Playwriting - Part 4A - Character Biographies

One of many valid ways to go about creating your characters for a play is to write character biographies. Some people may write a short biography and that may be all is needed to help develop a character. Other people may need a longer biography. In general, though, these are called "short form biographies," even though they can get lengthy.

These biographies cover more than just the basic of your character. The basics are things like name, age, height, and birthday. Basically anything you would put on the top of a form at a doctor's office. However, it will also go more in depth into the character external and internal world.

The internal and external world are how your character perceives him or herself and how others perceive your character. They deal with status in the community and ways that the character identifies him or herself and how others identify your character.

Is your character a doctor? A writer? A knight in shining armor? How does this affect how the character sees him or herself? How does this affect how others see your character?

Short form biographies can be written for every character in your play or just one. This can work for any other type of writing as well. It all depends on how you write. Maybe you use different approaches and mix them together, too. There's nothing wrong with that. Just know the different ways of approaching character development.