When I started writing my novel, I had one character who was the trigger for the book. She was sitting in my mind, I focused on her. I had a rough idea of how I wanted her to be in the storyline, but needed to map her life and bring her alive.
I formed a listing similar to a mind map but in question form.
I needed to establish her age, I knew the year I was going to write about and needed to think about what she would be doing in that year.
Would she be married? I decided no.
Was she too old to be married? Again no.
Was she too young? Definately not.
What is the perfect age to be married in the era I was using? By various researching methods, I came up with between 18 - 20 years old.
I went through names I liked and I 'borrowed' the surname of a writer friend, I found a christian name the two names complimented each other, and Kitty Harper was born.
Does she have parents? Yes (I named them)
Were they still alive? Her father yes, her mother no. ( I named them Joe and Lilly)
So she was looking after her father? Yes
Add a few years onto 18 and 20 seemed like an ideal age for a young woman, ready for marriage but looking after her father.
Does she have Grandparents? No, they weren't a necessity for my book.
Does she have Siblings? No again ditto the above.
Does she have friends? Yes and they were a vital part of my book
Does she have one special friend? Yes
Is it male or female? Female, a mother figure ( I named her Sarah )
Is Sarah married with children? Yes
Does Kitty have a boyfriend? Not yet
So my example shows I now have:
Kitty Harper, 20 years old. Her father, Joe is a widow, her mother Lilly died (When? How?)
Sarah, is the best friend of Kitty. She is a married woman with children, she is a mother figure of Kitty.
I continued to map this way and now have several characters and a novel on my hands. I will give them religions, jobs, hobbies, life, death, marriage and so on.
This method is working well for me. I have a character mapping notebook and it is filling up gradually.
