I’ve recently “completed” my first Character Questionnaire. This is an important step in my growth as a writer for several reasons. I’ve numbered the reasons below to quantify the accomplishments this one exercise has brought me.
- I completed something, that’s an accomplishment.
- I was creating a new Protagonist and I was able to peer into his mind just a bit.
- I began to connect with this new Protagonist so much that I felt like I was truly him, from time to time, when answering the questions.
- I’d not experienced that level of immersion before.
- While answering those 75 questions, I learned the story of this character, where he’s been and were he is now and that’s a huge part of the story I’m going to tell.
- It’s work already done, almost like the outline built itself.
- Because I began to understand the character, learning tidbits from his past and present, that’s made it so much easier to project his future with a level of complexity, honesty and earnestness I’ve not achieved before.
- It’s made it easier to imagine a more practical and reasoned series of obstacles for him to overcome.
- It’s allowed me to flesh out the world he lives in by connecting his earlier experiences and current experiences to an entire world. That has spur fresh ideas and takes on the world I wasn’t sure of, that now I am significantly more confident that I can create with a thoroughness I’ve not achieved before.
- It’s given me confidence that I can moved forward as a writer and storyteller.
- It’s proven to me that I can imagine, create and disseminate thoughtful and emotionally impactful scenes.
- It’s relieved me of one of my biggest fears.