What would you ask your characters if you could? Some of my suggestions would be:-
- Why do you not always act the way I think you're going to? (Answer: because I have come to life on the page and you should be pleased about that, you authors are an ungrateful bunch). Sometimes it is a case of not thinking your character through enough, though I've found when I've done that, the character hasn't really gripped me and I find them difficult to write for/about. I treat that now as a warning sign the character either needs more work or cutting out if my story is to proceed.
- What makes you love/hate the way you do? Sometimes I've found my Character A loathes Character B and there is a strong enough reason for it, but I have the nagging feeling there is more depth to be mined here and it's too easy not to dig deep enough.
- In the case of stubborn characters, do you have to be stubborn ALL the time? My Eileen, the rebellious fairy godmother, would say yes to that, it makes her what she is (and to be fair, it does). Though there is a case for adapting this question to whatever is the dominant trait your character has and asking them why they are like this all the time. You do have to know how your characters "tick" to be able to write about them successfully.
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