Characters in Action


These questions are intended to help you perceive characters imaginatively – to help uncover the mysteries of motivation, personality, and interaction.

Understanding the Central Person

  1. What seems to drive this person to action?
  2. What action tells us most about this person?
  3. What action affects your feelings about this person?
  4. What are some basic character traits of this person?
  5. What is the greatest weakness of this person?
  6. How does this person relate to other people?
  7. What is special or important about this person’s moral or religious life?
  8. How does this person change or mature?
  9. What personal insights enlighten this person?

Exploring the World of Characters

  1. What other characters draw your special attention?
  2. What do they tell us about the central figure?
  3. What special relationships are formed by these less central people?
  4. What groups of people are associated in your mind?
  5. Do some of these people or groups represent values or ideas beyond themselves?
  6. Which characters provoke distaste or disdain?
  7. Which character is most mysterious and hard to understand?
  8. Which character could most easily be left out of this world?
  9. Do any of these other people seem to grow, change, or gain new self-understanding?
  10. Does any character you don’t know well play an important role?

Imagining Characters in Our World

  1. What in our world would shock the central character most?
  2. What would make anyone know this character didn’t fit in our world?
  3. What serious matters could you talk about with this person?
  4. What important values would you disagree on?
  5. What would your parents think about this character?
  6. What social causes would this person support?
  7. What television programs would be most appealing to this character?
  8. What would be the political affiliation, if any, of this person?
  9. What religious dogma would be most appealing or disgusting to this character?