19 Wacky Questions to Ask your Characters

I like to outline my novels before I write anything.

Extensively. Character interviews, pages (and pages) of world-building, a few more character interviews, outlines with word counts in the the ten thousands, and massive character interviews.

You get where I’m going here.

I’ve searched blogs, perused websites, and ferreted (I feel like I’m using this word incorrectly, but I can’t seem to care right now…) through books for a character interview I liked. K. M. Weiland  has a very thorough one I recommend, but her questions are styled to her needs. I don’t need a hundred questions about my main character’s grades in high school or her dream job. (Unless it’s plot important, in which case I usually have it figured out already.)

So I made my own.

Every character gets different questions depending on what I need to know. Most of them run along the same lines, but are still tailored to that individual character.

And you know what I discovered?

It’s as much fun as rooting through your pile of did-not-finish-reads when your mom finally forces you to clean your room.

Considering how many times I’ve heard “Write what you love,” or “If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong,” when it comes to writing, I figured I was doing something wrong.

Personally, I still need some of those boring questions.

But there’s no reason getting to know your characters has to be tortuous.

Honestly, I learned more about my babies characters from these randomly generated questions than I did by smashing my head into the wall as I tried to figure out what hobby a time-traveling, fire-wielding fugitive could possibly have on a flying pirate ship.

So if you feel the pressing need to get a snack dig deeper into your characters’ psyche, take a look and feel free to borrow whichever questions grab your attention. Also feel free to try them on yourself. (2/10 doctors recommend. Do not drive heavy machinery when diving into the inner workings of your brain.)

1. What’s in your fridge and is it performing mad-scientist experiments on itself yet?
2. How do you wear your socks? Mismatched? Triple layers? Over your shoes?
3. Pens or pencils?
4. Opinion on Shakespeare?
5. Would you rather wear plaid ankle socks for the rest of your life or have somebody spread a popular rumor you can’t sleep without a stuffed animal/blanky/night light/possessed demon?
6. Do you prefer hot or cold temperatures?
7. Winter is coming! Super fluffy blanket or super heavy blanket?
8. How many pillows are on your bed?
9. Second favorite cereal?
10. When coming unexpectedly upon a mirror, what’s your immediate reaction?
11. One dark and stormy night, you find a tiny, starving, worm-riddled kitten under your porch. Do you adopt the kitten, does the kitten adopt you, or do you ship it off to that random nephew whose birthday you missed five months ago?
12. Do you wear socks to bed?
13. Favorite kitchen utensil?
14. Somebody attractive is watching you and your friends; do you eat a massive hot pepper or become the magician’s impromptu assistant to impress them? (Either way, you’ll probably need the ambulance.)
15. Your cat needs a new bed. Do you get him an outrageously expensive one bedecked in all sorts of fluff and toys, throw a box on the floor, or accept your inevitable fate and move to the couch?
16. The wi-fi is throwing a fit, and your streaming options are extremely limited. Do you watch a romance or a disney movie?
17. If you were to die and come back as an object, what would you be?
18. If you had to lose either sight or hearing, which would you prefer to keep?
19. Your overly-enthusiastic-about-absolutely-everything neighbor invited her entire family over for her dog’s half-birthday party. None of the local hotels or inns have vacancies, so she’s asked you to room:
    A) her great uncle twice removed (recently returned from a mysterious trip to Africa)
    B) her elderly step-grandmother (who keeps saying how adorable you are and oh my, wouldn’t she just love to snap your neck and throw you in the oven?)
    and C) her third ex from college (who has fourteen restraining orders against him and keeps asking to borrow your camera and a baseball bat). What do you do?

That’s it for today, folks! Chat with me! Do you hold character interviews? Will you use some of these questions in them? Feel free to share some of the answers if you do. And which do you prefer: the pen or the pencil?