One of my favourite creative writing exercises is to have students create a character on the paper through a series of questions, and then get them – one by one – to pretend to be their character and submit to being interviewed by the rest of the group. It’s amazing what startling storylines can come up when we allow the character to take over. They stop being just a possibility and end up being multi-dimensional.

Now obviously we can’t do that on here, but here’s a list of 100 of the top questions I use to help develop my characters. Please feel free to use as many or as little as you want. The last two have been deliberately placed there though.

1. Where were you born?
2. What nationality do you consider yourself to be?
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
4. What is your physical build?
5. Are you happy with it?
6. How old are you?
7. Where do you live now?
8. Who with?
9. Who is the most important person in your life, and why?
10. Do you have children of your own?
11. If so, what is your greatest hope for them?
12. If not, would you like children one day?
13. What is your view on keeping pets?
14. What is the view from your bedroom window?
15. Which is your favourite room in the house? And why?
16. Can you describe how your kitchen smells?
17. How is it different from the kitchen in your childhood home?
18. Are you happy with your home circumstances?
19. What makes you laugh out loud?
20. When was the last time you cried?
21. What colour is your hair?
22. What colour eyes do you have?
23. Do you have a birthmark? Where?
24. What does your voice sound like?
25. Do you have any quirks, mannerisms or body gestures that people might notice?
26. What is your first childhood memory?
27. Tell me about one of your scars. Where is it? How did you get it?
28. What are/were your parents names?
29. What were their jobs?
30. Can you tell me one thing that happened in the year of your birth?
31. Were your parents pleased to have you?
32. What is the one thing you would change about your childhood?
33. What is the one thing about your upbringing that you are happy for?
34. What birth position did you come in the family?
35. If you had siblings, how was your relationship with them?
36. If you were an only child, how do you feel about that?
37. What is your relationship with your family like now?
38. Did you have friends as a child?
39. Were you popular at school?
40. What did you want to do when you were a child?
41. What is your occupation now?
42. How do you feel about that?
43. How much schooling have you had?
44. Do you enjoy learning?
45. When and with whom did you have your first kiss?
46. Are you a virgin? If not, how did you lose your virginity?
47. Have you ever been in trouble with the police?
48. What’s your opinion about authority?
49. Did you have a favourite/influential teacher?
50. Who was it, and why?
51. How do you want to die?
52. How do you treat other people (with deference, rudely, as equals)?
53. Do you make friends easily?
54. Do you believe in love at first sight?
55. Who have you been in love with? Can you name them?
56. Who would you turn to if you needed desperate help?
57. If you died, or went missing, who would miss you?
58. Do you care what others think of you?
59. What phrase would you never say?
60. What do you secretly believe that may surprise other people?
61. Do you have a good sense of direction?
62. Do people comment on a skill or area of knowledge that you have?
63. What has been your greatest achievement?
64. What has been your biggest disappointment?
65. Do you find it easy to forgive and forget?
66. Do you speak more than one language?
67. Do you read?
68. What was your favourite book or TV or film character when you were a child?
69. What qualities did they embody that you like still?
70. Do you feel you have these qualities?
71. Do you have an internal moral code (something you’ve come up with for yourself)?
72. Do you believe in a God or higher being of some kind?
73. What is your biggest fear?
74. Do you believe in the afterlife?
75. Look down at your feet, and tell me about your shoes.
76. What are your hobbies?
77. What three things would you do if you weren’t scared?
78. Of all the places you have lived in, which is the one you think about most?
79. Where, and how, would you like to live when you retire?
80. Do you smoke, drink or use drugs?
81. How do you deal with stress?
82. Which living person do you most admire?
83. What is your greatest extravagance?
84. What do you buy but never tell anyone about?
85. Who is your best friend?
86. What do you value most in him/her?
87. What is your current state of mind?
88. When have you been happiest in your life?
89. What would make you happier than you are now?
90. What is your financial situation?
91. What do you always have in your fridge?
92. What is your ideal night out?
93. How do you spend Sunday mornings?
94. How do you get around (bus, car, bike)?
95. Do you have any secrets you have never told anyone?
96. What one will you never tell?
97. What is your most treasured possession?
98. What do you want most in the world?
99. What are the nicknames you have had in your life?
100. What is your name?