This is final part of Kevin Yong's "Character Creation Guide" checklist, from an article originally written for Alpha-Omega #100.

META-CONCERNS:

These concerns are "meta" in the sense of being "outside" the internal context of the story. These are things about the character that you know because you're the writer, but that the character himself may be unaware of.

Admirable traits: What do you like about the character? Even if they are a villain, what aspects of his personality and motivation can you sympathize with, or even admire? Can they or other characters see these traits in themselves?

Negative traits: What do you dislike about the character? What traits do you disapprove of, simply find annoying, or (begrudgingly) remind you of your own shortcomings?

Character motivations: What is the character's short term goals? Long term goals? Short term needs? Long term needs? Are they consciously aware of them? The character may not be aware of these innermost desires, or he may be mistaken about them, but it's something that you as the writer should know if you are going to write a story about it.

Character's view on life: How would you (as the writer) sum up the character's attitude toward the world? Would the character agree with your assessment of him? Why or why not?

Plot conflicts: What are the character's main problems to solve or overcome during the story? What are the minor problems? Can your character tell the difference?

Plot resolutions: What are the solutions to the character's problems? This may be actual solutions, or they may be false hopes. Some problems may actually have no solution outside of divine intervention, and thus the true problem of the story is how the character chooses to react to the situation.

Changes: Does your character change or grow through the events of the story? Or had he been the catalyst to have others change and grow? What lessons have the characters learned? Are the characters better or worse off after what they've gone through? 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

In presenting these lists of character brainstorming questions, the intent was never to make this into a "paint by numbers" shortcut to creating a story. Tools like character checklists or long range story outlines are not meant to set your storytelling options in stone. Rather, they are meant as stepping stones, tools to help you look at your characters and ideas from different perspectives. The majority of possible questions listed here may not apply to your particular character or the needs of your particular story. Other questions may provide a starting point for thinking about your character, but you'll later find that your character needs to change into something different as the story is told. If so, follow where your story leads, and don't let preliminary outlines or character log sheets hold you back. You don't need to have a secret crisis of infinite cosmic cubes as an excuse to diverge from your original draft. You have an even better excuse than that: You're a storyteller. Go, tell stories.

End of part five