Give Your Character Hobbies Or Habits

Image of two hands holding knitting needles and a blue knitted piece to go with the post about hobbies and habits.

When you write a story, no matter when it’s short or long, your characters will be busy with some kind of activity, be it walking, sitting or talking.

In longer stories, you might want to give your characters specific hobbies, or maybe a good or bad habit. This helps to further develop your character – to give them more depth, and make them feel real to your readers.

Here’s a list of suggestions for hobbies and activities:

acting	driving	organizing
archaeology	eating	paintball
archery	electronics	party planning
architecture	embroidery	photography
art	exploring	playing cards
arts and crafts	family time	playing chess
astronomy	fantasy football	playing darts
backpacking	fashion	playing sports
baking	fireworks	poker
band	fishing	pottery
baseball	flower arranging	racing
basketball	flying kites	reading
bird watching	football	scrap booking
bowling	foreign languages	scuba diving
calligraphy	gambling	sculpting
camping	gardening	sewing
candle making	genealogy	sex
canoeing	going to the gym	shopping
cards	going to the movies	singing
cars	going to the theater	sitting
carving	golf	skateboarding
chemistry	graffiti	skiing
chess	hanging out with friends	sleeping
cleaning	hiking	snowboarding
climbing	horse riding	standing
collecting	hugging	stealing
computing	hunting	studying
cooking	jewelry making	swimming
crocheting	jigsaw puzzles	talking
cycling	jogging	tattooing
dancing	keeping a journal	telling lies
dating	kissing	tennis
decorating	knitting	traveling
design	listening to music	video games
dioramas	lying	volunteer work
doing good	massaging	watching TV
drama	metal work	wood carving
drawing	model planes/boat/etc.	writing
drinking	modelling	yoga