Character Interview Sheet
A character interview helps you better understand your character. Most likely, you’ll never share this information with readers, or, at least, you’ll only use a little of it. For example, Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files) has said that one of his characters, Murphy, is afraid of big dogs. We are never told this directly in the books, but when a big dog character is introduced, this fear modulates Murphy’s actions.
Imagine: you are sitting across a table from your character. Where are you? A cafe? A fancy restaurant? A sandwich shop? A kitchen table? Who’s kitchen table? Yours? Your character’s grungy apartment table? There are no wrong answers here. Let your imagination flow.
- Where are you? What is the setting?
- What does your character order or cook? Or do they not cook anything at all and eat directly out of a family-size pretzel bag while licking their fingers?
- What are they wearing? Clothes, shoes, a hat, perhaps? Jewelry? A watch or do they only use their phone to tell the time? A wedding ring wrapped in masking tape to keep it on their finger because it is their grandfather’s and it is too big?
- Ask questions. What is your favorite music? Where did they go to school? What is their favorite color? Do they like animals? Favor plants? Or maybe they want to avoid all living things and rocks are their jam.
- Ask them about their family life. Strong nuclear family? Orphaned? Raised on a farm or in a city? Did they go to prom? Who did they take?
- Who are their best friends? The girl they’ve known forever or the neighbor in the next door apartment?
- Do they work? What is their job? Do they like it? Do they hate it? Is it interesting or boring? Do they sacrifice social time to do their job or are they watching the clock?
- Do they hobbies? They run to clear their head or they run to keep in shape because people chase them a lot? They craft? They play chess?
- Do they have a favorite book? Favorite movie?
- What is their most treasured memory? And what is the one they wish they could forget?