Screenwriting : Character Development Questions by Mista Martel

Wow! Good question. I don't think I've ever asked that question of a character. I ask more simple questions: age range? job: white collar/blue collar? married? kids? rural or city?, brother or sisters? younger or older than siblings? abused? and so on. I don't get into the person's mind though, or at least I don't think I do. I wait for that when I'm writing his dialogue. For what it's worth,

One of the most important things for me is determining a character's opinion of the story's central dramatic argument (or 'moral premise').

Phil, just curious, but are you a Lajos Egri disciple? If not, you'd probably be nodding your head a lot reading his The Art of Dramatic Writing.

Check this Character Questionnaire out:

How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

Their mother? How do they think of her? What do they hate? Love? What influence - literal or imagined - did the mother have?

Brothers, sisters? Who do they like? Why? What do they despise about their siblings?

What type of discipline was your character subjected to at home? Strict? Lenient?

Were they overprotected as a child? Sheltered?

Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

What was the economic status of their family?

How does your character feel about religion?

What about political beliefs?

Is your character street-smart, book-smart, intelligent, intellectual, slow-witted?

How do they see themselves: as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?

How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

Did they like school? Teachers? Schoolmates?

Were they involved at school? Sports? Clubs? Debate? Were they unconnected?

Did they graduate? High-School? College? Do they have a PHD? A GED?

What does your character do for a living? How do they see their profession? What do they like about it? Dislike?

Did they travel? Where? Why? When?

What did they find abroad, and what did they remember?

What were your character's deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

What were the most deeply impressive political or social, national or international, events that they experienced?

What are your character's manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate?

Who are their friends? Lovers? 'Type' or 'ideal' partner?

What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?

What social groups and activities does your character attend? What role do they like to play? What role do they actually play, usually?

What are their hobbies and interests?

What does your character's home look like? Personal taste? Clothing? Hair? Appearance?

How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear their clothing? Style? Quality?

Who is your character's mate? How do they relate to him or her? How did they make their choice?

What is your character's weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling?

Are they holding on to something in the past? Can he or she forgive?

Does your character have children? How do they feel about their parental role? About the children? How do the children relate?

How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?

Do they drink? Take drugs? What about their health?

Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous?

Do they always rationalize errors? How do they accept disasters and failures?

Do they like to suffer? Like to see other people suffering?

How is your character's imagination? Daydreaming a lot? Worried most of the time? Living in memories?

Are they basically negative when facing new things? Suspicious? Hostile? Scared? Enthusiastic?

What do they like to ridicule? What do they find stupid?

How is their sense of humor? Do they have one?

Is your character aware of who they are? Strengths? Weaknesses? Idiosyncrasies? Capable of self-irony?

What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Does your character have any secrets? If so, are they holding them back?

How badly do they want to obtain their life objectives? How do they pursue them?

Is your character pragmatic? Think first? Responsible? All action? A visionary? Passionate? Quixotic?

Is your character tall? Short? What about size? Weight? Posture? How do they feel about their physical body?

Do they want to project an image of a younger, older, more important person? Does they want to be visible or invisible?

How are your character's gestures? Vigorous? Weak? Controlled? Compulsive? Energetic? Sluggish?

What about voice? Pitch? Strength? Tempo and rhythm of speech? Pronunciation? Accent?

What are the prevailing facial expressions? Sour? Cheerful? Dominating?

I know that's a bit more than you need, but use what you want, discard the rest.

Eric Christopherson, I did learn a lot from Egri's books. His thinking influenced me from my very first spec. More recently, I read Stanley Williams' book The Moral Premise which I can recommend, too.

What would your character do if they were trapped in an elevator? Do they cry for help,?

look for a way out? look for the help button? Their actions will define their personality.

I always ask what my characters would do after they take a poop and realize while they're on the toilet that there's no toilet paper.

Thank you all for all of the view points presented.

Characters should have a goal, personal flaw, internal need and something formidable stopping them achieving what they want. Stakes could be anything but must be highly relevant to them personally, not necessarily a life or death situation, nor any deep psychological reason for their actions. They must be colourful/entertaining, in any location with any goal but reader must care about the character and their world.

Are they relatable to everyday characters in real life? Most A and B List Actors like to portray relatable characters.

I like to find the ways my character is a hypocrite. It can be as simple as giving someone weight loss advice while eating ice cream at home. Or yelling at your children for lying, then lying at work, etc. It usually starts there for me.