42 character development questions
Feb. 3rd, 2017 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sebenikelaThese are really fascinating! Anybody want to give me an excuse to ramble about the characters I write? ???
PHYSICAL PRESENCE AND GESTURE.
1. How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy?
2. How much physical space do they use, active and at rest?
3. How do they position themselves in a group? Do they like to be the center of attention, or do they hang back at the edges of a crowd?
4. What is their size and build? How does it influence how they use their body, if it does?
5. How do they dress? What styles, colors, accessories, and other possessions do they favor? Why?
6. What are they like in motion–in different environments, and in different activities? What causes the differences between these?
7. How do they physically engage with other people, inanimate objects, and their environment? What causes the differences between these?
8. Where and when do they seem most and least at ease? Why? How can you tell?
9. How do they manifest energy, exhaustion, tension, or other strong emotions?
10. What energizes and drains them most?
11. How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use?
12. How are they bodily expressive? How do they use nonverbal cues such as their posture, stance, eyes, eyebrows, mouths, and hands?
DISPOSITION AND TEMPERAMENT.
13. How do they greet the world — what is their typical attitude towards life? How does it differ in different circumstances, or towards different subjects? Why do they take these attitudes, and why do they change? How do these tend to be expressed?
14. What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings, or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed?
15. What kind of inner life do they have — rich and imaginative? Calculating and practical? Full of doubts and fears? Does it find any sort of outlet in their lives?
16. Do they dream? What are those dreams like?
17. Are they more shaped by nature or nurture — who they are, or what has happened to them? How have these shaped who they’ve become as a person?
18. What kind of person could they become in the future? What are some developmental paths that they could take, (best, worst, most likely?) what would cause them to come to pass, and what consequences might they have? What paths would you especially like to see, and why?
CONNECTIONS WITH OTHERS.
19. How do they behave within a group? What role(s) do they take? Does this differ if they know and trust the group, versus finding themselves in a group of strangers? Why?
20. What kind of individual relationships do they have with others, and how do they behave in them? How are they different between intimate relationships like friends, family, and lovers versus more impersonal relationships?
21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why?
22. How do people respond to them, and why might these responses differ?
23. How do they respond to difficult social moments? What makes them consider a social situation difficult?
24. How do they present themselves socially? What distinguishes their “persona” from their “true self”, and what causes that difference?
25. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it?
26. How do they view and feel about relationships, and how might this manifest in how they handle them, if it does?
ACTIVITIES AND PREFERENCES.
27. What do they strongly like and dislike, in any category? Why?
28. What are they likely to do if they have the opportunity, resources, and time to accomplish it? Why?
29. What kind of activities, interests, and hobbies do they have? What significance and impact do these have in their lives, both positive and negative?
30. What is their preferred level of activity and stimulation? How do they cope if they get either too little or too much?
31. Is there anything that counts as a “dealbreaker” for them, positively or negatively? What makes things go smoothly, and what spoils an activity or ruins their day? Why?
32. Do they have any “props” that are a significant part of their life, identity, activities, or self-presentation somehow? What are they, how are they used, and why are they so significant? How would these props’ absence impact them, how would they compensate, and why?
THINKING AND LEARNING.
33. How do they learn about the world–what is their preferred learning style? Hands-on learning with trial and error? Research, reading, and note-taking? Observation or rote memorization? Inductive or deductive reasoning? Seeking patterns and organization? Taking things apart and putting them back together? Creative processing via discussing, writing about, or dramatizing things?
34. How do they understand the world–what kind of worldview and thought processes do they have? Why?
35. How and why do they internalize knowledge? What effect has that had on them?
36. How much do they rely on their minds and intellect, versus other approaches like relying on instinct, intuition, faith and spirituality, or emotions? What is their opinion on this?
37. Have they had any special education or training that colors their means of learning about or understanding the world? Conversely, do they lack some kind of education considered essential in their world? What kind of impact has this addition or lack had on them?
38. Is there anything they wish they could change about their worldview or thought processes? What, and why?
39. What sort of questions or thoughts recur in their lives, either specifically or as a theme? Why are these never answered, or answered permanently to their satisfaction?
40. What do they wonder about? What sparks their curiosity and imagination, and why? How is this expressed, if it is?
FREE FOR ALL.
41. What associations do they bring to mind? Words or phrases, images, metaphors or motifs? Why?
42. I have a question of my own!
PHYSICAL PRESENCE AND GESTURE.
1. How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy?
2. How much physical space do they use, active and at rest?
3. How do they position themselves in a group? Do they like to be the center of attention, or do they hang back at the edges of a crowd?
4. What is their size and build? How does it influence how they use their body, if it does?
5. How do they dress? What styles, colors, accessories, and other possessions do they favor? Why?
6. What are they like in motion–in different environments, and in different activities? What causes the differences between these?
7. How do they physically engage with other people, inanimate objects, and their environment? What causes the differences between these?
8. Where and when do they seem most and least at ease? Why? How can you tell?
9. How do they manifest energy, exhaustion, tension, or other strong emotions?
10. What energizes and drains them most?
11. How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use?
12. How are they bodily expressive? How do they use nonverbal cues such as their posture, stance, eyes, eyebrows, mouths, and hands?
DISPOSITION AND TEMPERAMENT.
13. How do they greet the world — what is their typical attitude towards life? How does it differ in different circumstances, or towards different subjects? Why do they take these attitudes, and why do they change? How do these tend to be expressed?
14. What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings, or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed?
15. What kind of inner life do they have — rich and imaginative? Calculating and practical? Full of doubts and fears? Does it find any sort of outlet in their lives?
16. Do they dream? What are those dreams like?
17. Are they more shaped by nature or nurture — who they are, or what has happened to them? How have these shaped who they’ve become as a person?
18. What kind of person could they become in the future? What are some developmental paths that they could take, (best, worst, most likely?) what would cause them to come to pass, and what consequences might they have? What paths would you especially like to see, and why?
CONNECTIONS WITH OTHERS.
19. How do they behave within a group? What role(s) do they take? Does this differ if they know and trust the group, versus finding themselves in a group of strangers? Why?
20. What kind of individual relationships do they have with others, and how do they behave in them? How are they different between intimate relationships like friends, family, and lovers versus more impersonal relationships?
21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why?
22. How do people respond to them, and why might these responses differ?
23. How do they respond to difficult social moments? What makes them consider a social situation difficult?
24. How do they present themselves socially? What distinguishes their “persona” from their “true self”, and what causes that difference?
25. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it?
26. How do they view and feel about relationships, and how might this manifest in how they handle them, if it does?
ACTIVITIES AND PREFERENCES.
27. What do they strongly like and dislike, in any category? Why?
28. What are they likely to do if they have the opportunity, resources, and time to accomplish it? Why?
29. What kind of activities, interests, and hobbies do they have? What significance and impact do these have in their lives, both positive and negative?
30. What is their preferred level of activity and stimulation? How do they cope if they get either too little or too much?
31. Is there anything that counts as a “dealbreaker” for them, positively or negatively? What makes things go smoothly, and what spoils an activity or ruins their day? Why?
32. Do they have any “props” that are a significant part of their life, identity, activities, or self-presentation somehow? What are they, how are they used, and why are they so significant? How would these props’ absence impact them, how would they compensate, and why?
THINKING AND LEARNING.
33. How do they learn about the world–what is their preferred learning style? Hands-on learning with trial and error? Research, reading, and note-taking? Observation or rote memorization? Inductive or deductive reasoning? Seeking patterns and organization? Taking things apart and putting them back together? Creative processing via discussing, writing about, or dramatizing things?
34. How do they understand the world–what kind of worldview and thought processes do they have? Why?
35. How and why do they internalize knowledge? What effect has that had on them?
36. How much do they rely on their minds and intellect, versus other approaches like relying on instinct, intuition, faith and spirituality, or emotions? What is their opinion on this?
37. Have they had any special education or training that colors their means of learning about or understanding the world? Conversely, do they lack some kind of education considered essential in their world? What kind of impact has this addition or lack had on them?
38. Is there anything they wish they could change about their worldview or thought processes? What, and why?
39. What sort of questions or thoughts recur in their lives, either specifically or as a theme? Why are these never answered, or answered permanently to their satisfaction?
40. What do they wonder about? What sparks their curiosity and imagination, and why? How is this expressed, if it is?
FREE FOR ALL.
41. What associations do they bring to mind? Words or phrases, images, metaphors or motifs? Why?
42. I have a question of my own!
no subject
Date: 2017-02-04 05:59 pm (UTC)4. What is their size and build? How does it influence how they use their body, if it does?
Rokia is pretty small, about 5′3″ (160cm) and skinny. She’s been working as a mechanic in her uncle’s hovercraft repair shop since she was about 8 years old, going from stuff like sorting hardware to by the time she’s 16 she’s one of his best people, and then after she wins the Games she gets semi-formal engineering training from Wiress and Beetee. Which is to say she’s used to doing a lot of physical work and knows how to be smart and use leverage so she can manage big heavy things.
Sara’s medium-sized, around 5′7″ (170 cm). She worked with Rokia at the shop for a couple years before starting as crew on cargo trains, so she’s also used to physical work.
13. How do they greet the world — what is their typical attitude towards life? How does it differ in different circumstances, or towards different subjects? Why do they take these attitudes, and why do they change? How do these tend to be expressed?
Rokia had a pretty hard-knock growing up, her mom’s a drug addict and she takes care of her two little sisters. She also had the incredible bad luck of being the one in thousands picked for the Hunger Games. So she is rightfully pretty pessimistic! There’s an Andy Dwyer Parks and Rec quote: “The show must go wrong–Everything always goes wrong, and you just have to deal with it.” That’s basically her attitude. She’s also an odd combination of cautious and reckless, the way you have to be when you’re really living on the edge–don’t take risks, unless you’re pretty sure the payoff is worth it, in which case go all in. So she’s really skeptical about getting involved in rebellion activities, but when she was a teenager she’d steal copper wire out of burned out houses or use jumper cables to reconnect the electricity when it got cut off–not safe at all! In the many thousands of words of self-indulgent postwar recovery fic I have stashed on livejournal she gets a little more hopeful, but it takes years.
Sara is in Hogwarts terms extremely Gryffindor. She sees a problem, she wants to make it go away. Sometimes that’s solving some problem at work, sometimes it’s solving “why are there kids starving when we just shipped tons of grain to the Capitol” and sometimes it’s blowing up rail lines to muck up transportation for Peacekeepers during the war. Basically the quintessential “hold my beer ima fuck shit up” type of person. So problems she can’t attack really, really bother her. Her best friend getting abused in the Capitol, for example, so by the time the war starts she is EXTREMELY ready to blow some shit up. After the war she has some reflective moments where she’s like “should I feel worse about having killed people?” but mostly comes down on the side of “nope,” especially given that she’s watching how hard Rokia has to work to recover (and on bad nights would like to go kill some more people for what they did to her girl). Rokia tends to react badly to anger, though, so Sara works really hard to be calm around her but then often needs to go outside and scream or punch something. She’s also fundamentally pretty hopeful, mostly because she thinks she can fix things–not always fast, not by herself, but she sees possibilities and reasons to be optimistic.
24. How do they present themselves socially? What distinguishes their “persona” from their “true self”, and what causes that difference?
Oh god this one is really huge. Rokia-as-Victor for public events and at the Capitol is basically a completely different person than Rokia at home. She compartmentalizes and dissociates really well (er. y’know. effectively?), so she’s very definitely playing a role, and so what happens to her while she’s doing that doesn’t feel quite like it’s happening to her. This is a useful coping mechanism but like most it has a price. Again, postwar, she has to start unlearning it as instinctive reaction to stressful situations, and it takes a long time.
Sara is pretty much always herself. She’s never had to play a role in the way Rokia has to, and she’s got a pretty strong personality and is completely unapologetic about it. She will try to tone things down around people who don’t know her but it’s pretty much what you see is what you get.
32. Do they have any “props” that are a significant part of their life, identity, activities, or self-presentation somehow? What are they, how are they used, and why are they so significant? How would these props’ absence impact them, how would they compensate, and why?
Rokia has a switchblade her uncle gave her that she carries around, first because muggers in the shady parts of town where she lived thought a 13-year-old who just cashed a paycheck was an excellent target, and later mostly just out of habit, as a slightly-odd comfort object. Other than that she’s really not attached to stuff, since while she was living with her mom anything she owned would have a tendency to disappear.
Sara doesn’t really have anything like this. She basically lives on the trains except for a week a month or so leave, so everything she owns can fit in a duffel bag. And when she joins the rebels in D9 she takes basically just the clothes on her back, and that’s fine with her.
Both girls are pretty attached to Their People, though. For Rokia it’s first and foremost her little sisters. For Sara it’s Rokia, and their friend Matt and (later) his family, and then her crew of rebels. (Sara’s parents are fine, but they’re loyalist and upper class for D6 and Sara just doesn’t get along with them very well). They both react badly when Their People are hurt or threatened, but Rokia’s more likely to blame herself and bury herself in work while Sara is more likely to light something on fire.
34. How do they understand the world–what kind of worldview and thought processes do they have? Why?
Rokia’s sort of a born engineer, in the sense that she analyzes things logically and methodically. But she’s also got a really limited perspective because she spends so much of her time and energy just on survival – she’s not thinking about politics because she’s too busy figuring out where her next meal’s coming from. Sara is the first one to get her to think a little more broadly, because Sara works cargo trains through 9, 10, 11, and 12, and sees more of what the country’s like. That expands once she starts meeting other Victors, but she’s still really focused on protecting her people, especially her sisters.
Sara is much more… intuitive maybe? She’s the one who makes the leap from “the Capitol is worried about shooting down other hovercraft” to “I bet those rumors about District 13 are true and they have hovercraft.” To which Rokia’s reaction is “This isn’t disassembling a mechanism to figure out how it works, this is taking one snapped bolt and concluding that the house is going to fall down. This is insane.” She’s also really observant, so she notices that e.g. the Peacekeepers in District 11 are armed and ready to shoot anyone who comes near the train, while in District 12 nobody much gives a shit, but way too many people in Twelve are starving. And she isn’t willing to just accept that as the way things are, because that’s stupid and wrong and it shouldn’t be that way and how do we fix it? And luckily there’s some other people thinking along the same lines, and they recruit her to blow shit up. Everybody wins!
no subject
Date: 2017-02-06 04:26 pm (UTC)Finnick: any of the "physical presence and gesture" ones, but especially 1, 4, 9, 10
Johanna: 24-26, 38
Any Finnick or Johanna, really!
Finnick
Date: 2017-02-06 11:45 pm (UTC)Finnick has incredibly good body awareness—he knows where he is, where everything else in his environment is, so he’s very sure of himself physically. A lot of this is from training for the Games, amplified by the need to be sure of what he’s doing when he’s in the Capitol. Motion and gesture and posture are all deliberate and strategic, any time he’s in public and most of the time in private. If he’s turned that off, it’s either because he’s very relaxed or because he’s too stressed to deal with it (e.g. In D13). If he’s relaxed he’s expansive—flinging himself into a hammock, tackling Annie into the sand, sprawling on the couch, etc. When he’s stressed he either pulls in and shuts down or is in constant, frantic motion. Or some combination, hunched up tying knots with Katniss for example.
4. What is their size and build? How does it influence how they use their body, if it does?
Tall, strong but not super bulky, typical swimmer’s build. He stays in good shape partly because he’d get yelled at if he ~let himself go~ but also he likes training. It’s a good way to keep his mind off of things. He usually doesn’t act menacing, because that’s not his role, but if he wants to, he’s got that weapon in his arsenal.
9. How do they manifest energy, exhaustion, tension, or other strong emotions?
If he’s actually showing emotion, he’s somewhere safe. If he’s in the Capitol you’re not going to notice any of that (except maybe energy, but the Capitol is exhausting and stressful so it’s not like he usually feels particularly energetic). He’s scarily good at compartmentalizing that stuff. It comes out usually back in Four, usually some period of overexertion and then often a crash where he sleeps a lot and doesn’t want to leave the house. Followed by something a little more settled, if he has that much time between Capitol trips. The Four Victors follow Mags’ lead in terms of when to leave him alone or when to step in—if he’s in danger of hurting himself (beyond a certain level) or when he’s spent too much time alone, usually. Mags is the only one who’s not at least a little awkward about it.
10. What energizes and drains them most?
Going to the Capitol is draining, obviously. Energizing is probably swimming, being outside in the heat and sand and everything that physically says “District Four.” Baking stuff. Annie.
In general with this stuff I think it’s all subconscious—Finnick is for very good reasons pretty unaware of his emotions most of the time.
Johanna
Date: 2017-02-06 11:45 pm (UTC)24. How do they present themselves socially? What distinguishes their “persona” from their “true self”, and what causes that difference?
Johanna is not very good at cultivating a “Victor persona” or censoring herself in public. It’s what’s most likely to get her in trouble. Before her parents are killed she works at it, and Victor Johanna is… bitchy and rough but essentially harmless. She has a reputation as being a lot to handle, but also being ~worth it~ if you’re into that sort of thing. (Ugh now I need to go shower the Capitol is gross).
After she wins, she basically says “fuck that” and acts as crazy as she damn well pleases. If she’s in the Capitol (apart from Games time) it’s because she wants entertainment, which usually ends up being drugs and booze and parties. If she’s too crazy and too slutty nobody’s going to want to pay for her so Snow won’t change his mind, and might as well let them see what they’re missing. She goes from hating cameras and punching photographers to thinking it’s fucking hilarious and flirting with them, depending on her mood (and what chemicals she’s marinating her brain in).
When she’s in Seven she’s snarky and surly and stubborn, sleeps a lot or disappears into the woods or chops wood and drinks with Blight. Avoids people, because Seven doesn’t really approve of her or her antics and she gets weird looks in town.
I don’t think either one of those is really her “true self”— I think she’s kind of lost, isn’t really sure who she is or what she wants or where she’s going. If Panem had competent psychologists (ahem, Dr. Aurelius), she might be diagnosed bipolar. The Capitol seems like a good idea when she’s manic and she hates it when she’s depressed. But I don’t know enough specifics about psychology to say for sure. In any case she’s crazy and doesn’t care who knows it, fuck anyone who tries to give her shit or tell her what to do. And she’ll do what she can to enjoy her shitty life as long as she has to keep it. (Her words…)
25. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it?
Johanna basically has two authentic relationships after her parents die—with Blight and with Finnick. They’re also the only ones who can say “hey maybe take it down several notches” and not get dismissed out of hand. They will still get told to fuck off! But she might listen at least a little bit. She really wants someone to need her. Finnick comes closest, in that he obviously likes having her around, but (in her mind) he doesn’t really need her, he has the Fours and Annie. Blight was fine before he met her, he’d be fine if she didn’t exist, but he also seems to like hanging out with her and will give her shit and get her drunk and cares what happens to her. She and Haymitch get drunk together and talk shit. They enjoy that. They fucked once and it was fine but they’re not that into doing it again. (It might happen, see: they get drunk together, but it’s never more than drunken hookups).
She doesn’t know how to get that. She does know how to make “friends” in the sense of “people I party with,” and has a few of those in the Capitol. She cares about them, they care about her, but it’s pretty superficial and they damn sure don’t talk about their feelings. She rarely sees them when she’s sober, and vice versa, those relationships are pretty compartmentalized in relation to the rest of their lives. It’s not what she wants, but it’s what she can get and it’s better than nothing.
26. How do they view and feel about relationships, and how might this manifest in how they handle them, if it does?
Johanna mostly figures her friends just put up with her because they’re nice people. Probably too nice, and she’s probably going to fuck things up and hurt them, but meanwhile it’s nice to have people who give a fuck. Mostly that results in her being distant and unattached as much as possible. With Finnick though she’s kind of fucked because they were friends before things got really bad and she cares about him and she knows he cares about her (probably because he’s too damn nice for his own good) and as much as she tries to push him away sometimes he always calls her bullshit. And he’ll come to her when he’s upset, and vice versa, and look out for each other on bad nights, and this kind of scares the shit out of her because vulnerability is terrifying.
38. Is there anything they wish they could change about their worldview or thought processes? What, and why?
Johanna doesn’t see the point of this question when Dr. Aurelius asks her in D13:
“Sure, I’d like to take whatever you all are on that makes you think the world’s full of sunshine and rainbows and decent people. Some of us have to live in the real world where people suck and everything hurts.”
(That’s a little more than she meant to say. Blame it on the morphling. Worth it.)
After the war when she moves to Four and starts occasionally sleeping through the night without chemical assistance and watches people rebuild things and the world objectively sucks less, well. She’d like to be able to enjoy it. To believe it’s real, that she’s not going to wake up one morning in Seven, in Thirteen, in the Capitol, that this is all a hallucination. It’s hard to watch Finnick look at Annie and his kid and look happy. Hard to wake up and force herself to shower and force herself to eat and force herself to go outside and go through the motions and keep herself alive. But it gets easier, since she keeps waking up in Four and it keeps being real and time still appears to be linear. Since she starts finding things she actually likes. (Long walks on the beach and sunsets, for fuck’s sake, even if she likes sunsets because it means she got through another day.)
Oh, Johanna… D:
Re: Finnick
Date: 2017-02-07 01:53 am (UTC)