• character questions (for major characters)
  • who is my character?
  • what is she named and why?
  • if I had to describe her in one word, it would be:
  • what’s her family like?
  • what does she value?
  • what lie does she believe?
  • why does she believe that lie? what happened in her past that caused her to believe it?
  • what is her main goal in the story?
  • why is she ideal for the journey and why is she not?
  • who are her allies and who are her enemies?
  • what will my main character sacrifice?
  • how does she need to change?
  • what happens if she doesn’t meet her goals? why are her goals important? how can I make that worse for her? who else could it impact?
  • in what ways is she operating against society and in what ways is she operating within?
  • what part of her past can come back to haunt her?
  • what is her greatest fear?
• other character questions
  • what does the antagonist want?
  • does my antagonist have a secret he’s trying to keep?
  • who will make sacrifices for my main character throughout the story?
  • what character could come out of the shadows and “shine?”
• story questions
  • what’s the best place for the story to start?
  • how do I think it will end? what is the climax?
  • Does my story have a theme? why does this book matter?
  • what kind of hurdles will there be in the journey? how can I make these harder? how can I make them “cost” my main character more?
  • what is my storyworld like? are there political, historical, or environmental situations that might affect my character’s journey?
  • is there magic in my story? if so, how does it work? what are the rules, costs, and limitations for it?

by stephanie morrill, goteenwriters