Every now and then I like to go through the questions in the Marcel Proust Questionnaire.
If you are unfamiliar with the questionnaire, you can read the Wikipedia article. It gives a serviceable explanation.
The Questions
The questions stimulate thoughts about myself, or character motivations in my fiction. The questions help me to understand the actions of other people. They also make for a wonderful party game, if you run out of ideas for things to do.
There are different versions of the questionnaire floating around and Proust himself provided two different sets of answers, answering the questions at different points in his life.
Interviews
The questions are often used as the basis for interviews, because they cover a wide range of inquiries into what makes a person tick. Here are a few of the questions:
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- Which talent would you most like to have?
- What is your most treasured possession?
- What is your favorite occupation?
- What do you consider your greatest achievement?
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For Writers
Writers can, of course, make great use of the questions to learn more about their characters.
For example, to the question “What’s your favorite occupation” some of my characters might answer:
Justinia Wright – reading, playing the piano, painting, collecting vintage madeira
Harry Wright – cooking wonderful meals and enjoying them, Chess
Bea Wright – Tatting, and loving Harry
Cal Swenson – fishing, sitting in a boat in the middle of a remote lake and enjoying the quiet
Harry Thurgood – a really good cup of coffee, appreciating good art, dressing well
Ember Cole – prayer
Bill Arthur – reading, drinking good tea, contemplating, loving Sally
And where did I come up with these answers? Well, a writer’s characters are amalgams of his and his acquaintances’s personalities. The above came from myself and the people I know.
Have fun with the Proust Questionnaire. And perhaps most of all, use it to understand yourself.
Comments
Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!
CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.
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