How Random Questions Can Help Your Characterisation
With little fanfare brought on from more than a little pandemic fatigue, I released 99 Random Questions to Ask Your Characters a few months ago. "Quietly" is definitely not the right way to launch a book, so I wanted to give a proper introduction to the short book and explain how it can help in your writing.
99 Random Questions gives you - yes, surprise - 99 questions to ask your characters to help you get to know them a bit better. It's designed to be a little different to those character questionnaires many writers are familiar with because the questions help you get inside a character's daily routine and understand their habits without getting bogged down in the details that can stifle character creation before it really gets going.
I wanted to create a character cheat sheet that took me beyond the realms of the usual questions and one that could be used by writers to spark inspiration. I'm not much good at filling out character questionnaires or answering the same boring questions over and over again. I know some writers thrive on that, but I really don't. I tend to learn about my characters as I'm writing, yet that can be an inefficient way of writing too.
How to Use 99 Random Questions
There's no right way to use 99 Random Questions to help your character creation. Some may want to work through one of the sections to get a good overall image of a character or maybe you just want to choose a question at random for a quick burst of inspiration.
As well as a short explanation of how you can interpret each question, there are also 99 examples of how these questions can be applied directly to characters within my own novels. Hopefully, those examples show how random questions can lead you to think about your characters differently - they certainly did for me!
Where to Buy 99 Random Questions
So far, there are two locations where you can purchase a virtual copy of 99 Random Questions to Ask Your Characters.
For those of you with Kindles or the desktop Kindle app, the book is available worldwide for just 99p or the local currency equivalent.
If you'd prefer to download a PDF copy for the same price, the best place to go is my Ko-fi shop. After you purchase the book, you'll be directed to a download link that will give you instant access to your copy. Simple!
Could you do me a favour? If you think you know a writer who'd like 99 Random Questions, send them a link!
99 Random Questions is the first Rhubarb Writing Shed Guide. There's more about Rhubarb Writing Shed and how to join the free community on this page.
