Get To Know Your Character With 20 Creative Scenario Prompts
Get To Know Your Character With 20 Creative Scenario Prompts
Have you ever struggled to get to know your characters? Do you find it hard to move past a surface level description? Or maybe you’ve started writing and realised you need to go back to the planning stages and understand who’s story you're telling. You see, getting to know your character will allow you to write your novel with more confidence and clarity.
Characters lie at the heart of our stories. The more we get to know them, the more real they become, and the more they’ll capture our readers’ hearts. From naming our characters, to discovering how they speak, and bringing them to life, there’s so much to consider as part of your character development planning. This is where this blog post will help as you get to know your character through these creative scenario prompts.
The Power of Writing Prompts
It can be challenging trying to bring our characters to life on the page. That’s where writing prompts come in. They can be a valuable source of creative ideas, our writing ally, when we’re feeling stuck. They offer us a starting point, a foundation to build from. But most of all, they will spark your imagination, if you let them.
To get the most out of the prompts, we recommend freewriting and writing to a timer. Keep writing until that timer goes off and ride that creative wave. You never know what might emerge or where your creativity will lead.
20 Scenario Prompts To Help You Develop Your Characters And Inspire Your Creativity
1. What crime would your protagonist be arrested for?
2. How would your protagonist react if they discovered their younger sibling was the villain?
3. Imagine, your main character receives a letter in the post that shocks them. How does the message change their life? And what did it say?
4. How will your character react when they find out the person that tried to run them over is someone they know very well…
5. What would your character do if they received a special visitor from beyond the grave?
6. Your character wakes up in a faraway place. Where are they, and how did they end up here?
7. Your character wakes up to find that their mom has disappeared. Write about what happens next.
8. Your protagonist has recently had their heart broken and they need to find the broken piece to feel whole again. Why was there heart broken?
9. How would your character choose to celebrate their birthday?
10. What would your character do if they had to protect earth from an invasion by a new species?
11. Exiled to a faraway place, what three things does your character take with them?
12. If your character could have one special power, what would it be?
13. How would your character react if they discovered their parents weren’t really their parents?
14. Your character’s partner is going travelling. How do they feel about a long-distance relationship?
15. If your character was half human and half something else, what would they be?
16. Your character is the last person left on Earth and is granted one wish. What do they wish for?
17. What is the biggest secret about your character’s family?
18. What would your character do if they won £1 million on the lottery?
19. How would your protagonist react if their pet started talking?
20. In a game of truth or dare, what truth would your character reveal about themselves?
When we can start to imagine the deeper layers of our characters, when we can see them as three-dimensional people, with a beating heart, with hopes and dreams, we can start bringing them to life on the page. Your reader will feel the depth of your characters. They will see how their actions then reflect who they really are.
Write About Your Characters
We hope these prompts have helped generate your creativity! Keep plugging away at your characters. Keep learning new things about them. The more time you spend getting to know them, the more memorable your characters will be. You’ll have an amazing story with characters that we can fall in love with and connect to.
Constructing compelling characters can definitely feel challenging. If you need that extra dose of motivation, you can also check out these inspirational writing quotes.
What is your process for creating characters? Is it something you enjoy doing, or do you find it difficult to bring your characters to life? We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with us info@derbyshirewritingschool.com.
If you enjoyed this post you’ll love our creating characters writing workbook!
Have you ever wondered how to make your characters come to life and jump up from the page? What about creating memorable characters, people your reader wants to spend time with? We know how important characters are, but how are they created? This PDF workbook will show you how.
