Character and Setting Integration Worksheet

Background

• What is your character's name?
• • Is this a normal name in your character's culture?
  • If not, why do they have an unusual name?
• How old is your character?
• • Is your character significantly older or younger than average for someone in their situation?
  • If so, why?
• What's your character's gender?
• • How does this affect the character's personal life and standing in their culture? Are the sexes considered equal or not? Are gender variations acceptable?
  • What's your character's sexual orientation? Are all sexual orientations equally acceptable, or is one preferred? Does your character belong to the preferred group?
• What is your character's nationality or ethnicity?
• • Is the story set in your character's homeland?
  • If foreign, how do the locals react to them?
  • Are they visibly different from the locals, or can they blend in?
• What's your character's family like?
• • What's the average lifespan in your setting? Are your character's parents or grandparents living?
  • What's your character's marital status? Is this normal for the setting, or is it cause for a scandal?
  • Does your character have children? Would they be expected to have children, given their age and status?

Physical Appearance and Abilities

• What does your character look like?
• • What do people from your character's home usually look like?
  • How has natural selection played a role in their physical features?
  • Does your character have a prominent feature that others might remember?
• How physically strong is your character?
• • Is your character unused to hard physical work because the setting has advanced technology, or because they have servants to do everything? Or does your character have well-developed muscles from manual labor?
  • Does life in your setting allow time to exercise for fun?
• How healthy is your character?
• • Does modern medical care exist in your setting? Who has access to medical care? Does your character?
  • Does your setting have modern dentistry? If not, does your character still have most of their teeth?
  • How about eyeglasses? Is your character's vision good, and if not, how well does the technology of your setting correct for it?

Living Conditions

• What kind of housing does your character live in?
  • Do they live in one place all year?
  • How many people do they live with? Is it common for extended families or unrelated groups to live together?
  • What purposes do structures serve? Shade? Warmth? Protection from rain? Protection from animals or people?
  • What materials are available to build with? Where do they come from?
• How does your character get around?
• • What personal vehicles are available? How fast do they go, and what fuels them?
  • What kind of mass transit is available? How much does it cost to ride? Can you take it to another country, or just the next neighborhood?
• What does your character eat?
• • What foods are common in your setting? Where do they come from?
  • Who does the cooking? Does your character cook all their own meals, buy them pre-made, or hire someone to cook for them?
  • Is there any religious significance to certain foods?

Knowledge and Worldview

• How educated is your character?
• • Can they read and write? Can everyone? If not, how did your character learn?
  • Is advanced learning admired in your world for its own sake? Considered a luxury only for the rich and idle? Seen as a waste of time?
  • Does the average person know that the earth is round? The speed of light? How humans evolved? The climate of the country 500 miles to the south? How an internal combustion engine works? How a spaceship engine works?
• What does your character do for a living?
• • How well does this job pay?
  • How respected is this job?
  • Is this a common profession in your setting? If not, how did your character get into it?
• What are your character's goals?
• • What are their wildest dreams?
  • What can they reasonably expect to accomplish?
  • Is ambition admired and respected in your setting, or is it discouraged? Does it depend on the person's background?
• How superstitious is your character?
• • What are the unexplained phenomena in your setting? How do people try to explain them? Gods? Evil spirits? Ghosts? Aliens? Psychic energy? (If you're writing fantasy: are they right?)
  • Are certain things considered to bring good or bad luck? Are there rules one can follow to attract good luck or ward off bad luck?
  • Is your character a great deal more or less superstitious than others? Why?
• What are your character's religious beliefs?
• • What is the dominant religion in your setting? Are there more than one? How much power does religion hold in government? How much effect does it have on everyday life?
  • Does your character share the dominant religion? Are they a member of a minority religion? A cult?
  • Was your character raised in a religious family? Do they share their family's beliefs? If not, what inspired them to change their beliefs?
• How does your character feel about the laws?
• • What is the punishment for breaking laws? Community service? Banishment? Execution? Prison? Does it depend on the crime? How much does it depend on whether the judge likes you? How much does it depend on the gender, race, or social class of the accused?
  • Who makes the laws, anyway? Does your character have any part in this process?
  • Who enforces the laws? How likely are lawbreakers to be caught?
• How far from home has your character been?
• • Is it common to travel to other countries? Towns? Planets? How long does it take? How safe is it?
  • If your character has ranged farther than normal, why?

Culture

• How does your character speak?
• • Are there formal and informal modes of speech? Under what circumstances is each used? Which does your character use most often?
  • What are the worst curse words in your setting? Is it ever acceptable to use them? Does your character use them?
  • How many languages do most people speak? How many does your character speak?
• What entertainment does your character enjoy?
• • What forms of entertainment are popular? TV? Spectator sports? Stage plays? Holographic video games?
  • Who provides the entertainment? Amateurs or professionals? Individuals or corporations?
  • How much does it cost?
• What famous people does your character admire?
• • How does a person become famous in your setting? What qualities are admired?
  • Are celebrities treated very differently from unknown people? Can they live ordinary lives, or does being famous define them?
• What does your character do for fun?
• • What leisure activities are available?
  • Where do people gather to socialize? How much time does your character spend there?
  • Does your character have a passion for a particular activity? Is this considered respectable or silly?
• What are your character's views on human rights?
• • Is xenophobia common in your setting? Is it taken for granted that "those people" (whoever they are) are inferior? Are foreigners and minorities restricted in where they can go?
  • How about gender issues? Is one gender expected to take on particular tasks? Do they have different roles in politics or religion? Are men and women kept separate most of the time, or do they mingle?
  • How are people who break these expectations treated? Are they seen as threatening? Eccentric but harmless? Are they respected or seen as somehow special?
  • Does your character share the views of the dominant culture? If not, why not?