Answer the following character questions to help you develop the central character in your story.

• What is their name?
• How do they feel about this name?
• Where do they live?
• What are three things that scare them?
• What are three things that they love?
• What are three things that really annoy them?
• What is their biggest secret?
• What behaviour has developed as a result of keeping this secret hidden?
• Name three things they have in their bedroom
• What’s the most expensive thing they own?
• What are the biggest moments in your character’s life? Think about the biggest plot twists in your own life as an inspiration.
• What do they want at the beginning of the play?

Now that you have a grasp of who your central character is, plot out their journey throughout your story using three colours, three songs, or three images that represent your character at the beginning of the play, in the middle and at the end. There needs to be a remarkable difference between each stage.

It’s your job as the writer to figure out how to get between each stage.

If you prefer to plot out your play in more detail before you start to write, you can do this by filling in the blanks in the following simple fairy-tale structure:

• Once upon a time there was [insert character info]
• And every day they would…
• Until one day…
• And because of that …
• And because of that …
• And because of that …
• Until finally
• And ever since then…

Or for something a bit more advanced, try The Hero’s Journey template:

Act One: The Known

• Ordinary world
• Call to adventure
• Refusal
• Persuasion or force
• Crossing the threshold

Act Two: Into the Woods

• Training / Friends / Enemies / Tools / Information
• Meeting the mentor
• First attempt to achieve goal
• Chain of causations (Challenge = Resolution = New Challenge = Resolution) x 3
• Biggest Challenge Yet. NB: This should seem like this story is going to end (for example, in the Disney film Coco, Coco meets Dela Cruz – everything he has wanted!)
• Failure or failed success
• Rock Bottom. Sometimes called ‘dark night of the soul’
• New self-knowledge
• Rebirth

Act Three: The Road Home

• Renewed battle
• Win or lose
• Win = Journey home, world changed, need fulfilled
• Lose = Death (or form of death), no journey home, world changed

Consider where are we in your character’s life when the play begins. What is important about the day we meet them? To help develop this, answer the following questions:

• What was your character doing five minutes before the play started?
• What were they doing five days before the play started?
• What were they doing five months before the play started?
• What were they doing five years before the play started?

Looking over your character’s history, have you chosen the best moment in which to start your play? Can any of this backstory inform what happens to your character during the play?