Do you (or have you considered) using references to music (likes and dislikes) as pointers to your characters' personalities?
For all of my main characters (and a few others) I draw up a "Desert Island Discs" list of eight tracks. Some of these get annotated with reasons the character would choose them; most do not.
I try to both stick within the eight tracks and make sure that everyone gets their full quota - this can be a revealing exercise.
I think that this (among other things) helps me to "round out" characters. Sometimes it gives me useful insights that I may or may not reveal in the main text.
So... Does anyone else get up to this? Would you now consider it?
:-)
Music is the sound track of our lives so why should it not be the sound track of our imagination. It can knock one of course as I found in quoting a track and it subtly moved the story line from third person to first person without me being aware of it. As it all felt just right. So once again proving the point that you do need a third eye or editor on your script/story.
I Love to use music David. It helps me plot and set scenes. I think it works so well together. I get a chill if I set a scene to a good track. Interesting question.
Regards
Damien