Hello, My Name Is…53 Fun Activities to Get to Know your Character!

Isn’t it annoying when you have one of those characters who absolutely refuses to have any personality, and yet needs to be in the story? Don’t trash the charrie, and definitely don’t stop writing! Here are some random ideas on simple and fun things you can do to dig a little deeper into your character’s soul.

1. Create a diary, blog, or social networking account for your character. Update it often with posts or entries related to what’s going on in your story at the moment-and how they feel about it. If you’re on a social network, make sure you fill in all of the about me questions in your profile!
2. “Be” your character for a day. Dress up in their style, change your talking and walking to suit what they’d do, and don’t forget to forget about yourself, since your character has no idea who you are!
3. Recreate your character’s room in a cardboard box! You can use little toy furniture, paint, cardboard, fabric, whatever. Don’t forget to fill it with things they love!
4. Give your character a pretend cell phone. Using a piece of paper and a pen, create their own phone case, show what apps they have, jot down their voicemail messages and contacts, note some text and call transcripts, whatever!
5. Make a list of everything that comes to mind when you think of your character. Cut up the list and use the words/sentences in a collage based on your charrie, complete with pictures and artwork!
6. Use a building toy such as LEGO to create your character’s dream world.
7. Invent a funky dance based on your character.
8. Let your friends read a scene that your character is in. Then, interview them, asking a bunch of questions about that character, such as how they think the character spends their weekends or what they think that character likes to doodle. Afterwards, consider your friend’s opinions on your character. Are any of them valid? Are those opinions the type of thing you want your readers to think when they read that scene?
9. Eat nothing but foods your character likes for a day.
10. Make a scrapbook for your character. Add pictures, quotes, poems, words, fabric scraps, paint samples, and/or more unique objects related to your character.
11. Write a story about your character’s childhood.
12. Write a story about your character becoming a parent.
13. Take a Magic 8 ball and ask it yes/no questions about your character. Those things don’t actually work to tell the future, but it could inspire you!
14. Stick your character into a parallel universe where everything is exactly the opposite as it is in their normal world. How does he/she react?
15. Ask your character a simple question, then keep asking “Why?” (example: What’s your favorite color? Blue. Why? It’s calming. Why?)
16. Let your character write a chapter of your book for you. What type of writer are they? Do they make things go their way, or do they sacrifice what they want for what needs to happen?
17. Write about your character going to your favorite store. What do they buy, if they buy anything?
18. Design a menu for a resturant your character would die to visit.
19. Make a Pinterest board (or account) for your character and pin anything you think that they’d like onto it.
20. Create a playlist especially for your character. Play it whenever you need to get some character work done.
21. Try out some of your character’s favorite hobbies. Maybe you’ll like one of them and will be able to add more passion into your writing!
22. Create a fashion line for your character with clothes from your closet, the internet, your favorite clothing shop, or a pen and some paper.
23. Go on a blog such as andthatswhoiam or justgirythings and find things that relate to your character.
24. Create an email address for your character. Invite your friends to send your character emails and reply in the way your charrie would. No breaking character!
25. Write a song about one of your character’s guilty pleasures.
26. Look up personality quizzes in magazines or online and make your character take them.
27. Give your character a catchphrase to suit their personality.
28. Compare your character to your favorite book character. How are they similar? How are they different?
29. Compare your character to YOU. How are the two of you similar or different?
30. Make a time capsule for your character. Fill it with small items that they love, as well as a letter to their future self. Hide it somewhere. Let your character find it again in a few weeks, months, or years.
31. Let your character give you a makeover.
32. Give your character a makeover.
33. Treat your character to their dream vacation… But make everything go completely wrong. How do they react?
34. Create a meme inspired by your character.
35. Take the plot of another book (for example, Harry Potter) and replace the main character with your character. How does the story change based on your character’s choices? How does your character change from that plot experience?
36. Make a ‘real portrait’ of your character, which is basically a portrait but not necessarily a picture of their face. Use art to represent who they really are. Use colors, words, sketches, clay, paint, gel pens, or whatever you want to express who you think your character really is in one simple piece of art.
37. Create an art gallery all about your character, making lots of ‘real portraits’ (see 36)
38. Draw a detailed picture of your character’s feet. Are they wearing shoes or are they barefoot? Do they smell good or bad? Do they have socks on? If so, what do they look like? Are their toenails short or long, painted or nude? Any jewelry such as toe rings, anklets, etc?
39. Do the same thing with their hands.
40. Make your characters take part in a secret santa gift exchange. Write three paragraphs for each of them, one about them drawing the name out of the hat and their reaction, one about them choosing out the right gift, and one about the actual exchange and getting their own gift. You can do this with as many characters as you want from as many books as you want. You can even throw yourself and your peers into the mix!
41. Give your character a notebook. It is their job to fill it with all the top ten lists they can think of. Top ten bands, top ten ways to get rid of a foe… Whatever.
42. Give your character your homework and see how they cope and what they do (but don’t make any promises to hand it in, the teachers might not approve of you forcing others to do your work)
43. Find a font that you think suits your character’s personality.
44. Do you like to sew or knit? Make some sort of clothing or accessory that your character would wear.
45. Write a paragraph on your character’s favorite sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and things to touch.
46. Get some essential oils and mix them together to create the perfect scent for your character.
47. Make a list of ten things your character would not willingly survive without.
48. Have an email/phone/instant message/note-passing/face to face chat with your friend- but let your character take over your keyboard and one of your friends’ take over hers. The characters can interact and develop together while you have a fun time with your friend!
49. Write 500 words on your character’s favorite types of juice from when they were born to right now.
50. Write about your character being stranded on a desert island.How do they survive?
51. Fill in a character development sheet (you can find oodles online and in writing help books)
52. Let your character write their own list of ways to develop a character!
53. (Special thanks to Gibble96 for suggesting this!) Envision your character on a completely ordinary day. What is their morning routine? Do they go to school or work, or are they a stay-at-home person? How do they use their free time?

Okay, so I know they’re not the best ideas, but they’re something!

One Page Per Day

I am ashamed to say that, besides what I do in NaNoWriMo, I hardly ever get any writing done.

I mean, sure, I am known to pump out a short story or a poem once and awhile, but that hardly ever happens anymore. I often find myself sulking and procrastinating while I try to think up something to write, and when I do start to write, I only get a couple sentences down. It’s a shame really, because last year, I started so many writing projects, but I don’t think that I finished eleven twelfths of them.

Not this year. This year, I am going to take part in a year-long challenge of my own creation, entitled “Page-A-Day” Basically, I’m challenging myself to write at least one full page (around 500 or 600 words) per day. It doesn’t have to be part of the same project. You could work on a novel one day, write a poem the next, and start a short story the next! Really, the only rules are that blog posts and such don’t count, it should be a fiction piece (well, it doesn’t  have to be, but that’s what I’m doing. Still, no blog posts) and you are not allowed to delete your work after you hit the one page mark, for all your days to count, you have to save each and every page until the end of the year. You can do the writing in whatever format you like, on the computer, in a notebook, on a typewriter, if you have one (if you do, LUCKY.)

In preparation, I have began writing random outlines for novels, stories, and other works of writing art. One of the ones I’m really excited about is The Unusuals (better title to come later), which was inspired by an image I found on one of my favorite things ever, Pinterest! I hope to have lots of new ideas by January first, which is when my project will officially start!

I think that this will be a great way to get me writing in 2014! If any of you are interested in doing Page-A-Day, please comment below and tell me, perhaps we’ll be able to help each other out!

Thanks so much for reading my blog! You are amazing!