I have learned the hard way that a believable character that resounds with the readers I one day hope to have is a bit of an art form. I actually have 9 pages of typewritten interview questions that I pose to them, including What is your favourite flavour of ice cream and Why are people poor. Sometimes the answers surprise me but the characters get fleshed out in a way that gives me some insight to their potential reactions to some plot points.
These pages always include a physical description, backstory, idiosyncrasies and description of their home environments.When those characters show up in subsequent stories, I make sure that I do this again, because they have changed with the experience of their first mention.
What do you do to make your characters real?
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