71. Your character wants to take some things to Goodwill. How do they decide what to get rid of and what to keep?

72. It's Halloween. What does your character dress up as? Do they buy candy for trick-or-treaters or do they hide in their house with a sign on the door?

73. What does your character spend the most money on?

74. Does your character live by any kind of philosophy?

75. Does your character resemble anybody famous?