Character Questionnaire

I just read an article in The Writer about how character questionnaires can help you develop characters and keep them from being too much like you. Today's post is mainly a directory of links to help you find questionnaires.

• http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/106
• http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/character/creating-characters/23-character-questionnaire
• http://robdyoung.com/fleshy-character-questionnaire/
• http://www.springhole.net/writing/character-questions.htm
• http://www.writersbeat.com/showthread.php?t=14402

However, I also have a character questionnaire for you. It is meant to be answered in the first person of your character.

1. What is your full name? Do you wish that you could change it? How was it decided? Do you have any nicknames? How did you get them?
2. How old are you? What day were you born? What are your three astrological signs (Greek, Chinese, and Celtic)? Do you think that they fit you?
3. Describe your height, weight, build, hair, eyes, and skin. Include any oddities, such as freckles, tattoos, piercings, or injuries.
4. What kind of clothes do you feel most comfortable in? Least comfortable? Describe your favorite outfit.
5. How do you walk? Fast? Slow? Large or small gait? In a straight line or zigzagging? Distractedly? Determinedly?
6. How do you speak? Quickly? Slowly? An accent? Do you use profanity or vulgarity frequently? Do you use filler words like "like" or "um" frequently? Do you ramble or keep it short?
7. What kinds of things make you happy? Sad? Angry? What are your responses to happiness, sadness, and anger? Do you laugh, cry, lash out, or do you keep it within?
8. Do you have a religion? If so, what is it? Are you a devout practitioner or just say that you are and acknowledge the beliefs? Are you tolerant of other cultures?
9. What is your favorite food, color, film, book, and television show? What about your least favorite of each?
10. What type of person are you attracted to? Not just men, women, or both, but things like what kind of hair they have, what kind of humor they have, etc.
11. Who was your closest friend as a child? Teenager? Now? Do the types of people you surround yourself with change with age and location?
12. What is your biggest goal? Motivation? Virtue? Vice? Are you more of a nihilist and don't really care about that?
13. What is your MBTI personality type?
14. Do you have any physical or mental disorders that have been confirmed by a doctor? Do you think that you might have one, but everyone around you laughs it off? Do you think that you're a hypochondriac? Do other people think you are?
15. Do you ever lie to get a specific answer at a quiz? For example, if you're taking a "what kind of animal are you" test, do you lie to get your favorite animal?
16. What is the one question that you won't answer?

Is Your Character Healthy?

January 24 is Women's Healthy Weight Day. Figure out what your female characters' ideal weight should be and decide for yourself what their actual weight is. For example, Tate is 5'10" and is very active, so she's usually around 135/140ish, which is healthy for her height and activity level.

The most comprehensive site for BMI calculation is this: http://www.webmd.com/diet/calc-bmi-plus

Close Enough

This is wonderful.

January 18 is National Polygraph Day. I decided to give you, as a writer, another kind of test. The Mary-Sue Litmus Test. This is a test designed to figure out whether your character is guilty of being a Mary-Sue, or "perfect" character. There are three main types: average, who is perfect in every way, shape, and form; clone, which is the author inserting themselves into a main character; and trauma, who has had an undeserved amount of abuse, has infinite mental disorders, and uses that as an excuse to either do horrible things or cry in a corner the whole time.

The most in-depth and my favorite is http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm, but a close second is http://www.katfeete.net/writing/marysue.html. Please note that those two strictly apply to humanoid creatures. For a wolf one, I found http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/8164465/the-mary-sue-test-wolf-versionrequired-for-entrance-to-ethereal. While it is supposed to be for entrance to a roleplay, you can still get a pretty accurate score.

If you're looking to find out if a whole race in your fantasy story is too perfect, you may be looking for http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysuerace.htm.

Chicken Scratch

January 12 is National Handwriting Day. Handwriting can tell a lot about a person, but can also be deceiving. For example, what you thought was written by a teenage girl could actually be written by a forty-five-year-old man. So for today I want you to write "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs" in what you can only imagine the handwriting is for each of your characters. Feel free to be creative. For example, Tate writes mostly in long, scrawling cursive, while Ryan prefers neat print and Felan has chicken scratch.