Interviewing My Characters

[rj_anderson]

As I'm struggling through the opening chapters of First Draft in 30 Days I find myself more and more drawn to the idea of interleaving Karen Wiesner's method with Randy Ingermanson's snowflake method, especially as the former seems highly plot-driven and I like the more character-centric approach of the latter

Comments

[mistraltoes]

The question I've found most useful to ask my characters is: "What are the top ten things you want?" -- and the really useful material comes from the ones they come up with toward the end of the list. For instance, one character's #10 was "a hot shower at the end of the day"; it told me more about him than all the rest of his list.

[mistraltoes]

Actually, I erred. It's not the top ten things, it's just ten things. Don't get involved in hierarchies, the order in which they (you) think of them is illuminating enough.

[olmue]

The only thing I know about your book is that it's about synethetes (er...spelling?), so I don't have specific questions for your characters. But one character interview I did myself involved asking a character why he acted the way he did in relationships. Which prompted a swift denial on his part (What do you mean?? I'm not leading anyone on.) Actually, I found out in that interview that he was in denial about a lot of aspects in his life. So maybe ask your characters some of those hard "why" questions that you'd never dare ask someone in real life. You know, the ones people gossip and wonder about, but can't ever pick up the courage to ask straight-out.

Have fun!

[chavelaque]

What is the most important thing in life for you? Family? Money? Knowledge? Truth? Power?

And the second-most-important thing?

[izhilzha]

What (or who) are you most afraid of? Why?

(And no, not that fear, not the one you admit to everybody. The real one.)

Faraday, tell me about a time you were horribly disappointed in yourself. Does anybody else know about this?

Thea, have you ever had a moment when everything felt perfect? If so, when? What was it like? Was anybody else with you? Have you ever told anyone about it?

[greenumbrella]

"If you could be anywhere, where would you be?" This can be tailored to your story, or purpose, some of which I have mentioned below:
...where in time would you be
...where would you rather be right now
...where would you be in life
...where would you go back to (why? To correct something, relive it?)
...where is your dream place
...where would you like to live

Those kinds of things. Hope it helps!