Here, I think we are starting to get to the meat of a character, an important aspect that shapes a character’s personality, worldview etc. Before I dig into actual tips, I think this aspect is generally easier to fill for a character who’s older or with a wide variety of experiences. Or maybe that’s just the way I tend to conceptualise important memories.

I tend to think within life stages: childhood, coming to age, adulthood, middle ages etc. So in general, they often span the following aspects:

• life/deaths experienced
• coming to age ceremonies
• love relationships incl. marriages
• personal triumphs/tragedies
• first time experiences

To be honest, I usually just let my mind wander across different life stages of a character and it will eventually throw up enough memories. Not sure that I can add further to this other than that I refer to Relationships and Past-times in a pinch.