Character questionnaires ask inane questions - a character’s
favorite color or what they have in their refrigerator. These questionnaires
are superficial and cosmetic and do not create characters that walk off the
page and into reader’s hearts.
Readers want to connect with the character’s inner workings. They
want to empathize with the protagonist’s feelings. What is their inner conflict? What are their
fears? What secrets does the main
character keep so hidden that even they do not acknowledge their shameful existence?
In order to face whatever conflict the
author throws at them in the story, they must be armed with more than their
favorite color or the contents of their refrigerator.
It is only when the author builds characters from the inside
out that he can costume them with the kind of frippery found in questionnaires. It is only then that the inanity of the
questionnaire becomes integral to the story.
For example, a female protagonist neglected as a child by her
alcoholic parents and who had to fend for herself and them would probably be
ashamed and hate her childhood. She would overcompensate for her childhood
helplessness by being in charge and in control of everything in her adult life.
She might yearn for love and attention, yet keeps everyone at arm’s length.
Her favorite color would be red since it stands for power and
pain and passion. She would keep a six pack of beer in her refrigerator which she
never drinks. It is there as a hated symbol
of what destroyed her life, but it is also a fearful reminder that she too has a
hereditary propensity for alcohol addiction.
Remember, nothing should be merely superficial, coincidental,
or cosmetic. Everything is dependent on
the character’s hidden side, the inner workings, the psyche. To create strong
fictional characters, the author must intentionally give them strong personality
traits, either good or bad, and thereby make them realistic and believable.
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