The Deep Dig Part III – The Reedsy Questionnaire

The Reedsy Questionnaire is actually five interviews in one, so this resource is really worth looking up! Following is just the first of the five:

Our actions and decisions are informed by our past experiences. Take a trip down memory lane to explore your character’s backstory in more depth and help you create more believable, relatable characters.

1. What is your earliest memory?
2. What is a memory that makes you swell with pride?
3. What is your worst memory?
4. Where did you grow up? What was your childhood like there?
5. Did you have a childhood nickname?
6. What was your relationship with your parents like when you were younger?
7. Who were you closest to as a child?
8. What did you want to be when you grew up?
9. Did you ever get in trouble as a child?
10. Who were your childhood best friends?
11. Who were your childhood enemies?
12. Did you celebrate your birthday throughout your childhood?
13. What was your favorite day or holiday when you were a child?
14. What was your biggest fear when you were a child?
15. What is something you were insecure about when you were a child?
16. What is your most embarrassing moment?
17. What is something you quit that you now regret giving up on?
18. What is something you wish you never learned the truth about?
19. If you could relive one day of your life without changing anything that happened, which day would you choose?
20. If you could relive one day of your life and change its course of events, which day would you choose?

In order to delve into character motivations, you have to know your characters. And in most novels where there’s an antagonist, a protagonist, and lots of other characters that fade in and out, it’s necessary that the distinctions between all the players is more than apparent. (I will admit, this is a very hard task for me!) While you might not use every personality trait or truth that you’ve teased out by interviewing your characters, doing these exercises in some form will solidify them in your mind, and hopefully to your readers’ minds!

Happy writing!

Make your characters more than ghostly!