This is something I love doing when I am creating new characters. Just take a random quiz on myspace, but do it as your character. It's a ton of fun and it helps you learn more about them outside of the information presented in the book.
         I used to just do them then delete them, but now I have a place for them!

This test would be taken by Violet Helaine AFTER the book, Like Violet.

Name: Violet
Gender: female
Age: 18
Birthday: January 13
Job: Cup 'O Joe
Status: ?
Hometown: Colorado Springs
Parents Still Together?: Yes
Siblings: One brother, Pacey.
Pets: One dog, Darcy.
Smoker: no
Drinker: no.
Virgin: yes, but... never mind
Drugs: no

"Appearance"
Hair Color: brown
Is It Dyed?: no
Eye Color: brown
Height: 5'3''
Style: jeans are my favorite
Freckles: not really
Body Type: skinny
Shoe Size: 7
Piercings: ears
Want More?: *shrugs*
Tattoos?: none
Do You Get Most Of Your Traits From Mom Or Dad?: Hmmm. I get my stubborness and my blindness from my dad, but I get my people-pleaser nature from my mom.

"Likes/Dislikes"
Favorite Color: yellow
Worst Color: black
Favorite Animal: dogs
Least Favorite Animal: reptiles. ick.
Favorite Flower: roses
Favorite Food: spaghetti
Worst Food: carrots
Favorite Junk Food: don't really have one
Favorite Candy: m&ms
Favorite Genre of Music: pop
Worst Genre: rap and metal
Favorite Band/Artist: Mandy Moore
Worst Band/Artist: Korn
Favorite Radio Station: don't listen to the radio
Favorite Type of Movie: romances
Worst Type of Movie: potty humor
Favorite Movie: Pride & Prejudice
Worst Movie Ever: Alien
Favorite TV Sow: Will & Grace
Wost TV Show: the office
Favorite Day of the Week: friday
Least Favorite Day of the Week: tuesday
Favorite Sport: volleyball
Sport You Hate: polo
One Thing You Can't get Enough Of: I wouldn't want to give away the end of the novel so...no comment.

"Love Life"
Are You Single?: nope
If Not, Who Is Your BF/GF?: can't tell you.
How Long Have You Been Together?: Hmmm. Few weeks.
If You're Single, Do You Like It?:
Do You Have A Crush On Anyone Right Now?: Lol. Him.
First Kiss?: Summer after freshman year. It was sloppy.
Ever Kiss In The Rain?: yes
In A Movie Theater?: lol. oh yeah.
Underwater?: not yet.
First Love?: my boyfriend
Ever Had Sex With Just A Friend?: not that kind of girl
Do You Flirt A Lot?: not really
Longest Relationship: three months
Shortest: two weeks, though I'm not sure you can consider it a relationship
Have You Ever Gotten A Poem?: no
Ever Get Flowers?: from outside my window. yes.
Sweetest Thing You've Ever Gotten: our first kiss
Do You Like Valentine's Day or Sweetest Day?: i don't care.
Do You Believe In Love At First Sight?: yes. Look at Elizabeth and Darcy.
Do You Believe In "The One"?: yes. I believe my bf is the one
Do You Fall In Love Fast?: no
Are You A Player?: no sir
Would You Ever Hook Up With Someone of the Same Sex?: I could never be into girls, sorry.
Have You Ever Kissed 2 People In One Day?: lol. yes.
Had Sex With 2 People In One Day?: no way
Ever Cried Over Someone Of The Opposite Sex?: my mom
Ever Been Rejected?: Hmmm. Not that I know of.
Do You Have A Lot Of Ex's?: only one really
Are You A Slut?: no
Ever Been Called One?: no
Ever Dated Someone More Than Once?: no
Do You Ever Make The First Move?: I did with my first boyfriend
Do You Want To Get Married?: YES

"Opposite Sex (What You're Attracted To)"
Hair Color: brown
Short Or Long?: short
Eye Color: brown with cute little specks of green
Style: whatever he wants
Age: my age
Height: taller than me by about an inch
Muscular Or Skinny: in between
Boxers Or Briefs: boxers
Sexiest Man/Woman Alive: Fitzwilliam Darcy (Matthew McFayden)
Body/Face: I dunno how to describe it
Looks/Personality: cute with an awesome personality
Tall/Short: kinda shortish
Fat/Athletic: athletic, if that means perfect
Smoker/Drinker: nope
Religious/Non-Religious: he's not really religious, but if he wanted to be, that's cool.
Smart/Dumb: smart
Quiet/Loud: quiet
Competitive/Loser: a little posessive
Hyper/Lazy: lazy. lol.
Romantic/Non-Romantic: romantic
Funny/Dull: funny
Most Important Physical Feature: his eyes

"Other Questions"
Can You Drive?: yes
Do You Have A Car?: yup a pontiac grand am
Do You Have A Cell Phone?: no. Can't really afford it.
Do You Have An IPod?: nope.
Are You Online A Lot?: not really
Do You Like Gay/Bi People?: I have nothing against them.
Do You Speak Another Language?: Hmmm. Nope.
Do/Did You Do Well In School?: I do my work
Do You Collect Anything?: Jane Austen novels. lol.
Have An Obsession?: Darcy
Do You Hate Yourself?: no
Ever Smile For No Reason?: when I see Him. But that's not really "no reason"
Talk To Yourself?: no
Do You Have Any Regrets?: surprisingly, no.
Believe In Magic?: the magic of love
Do You Support Gay Marriage?: sure
Do You Trust People Easily?: I guess so
Forgive Easily?: yeah
Have A Secret No One Knows?: no
Do you get along with other people?: for the most part
How Do You Vent Your Anger?: her name is Colette Montgomery
Do You Like George Bush?: sure, why not?
Goal Before You Die?: to publish a book

"Personality Traits...Are You...
A Bitch?: no
A Daydreamer?: everyone says I am
Shy?: a little
Talkative?: Only around Drake and Christian
Energetic?: kinda
Happy?: very
Depressed?: no
Funny?: That's Drake's job
Boring?: you tell me
Mean?: no
Nice?: very
Caring?: I try
Trustworthy?: I like to think so
Confident?: not as much as Drake tells me I should be.
Friendly?: yeah
Smart?: I hope so
Sarcastic?: rarely
Quiet?: sometimes
Weird?: only if I am hanging out with Drake
Mature?: when the occasion calls for it
Religious?: not really
Creative?: I hope so
Fun To Be Around?: yeah!
Easily Amused?: only sometimes
Outgoing?: not really
Daring?: at times
Clumsy?: not really
Nosy?: nope
Lazy?: only when I can have others do stuff for me, like Drake and Pacey
 

Stephenie Meyer, author of the books Twilight and New Moon,is a gifted writer who created a character girls all over the world wished lived, the vampire Edward! Here is some advice from her site that she's given her many adoring fans and her fellow writers.

My focus is the characters--that's the part of the story that is most important to me. I feel the best way to write believable characters is to really believe in them yourself. When you hear a song on the radio, you should know how your character feels about it--which songs your character would relate to, which songs she hates. Hear the conversations that your characters would have when they're not doing anything exciting; let them talk in your head, get to know them. Know their favorite colors and their opinions on current events, their birthdays and their flaws. None of this goes in the book, it's just to help you get a rounded feel to them.

I think outlining--in a very non-structured, free-flowing form--can really help. I didn't have to do that with Twilight, but it was very necessary for the other two books. I changed my outlines often as the writing led me in other directions--the outline is just a tool, not something mandatory that you have to follow.

Some of the best advice on writing I got from Janet Evanovich's website. She said if you want to be a writer as a profession, then treat it like a job. Put in the hours. Set aside time for writing, and then make yourself sit down and do it. Sometimes it's easy--the words flow and you can get a lot done. Other times it's hard, and you might only get one sentence done in an hour. But that's better than nothing.

Here's a tip that really helped me with book two and three: forget writing in order. With New Moon and Eclipse, I wrote out whichever scenes I was interested in, rather than starting at the beginning and working through to the end. I wrote most of the books in scenes, and then went back later and tied the scenes together. It cut out a lot of writer's block to write whatever part I was most interested in at the time. And it makes it easy to finish. By the time you get around to writing the less exciting transitions, expositions, and descriptions, you already have so much done! You can see a full novel coming together, and that's very motivating. (But you really need an outline to work that way--to keep from getting lost!)

 

This is an email that my best friend sent me. She;s not a writer, but I told her that I would use this in a book in the future because it's so interesting. I love her to death and she totally just fueled my fantasies for a while!

OMGoSh!!!I totally like forgot to like tell you like wow!

My daddy bought me a new Italian violin case!!!! AHHHH!!! so excited! I don't know when it's going to be here, but sometime end of this month.......I hope. It's black on the outside and beige in the inside. It is gor-ge-ous. AHHHH! I actually have my own case now. I'm so happy! I'll show it to you on the first day of school since you can't come over to my house and I can't take my violin to your house. Well.....AHHHH!!! so happy! Let me give you a taste of what I feel.

Imagine this........... you meet Will at the track because you and I will go jogging pretty soon. The weather is not too hot and not too dry. Clouds here and there. I have to go to my uncles house because they invite me for lunch. I leave the scene. This is where Will comes in. You are just walking around listening to your iPod and you head to leave to go to your grandma's house. Out of no where a pair of hands cover your eyes behind you. You think it's me, but it's not. You trip the mysterious person and both of you fall. When you turn your head, it's Will. So you say sorry and he says it's ok. You keep apologizing and he says if you really want to make me feel better, you could jog around with me to keep me company. OF COURSE! so you do. But the weather seems kind of humid and the wind starts to pick up. The clouds are changing color but you two don't notice cause ya'll are having so much fun talking and pushing eachother. So it starts to rain but you guys keep playing around not caring about getting wet, after all Will likes to run in the rain. Now that the tracks are slippery you start to slide around and when Will grabs your arm to help you not fall, you fall, along with him. But you slip making your legs go up in the air and Will falls underneath you. So when you open your eyes, you are on top of him facing eachother just inches away from eachother's faces. It keeps raining hard and he grabs you behind the neck and pulls you closer to his face.

you could finish the story on your own. But I'm sure you'll be excited if something did happen like that dream of yours. That is how happy I am. I also started 2 new solos!! whoo hoo!

LOVE YOU! do you see why I can't become a writer?

-OFFICER RICE!

 

He's going away, and he's taking the feelings I had for him away with him. I'm so sick of being just what he wants me to be. Soon, he'll be gone, and I'll be ok.

You hear that? I'll be ok.

I've done alot of crying over the past month and I think I'm all cried out. He needs to go. And once he does, every trace of him will be erased and forgotten. With the exception of my journals, because that never goes away. Life will be easier without him I think.

Thanks for the bruise you gave me at banquet.

Not to mention that large hole in my heart.

-GG
 

There is one thing I hate being told: I don't know what love is. Would you be angry if I told you that you didn't know something that you did? What if I said, "Thta grass isn't really green. You just think it is. You don't know what green really is."
How would you feel?
I don't care how yougn I am. I know what I feel.
When my heart swells so much when I see hims that I fear it will burst, are you going to tell me that I imagine that?
Or when I feel I'll die if I don't see him soon enough? Are you telling me it's not really there?
Just because I'll get my heart broken doesn't mean it's all for nothing.
It doesn't mean it's fake.
It hurts to hear you say that I don't know. Yes, I'm young, but I'm not naive or stupid.
Don't tear me down.

-GG