Knowing Your Character

I have a character about whom I have been writing/thinking for 20 years.  I know his feelings, but he still eludes me.  So I am trying this exercise:

Try to visualize physical attributes.  (Age, height, weight, good looking, or not much.)

What does he care about?
His greatest failure?
His greatest obstacle?
His dream?
His greatest drive in life?
What does he like to remember from the past?
What does he like to forget?
What is his character flaw?
What is a visual image or metaphor to symbolize your character?  This might be an animal, a flower, a color.

Write one page describing this person from your own life.  Focus on him and not just how you feel about him.  If you walked into a crowded room of two hundred people, he should stand out.

Perhaps this exercise will serve to make my character real.  Maybe it will even lead to scenes I have not yet imagined.

Try it.

catherine@catherinealexander.net