Character Questionnaire

All 48 questions to ask your character

Basics and daily life

1. What does a normal morning look like for them?
2. What do they carry in their pockets or bag?
3. What is their home like, and what is out of place in it?
4. What do they spend money on that they should not?
5. What food reminds them of childhood?
6. How do they introduce themselves to strangers?
7. What do they do when they cannot sleep?
8. Which chore do they always put off?

Past and memory

1. What is their earliest memory?
2. Who raised them, and what did that person get wrong?
3. What was the worst day of their life so far?
4. What did they want to be as a child?
5. What would they change about their past if they could?
6. Who did they lose touch with, and why?
7. What rule did they break for the first time?
8. What do they still have from their childhood?

Personality and values

1. What do they lie about most often?
2. What will they not do, even to survive?
3. What makes them laugh against their will?
4. How do they behave when nobody is watching?
5. What do they believe that most people around them do not?
6. How do they treat people who can do nothing for them?
7. What compliment would mean the most to them?
8. What do they pretend not to care about?

Wants, fears and the arc

1. What do they want more than anything right now?
2. What do they actually need, and why can they not see it?
3. What lie do they believe about themselves or the world?
4. What is their greatest fear?
5. What would they sacrifice to get what they want?
6. What would make them give up?
7. What would their ideal life look like in ten years?
8. What would they never forgive?

Relationships

1. Who do they trust most, and is that trust deserved?
2. Who do they envy?
3. Who was the last person they apologised to, and did they mean it?
4. How do they act around someone they are attracted to?
5. Who would they take a hit for?
6. What do their friends tease them about?
7. Who do they owe something to?
8. How do they end arguments?

Under pressure

1. What would they grab first if their home were on fire?
2. How do they react to being humiliated in public?
3. What do they do in the first ten seconds of a crisis?
4. When cornered, do they fight, run, bargain or freeze?
5. What would make them betray a friend?
6. How do they handle winning?
7. What do they do right after they fail?
8. What would they say if they had one minute left to speak?

How to use a character questionnaire

Answer quickly and in the first person. If an answer bores you, the character is probably still generic in that area; push until something specific comes out. Then move the best answers into your character profile template. For flaws and arcs, the personality generator and character flaws list help.