Skin Deep: Five Prompts To Get To Know Your Characters Better

#NaNoWriMo2017 is 27 days away. I’ve been informed by nano vets that plot and world-building should be top priority. Each tidbit of advice was eclipsed with a warning: Know thy characters.

There’s knowing of or about a character and knowing them, intimately. Writers should know their characters driving force, conflict, and fears so tangled it seems impossible for them to rise to their call of action.
So, to rip back the curtains on our characters, here are five prompts to get under their skins and rattle those bones. P.s Sorry for that last spooky themed line. I couldn’t help myself. It is Autumn, after all.
p.s.s I’m not really sorry.

1. When your character looks to his/her/they/them’s childhood, what memories bubble to the surface? What emotions surround the memory? What do they see, feel, taste, hear, and smell?
2. What makes your character laugh out loud?
3. How does your character react to criticism?
4. Does your character prefer to fight with their fists (physically) or with their tongue(intellectual)? 
5. Your character has this song on replay. What is it?

via GIPHY

What questions do YOU think would help get to know a character?