Someone asked me if I had grandchildren. Without thinking, I said, “Oh, no, thank goodness.” I got some funny looks on that one, but it’s very true that I am not grandma material.
That got me thinking about the characters in my stories. Do I know whether they are grandparent material? Would they get down on the floor to play with a dog they just met? Have they never met a microphone they didn’t like?
The more I thought about how my characters would answer those questions, the more excited I became about breaking out my character bios and expanding them. Usually I let the people in my stories tell me who they are as we go along. For the first time, I want to know them before I go any further with the plot.
If you dread filling out your character biographies, think about the simple questions people ask you that accidentally reveal key aspects of your personality. Then ask your characters those questions, and see what they tell you.