My sister hated surprises; still isn’t a big fan of them. Her feelings toward them, came out loud and clear. (Love ya, sis!) Remember that scene from The Princess Bride, when Count Tyrone asked Wesley how he was feeling after getting a year of his life sucked away? He genuinely wanted to know—for research purposes. (Yes, I’ve referenced this scene before.)

Maybe we should spend more time asking our characters how they feel about things, then let them ramble on, as if on a therapist’s couch, while we jot everything down. Take the time to really listen to them and figure out what makes them tick. How do they feel about climate change? About Broadway shows? About the demise of the Twinkie? Ask them all  kinds of questions—tough ones, where they really have to dig deep to come up with an answer. (Why does it make one cry when others sing “Happy Birthday” to them?)

Oh, and do this without injecting your own opinion. Be an unbiased listener—that’s your job, right? Besides, wouldn’t it be fun to create characters who are nothing like us? Who do things we’d never do? Readers want to connect with characters, so how you portray their feelings is important. Remember, if you don’t give your characters unique and authentic feelings, you won’t evoke feelings in your reader. Spend some quality time with your characters and ask lots of questions. For some help, check out these questionnaires:

Gotham Writers
1000 Character Development Questions
The Script Lab