Character Bio

Mini-Bio exercise from Characters, Emotions and Viewpoint by Nancy Kress

Character Name:

1) Age:


2) Birthplace:


3) Marital Status:


4) Children and ages:


5) Living arrangements (i.e. lives with wife and three young children, rents a ramshackle apartment alone, has a tent in nomadic tribe with three concubines):


6) Occupation, including name of employer if applicable:


7) Degree of skill at occupation (beginner, really competent, experienced but a bumbler, etc)


8) Characters feeling about his occupation (loves it, hates it, regards it as “just a job”, has mixed feelings, is actively seeking other employment, etc)


9) Family background (whatever you think is important: ethnicity, siblings, parents, social status, clan affiliation, total repugnance toward everybody he knew before the age of twelve, etc)


10) What three of four things does this person value most in life? (i.e. Success, money, family, God, love, integrity, power, peace and quiet)

1.
2.
3.
4.

11) What three things does he fear most?

1.
2.
3.

12) What is this person's basic underlying attitude about life? (i.e. "things will usually turn out all right," or "they're all out for themselves," or "it's best to expect nothing because then you won't be disappointed," etc.)


13) What does she need to know about another person in order to accept that other as "all right" and trustworthy?


14)What would cause this person more pain than anything else possible?


15) What would this person consider the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to him?


16)What three words would she use to describe herself, accurate or not?

1.
2.
3.

17) How accurate is his self-description?


18) What organization most embodies this person's values? (i.e. Mensa, Daughters of the American Revolution her church, Aryan Pride, PTA, etc)

19) Does he belong to this group? Yes / No. If not, why not?