For example, I have recently taken to analyzing all my characters within the scope of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I already had my characters in place; I just used this test as a tool to get in their heads, to try to understand how they perceive the world and how they make decisions, so that when I'm writing them, they can make decisions closer to the personality I have laid out for them.
Are there any other tools you can use to get into your characters' heads?
Answer
I used to exert a lot of time and effort to creating extensive character biographies and doing things like personality tests. I think all of this is very useful, but in the end, the way one gets to know their character best (I think, anyway) is simply by writing the story. The truth is, you'll never know or understand your character as well as when you see them in action, making their own decisions, even doing things that you didn't necessarily plan for them to do.
Creating scenario-based character profiles that have nothing to do with the story can be helpful, too, and I wouldn't discourage it - but I would ask: Why put forth so much time and energy creating things that have nothing to do with the story? After all, if the story doesn't turn out exactly the way you wanted it, that's why the rewrite was invented.
I believe that its really in the rough draft that we meet our characters for the first time - even if we have a 100 page biography prepared beforehand. Which is part of the reason the phrase "writing is rewriting" is so true. Because once you finish that rough draft, you know your characters so well, you can finally go back through and make them consistent and deep from beginning to end.
One of the rough draft's most important roles is to help the writer get into the characters' heads. I'm just not certain it really, truly happens before then.
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