Writing Character Profiles – Questionnaire 1 (Adult Characters)

1. Name:
2. Age:
3. General physical description:
4. Hometown:
5. Type of home/ neighborhood:
6. Relationship status:
7. Current family:
8. Family background (parents, previous marriages, etc.):
9. Friends:
10. Other close relationships:
11. Relationship with men:
12. Relationship with women:
13. Job:
14. Dress style:
15. Religion:
16. Attitude to religion:
17. Favorite pastimes:
18. Hobbies:
19. Favorite sports:
20. Favorite foods:
21. Strongest positive personality trait:
22. Strongest negative personality trait:
23. Sense of humor:
24. Temper:
25. Consideration for others:
26. How other people see him/her:
27. Opinion of him/herself:
28. Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story:
29. Ambitions:
30. Philosophy of life:
31. Most important thing to know about this character:
32. Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?

Writing Character Profiles – Questionnaire 2 (Child Characters)

1. Name:
2. Age:
3. Birthday:
4. General physical description:
5. Hometown:
6. Type of home/ neighborhood:
7. Father’s name, background, and occupation:
8. Mother’s name, background, and occupation:
9. Brothers and sisters:
10. Position in family:
11. Other close relatives:
12. Family relationships:
13. Special friends:
14. Enemies:
15. Influential person or event:
16. Grade in school:
17. Attitude toward school:
18. Grades:
19. Favorite pastimes:
20. Hobbies (music/art/reading material):
21. Favorite sports:
22. Favorite foods:
23. Dress style:
24. Religion:
25. Attitude toward religion:
26. Relationship with boys:
27. Relationship with girls:
28. Leader or follower:
29. Strongest positive personality trait:
30. Strongest negative personality trait:
31. Sense of humor:
32. Temper:
33. Consideration for others:
34. How other people see him/her:
35. Opinion of him/herself:
36. Other traits, especially those to be brought out in story:
37. Ambitions:
38. Philosophy of life:
39. Most important thing to know about character:
40. Will readers like or dislike this character, and why?

Writing Character Profiles – Additional Questions

1. If your character has a job, is he or she good at it? Does he or she like it?
2. What are your character’s bad habits?
3. If you asked about his or her greatest dream, what would your character tell you?
4. What’s a secret dream that he or she wouldn’t tell you about?
5. What kind of person does your character wish he or she could be? What is stopping him or her?
6. What is your character afraid of? What keeps him or her up at night?
7. What does your character think is his or her worst quality?
8. What do other people think your character’s worst quality is?
9. What is a talent your character thinks he or she has but is very wrong about?
10. What did his or her childhood home look like?
11. Who was his or her first love?
12. What’s the most terrible thing that ever happened to him/her?
13. What was his/her dream growing up? Did he/she achieve this dream? If so, in what ways was it not what the character expected? If your character never achieved the dream, why not?
14. In what situation would your character become violent?
15. In what situation would your character act heroic?

Click here for more on creating characters and using character profiles.

About Creative Writing Now

Creative Writing Now was founded by writing teachers to be a supportive and friendly online space for authors and poets at all stages in their writing lives.

Our mission:

• Educate – with high-quality courses and free resources for independent study.
• Encourage – by maintaining a positive atmosphere and providing guidance for beginning writers.
• Inspire – by sharing our passion for literature and writing.

Meet some of our team

Nancy Strauss Founder and Online Courses Director Nancy taught creative and expository writing at the University of Michigan before moving to the Czech Republic and then Spain. Since then, she has worked as an English teacher and consultant, published a book about online communities, and founded a content writing and translation company. She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in English from Oberlin College.

Linda Leopold Strauss Contributor Linda is the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books for young people, including Drop Everything and Write!: An Easy Breezy Guide for Kids Who Want to Write a Story (E & E Publishing, 2010). In addition to her thirty-year career as an author, she has taught writing courses for the Institute of Children’s Literature. Linda lives in Cincinnati with her husband, Bill.

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