EXERCISE: Character Questions! (2 of 5)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 28 February 2010

Writer's Digest, May 2006, page 41 has a sidebar suggesting that we think about some of these questions concerning the ancestors and descendents who influenced the life and motivations of your characters. Feel free to expand on these with your own ideas.

Military Service

• during World War II, did any women in the family go out into the workforce for the first time? How did that affect their families?
• did anyone find a way to avoid service -- dodging the draft or pledging conscientious objection?
• was there a family member who never made it back from the war? What were the circumstances?
• where any of the women of the family war brides and, if so, how did the groom's family greet them?
• did your character's family have any ties to the enemy?

Feel free to modify this for the appropriate wars and so forth that fit your story. For example, these questions seem focused around World War II, but perhaps you would prefer to use more contemporary wars? Vietnam, the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, or pick your war. The Falklands?