Characterisation

Many thanks to my good friend Fi for recommending "Write a Blockbuster and Get it Published" by Helen Corner and Lee Weatherly.  Already I can see it's going to help me to give my novel more depth and quality. 

Currently I am working on getting to know my characters to make them real and three dimensional.  Today I began writing my character questionnaires; listing everything I possibly could about my main character, from her full name and physical appearance to her childhood and her hopes and fears.  I know her pretty well, after all the novel is in first person so I'm "in the head" of my main protagonist so to speak - in some ways she is me.  Some answers I gave did surprise me though.

I think the secondary characters will be much harder because I have spent more time on thinking what they do rather than who they are.  However when I am more aware of who they are I will know why they do what they do, if you get my drift! 

I am already thinking about scenes in the book that this knowledge of my characters is going to enhance.  The reader will be able to identify, sympathise and  understand them more.