For those of you just joining us here at BumblesBooks, every Monday I post a writing challenge meant to help you develop different aspects of your story ideas.
I’ve been working on developing several characters lately for various projects, and it’s been a bit of a struggle to get to know them. I’ve been working with the characters in Demon’s Heart for so many years and know them so well that I’m having a hard time breaking through those initial barriers of as-yet-undiscovered character landscapes.
So I’m going to try a tactic I’ve seen here and there, but never tried before. I’m throwing out the challenge for you to try as well:
***
Interview one of your characters.
***
I do this quite a bit. There are many great resources with a ton of interview questions to ask your character and I’ve used most of them. It’s an amazing exercise that never ceases to teach me a ton about my characters.
Good luck!
Oooh, can you recommend a few of those resources? My interviews thus far have been awkward and weird, and though even those awkward and weird interviews have been super helpful in character development, I’d love to get some ideas from elsewhere.
I sure will! I also love the book “What Would Your Character Do?” It posits all kinds of scenarios and you learn a lot about your character based on how they react. I’m working off my phone right now because I don’t have internet access except at work. I’ll get them to you ASAP.
Great, thanks much! I’ll have to see if my library has that book, it sounds awesome!
I’m going to e-mail you a ton of things that I use. Some are interviews, some are charts that help me develop character types. Enjoy!
You’re amazing! Thanks so much for sending me that!