Now you have a story idea, identify your main characters. Instead of the usual questionnaire approach, have your characters dictate their life story to date and you just write it down. Make a list of each of your main characters, if they have a role ie protagonist, or love interest, or whatever, put that in brackets after their name so you know where they fit into your novel. Then taking each name in turn, have them describe themselves, their life to date and how they interconnect (if at all at this stage) with the other main characters. These biographies should be in first person so that it really feels as if the character is talking. You might be surprised at what you learn!

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