#WordWeavers 02
getting to know characters

Narratives and/or backstory stories, from short stories to novellas. The short stories highlight key life moments.

A character in Book7 whose roll is critical, but not huge, came across as dull. Essentially, cardboard.

Last July, I wrote a novella chronicling their path to Book-7. I cried for days as their tragic past came to life. This realized character will profoundly impact several main characters.

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#WordWeavers Apr 2
Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

They just pop into my head & harass me until I write about them. I have a sense of them to start, then get to know them in the process.

#WordWeavers Apr 2: Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

No. That's not how they develop. I know who they are and what they'll do, in a broad sense, because I know their place in the story. As I write they just come into better focus.

#WordWeavers Apr. 2: Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

No, I know who they are pretty much through writing them. By the time they're on the page, most of them have been living rent-free in my head for awhile. I do like to do memes and questionnaires and writing games, but that's more for fun than anything else.

#WordWeavers Apr. 2: Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

These hashtag games are really helpful for me fleshing out characters, and the PoV questions can help me find their voice.

Apart from these, no. But I do sometimes use this kind of thing for my whole cast to map relationships between them, or putting them onto 2-axis personality graphs to make sure I have an interesting diversity of of personalities.

Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

The core of the characters is there when they 'appear' in my mind. Details surface with more thinking about their beliefs, truths and falsehoods, tasks, and relationships. Eventually I use Eneagrams to help me keep them consistent, to not all be like me, or like each other.

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#WordWeavers Apr. 2: Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

No. I invent someone when they're needed and I drop them on the stage. I know what their goal or purpose is but at the moment of 'landing' everything is still possible.

#WordWeavers Apr. 2: Do you use any special means to get to know your characters? E.g. character sheets, prequels, interviews, etc.

Not really. They sort of appear fully formed. I like the emergent nature; it can surprise me and change the direction of the whole narrative.

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#WordWeavers 2 Apr 2026. Do you use any special means to get to know your characters?

No. I write and the character develops through their actions. Slowly I come to understand them and to know at least some of their backstory.

#WordWeavers 3/2. Do you use any special means to get to know your characters?

I mainly just experience them.

I discover my characters as I write. Sometimes I'll fill out the character information section that Bibisco provides, just to learn a little more about them if I'm having trouble. That's kind of like an interview for them, I guess.
But I'm honestly not sure how much from those things actually sticks. I never look at them after doing it.