What do you want to know in a character?

Question

I am writing a novel. If you are a creative writing prof. I hope you can answer this for me, or if you write novels, or are an AVID reader.
When you read a novel what do you want to know about a character? Try to come up with the top 10 things. 1 being most important.

Answer 1

1. Relationships with other charecters
2. Personality
3. Strengths
4. Weaknesses
5. Likes
6. Dislikes
7. Emotions they go through
8. Appearance
9. Past
10. Goals

Answer 2

I am a Canadian mystery author with three published novels. When I begin writing a novel I have what is called a "character wall" on my office wall. A piece of paper holds vital information for each main character.

I want to know their:
1. descriptive stats such as name, age, and physical description.
2. profession, training, special skills
3. marital status, family and children relationships
4. relationship to other characters in the story
5. past major events (traumas, tragedies, celebrations)
6. motive (what is their motive for EVERYTHING they say or do?)
7. reasoning skills (how will they solve their dilemma?)
8. emotions (what are they feeling?)
9. strengths and weaknesses
10. ultimate goal and how they plan to accomplish it.

And all of these apply whether you're talking about a protagonist (the good guy) or the antagonist (the bad dude).

In the end, if the characters in a novel can't make me feel something--anything--then the novel is dry and dull. If the author creates romance, conflict, danger, suspense, horror, comedy, tragedy etc, I will feel something. That's what I want to read...and write! :)

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention
http://www.cherylktardif.com
http://www.whalesongbook.com

Answer 3

The more you know about a character the more you feel for them. You can feel pity or hate or love for the same character depending on their background.

Take JOE he is a serial murderer, if his background is one of hatred and violence and comes from a good family your audience will probably hate him.

The same character who has been abused over and over as a child now perhaps has your pit or sympathy. So the more we know about a characters background the more we can understand him and make a decision as to hate or love or something in between.

The usual list is obvious.
Who are they
Where are they?
When do they live?
Why are they being written about?
What are they doing?
Who do they love and hate?
How will they react in different situations?
What is their background?

Depending on the importance of the character this list could go on for pages.

When I write I live the characters in my head, I know each one of them intimately, so that when they speak the words are definitely their own. I write a "life story" for each character and the lines that they say then come from those experiences.

hope this helps!

Answer 4

1. What makes him/her tick?
2. I must be able to visualize him, so what does he look like?
3. What is his goal?
4. What are his interests?
5. How is his lovelife?
6. What is his personality like?
7. Where does the action take place?
8. Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
9. What is his name?
10. Does he succeed or fail at obtaining his goal?

Answer 5

For me, it depends on the novel genre. I mostly read fiction, so: Age, profession, social/economic status, what they look like, where they're located, their background (past occurances, education, etc), hobbies, what makes them realistic, personality type...

Answer 6

10. soci-economic status

9. their age

8. what they look like

7. where are they located/live

6. how do their surroundings/environment effect them

5. profession (or lack their of)

4. social status

3. family/friends

2. hobbies/interests

1. what makes them unqiue, who can I identify with them

Answer 7

betrayal