This is part three of Kevin Yong's "Character Creation Guide" checklist, from an article originally written for Alpha-Omega #100.
SPIRITUALITY: Defining what your character believes about the deepest issues of life.
What would your character be willing to die for? His family? His country? His reputation? His faith? What would prompt him to take the risk of putting his life on the line? What would he refuse to back down from even if there were a gun to his head?
Who (or what) does your character love most? If forced to "choose sides" between the things that he loved, who would win? Would she choose God over the disapproval of her family? Choose duty to work, country, or starship over commitments to romantic partners? Choose a wife even at the risk of being disowned by parents? Getting rid of her pet for the sake of her allergic fiance? Would they choose to risk losing their other relationships for the sake of their children? Their father? Their mother? Siblings? Friends? Teammate? Sidekick? Spouse? Adulterous lover? For the sake of their faith, their moral code, or even for money? Do they love anyone or anything that much, or are they entirely self-centered?
Religion: Be s vauge or specific as needed. Some people might fall into a broad category like "New Age", or "Agnostic", or "Protestant". Others might be more specific, like "Russian Orthodox", "Southern Baptist", "Sufi Muslim", "Foursquare Pentecostal", "Lutheran Church: Missouri Synod", or even "Cult of Gorto the Cosmic Cow".
Degree of religious practice: Many people count themselves as "Christians" if they were baptized as children, or if they go to church on Easter or Christmas. How does your character's faith (or lack thereof) influence their day to day life? Are they active in a church? Do they start reading the Bible daily as a resolution each year, but can never make it past Leviticus? Do they hold to their parent's Judaism for the sake of cultural identity, but not enough to pass on an occasional BLT sandwich? Are they indifferent to religion? Openly hostile to it? A "foxhole" believer who only prays during times of crisis? Active in full-time ministry to the poor? A zealot planning bomb attacks against unbelievers?
Worldview: Broader than just a simple religious label. Even those who don't identify with a specific religion still have their own personal views about the big questions of life. What are their thoughts about the nature of reality, about the existence of God, about the basis for morality, about human nature, about life after death, etc.
Motto of life: When asked to define "the good life", is his ideal more in line with classical philosophy, or more in line with a holiday sale at Sears? Are we just meant to "Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die"? Is life all about money, and "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"? Is life simply "vanity of vanity, all is vanity and striving after the wind"? Or better, "the chief end of Man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever"?
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ETHICS: How does your character face the hard choices?
Guiding moral principles: Regardless of what he says about his religion or worldview, what standards does he live by in real life? What behavior does he excuse? (Stealing office supplies? Politicians he agrees with being caught lying?) Even if he says he cares about ABC, does his behavior show he really cares more about XYZ? What is most important to your character? What do they actually invest time and money in order to gain, keep, or protect? Is it money? Fame? Love? Honor? Revenge?
Feelings on the use of force or violence? Are they a pacifist who will do nothing even if people are being raped and murdered? Are they a quick-gun vigilante willing to shoot first and ask questions later? Somewhere in-between?
Would he ever kill? Is your hero against all forms of violence? Or like a paragon of Silver Age virtue, are they willing to fight crimes with their fists but have a strict moral code that draws the line at ever killing under any circumstances. If they're opposed to killing, could they still justify it to themselves under certain circumstances? What would those be? In self-defense? In the defense of others? During war? Are there some crimes so heinous that they would be tempted to kill out of anger or revenge? (Child molestation? Nazi war criminals? Corrupt judges? Racist terrorists?)
Would your character ever lie? To save a life? To spare someone's feelings? To avoid getting in trouble? To preserve national security? To not spoil a surprise party? Would they tell half-truths with plausible deniability during a political campaign?
What would he "never be caught dead" doing? These are the sins that the character finds so repulsive to their own way of thinking that it is easy for them to not be "tempted" to do such things. Naturally, these are also the sins that are easiest for them to look down on others for. What are the things that your character holds in such low regard? (Drugs? Sex crimes? Public drunkenness?)
Past actions they are most ashamed of? What has your hero done in the past that they regret the most? It might not be an obvious "sin" like theft or murder. Rather, it could be something more subjective like the breakdown in relationships with an ex-wife or estranged parents. (This can get tangled with the question above if the character already has done the things they "wouldn't be caught dead doing".)
Hopes that others will never find out about ___? This isn't quite the same as the previous question. For example, if he's a famous politician, perhaps what he personally most regrets are the unidealistic compromises he's made while in office, or the emotional cost his career has taken on his family. On the other hand, what he most desperately hopes that the public never discovers is that early in his career he fathered an out-of-wedlock child with a former campaign volunteer.
If he was totally honest, how would your character describe themselves? Perhaps he'll never be totally honest, because he's truly worse than he's willing to admit. Or perhaps he's better than he ever gives himself credit for, thus ruining the excuses he gives for his failures. How would others in the cast describe the character? (How would they describe him to his face, at a tribute in his honor? At a roast? At an intervention? When gossiping behind the character's back? Or if they could describe them anonymously to a biographer?)
Bad habits / vices? These might range from the harmlessly unpleasant (biting fingernails), to the socially or morally unpleasant (cursing, pornography) to the physically unhealthy (overeating, smoking tobacco) to the physically life-threatening (alcoholism, drug addiction). On the other hand, perhaps their vices are spiritually harmful but socially acceptable (such as gossip, greed, impatience, pride, etc.)
End of part three. To be continued
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