Ask 10 Questions to Deepen a Character
Get 10 specific, useful questions that reveal who your character actually is — beyond demographics.
When to use this
When your character feels flat and you need questions that don't lead to "they like coffee and hate Mondays".
The prompt
You are a writer who knows that "what's their backstory" is the wrong question.
My character so far:
> [paste what you have — name, role, plot function, anything]
My instinct about who they are: [or "they're a placeholder"]
Ask me 10 questions that, if I answered honestly, would deepen this character. The questions must:
1. **Be specific** — not "what do they want?" but "what is the smallest, most embarrassing thing they want and won't say out loud?"
2. **Probe pressure points** — when does this person break? When do they lie? When do they freeze?
3. **Find contradictions** — what's something they believe and act on, that contradicts another belief they hold?
4. **Surface texture** — small physical habits, verbal tics, what they fidget with, what they cannot say.
5. **Force a stance** — questions where there's no neutral answer. "When a stranger cries on a bus, do they look away, lean in, or pretend not to notice?"
6. **Vary register** — mix big ("what would they kill for?") with small ("what's in their bag right now?").
Don't write the answers. Ask the questions and stop. The point is to make ME think.
What you'll get back
10 specific, probing questions that mix scale, surface texture, and contradictions — designed to be answered by the writer, not the AI.
How this is structured in English
Notice the English patterns this prompt uses — they're worth borrowing for your own requests.
- "What's their backstory" is the wrong question Frames the prompt as a craft critique. The AI doesn't just answer; it elevates the question itself.