- Age
- Appearance (height; weight; hair color; eye color; physique; size; posture/poise/car-
riage; outstanding physical characteristics, such as dimples; dress—taste, neatness)
- Movement
— Does he move like a dancer or someone who’s sleepwalking? How does he walk?
— Does he use expansive gestures when he talks?
- Mannerisms
- Voice (diction, vocabulary, power, pitch, unusual attributes)
— What does the character say, and how?
— Give your character a dialogue tag (Fred Flintstone’s “Yabba dabba doo!”).
— Make your character’s voice distinctively his or hers.
- I.Q., abilities, talents, qualities (imagination, judgment)
- Personality/attitudes/temperament. Attitudes are key to comedy and situation drama.
— Is your character ambitious, loyal, sensitive? Inferior, optimistic? Shy? Sloppy?
Eager?
— Character flaws, bad habits, weaknesses
What is your character’s biggest secret? What will happen if someone finds out?
What is your character’s biggest fear? Why? What caused this?
What was your character’s biggest disappointment?
What was his most embarrassing moment?
What was the worst thing that ever happened to him?
How does this affect your character today?
What makes your character angry? Frustrated? Ashamed?
Does he have self-esteem?
— Is your character a loner? Does he belong to lots of groups? Which ones?
How does he connect with the other characters during your story?
— What makes your character laugh?
— How does he relax?
—Motivations, goals, ambitions. What does your character want?
— What is your character’s spine? What’s his unchanging driving force throughout life?
— Does your character put his own self-interest first or that of the group and its
survival?
Developing Characters 63
