Following on from part two of creating character profiles, here’s part 3 of how to create character profiles. As you know, I’m writing these posts as I work on creating characters for a new series I hope to start next year. In today’s post, I’m going to look at fleshing out my character using the Marcel Proust Character Questionnaire and some more questions I’ve found online. Below is the image I’ve found for my main character.

Using Questionnaires to Create Character Profiles

This image above is for my main character and along with her basic information which will include her name and age, I’ll be using this picture to describe her in my series. So far, I’ve settled on the name Cora Brown and I’m putting her at around 28. I’m going to use the character questionnaires below to flesh out her details. These questions look at a lot of different areas and once completed I will have a lot of information for Cora.

It is worth mentioning that most of this information probably won’t make it into the story. Why bother then? The character questionnaires are a great way to learn about your character, what makes them tick, etc. It lets you get inside their head and they become familiar, like a family member or best friend. You know everything about them and when writing the story, you’ll know instinctively how they’ll react to different circumstances. The information you garner is for you and while some of it will make it into the story, the majority of the information is for you only.

First up, I’ll be using the Marcel Proust Character Questionnaire. I’ll go through each of the questions and take note of the answers. All this information is being added to my character files for the new series and I’m hoping by doing this, the story will flow when the time to write comes.

Marcel Proust Character Profiles Questionnaire

Below are the questions that French author Marcel Proust came up with. Many of them read like interview questions and I’ll essentially be interviewing Cora to find out more about her. I’m hoping it will be fun and reveal some details that will prove fruitful. These questions will also make me think more about Cora as a person and might even spark some subplots and twists for my series too.

• What do you consider your greatest achievement?
• What is your idea of perfect happiness?
• What is your current state of mind?
• What is your favourite occupation?
• What is your most treasured possession?
• What or who is the greatest love of your life?
• What is your favourite journey?
• What is your most marked characteristic?
• When and where were you the happiest?
• What is it that you most dislike?
• What is your greatest fear?
• What is your greatest extravagance?
• Which living person do you most despise?
• What is your greatest regret?
• Which talent would you most like to have?
• Where would you like to live?
• What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
• What is the quality you most like in a man?
• What is the quality you most like in a woman?
• What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
• What is the trait you most deplore in others?
• What do you most value in your friends?
• Who is your favourite hero of fiction?
• Whose are your heroes in real life?
• Which living person do you most admire?
• What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
• On what occasions do you lie?
• Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
• What are your favourite names?
• How would you like to die?
• If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
• What is your motto?

Wow, there are some really interesting questions. My favourites are treasured possessions and immediately my mind went to the star necklace around Cora’s neck. I love the question on what her motto is and want to give this some serious thought. The qualities she admires in a man will prove really helpful too and there will be romance in my new series.

Additional Character Profile Questions 

Below are some additional questions I found while researching and I think these are also really interesting and will prove extremely helpful. 

• What are your character’s three best personality traits?
• What are your character’s best talents/skills?
• What are your character’s worst flaws?
• What do others think of your character?
• What does your character they think of themselves?
• What is the internal flaw that holds them back and must change?
• How does this flaw affect their daily life?
• What caused this flaw to exist?
• What is the big life lesson your character must learn before they can change?
• What has your character’s life has been like so far?
• Who are their family and friends?
• What is their normal/daily life is like when the story starts?

I’m really looking forward to spending the time answering these questions and created a full character profile for Cora.

Until next time,

Keep reading and writing

Amanda

Amanda J Evans

Amanda J Evans is an award-winning Irish author and writing coach. Amanda writes adult romance that often crosses into paranormal and fantasy. Growing up with heroes like Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, her stories centre on good versus evil with a splice of love and magic thrown in too. Her books have all won awards and her novella, Hear Me Cry, won the Book of the Year Award at the Dublin Writers Conference 2018. Amanda is also the author of Surviving Suicide: A Memoir from Those Death Left Behind, published in 2012.

www.amandajevans.com