character profile assignment

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Last updated on Mar 08, 2024

How to Create the Ultimate Character Profile [+ Template]

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Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Dario Villirilli

Editor-in-Chief of the Reedsy blog, Dario is a graduate of Mälardalen University. As a freelance writer, he has written for many esteemed outlets aimed at writers. A traveler at heart, he can be found roaming the world and working from his laptop.

Ask any great novelist, and they’ll likely tell you that good writing starts with good characters. But building characters from the ground up is also one of the toughest hills to climb, especially if you’ve struggled with those all-too-revealing questions:

Are my characters convincing?
Do my characters have depth?
How do I make sure my character shows progression and change ?

If you’re having these doubts, you might want to turn to the age-old solution: a character profile.

What is a character profile?

A character profile is a detailed biography of a persona that covers everything from their age and appearance to their relationships with others. By understanding parts of their life that readers might not discover during the course of the story, an author can better understand that character’s life, personality, motivations, and their function within a story.

In this post, we will show you our three-part process for assembling a character profile.

What makes a good character profile template?

Many character bibles present exercises that ask you, “If your character was a color, what color would they be?” For many writers, this is either overkill or a bit too 'woo-woo' for their tastes, and they prefer to create a profile that deals in verifiable facts: height, age, and profession.

Our suggestion lies somewhere between those two approaches, where you build a holistic picture of your character in the context of your story. Our character profile worksheet is in three parts. If you treat a person like an apple, they’re going to have three layers of depth: the “skin,” the “flesh,” and the “core.” (Otherwise known as their physical appearance, backstory, and psychology.) That’s how this character profile template is structured — and if you have a particular area that you’d like to hone, you can skip to it below. Otherwise, this character bible will start with the eagle eye’s view of your character.

The Three-Part Character Profile Template:

The Outer Layer, or Physical Appearance
The Flesh, or Backstory
The Core, or Psychology

How to create a character profile

As another reminder, we strongly recommend our character profile template in a PDF format and fill it out as you go along! Download it below for free right here.

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Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

1. Construct the character's outer appearance

To be able to identify a criminal, detectives build a painstakingly thorough file of said criminal’s physical characteristics.

That’s the goal of this section, which covers the “skin” of your character: everything from their outer appearance to the way that they speak. Think of it as a kind of offender profile — one that can help you spot your character in the middle of a crowded Times Square.

The Basics 📖

Place of birth
Current location
Nationality

Physical Appearance 👀

What's their:

Do they have any distinguishing features (tattoos, scars, birthmarks)?

What's their preferred outfit?

Do they wear glasses? 👓

What accessories are ALWAYS associated with them (cane, pipe, necklace, etc.)? 🌂

What's their usual level of grooming?

Smart, very put together
Untidy but clean

Do they have any distinguishing “tics” and mannerisms?

What's their health like? Do they suffer from chronic illnesses? 🏥

Describe their handwriting (sloppy, neat, careful, unintelligible). ✍

How do they walk? 👣

Confident, powerful strides
Lazy stroll
Fast, walks at a clip
Distracted, eyes on the ground

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Speech and Communication 💬

How do they talk (rapid, slow, measured, drawl, etc.)?

What's the style of their speech (elevated, educated, peppered with slang, etc.)?

Do they have an accent?

Stiff, military
Casual and relaxed
‘Turtle,’ tired

Do they gesture?

Only when agitated or eager
Doesn’t gesture
Compulsive “hand-talker”
Controlled, only to make a point
Other? If so, explain:

How much eye contact do they like to make (direct, shifty, etc.)?

What's their preferred curse word?

What's their catchphrase?

Any speech impediments?

What are any distinguishing speech “tics”?

What's their laugh like? What do they tend to find funny?

Describe their smile?

How emotive are they? Do they wear their emotions on their sleeve? How easily can others read them?

They have a resting _____ face.

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2. Build out the character's backstory

Characters don’t exist in a vacuum — they’re a product of their environment.

This section in the character template dives a bit deeper into your character and covers their “flesh”: the people, circumstances, and formative influences that filled them out and made them who they are today. It’s the springboard to your character’s biography.

What's the name of their hometown? 🏡

What type of childhood did they have (sheltered, neglected, etc.)?

Describe their education. 🍏

Were they involved in organizations and clubs at school?

Gay / Straight Alliance

At graduation, they were named Most Likely To ___________ in the yearbook. 🎓

Jobs (if applicable)? What would their résumé look like? 💼

What was their dream job as a child? Why?

Who were their role models growing up? Describe them. 👨‍👦

What's their greatest regret?

What were their hobbies growing up? ⛳

Favorite place to be as a child?

What's their earliest memory?

What's their saddest memory?

What's their happiest memory?

What's their clearest memory?

What are their skeletons in the closet? 💀

If they could change one thing from their past, what would it be? Why? ⏳

Describe the major turning points or “life beats” in childhood.

What are three adjectives to describe them as a child?

What advice would they give to their younger self?

List their criminal record. ⚖

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Age (if living)
Briefly describe their relationship with your character
What are their names and ages?
Briefly describe their relationship(s) with your character

Children 👶(if applicable)

Extended family 👴

Grandparents
Uncles and aunts

What's their family's economic status? 💰

How often do they see their family in a year?

External Relationships 💜

Who are their closest friends? Describe them.

Who are their other significant friends? 👋

Enemies? Describe them. 😡

How are they perceived by:

strangers in the street?
acquaintances at a work function?
colleagues in the office?
authority figures?
friends in their friend circles?
the opposite sex?
extended family?

What social media platforms are they on?

X (formerly known as Twitter)
Other? If so, explain.

How would they use their social media platforms?

How would they fill out an online dating profile for themselves? ✨

What’s their role in a group dynamic? 💡

Who do they depend on for:

practical advice?
emotional support?
moral support?

How quickly do they respond to emails? 📨

What do they want from a relationship?

Who would be their ideal partner? 💖

Who is their significant other? Describe them. 💕

How many people would attend their funeral?

Part 3. Understand the character's goals and motivations

We’ve come now to the “core”: who your character is deep down.

This section in the character profile worksheet covers the “heart” of your character. If a backstory shapes a dynamic character, this will define them. More importantly, it will help inform the two most important points leading up to your novel: the character’s story goal and what drives them .

Psychology 💭

What do they do on rainy days?

Street-smart or book-smart
An optimist or pessimist
Introverted or Extroverted

What is their favorite sound? 🔊

Favorite place in the world? 🌎

What secrets do they keep? What are they most afraid of people finding out? 🔒

What do they want the most? 🔍

What's their biggest flaw?

What's their biggest strength?

What's their biggest fear?

What is their biggest accomplishment? 📈

What is their idea of perfect happiness?

What's their favorite quote? 👌

Do they want to be remembered? What for? ⌚

How do they approach:

What is the one object or possession that they would rescue from their burning home? 🔥

What (or who) bores them? 💤

What makes them angry? 💢

What do they look for in a person?

How strong is their moral compass? When, specifically, are they willing to compromise their morals?

List the last 10 books they read. 📚

Which fictional world would they most wish to visit?

If they didn’t have to sleep, what would they do with the extra time?

What are their pet peeves? ⚠

If they won the lottery, what would they do?

Describe the character’s bucket list at the ages of 15, 20, 30, and 40.

List the 10 songs that would occupy their All-Time Most Played playlist on Spotify. 🎵

What is the best compliment that someone ever paid them?

In an elevator, do they push the elevator button more than once? 🚪

What would they want their tombstone to say?

The Present and Future 🔮

What is their story goal? (answer in a single paragraph)

Story motivation (answer in a single paragraph)

In other words: what does your character want in the story? And why do they want it?

Every other answer in the character profile template builds up to this. It's critical information to know because it’ll make up the unshakable foundation — and raison d'être — for your story. Whenever you feel like your story is straying off course, go straight back to your character’s story goal and motivation, and you'll find the beating heart of your book.

24 responses

Rachel Mendell says:

02/06/2018 – 12:23

excellent! so much info - thank you.

↪️ Reedsy replied:

07/06/2018 – 04:37

Our pleasure, Rachel. Glad that it helped!

Diane says:

07/06/2018 – 08:50

Wow! I tried to find such kind of list many times. Thank you so much! Creating character is always difficult for me. I imagine tutoriage character but it was not full. With this list Finally I will finish it.

22/01/2019 – 15:37

Nice I was gonna make one myself but this is great since normally I obsess to the point of procrastination.

Gwendolyn Clark says:

13/05/2019 – 00:09

I was never sent a copy to download

↪️ Martin Cavannagh replied:

13/05/2019 – 08:20

Hi Gwendolyn, could you drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll sort you out with a link :)

Sabrina Douglas says:

08/06/2019 – 16:40

I have not received the PDF yet.

10/06/2019 – 13:48

With Gmail, our emails often can be found in the Promotions folder. if it's not there, send us an email at [email protected] and we'll sort you out :)

Tactical Weasel says:

08/06/2019 – 23:18

I was never sent a copy to download either.

Ibidun says:

02/07/2019 – 01:47

This is a developed list of questions for sure. Thank you!

susannelorraineharford says:

21/08/2019 – 08:01

Thanks! Great help in this articke. X peace, susanne

james bolin says:

22/08/2019 – 21:05

This my be a crazy question, but I am writing a science fiction book, and I already made character profiles for my ow use. But, that being said, would it make sense to also include a section in the book that includes all the main characters profiles. It would serve as a reference in case someone wants to know the characters hair color, birth date, and other details. any advice would help thanks

23/08/2019 – 09:04

It would be a somewhat unusual move — but it's not for me to say if it's wrong. Often, you see books provide family trees and brief histories of the 'world' of the story... but that tends to be so that readers can check up on facts that are highly relevant to relationships and plot of the book. In almost all cases, readers won't really need to know things like hair color or date of birth. So, I'd think hard before putting a character stat sheet in your book.

↪️ Nyla replied:

02/09/2019 – 16:12

I don't see why not! Some books did it (sort of); Wings of Fire, Tailchaser's Song, Warriors... I don't think including one would be a bad move. Definitely not something that would kill your story. Keep in mind that I'm a beginner when it comes to books, so I may not know any better. I'm just saying that in my opinion, I don't think it's a bad move.

Satyajay Mandal says:

25/08/2019 – 04:31

You can tweet me to get more updates on the story I'm directing

02/09/2019 – 16:13

What do you mean by "education"? Like what school they went to?

17/09/2019 – 09:02

Yup. Are they a college grad? What did they study? Did they leave school at 18 and take up an apprenticeship — that sort of thing.

27/09/2019 – 14:03

Will i ever get the document to download!

07/10/2019 – 15:48

Hi Sky, if you're still having trouble downloading the template, could you drop us a message at [email protected]? Thanks! Martin

20/10/2019 – 03:56

I will update you about all the details

Max Sangers says:

23/03/2020 – 20:16

I like it, just pls refrain from bad language :)

26/03/2020 – 04:49

No need to refrain from using bad language, if it is assigned to the villains instead of the heroes/heroines

26/03/2020 – 05:02

No need to refrain from using bad language if it is assigned to the villains instead of the heroes/heroines

28/03/2020 – 05:01

This is @*#$ing AWESOME!!!

Comments are currently closed.

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How To Create A Character Profile (Template and Worksheet Included!)

August 29, 2023

Discover how to create a character profile with our detailed character profile creation guide. OC profile templates and worksheets included! Elevate your OC today!

How well do you know your original characters? Sure, off the cuff, you’re likely to answer “everything,” but is that necessarily true? So many characters are in various states of development all over CharacterHub. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but there is always an extra detail, or a little history, that can add so much to your original characters. It’s hard enough to memorize facts of my own life, let alone a fictional history I made up. Thankfully, unlike real life, we have some fun character stats and profile tools.

One of the best ways to develop these ideas is through organized character profiles. I’ll walk you through critical questions and approaches to creating your character in this guide. I’ll also highlight some great template options to show you how to make a character profile and how helpful CharacterHub can be.

What is a Character Profile?

A character profile is a repository of information on an original character that features information essential to understanding the character by its creator. What is considered significant or not varies from creator to creator, but profiles offer insight into original characters' history, statistics, and personalities.

Profiles can often include art and design information too. For example, reference images are often part of different character profiles to help viewers understand how the character appears. Some character profiles may include a color key of specific hex-color codes for a character’s key design features.

When you get down to it, this makes a detailed character profile template a resource for understanding a character for the creator and potential collaborators. I know that the more information I have on a character, the much more compelled I am to put my all into fan art or an art exchange, that’s for sure.

Why are Character Profiles Important?

The importance of a character profile falls under two camps. The first is for referencing. A strong character profile should serve as a guide to what is essential to a character along with a reference sheet . Every original character should have an excellent example of character stats and profiles, even if your setting doesn’t have gaming elements. For comparison purposes, many creators like to look at their characters in terms of game mechanics and statistics, especially in the role-playing sense. And yes, that applies to the creator of the OC, in addition to other creators who may want to play around with someone else’s OC.

The second important reason for having a character profile is that it helps further develop a character. As we will see in some detailed character profile templates later, different templates raise different questions and perspectives on a character that may not initially seem all that useful.

An Example: Weird Questions and Character Memes

Let’s look at an example. Hypothetically, say you have an OC from a fantasy setting, and his name is Fang ( yes, this is a character of mine ). He is a wandering warrior afflicted with an irreversible lycanthropic transformation, forced to survive a gothic fantasy setting as a perpetual werewolf.

Now, say that I found a fun character meme asking, “What toppings do your OC put on their pizza?” Initially, a question like this may not be valuable to understanding a wandering werewolf warrior. There’s no such thing as pizza in the fallen kingdom of Triseria. Believe me, I made the place up.

But it is all a matter of perspective. While Fang will never try a slice of a delicious pizza, what if he had the chance? What sort of flavor profile might he prefer, and what does that say about him in a larger sense?

The answer, by the way, is sausage, bell peppers, and onions. What does this tell me about Fang? His tastes aren’t far removed from what might of been a typical peasant dish in Triseria. Sausage, peppers, and onions have a very comforting quality and are pretty practical. He probably would be accustomed to such a meal as a warrior when he isn’t munching on hard tack and dried meat.

And as you can see, we pull characterization from something as patently silly as the question, “What pizza toppings does your OC like?” Just another example of why a character profiling template can be helpful.

Learning from a Master: The Tezuka Star System

One inspiration in my OC design that I would like to discuss in the future, which helped me clarify my thoughts on OCs and characterization, is the Tezuka Star System .

For a quick overview, here is what you need to know: Tezuka Osamu was a legendary mangaka in Japan who was born in November 1928 and ultimately passed in February 1989. He is a foundational figure in the creation of manga and anime. He is responsible for iconic characters such as Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack, and Dororo, among countless other characters.

To begin with, Tezuka had a hell of a career, but I want to dive into his Star System. From the Tezuka Osamu website :

The term was originally coined in Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin and fellow actors started up a new movie company with the aim of producing movies that revolved around planning for the star actors; they dubbed this practice the "star system". Since then, it has become customary to refer to the film-making system that centers on top stars using this expression.

So how is this applying to original characters, and how to create a character profile? Here was Tezuka’s spin on the concept, pulled from the same source:

Nonetheless, Tezuka Osamu thought of his characters as real live actors and actresses and took great pleasure in his role as director in assigning roles to them. Readers who spotted Atom in the guise of the son of a kidnapper in another work would smile with delight.

What I am getting at here, and I want to explore in a future article, is that your characters can be fully-rounded individuals who a creator can transplant into other works and play roles informed by their personalities - following expectations of them and sometimes against type. You wouldn’t necessarily cast Dwayne Johnson and Othello, but Nicholas Hoult could play Hamlet.

But all of this is informed by what you know of the character and expect of them, which comes from working with a detailed character profile template.

Finally, before we leave Tezuka behind (for now), I also want to highlight the adorable idea that he developed “appearance fees” for his characters as a thought experiment. Shikishima Kenichi , a megastar in Tezuka’s system, commands a mighty price. Talk about loving and understanding your characters, right?

He may not have worked with a character profile worksheet as we know them today - but he indeed had a lot of notes, and we can learn from that.

Essential Information for How to Write a Character Profile

With a character profile encompassing potentially every weird-ass question you might have about a character, the challenge lies: Where do you start? How do you write an OC profile, and are there any character profiling templates that can help?

Free Character Profiling Templates

People who create original characters bring unique ideas and approaches to the party. They also are not shy about sharing them and often develop templates that other creators can use.

Here are some character profiling templates you can use right now.

Tabletop Gaming Character Profile Worksheets

Tabletop gaming presents one of the original character's most popular and iconic forms. Games like Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowrun , among countless others, focus on creating original characters and backstories for gameplay. However, you can easily use these sheets to build information about your character in a general sense as well. You would also have the advantage of playing them in a game, which is a nice bonus.

It may not be immediately apparent what the value is regarding taking a character and making them work in the setting of Pathfinder . But keep in mind the idea of “recasting” characters like Tezuka Osamu, and you’ll start to see the value of clarifying an OC by putting them in divergent situations and allowing them to develop.

As for where to start, you can find many gaming character templates through a rudimentary Google search. However, I also found a few worth sharing here to help you get started.

Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition Character Sheet
Shadowrun Third Edition Character Sheet
Neceros’ Pathfinder RPG Character Sheet

While these are ultimately resources geared toward gaming, many OC creators like to think about their characters in a mechanical sense, such as balancing them against others in a setting. These sheets can be a great way to establish character stats and profiles.

Templates from Other Creators

Many creators love to share approaches to character creation through templates and worksheets. For example, here is a fun one pulled from the ancient archives of Gaia Online titled “ Extremely detailed character sheet template ,” which poses all sorts of interesting questions and points of interest.

Similarly, if you like to use Google Docs, here is a template you can work with. There are many , many examples of OC templates on Tumblr as well. Some may focus on specific settings , which, if we go by the Star System thinking from earlier, could prove interesting in adapting your OCs to new settings and contexts .

You might find yourself rewarded by plugging in a fandom and “OC template” into a search engine and seeing how you might squeeze your characters in.

Character Memes

One of the best ways to find weird angles to approach your character’s histories and characteristics, for lack of a better word, is through character memes. A rudimentary search of DeviantArt for ‘character meme’ turns out a trove of potential options.

There are thousands upon thousands of options that can help you create detailed character profile templates. Here is a whole host that I found exciting with some description. Your mileage may vary, so I hope you’ll dive into the collection of memes on DeviantArt yourself.

WeAreAllMadsHere’s “Draw Me! OC Edition MEME”

This all-purpose meme has many visual elements, but the emphasis on alternative looks is inspiring.

ThirdPotato’s “Character Balance Meme”

ThirdPotato’s meme is purely information based and uses a table to rank a character’s traits across several categories.

Schandmaeulchen’s “OC meme”

This meme is another visual-based meme but presents fun prompts, such as showing off particular characteristics.

As you can see, these are only three different memes out of hundreds of thousands, but they all present exciting options for understanding an OC and developing details about them. These memes are not DeviantArt exclusive, either. Seeing OC memes on social media is not unusual, so take advantage of them when possible.

Cobbling together OC details from different templates and memes can prove fun but can also feel a little disorganized. Sometimes you want a singular location where you can type information up consistently without installing a Wiki on a server and dealing with markup code. Plus, there is the challenge of formatting your character stats and profiles. There are many options for that sort of thing, such as CharacterHub.

CharacterHub: The Simple Yet Detailed Character Profile Creator

The biggest takeaway I hope to convey in this article is that CharacterHub is the excellent character profile worksheet you have been looking for. Allow me to illustrate how CharacterHub can be incredibly useful.

We will stick with my OC, Anda Bandit , from my previous article. I only had a placeholder profile at the time of writing that. The intention is to flesh out her profile to illustrate how helpful CharacterHub can be.

The Basics: The Key Info Section

When you first start character creation on CharacterHub, you have a few initial options, which we’ll call the basics. You’ll want a character profile image for sure. If that is something you draw yourself or commission from someone, it doesn’t matter. Just be sure it’s an eye-catching profile image. Something that focuses on the face is a smart move - based loosely on the psychology of profile photos . You also may want to highlight a distinguishing feature.

From there, you’ll need to fill in your crucial info. Consider the combination of the profile image and this section as your OC's “business card” - a sort of at-a-glance introduction to who they are and your chance to sell others on them. We have a name, character quote, and tags to fill out. While these are pretty obvious, there is some specific thinking to consider regarding the character quote and tags.

When dealing with a character quote, your goal should be to embody the character's spirit as best you can. In the case of Anda Bandit, I went with “Never know when I might need it,” which is how she might justify her stealing throughout her adventures - especially some of the odder things she might take. I am pretty happy with it, but I am sure I could always try something in the future.

As for the tags, it makes sense to include genres, settings, and species as they correspond to your character. My character comes from a video game setting, so video game tags are helpful here.

The Character Description Section

The description is a somewhat open-ended part of the profile on CharacterHub, and on my first run, I put some of her backstory in. I would eventually move that. Instead, my approach shifted to developing more of a generalized description of Anda Bandit, her abilities, and her attitude, mainly as the next section featured some options for specific details.

The About, Color Palette, and Background Story Sections

The “About” section is an exciting part of the worksheet on CharacterHub, allowing for dozens of customizable points ranging from relationships to worldview to powers and abilities. This section is excellent for creating focus, at-a-glance characterization for your OCs.

Next, the color palette feature is beneficial if you want to land some fan art in the future, or at the very least, it makes commissions much more manageable. This feature allows you to create a list of hex color codes of colors associated with your characters.

Specifically, this could be useful for skin tones, hair color, and eye color. Generally, this might be for consistent elements in a design, especially if you are open to your character drawn in varying outfits.

The background story section is the one that might be easy to get carried away with. While you probably shouldn’t write a novel, a substantial backstory is a smart move, especially one that sets up character motivation and where they are at the point in the story your OC occupies.

The Images Section

The images section is instrumental for character profiling templates and features plenty of organizational options for providing image references of your OC. For example, While you can bulk upload images, you can also create folders, which opens up many possibilities.

Case in point: As Anda gets disguises and outfits on her adventure in the comic, I can open up a gallery that features these alternative looks. I also created a “fan art” folder that includes drawings sent to me from friends and in exchanges. I can also create a gallery for “story moments” as well.

Adding Extra Info

Lastly, a few other detailed character profile template features are found on CharacterHub. Keeping in line with the earlier About section, CharacterHub offers additional sections such as Creator’s Notes, Music, Stats, and a Moodboard, among other options. You can also set your character filters, whether they are NSFW, affiliated with a collection, or require Trigger Warnings.

What is a Character Profile? It Puts OCs in Context

While there are plenty of options and inspiration for how to develop a character profile, it can sometimes be overwhelming. Thankfully, plenty of character profile worksheets are floating around on the web, including character memes to help you approach your OCs uniquely.

It is also nice to know that websites like CharacterHub provide helpful organizational tools for developing your OC’s stats and profiles. It’s even more fun that it makes it easy to show off your characters too.

David Davis

David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!

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The characters you create can make or break your story. Well-developed characters can elevate your narrative and captivate readers, making your story unforgettable. Character profiles are an excellent tool for developing these compelling characters, and we'll delve into what they are and how you can use them effectively.

The basics of character profiles: Laying the groundwork

A character profile is a detailed description of a character's various aspects, providing a comprehensive understanding of their role in your story. Let's break down the essential components:

Definition : A character profile is an in-depth description of a fictional character, including physical attributes, personality traits, and backstory.
Components : A character profile can include anything from the character's appearance, age, occupation, to more nuanced elements like their hopes, fears, quirks, and relationships.
Types : Different types of character profiles range from basic overviews to comprehensive analyses. The depth of the profile often depends on the character's role in the story.

Creating your character profile: Delving into the detail

When crafting your character profile, you'll want to start with the basics and then delve deeper:

Basics : Start with the basic details - name, age, and physical description.
Personality : Next, consider their personality traits, values, likes, and dislikes.
Backstory : Uncover their past. What events shaped them into the person they are now? What motivates them?
Relationships : Outline their relationships. Who are their friends, family, or potential love interests? How do these relationships impact them?

Techniques for crafting compelling characters: Making them real

Once you have your character profile, use it to create compelling and believable characters:

Conflict : Use your character's flaws and weaknesses to generate conflict.
Relatability : Make your character relatable. They should reflect real human experiences and emotions.
Character Arcs : Craft dynamic character arcs. Characters should grow and evolve over the course of your story.

Examples of well-developed characters: Learning from the best

Consider examining character profiles of popular characters from literature and film. Understanding how successful authors have crafted their characters can offer valuable insights for your character development process.

Using character profiles in your writing process: A valuable tool

Creating character profiles can significantly benefit your writing process:

Consistency : Profiles can help ensure consistency in how your characters act, speak, and evolve throughout your story.
Complexity : Profiles can be a blueprint for developing complex, three-dimensional characters.
Efficiency : If you're ever unsure how your character would react in a situation, you can refer to their profile.

The magic of character profiles

Well-crafted characters are at the heart of any great work of fiction, and character profiles are an invaluable tool in creating these characters. So, give it a try, start creating character profiles for your story, and watch as your characters come alive on the page.

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Table of contents.

If you’ve ever tried your hand at writing a novel or screenplay, you know characters are key. Crafting them well is essential. Without fully developed, believable characters, your story will not stand out. That’s why mastering character profile creation is crucial.

Using an ultimate character profile template will immensely aid you in this process, ensuring you don’t overlook any important aspects.

This article entails the steps to create a character profile, a character profile template, types of character profiles, and other elements to develop a character profile. Let’s dive in.

Steps to Create a Character Profile

Here is a step-by-step procedure for creating a character bio:

1. Understand the Basics

Before starting, first, find out which of your characters will need a character profile. Then decide on the basics.

It will be a long process and you’ll go through a lot of information. But you do not need to do it all at once. Take one section at a time.

If you’re struggling to determine certain details or you’re not sure how your character should react, Deb Norton offers some good advice:

“When we’re at a loss for putting words in our character’s mouths, that’s often when it’s time to stop thinking and start listening. Does his manner of speech change when he talks to his kids? What is he holding back? Why did he use that word?”

As writers, we sometimes tend to overthink a little bit (or a lot). Sometimes, it’s better to write more freely. Channel your character and just let go. You will be surprised at what they reveal on their own.

This first section is pretty self-explanatory and will be one of the simpler ones. It covers the base information about your character and their life.

This includes things like:

Place of birth
Current place of residence
Nationality
Marital status

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2. What is their Physical Appearance?

This one may seem self-explanatory as well, but there is a little more to it than you might think. You will be covering your basic physical characteristics:

Face shape

But, the character’s physical appearance goes a little deeper than this. There are some additional things you will want to understand their distinguishing features :

Do they have any distinguishing marks? (tattoos, scars, birthmarks)
What style of clothes do they prefer to wear?
Do they wear glasses or contacts?
Do they wear accessories or not?
Is there an accessory or piece of jewelry they never take off?
What is their level of grooming? (disheveled and natural or style hair, makeup, outfit put together)
Do they have any chronic illnesses that contribute to their appearance?

You should also consider their demeanor. Are they confident, shy, quiet? What are their magical abilities Do they walk with their head down, or held high? These things are representative of what is going on inside, but they will be reflected in how they appear to others.

3. How do they Communicate?

The base of this section focuses on how they talk. Do they speak quickly or slowly? Do they enunciate or do they mumble a little bit? How big is their vocabulary?

But, speaking isn’t the only form of communication, there’s more to it:

Do they gesture compulsively, or is it occasionally?
Do they make eye contact or do they move their gaze around?
What is their catchphrase?
Do they ever curse?
Do they have a speech impediment?
How do they laugh? Do they make other people laugh?
What is their smile like?
Are their emotions easy to read or do they hide them?
What is their default expression?

4. Know their Props

Props are something that your character carries around or uses regularly. These props will be connected to their personality. It will be important to them or something they find helpful.

For example:

Sherlock Holmes has his pipe.
Kojak has a lollipop.
A character who has anxiety might carry something to squeeze or fiddle with to occupy their mind in stressful situations.
A character who has lost a parent or other loved one might wear or carry an item that reminds them of that person daily.

These items can be indicative of a bad habit, a nervous tick, or something in which your character finds comfort.

5. Discover the Background and Past

A character’s background and past will play a huge role in their present life. It will shape who they are as a person. Even if their history is not a huge part of the story itself, it needs to be known.

It should be known in full by you as a writer. It should also be known, as necessary, by the readers. Reveal things about their past as it becomes vital to the story.

You can start with the basics:

Where did they grow up? Do they still live there?
What education do they have? What subjects did they study?
How was their childhood? Were they neglected, sheltered, or raised well?
Were they involved in any extracurriculars as a child? (sports, dance, clubs, etc.)
What are some of their happiest, saddest, and earliest memories?
What were they like as a child?

6. Discover their Likes and Dislikes

They may not seem significant, but a character’s likes and dislikes develop their personality. Much of their personal preferences will stem from their background, childhood, family, and influences.

For example, your character might have an intense hatred of a certain food because their mother forcefully and excessively fed it to them as a child and it brings back bad memories.

Or, their favorite music could be related to what their parents played around the house when they were younger.

For each favorite thing, determine their least favorite. For each thing they love, do they hate the opposite? These things can give you an even deeper look into your own character’s personality than you might have thought.

Here are examples of likes and dislikes that you can consider:

Favorite and least favorite food
Taste in music
Favorite genre of movie
Do they follow sports or are they indifferent?
Do they like to read?
If money was no object, what car would they be driving?

7. Understand their Psychology

This section will dive deeper into your character’s psyche. It will require you to dive into their mind and pick out the big, important, life-changing stuff.

These are good examples of things that might not be included outright in the novel. But they help shape who your character is. Knowing these things about them will help you write them realistically and authentically.

It will create consistency in your character. Readers will never question their decisions, opinions, or emotions when they all make sense based on who they are as a person.

This can include things like:

Are they an introvert or an extrovert?
What are they afraid of?
What is their idea of happiness?
Where is their favorite place in the world?
What are their strengths and flaws?
What do they want most out of life?
How do they feel about love?
How do they react to change?
Do they desire power?
Are they a leader or a follower?
What excites them?
What do they find boring?

8. Find about their Family

Whether healthy, dysfunctional, or somewhere in between, a character’s family is instrumental in their development and can define their personality.

Even if their family aren’t all that important to or involved in the story, it’s still good to identify them in some way.

For each of their mother, father, and siblings you should establish a few things:

Age (or age they died at if deceased)
Explain the relationship they have with your main character – close, distant, strained, awkward, estranged, etc
If they are grown and out of the house, how often do they see their family members?

You can also describe their extended family. Again, this branch of their family may or may not be relevant to the story’s main plot points. But, their family will have played a big part in their development, upbringing, and feelings about certain things.

If their extended family is not important to the story, be brief in your explanations. You don’t need to go into excruciating detail, but it’s still valuable information to determine.

Even the simple fact that someone has an abnormally large or small family can be of significance. Large families may have left some feeling left behind or unimportant. Small families can have some people feeling smothered and in the spotlight too often.

You’ll want to go over grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Again, determine the ages and their relationship with your main character. Names and additional details can be revealed if the character is going to be important to the story in any way.

9. Explore their Relationships

Whether close or not, your character’s family relationships will be some of the most significant in their lives. But, these will not be the only relationships they have. Once the family has been covered, you should dive into their external relationships.

The obvious ones here will be their friendships. Which of their friends are they closest to? Describe these relationships.

Do these “best friends” know every detail of their lives, or are they somewhat guarded even around those closest to them?

Outside of their inner circle, are there other significant friendships?

In addition to friends and acquaintances, your character will have many other relationships that affect their life in some way:

Coworkers/fellow students
Teachers/bosses
Friends of friends
Family friends
Members of sports teams/clubs they are in
Online friends (if applicable)

If your novel or screenplay is set in the present time, the internet and social media will be a significant part of the world. Which social media platforms do they have a profile on? How active are they? Or, do they reject social media?

Not being on any social media in the present day will leave a person in a unique spot of digital isolation. Many who choose to do this find it peaceful and they don’t regret their decision.

10. Where do they Live?

Where your character lives is another important part of who they are. Regardless of the world your character lives in (earth, another planet, a world you made up yourself ) their specific neighborhood and dwelling should be made known as well.

Do they live in a big or small house? Or another type of residence entirely? (Perhaps something you made up for the world you’ve created).

What is the neighborhood like? Are they friendly with their neighbors? Or do they live far away from any other people?

Are they happy where they live or do they have plans/desires to move soon? How long have they lived there?

It’s also important to look at the inside of their dwelling. Do they keep things tidy or is it always a mess? What color are their walls and are they decorated? If so, what type of art do they have on display?

11. What are their Jobs/Hobbies?

Next, it’s time to look at what they do for work and how they fill their free time.

Determine these key factors about their job:

What is it?
How long have they been there?
Is it what they want to do as a career or is it a temporary situation?
Have they reached their peak or is there still room for advancement?
What is their salary? Is it enough for the lifestyle they want?
Do they like what they do or would they prefer something else?
Are they good at their job?
What hours do they work?
Is their job secure or are they in danger of losing it?

Whether they enjoy what they do or not, they are required to be there for a certain amount of time each day. Unless they want to lose their income, they have no choice.

Once the workday is over though, their time is their own. How do they fill this time? Do they have any hobbies or do they prefer to stay home and relax? Does your character have any hidden talents or anything they excel at other than their job?

12. What are their Goals and Motivations?

This section is a simple but crucial one.

Your character will have a set of general goals, ambitions, and desires in life. But, this particular story is going to be about one of them.

So, determine your character’s story goal. What is their main goal in the context of this script?

In addition, you’ll need to figure out their motivation. Why do they want to achieve the goal you’ve set out for them? What drives them to complete it?

Examples of motivation could be love , revenge, or pride (they want to prove themselves).

What is a Character Profile?

A character profile is like a detailed map of your character’s life. It’s made up of different sections with questions about your character’s development. Some questions are simple, while others make you think deeply. When you finish filling it out, you’ll know everything about your character.

But, it might feel like too much at first, but don’t worry, not all of will go into your story. Most of it is just for you, so you understand your character better.

Knowing all about your character helps you write their actions, reactions, decisions, opinions, and emotions more accurately.

Types of Main Characters

While every story is different and unique, there are a few other types of main characters in your novel and screenplay, in addition to your protagonist. Each of them will need a character profile.

1. Antagonist

The antagonist is the character or group of characters who are in direct opposition to your protagonist. They stand in the way of their main story goal and are deliberate in their efforts to stop the protagonist. In some cases, the antagonist is more of an antagonistic “force.” This could be an oppressive government or organization, or even the inner demons or inherent flaws within the character that stop them from doing what they need to do.

2. Anti-hero

This is someone who doesn’t have any of the typical characteristics of a “hero.” They aren’t impressive and don’t give you much reason to root for them. And yet, they are still central and important to the story.

3. Confidante

This is someone who knows every single detail and true personality of the main character. To this person, they reveal all of their true thoughts, real intentions, deepest desires, and darkest secrets. If your character is more isolated or introverted, this could even be some thing rather than someone – perhaps a journal.

This is a character whose personality contrasts the protagonist in a significant way. They are the opposite of the protagonist in many areas. This can be a separate character, or the antagonist or anti-hero can double as the foil. This character serves to highlight the qualities of your protagonist.

Make a Character Profile for Every Important Character

Before writing the novel or book, know that you will need detailed, in-depth character profiles for each main character of your story.

Most of the time, a novel will include just a single protagonist. But, they are not the only important player in the story. There are a handful of others. Your protagonist and these other characters are your round characters and are most important.

You’ll also have a series of additional flat characters that play a role in the story. While these characters have a purpose, they do not need a character profile done up. There will not be much to their personality and they won’t change or develop.

As your story develops and you flesh out your outline, certain details of your characters may change or evolve. This is fine and normal – just make sure you keep your character building template updated.

If something about a character changes, change all relevant information in their profile.

Character Development Questions

In addition to the character template, there are always additional character development questions you can ask. When writing a novel, there is no such thing as knowing too much about your character.

If you need to dive even deeper, check out these lists and resources for some more questions to ask yourself and/or your character.

The Proust Questionnaire

The Proust questionnaire was developed by Marcel Proust, with the original manuscript being found in 1924, after his death.

These questions are some of the most revealing. The answers are supposed to tell you almost anything you need to know about someone’s personality.

Some people answer these questions for themselves. Some celebrities have answered them publicly as well. They are also used to dive deeper into your character.

Answer these 35 questions from the perspective of your character:

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
What is your greatest fear?
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Which living person do you most admire?
What is your greatest extravagance?
What is your current state of mind?
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
On what occasions do you lie?
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Which living person do you most despise?
What is the quality you most like in a man?
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
When and where were you happiest?
Which talent would you most like to have?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Where would you most like to live?
What is your most treasured possession?
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
What is your favorite occupation?
What is your most marked characteristic?
What do you most value in your friends?
Who are your favorite writers?
Who is your hero of fiction?
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Who are your heroes in real life?
What are your favorite names?
What is it that you most dislike?
What is your greatest regret?
How would you like to die?
What is your motto?

Interview Questions

When interviewing for a potential job, employers sometimes ask odd questions that have nothing to do with the job itself. What they want is to get to know who you are as a person and if you will be a good fit, professionally and otherwise.

You can use this same premise and conduct an “interview” with your character. The intention is to get to know them better and get an idea of how they behave and operate.

You can find a list of 101 interview questions here. Some of them are not of any use to you as they are job-specific, but many will help you get an even deeper look into your character.

Use a Tool to Develop Character Profiles

If you’re feeling lost in too much information, try using a good writing tool , like Squibler . With Squibler, you can not only write with the help of AI but also organize each section into a separate document and flip through them at your will.

With Squibler you can research, ideate, outline, and write your book with the help of AI. Write commands to the AI Smart Writer, and it will generate content for you based on your instructions.

You can also create a section for your character profiles to keep them organized and accessible at the same time.

Character Development Sheet

Writers use character development sheets to outline and detail various aspects of a fictional character. It includes sections or prompts covering the character’s physical appearance, personality traits, background, motivations, goals, fears, strengths, weaknesses, and other relevant information that helps flesh out the character’s identity.

A character profile worksheet aids writers in creating well-rounded and believable characters for their stories. You can start by copying and pasting this free template and filling in all the information for your character.

Final Remarks

Strong and believable characters don’t come quickly and they don’t come easily. Crafting the best possible character for your novel is going to take a decent investment of both time and effort.

You have to delve into every little nook and cranny of your character’s mind, heart, and past. Not only does every little detail need recognition but it all needs consistency to match up.

Use these steps, templates, and questions to build the strongest, most detailed, and realistic characters you can. Once this is done, you’re well on your way to writing an unstoppable book.

Here is a list of common questions that authors ask about developing character profiles:

What is a character profile?

A character profile is a detailed description of a fictional character. It includes information like their appearance, personality traits, background, motivations, and role in the story.

Why is it important to create a character profile?

Creating a character profile helps you understand your character better. It makes them feel real and consistent throughout your story. It also helps you keep track of important details about your character so you don’t forget them.

What should I include in a character profile?

In a character profile, you should include details about your character’s physical appearance, personality traits, backstory, goals, fears, strengths, weaknesses, and any other important information that shapes who they are.

How do I start creating a character profile?

Start by thinking about who your characters are and what role they play in your story. Then, jot down details about their appearance, personality, and background. Consider what motivates them and what obstacles they might face.

How can I make my character profile more realistic?

To make your character profile more realistic, think about how real people behave and what influences them. Give your character strengths and weaknesses, quirks, and flaws. Consider how their past experiences have shaped who they are.

Can I change my character profile as I write my story?

Yes, you can change your character profile as you write your story. Sometimes, as you get to know your character better through writing, you might discover new things about them or realize that certain details don’t fit anymore. It’s okay to update your character profile as needed to keep your character consistent and true to your story.

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Character Analysis Worksheet Templates

Customize character analysis templates.

Cute Paw Themed Character Analysis Worksheet

If you're assigning this to your students, copy the worksheet to your account and save. When creating an assignment, just select it as a template!

Character Analysis Templates | Character Worksheets

What is a Character Analysis Essay Worksheet?

A character study is an important aspect of literary analysis, and our character analysis worksheets provide a comprehensive framework for analyzing and understanding characters in a story. These templates allow students to create detailed profiles that explore various elements, such as development, traits, and interactions with other characters.

By using our character analysis chart templates, students can easily identify and describe the key traits. They can analyze the character's development throughout the story, examining how their experiences and choices shape their journey. Additionally, students can explore the relationships with other characters, uncovering the dynamics and impact of these interactions.

With our character development worksheet, a student can dive deeper into the life of a character, gaining a greater appreciation for their complexities and motivations. This in-depth exploration enhances their understanding of the story and encourages critical thinking skills.

How To Analyze Character Traits

Analyzing traits is a crucial aspect of understanding and interpreting literature. By examining the traits of a character, readers can gain deeper insights into their motivations, behaviors, and overall significance within a narrative. In this section, we will explore how to effectively analyze character traits using various strategies and tools, including character analysis worksheets and the concept of indirect characterization.

Start with a Character Study Worksheet: Begin by utilizing a character worksheet, including character study worksheet, character analysis chart, or character profile worksheet, which serves as a structured framework to gather and organize information. This worksheet typically includes sections to record the character's physical attributes, personality traits, actions, relationships with other characters, and their overall role in the story. By filling out the worksheet, you can develop a comprehensive profile and identify key traits that shape their behavior.
Identify Key Character Traits: As readers, pay close attention to the author's descriptions and the character's actions, dialogue, and how they interact with others. Look for recurring patterns or specific behaviors that reveal their personality. These can include traits such as kindness, courage, honesty, or cunningness.
Consider Indirect Characterization: Indirect characterization refers to the author's use of subtle clues, such as a character's thoughts, speech, appearance, or the opinions of other characters, to reveal their traits. Analyzing indirect characterization requires reading between the lines and inferring the character's traits based on these subtle cues. Look for instances where the author indirectly explains or shows the character's traits, and use them to deepen your understanding of the character.
Examine the Character's Actions and Choices: A character's actions and choices can provide significant insights into their traits. Consider how the character behaves in different situations and what motivates their actions. Reflect on whether their actions align with their stated beliefs or if they exhibit any contradictions. This analysis can help you identify the character's values, strengths, weaknesses, and overall character development and analysis throughout the narrative.
Connect Traits to the Character's Role and the Narrative: Analyzing traits is not only about describing them but also understanding their significance in the context of the story. Consider how the character's traits contribute to their role within the narrative and their relationships with other characters. Reflect on how their traits impact the plot, conflict, and overall themes of the literature. This deeper understanding will enrich your analysis and interpretation.

By following these steps and utilizing a variety of our character analysis worksheets, you can effectively analyze character traits, explain their development, and gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the characters in literature. Remember to support your analysis with evidence from the text, such as specific quotes or examples, to provide a strong foundation for your insights and interpretations.

How To Write Character Analysis Essay

Now that you're armed with the knowledge and skills to analyze a trait, explore the world of literature with confidence and embark on your own captivating character analysis essays. When it comes to writing an analysis essay, having a well-structured outline is essential. The outline serves as a guide to help you organize your thoughts and ideas, ensuring that your essay effectively captures the complexities of the character and their traits. Let's explore how to create an outline using a character analysis outline worksheet, and how to incorporate the right words and language to showcase your analytical skills.

Begin with a Character Profile: Before diving into the essay, it's helpful to create a profile that includes important details about the character's background, traits, and development. This profile can serve as a reference point and provide you with a clear understanding of the character's journey. You can refer to a profile example or use the character analysis outline worksheet to organize your thoughts.
Introduction: Start your essay with an engaging introduction that provides a brief overview of the character and their significance within the narrative. Grab the reader's attention by highlighting the character's key traits or an intriguing aspect of their personality.
Thesis Statement: Craft a strong thesis statement that presents your main argument or interpretation about the character. Your thesis statement should reflect the character's traits and their impact on the story, while also setting the tone for your essay.
Body Paragraphs: Organize your analysis into coherent body paragraphs that focus on specific traits. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the trait you will discuss. Use evidence from the text, such as quotes or specific examples, to support your analysis. Analyze how the character exhibits the trait and provide insights into their motivations, actions, and relationships with other characters. Be sure to incorporate the right words and language to showcase your analytical skills.
Conclusion: Summarize your main points and restate your thesis in the conclusion. Emphasize the significance of the character's traits and their contribution to the overall narrative. You can also leave the reader with a thought-provoking question or a broader reflection on the character's impact.

By following these guidelines and incorporating the profile, a strong thesis statement, well-structured body paragraphs, and a concise conclusion, you can create a compelling character analysis essay that showcases your understanding of the character's traits and their significance in the story.

Example of Character Analysis Literature: Engaging Texts for In-Depth Study

Explore these recommended engaging texts that serve as excellent examples for an in-depth analysis. These literary works offer rich and complex characters that your class can delve into and analyze, allowing for a deeper understanding of character development, motivations, and relationships.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

This novel offers valuable lessons on social class, prejudice, and the complexities of human relationships, making it an ideal choice for teaching character analysis skills in the classroom. Use a character map to help kids analyze the traits and relationships of characters like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Through the characters of Scout, Atticus Finch, and Boo Radley, this novel will teach important themes of justice, morality, and empathy, providing ample opportunities to analyze their traits and motivations. Our digital worksheets can be used to engage students in interactive character analysis activities.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The characters in this novel, such as Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Nick Carraway, exemplify the pursuit of the American Dream and the complexities of love and identity. Analyzing their traits can deepen students' understanding of human nature and societal expectations. A critical analysis template can help while examining the characters' motivations and the author's use of symbolism and imagery.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre's journey of self-discovery and her interactions with other characters, such as Mr. Rochester and Mrs. Reed, offer rich material for character analysis discussions. This novel explores themes of independence, morality, and the role of women in society.

Using these classic novels not only teaches students valuable skills in analysis but also exposes them to timeless themes, diverse perspectives, and literary techniques.

How to Make a Character Analysis Worksheet

Choose One of the Premade Templates

We have lots of templates to choose from. Take a look at our example for inspiration!

Click on "Copy Template"

Once you do this, you will be directed to the storyboard creator.

Give Your Worksheet a Name!

Be sure to call it something related to the topic so that you can easily find it in the future.

Edit Your Worksheet

This is where you will include directions, specific images, and make any aesthetic changes that you would like. The options are endless!

Click "Save and Exit"

When you are finished, click this button in the lower right hand corner to exit your storyboard.

From here you can print, download as a PDF, attach it to an assignment and use it digitally, and more!

Happy Creating!

Frequently Asked Questions About Character Analysis Worksheets

What is a character trait.

A character trait refers to the qualities, characteristics, or attributes that define a character in a literary work. These traits can include physical attributes, personality traits, values, beliefs, motivations, and more. Character traits help readers understand the motivations and actions of characters, and they play a crucial role in character analysis.

Can I create a character worksheet on my own?

Absolutely! Our worksheets provide a framework for analyzing characters, but you can also create your own customized character worksheets. You can tailor the questions and prompts to fit the specific needs of your students or the literary work you are studying. This flexibility allows you to focus on specific character traits or aspects that you want your students to explore.

How can character analysis worksheets help with writing a character analysis essay?

They serve as a valuable tool to gather and organize information about characters, which can then be used as evidence or supporting details in a character analysis essay. These worksheets help students identify and describe character traits, analyze character development, and explore the relationships between characters. By using the information from the worksheets, students can write a well-supported and insightful character analysis essay.

Can character analysis worksheets be used for different grade levels and texts?

Absolutely! They can be adapted for different grade levels and used with a wide range of literary works. Whether you are teaching elementary, middle school, or high school, you can modify the complexity and depth of the questions and prompts to suit the needs and abilities of all learners. Additionally, the they can be used with various texts, including novels, short stories, plays, and even films, allowing for versatility in the classroom.

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How to Create a Character Profile: A Step-by-Step Guide For Beginners

List your favorite novels, those you can count on one hand, and I’ll bet they have one major thing in common — an unforgettable hero.

Regardless the genre, your characters must behave like real people in real-life situations who make mistakes, have regrets, and grow emotionally or spiritually throughout the story . Fail, and it shows.

Some master novelists make this look easy, but it’s a skill that takes time to refine.

As a Pantser (one who writes by by the seat of his pants as a process of discovery), I follow Stephen King’s practice of “putting interesting characters in difficult situations and writing to find out what happens.”

Part of the high wire act of writing as a Pantser, often the character surprises you and you must do some back hoeing to make it work. You may find yourself thinking, as I frequently do, Aah, so that’s why he’s the way he is.

But if you’re a novice writer, or you’d classify yourself as an Outliner rather than a Pantser, you might rather create a character profile before you begin writing your novel.

If that’s you, let me walk you through the various elements of a character profile and what questions to answer. Then I’ll leave you with a Character Profile Template I developed to help simplify the process.

What Is a Character Profile?

It’s an in-depth life history of a fictional character.

Those who espouse building character profiles naturally advise that your protagonist, antagonist, and each of the more important orbital characters in your story get their own separate profile.

Many great novelists and colleagues of mine swear by them and wouldn’t dream of developing a character any other way. If you’ve never written one, you may find this tool helpful in jumpstarting your own creativity.

Character profiles can help you:

Write faster, because you’re not working from scratch
Maintain continuity
Add plot twists
Add character depth
Build stronger relationships between characters

The more detailed the profile, the richer your character motivations are bound to be.

For example, a character bullied as a child might grow up a career criminal — or the opposite, someone empathetic with and compassionate to the disenfranchised.

Some writers delve deep enough to actually turn each profile into its own short story. Some add the character’s favorite quote, hobby, quirks, favorite foods, fears, and childhood memories.

But beware: don’t dump every detail into your story.

A profile is simply background information (backstory) designed to inform you about your characters. It helps you to get to know them well enough to be able to reveal to your readers what’s most important for the sake of the story.

Just be sure to allow readers to deduce some things for themselves, giving them a role in the reading experience. Avoid spoon feeding every detail. Allow the theater of their mind to fill in the blanks.

Create a Character Profile in 5 Steps

Determine the following with as much, or as little, detail as you feel you need to get to know your characters. In essence, you want to conduct an interview with your fictitious character.

You may find yourself a hybrid of an Outliner and Pantser (as I often do), meaning you do need the security of an outline, but you also enjoy the freedom of letting your story and your characters take you where they will.

It’s your story. Have fun developing each character. Enjoy the process — you never know where they’ll take you!

1. Determine the character’s role.

Begin by deciding which role your character will play . (It may prove to be more than one on the list, and in that case, strive to combine characters so they’re easier for the reader to identify and keep track of.)

Protagonist: the main character or hero
Antagonist: the villain
Orbital: neither lead nor bad guy, but prominent throughout
Love Interest

2. Decide on the basics.

Ask your characters who they are today — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Remember, they need to feel real and knowable, not perfect. Not only does perfect not exist, it’s boring. So, be creative. Your readers will thank you.

A nickname? Where did it come from?
Current hometown
Short Term Goals
Long Term Goals
Best qualities
Worst qualities
Favorite book
Favorite movie
Favorite possession
Greatest passion
Favorite foods
Best friend
Worst enemy

2. Establish physical characteristics.

What does your character look and sound like? Again, this is largely for your own information.

Gone are the days when novels describe even the main character in such detail. Except for characteristics that affect the story, why not let each reader see the person however they choose?

Fitness level
Hair type/style
Glasses/contacts?
Distinguishing features (birthmarks/scars/tattoos)
Overall appearance/upkeep/style
Limitations/handicaps

3. Layer in emotional characteristics.

It’s easy to conjure the appearance of a character, but what your character thinks and feels is what really drives him. What comprises his emotional makeup?

Personality
Introverted or Extroverted?
Spiritual Worldview
Political Worldview
Motivations
Internal Struggles
What makes him happy?
Deepest longing
If he could do or be anything, what would it be?

4. Create a past.

Who we are is shaped by our family background and experiences. Get to know your character’s story, and you’ll likely learn what motivates them to get out of bed every morning.

Family members/birth order (describe relationships)
Accomplishments

5. How is this character involved in the story?

Dig deeper. Finish with these questions:

What does he want? (a novel-worthy goal or challenge)
What are his needs or desires?
What or who stands in his way?
What will he do about it?
What happens if he fails? (the stakes must be dire enough to carry an entire novel)
What sacrifices will he have to make?
What fundamental changes do you see coming in him?
What heroic qualities need to emerge for him to succeed?
Time to Get Started

Ready to create a profile for your lead character? Feel free to create your own character questionnaire, or use the Character Profile Template I created.

You might base your first character on one of your best friends, a quirky relative, or an adult you remember from childhood — maybe a mixture of all three!

Regardless who you pattern him after, develop a character who feels real , and he could become unforgettable.

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Character Flaws
Character Profiles
Character Traits
Fiction Writing

One of the most important elements in a novel or short story is characterization: making the characters seem vivid, real, alive. One technique that many writers use with success is to create a character profile for the main characters in the novel. The purpose of a character profile is twofold: to assist the writer in creating a character that is as lifelike as possible and to help with continuity issues in the story.

In our author interviews many bestselling authors have stated that they came up with the basics of a character's personality and then they found that the character just "came alive" for them and ended up driving the story all on his own. These are writers with years of experience developing characters and it now comes more naturally to them. But for the beginning writer, sometimes a more concrete approach is helpful.

That is where the character profile comes in -- it is simply a tool for organizing your thoughts about a certain character and keeping track of a particular character's idiosyncrasies and relationships. It can help flesh out a cardboard character and even make you think about facets of his or her personality that you had not considered before. Character profiles are especially helpful for novels which involve several main characters and for stories which use multiple points of view.

Character profiles are useful when writing in any genre. Depending on the genre in which you write, you will create additional sections on the Character Profile Worksheet. For example, fantasy writers can use the character profiles to keep track of factors such as magical abilities, family lineage, spells the character is under, and limitations on the character's power to ensure continuity in the action.

For literary and mainstream novels, profiles are especially useful for keeping in mind motivations of the character -- hurts and disappointments in the past which may not be alluded to directly in the dialogue, but which nevertheless color everything the character thinks and feels. For example, someone who was abused as a child will most likely react differently in certain situations than someone who had a happy, loving childhood.

A Character Profile is also of great help during the rewrite stage of your novel. You can use the profile to ensure continuity in the character's actions. For example, if in draft 1 your heroine is just recovering from a nasty divorce and in draft 2 you've decided to make her a happily married mother of three, you will know to check every scene with dialogue about her marital status as well as scenes where the (now non-existent) dastardly ex-husband is mentioned.

If you change an attribute of your character, be sure to update your Character Profile Worksheet right away. Obviously, a character can develop over the course of the novel. The Worksheet provides a place for you to note that fact so that when you read over your final draft you can see if you achieved your particular character development goal for that character.

A Character Profile is just meant to be a guide where you can list facts and details to help you get to know your characters, especially if you get stuck on one character who doesn't quite seem real. You also want to be sure you don't create a Mary Sue character. Maybe he needs a new characteristic -- a hidden trauma, a fabulous skill or a deadly secret -- something that will make the character come alive for you. If you are having trouble coming up with character details try to see how your character performs using a writing prompt or walk them through a situation known well to you.

How detailed you want your character worksheets to be just depends on what works best for you. So, next time you're stuck on characterization, pull out the Character Profile Worksheet and get to know someone new.

You can find out more about character building in our characters section . Some useful books about characterization include Writer's Guide to Character Traits and Characters & Viewpoint .

This article has been expanded on from the original published in the June 1998 issue of The Internet Writing Journal .

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Fictional Character Profile Worksheet

I created the Fictional Character Profile Worksheet to help writers understand their characters and develop motivations. It is a fillable PDF, which means you can use it for many characters (just change the file name) and detail their individual motivations.

The sheet helps add details about the following:

Sensory – details about how they think and react
Core – details about their fears and goals
Personality – specific quirks and defects
History – where they have been
Activity – how they fit into the current story

This tool also contains a matrix for setting external and internal desires of the character. This can be useful for remembering motivations and internal wants.

Keep this tool in a folder or binder so you can refer to it. After time, most of these motivations and details will be second-nature. However, it is nice to review because sometimes there is a detail you might have overlooked and it can solve a problem in the plot or the scene.

Fictional Character Profile Worksheet – (PDF)

How to write character profiles: 10 tips and a template

Character profiles are helpful process work for writing. A profile contains all you need to know about your characters; ID facts such as name, age, gender, birthplace, plus story elements such as characters’ goals, motivations, desires, and conflicts. Read how to write character profiles in 10, simple tips:

Post author By Jordan
5 Comments on How to write character profiles: 10 tips and a template

First, why should you profile your characters?

In creating character profiles, writers (like detectives who ‘profile’ suspects) find the puzzle pieces that explain crucial parts of a story, such as character motivations for actions .

The overview this yields helps us understand the full chain of human behaviour, a story’s action-to-outcome chain of cause and effect. Creating character profiles by answering character questionnaires is helpful because you:

Know enough details about your characters to imagine their actions and driving motivations
Picture your characters fully enough to visualize how they move, interact, and live
Pinpoint key differences between characters that help you to build their resemblances and differences, shared values or objectives and disagreements

How to write character profiles: 10 tips

Draw on your story idea or scenario
Root character profiles in Goal, Motivation, Conflict
Use a detailed character profile template
Imagine core interal and external conflicts
Try character generators for inspiration
Brainstorm initial action and reaction beats
Plan simple, tentpole connections
Profile your walk-ons, too
Make contradictions believable
Expand profile points into scene ideas

Let’s explore these ideas further:

1. Draw on your story idea or scenario

Your story idea is the obvious place to mine for a fleshed out cast.

Even a two-line synopsis may inspire a number of main characters, walk-ons and others.

Let’s take a story synopsis of a New York Times bestseller as a starting point for creating a character profile:

A 16-year-old is accused of killing a deputy in Clanton, Miss., in 1990.

This is the synopsis for John Grisham’s legal thriller, A Time for Mercy (2020). One line alone gives us fodder for obvious characters to profile:

A 16-year old alleged killer on trial
The deputy allegedly killed by the teenager

Looking to the scenario in that summary, we could decide to profile further characters.

For example:

A pro bono lawyer who takes on the boy’s case
The boy’s mother who happened to be dating the deceased
A grumpy, eccentric judge who presides over the case

Some of these character ideas are drawn from Grisham’s actual book (in Grisham’s novel, the accused’s mother was dating the deceased).

When you brainstorm additional characters, look to likely connections. Typical figures such as:

Likely players for the setting (attorneys, judges, law enforcers in a legal setting)
Likely allies and adversaries (friends and family, state prosecutors and defenders)

2. Root character profiles in Goal, Motivation, Conflict

A good character profile worksheet will guide you towards understanding ‘GMC’ for your character: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. In the introduction to her book GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, Debra Dixon unpacks these three important character concepts:

The craft books on my shelves call these three elements by a variety of different names: Goal – desire, want, need, ambition, purpose Motivation- drive, backstory, impetus, incentive Conflict- trouble, tension, friction, villain, roadblock Regardless of what you call GMC, the bottom line is that these three topics are the foundation of everything that happens in our story world.

In other words, GMC is crucial for engaging, arresting character development .

For Grisham’s 16-year-old murder accused, the reader will almost certainly ask:

What was the boy’s goal or purpose in killing the deputy (if he was guilty). What is his next goal?
What’s a possible motivation or backstory for the killing?
How will the numerous potential conflicts (such as unfolding courtroom drama, friction between the boy and his mother who was dating the victim) play out?

Look at your story idea summary [if you don’t have one yet, brainstorm one in easy steps in Now Novel’s dashboard now]. List a core character’s initial goal, motivation and conflict based on this situation.

3. Use a detailed character profile template

A detailed character outline template makes it easy to create a detailed outline for each character.

We can plug the 16-year-old accused from A Time for Mercy into Now Novel’s character builder to brainstorm an illustrative character profile example.

This generates an editable profile we can also download as a PDF:

A character profile PDF you can print out and refer to is useful to have.

In the Now Novel PDF you can download from your dashboard, there are links back to your profile that make it easy to go back and edit details as you draft. Change details such as names, interests or backstory at any point.

4. Imagine core internal and external conflicts

Learning how to write character profiles will help you imagine details about characters’ lives and personalities that will help you draft more and hesitate less. It’s like having a roadmap to a detailed story .

The ‘C’ in ‘GMC’ is particularly important when outlining your characters.

Internal conflict supplies tension and thus narrative interest in a character’s development. External conflict (conflict between characters and others), too.

As Now Novel coach Romy Sommer says in her webinar on internal and external conflict:

If you know what your characters’ conflicts are, then as you’re writing – especially if you’re a pantser and you don’t really plot ahead – just knowing how your characters’ pasts and their past wounds are going to affect the decisions they make … is going to help you stay consistent as you write.’ Webinar, ‘Internal vs External Conflict: What are internal and external conflict?’

Looking at our example character, the 16-year-old accused, internal conflicts could include:

Whether to confess to the killing or deny guilt
Whether to trust his appointed attorney or not
If he will attempt to destroy evidence or ‘face the music’

As you write your character profiles, think about these forks in the road that show the branching possible reactions to conflict.

Create character profiles in easy steps

Outline your first character for free and get comprehensive outlining tools when you upgrade.

5. Try character generators for inspiration

There are many ways to dream up characters. Character generators that use A.I. are more sophisticated now than ever.

The website This Person Does Not Exist, for example, is a fun tool to try. The page generates a random portrait photo based on how human faces are mapped out each time you refresh it.

Say you were brainstorming 16-year-old Drew Gamble, to find inspiration for his appearance you could refresh the page until you struck a face roughly fitting this age group:

We could then put this image into our character profile as an avatar:

6. Brainstorm initial action and reaction beats

The above is an an example of how fun creating character profiles can be when you play and explore.

Yet we’re writing character profiles for a purpose – to make it easier to find the arcs, the cause and effect , of our stories.

This is why it’s helpful to brainstorm action and reaction beats to include in your character profile. ‘A leads to B’ chains of events based on your story scenario. For example:


Taken in for questioning	Tries to give non-incriminating answers
Discovers a fellow juror is biased	Decides whether or not to reveal bias
Discovers legal client is guilty	Grapples with inner conflict over ethics

The above examples of action and reaction beats could fit character profiles for Drew, a juror on the case, and Drew’s defence lawyer.

List initial possible actions and reactions for your core characters as you profile them.

This will give you an idea of scenes to draft as you expand your profiles into a full story.

7. Plan simple, tentpole connections

As you discover how to write character profiles that are truly useful to your process, you may start outlining connections between your characters, too. For example, a link between the deceased in a murder trial and the suspect’s parent (the mother/victim connection in Grisham’s book).

As you outline characters and answer character questionnaires, brainstorm entaglements. Some might be evident from the start of your story, while others you could hold back and reveal for a twist .

It’s helpful to think of key characters to outline in terms of story ‘roles’, too. Does your story have character types such as:

Sidekicks and buddies
Challengers
Villains’ lackeys

Create profiles for any roles you know your story will include due to your genre and/or your initial scenario.

8. Profile your walk-ons, too

Walk-on characters may seem secondary. Yet even if their backstory or favourite ice cream flavours don’t make it ito the main story, each detail you know will help you make that person believable. No matter how briefly they appear.

The helpful stranger at the crossroads; the inept substitute teacher; the wildly eccentric shopkeeper – walk-on characters give stories the texture of real life.

Create less detailed profiles for these more minor characters. A name, a location or situation in which they appear, what they want, plus maybe a detail or two of their backstory.

9. Make contradictions believable

In stories, as in life, people contradict themselves. How often has a politician voted against an LGBTQI+ ballot, for example, only to be outed later themselves?

While people are full of contradictions, as you profile characters, make sure contradictions make sense.

It makes inherent sense that a closeted politician would vote against their own interests, for example, if they have internalised fears and phobias and thus a credible reason to publically distance themselves from their truth.

Yet look for contradictions, for example a materialistic character who also decides to give up all their worldly possessions and enter a monastery or nunnery. Unless this pivot is contextualized in the story, it may seem out of character. The character profiling stage is a good time to pick up on potential inconsistencies in your character arcs that could leave readers scratching their heads.

10. Expand profile points into scene ideas

Once you have outlined your characters and you have interesting profiles with expansive potential, do some drafting. For example, if we were writing A Time for Mercy , we might draft the scene where Drew Gamble is first questioned by the police.

Moving between an outlining, summarising process and an expansive mode will help you to identify scenes with purpose that connect clearly to your characters’ goals, motivations and conflicts.

Profile characters the easy way and start writing now in the Now Novel dashboard.

Character profiles: 5 questions for a detailed cast
Character arc template: 5 steps to strong character arcs
Using a novel outline template: 5 tips for story prep
Tags character development , character profiles , Story planning

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

5 replies on “How to write character profiles: 10 tips and a template”

Thank you so much for this article, Jordan!

It’s a pleasure, Nyra! Thank you for reading our blog ?

The topics have a lot of influence on the way to write for any topic.

hi Jordan its so nice talking to you thanks for your tip its very useful i will make sure everyone now about this blog. 🙂

Hi Zara, it’s a pleasure. Thank you for reading and for sharing our blog.

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Home / Book Writing / How to Create a Character Profile: With Template and Step by Step Instructions

How to Create a Character Profile: With Template and Step by Step Instructions

Characters are the lifeblood of a novel. In fact, I would say that almost all stories that truly knocked it out of the park (critically and financially) have had strong characters at their core.

A great way to improve the quality of your characters is by writing a character profile. And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today.

What a character profile is
Why they are important
How to create an amazing character profile
Access to our character bio template to try it out yourself

What Is a Character Profile?
Will You Put Everything From the Profile in the Novel?
What Makes a “Good” Character Profile?
Step 1: Select Your Character Types
Basic Details
Physical Attributes
Clothing and Style
Communication and Mannerisms
Psychological Profile
Motivation and Fears
Character Outline
Character Questionnaire
Make Them Unique
Repeat for More Characters

A character profile is a detailed outline of your character, much like a regular outline for the plot.

It goes into detail on various aspects of a character, including but not limited to:

Their basic appearance and personality
Their backstory
Their motivations
Their family and possessions
Their lifestyle

A good character profile will help you understand that character, so you know how they would behave in certain circumstances. It allows you to predict their actions, reactions, opinions, and the process by which they make decisions.

Typically, a character profile will take the form of a worksheet with key details laid out, and spaces to fill out each character trait. Download our character template to get started .

However, a character profile can be a few paragraphs about the character if you want. This may be simpler for less important characters.

But for the protagonist, antagonist, and other major players in your story, we do recommend the full treatment.

Why Are Character Profiles Important?

Let’s face it, taking all the time to create an outline and flesh out characters can be hard, particularly for those who write by the seat of their pants.

However, taking the time to flesh out these characters beforehand will save you valuable time in the long run.

Because when you know your characters inside and out, the writing goes faster, and your book requires less editing when you’re done.

Honestly, no. A lot of this will be just for you to know, though you could package it up as a bonus for readers of your newsletter.

That said, knowing what happened to your characters, even if it’s not important to the plot, will affect the way you write them.

A solid character profile will give depth to your characters even if you don’t realize it’s happening.

Let me say that again:

There are many ways to approach a character, and spending the time to flesh them out will be rewarding to you.

However, there are some ways that you can ruin your character profile. For example:

Don’t spend so much time on your characters that you neglect the rest of your story
Don’t try to examine them from every possible angle

Instead, you want to stick to the areas that are most relevant for your novel. These usually include their basic details, their backstory up to the beginning of the plot, and information on their personality.

In this article, we’ve divided the most important areas of consideration into four parts:

Character Types
Superficial Details
Personality

There’s a lot of important details encompassed in each of these, so let’s dive in.

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Step 1 : Select Your Character Types

Before you do anything, you should know the role that your characters will play in your story. And we’re not talking about their horoscope or anything like that.

Typically, a character will fall into one of several roles that contribute to the novel in a specific way. You can start by picking one from this list:

Protagonist: the main character in your story
Antagonist: the primary opposition to your character who creates the conflict
Guide: a mentor figure that helps the protagonist in their goals
Contagonist: a secondary antagonist who is usually more involved in the plot and with the protagonist personally
Sidekicks: additional characters who support the protagonist, and who can play key roles of their own
Love Interest: A type of supporting character for whom there is more emotional weight for the protagonist
Temptress: an antagonistic character or force that tries to lure the hero away from the goal
Confidant: a supporting character, often also a sidekick or love interest, that has a deep emotional support role for the protagonist
Foil: a character that is so different and strange to the protagonist, that the clash highlights certain characteristics of the protagonist

There are more roles, and we recommend checking out our article on the subject , but these are the most common.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to develop a thorough character profile for every character in your book.

Typically most authors will draft their character profile based on the protagonist and antagonist, as well as a few key secondary characters.

Once you know the roles your characters will play, then you can start building the character profile.

Step 2 : The Superficial Level

Alright, so let’s assume that you have a vague idea of who your characters are. Maybe you already have a few details in mind. That’s good. Hold on to those because they will help us as we define these characters.

But before we start writing, we don’t want to neglect other areas of their life, including the very basics, which is what we cover in step 2.

This is the easiest step. All you have to do is identify the following:

Place of birth
Current residence
Nationality
Education level
Occupation (just the basics)
Income level
Marital status

Try not to overthink any of these things. We’ll dive deeper later on. This is just to get a superficial idea of who this character is, the kind of stuff you would find on a driver’s license.

We don’t need to know their entire backstory…yet.

The next basic category is physical appearance. This includes things like:

Distinguishing marks like tattoos, scars, birthmarks, etc
Any physical ailments or disfigurements

While this is still surface-level information, it can be important to the development of a character .

For example, if the cultures in your novel have certain biases towards people based on outward appearance, then this section could be quite important.

The third important thing to jot down at this basic level is the style of the person. Consider questions like these when developing the character:

What do they typically wear? (at work, out on the town, at home, asleep, etc.)
Do they wear accessories of any kind?
Are there any objects or pets that they keep close?
What is their level of grooming? (disheveled, neat, wearing makeup, etc.)

Each of these will give you a good idea already at what their personality is. Someone who typically dresses neatly will suggest a much different trait than someone who wears rags and has the stench of alcohol coming from him.

Step 3 : The Personality Level

We recommend tackling personality next, before you determine backstory, although you can do both.

The reason we suggest personality first, is that by determining these internal traits, you can then work backward and find a suitable backstory that would create such a personality.

That said, you can do it the other way around: lock down the backstory first and then determine what kind of a personality would result from such an upbringing.

Whatever the case, backstory and personality are very much related, particularly when it comes to the wants, needs, and fears of an individual.

So let’s dive into the different parts of the personality that you should include in your character profile.

We often don’t think of this, but each of us has a distinct way that we talk.

I’m not just talking about an accent, although we all have those too outside of our native dialect. But there are probably different words that you use more than most, different ways of phrasing things, even different body language that is unique to us.

Here are a few things to consider when determining the communications, mannerisms, and speech patterns of your character:

Are they from a foreign land?
What is their posture? (stiff, slouching, casual, relaxed, exhausted, etc.)
Do they have a specific gesture that they overuse? (hand-talking, controlled, agitated)
Do they make eye contact with the people they talk to?
What curse word do they use the most? Do they curse?
Do they have a catch phrase?
Do they have speech impediments?
Are there any “ticks” in the way they talk/move?
What does their laugh sound like? (loud and booming, snickering, high squeak)
What is their handwriting like?
How do they walk? (confident, lazy, fast, distracted, etc.)
What is their smile like? (warm, false, nervous, etc.)
Do they wear their emotions on their sleeve or keep them hidden?
What is their resting default facial expression?

These are just a few questions to get you started, you don’t necessarily have to answer them all. However, these are all important to consider because it will have a direct effect on how you write their dialogue and describe them when communicating.

This will feel like a very important part, but it is just one piece of the puzzle.

The psychological profile is a good example of something that you might not include verbatim in the story, but will be useful anyway. It’s the part of the iceberg that is still submerged below water. Knowing this will change the way you write them.

Here are some aspects to consider:

Are they introverted or extroverted?
What is happiness to them?
Do they have a favorite place, food, movie, etc.? Why?
How do they feel about love? Being in a relationship?
Are they a leader or a follower?
What gets them excited?
Do they have a favorite quote?
What makes them angry?
What are their morals?
What would they do with unlimited money? Time?
What is their love language?
What is their Myers-Briggs type?
Do they have any mental disabilities?

Let’s comment on those last two.

The Myers-Briggs test is somewhat problematic, as there are certainly more than 16 personalities in the world. However, it can be a great place to start in getting to know your character’s personality. At the very least, it can give you inspiration.

For mental disabilities , you might want to consider giving most of your characters something that they struggled with in this area. Because even for a real person, each mental illness is a spectrum, and most of us struggle with something, even if it’s not enough to get a clinical diagnosis.

For example, I sometimes struggle with ADHD tendencies, enough that I got myself tested. I didn’t have clinical ADHD, but I clearly leaned in that directly.

I hope you get what I’m saying. Each of us falls somewhere on a spectrum for various mental struggles.

Figure out what your character might have, and make sure to study that thing. Not doing your research is a sure way to create a character who feels inauthentic.

While this section could be lumped in with personality, motivation and fears are so important that we wrote a whole article about it. So let’s spend time discussing them.

Your motivation will drive your story, it is the reason why your character does anything, just like in real life. All of us do everything we do for a reason. If we had no motivation, we would just sit back and do nothing until we died.

Stories are about action. Stuff has to happen for there to be a plot, therefore finding that motivation will be crucial to developing your character.

The same is true for fears, which is a type of motivation. Every character should have something they fear more than anything. Ideally, they should be forced to confront that thing over the course of the story in order to get the thing that motivated them to take action in the first place.

Here are some questions to ask:

What do they want most in the world at the start of the story?
What do they actually need most in the world?
What is their biggest fear?
What are they most proud of?

Additionally, you will need to outline their goals in the story. This is different from motivation. Goals are the thing your character wants. Motivations are the reasons why they want those things.

In short, motivation will keep your central character from feeling like a flat character.

Step 4 : The Backstory Level

At this point, you have the basic details, physical appearance, personality, and mannerisms of your major character. Now it’s time to add the basic functionalities of backstory.

It’s at this stage that you begin explaining why a character is the way they are. Why does that man look so disheveled? Why does that woman have a hard time trusting people? Why does that little boy have a scar on his face?

Let me be clear, you do not have to determine these things ahead of time. It’s perfectly fine to outline your character traits before you know how they got there.

For instance, I might invent a character that frequently rides a horse, is a loner, wears minimalist clothing and has a long scar down one arm and a tattoo on the other. Perhaps I have no other reason for picking these things other than that they look cool.

On the other hand, you can build backstory and let it determine the other traits this character has. It can go either way, and will likely go both ways. You could discover that the backstory you create offers new opportunities to tweak the physical appearance or personality of the character.

That’s fine. This is meant to be an evolving writing process.

So let’s take a look at the different character development questions surrounding backstory.

At the core of what a person is, you will often find family there. Our families shape us for better or worse, and the same is true of characters.

Does your character have a family?
How big is their family?
Have any of them died? If so, how did this affect your central character?
What is your character’s current relationship with their parents? Siblings?
What are some defining moments between your character and their family members?

These are some important things to keep in mind. A family that is supportive and loving of a character will have a completely different impact than a family that is abusive and cold.

In the basic facts section, we asked about this person’s occupation and income. Now is the time to dig deeper.

Take a look at the following questions:

Do they enjoy their job?
Do they have any other hobbies or interests?
What are they competent at?
Are they used to living frugally or do they enjoy a lavish lifestyle?
What are their opinions towards money?

These will give you a good start on what their lifestyle is at the start of your book. Preferably, you’ll upend all that once the plot gets going, but the lifestyle that they consider “comfortable” will determine their reactions to change.

This is where you create a general outline of their life up to this point. By now, you should have a lot of ideas, so start by jotting those down. Then ask yourself the following questions:

Where were they raised? Do they still live there? Why?
What are their happiest/saddest/earliest memories?
What were they like as a child?
What are some of the biggest defining moments of their life?
How did they get to where they are today?
What is their biggest regret?
Has your character experienced any trauma?

Go through the major “beats” of the characters life, including childhood, adolescence, past relationships, important religious events, educational milestones, etc.

Once you’ve accomplished all this, you’ll have a pretty good idea of who your character is, helping them spring to life in every scene.

If you want to follow the same path that I took, get this template today!

Advanced Techniques to Create a Character Profile

But let’s not stop here. There are a number of advanced techniques that you can use to create your character profile.

Start by creating a full outline of this person’s life, as if you were writing a novel. Create a timeline or chronology of events from the beginning to the end. You don’t have to use any of this in your novel, but it can come in handy to know from the writer’s perspective.

One great way to get to know your characters is to come up with a character questionnaire . It may include many of the questions we’ve outlined thus far, but you can also take those questions and create a mock “interview” with your character.

Not only does this help deepen your character, it also gives you practice writing in their voice, which is essential.

When choosing things like a character’s occupation, interests, mannerisms, or fears, it can help to find things that are unique. The more exotic and unusual you make them, the more they will appeal to readers (within reason).

For example, an airline pilot who loves goldfish is a much more interesting and quirky character compared to a computer programmer who just goes home to Netflix and chill every day (no offense to my programmer friends).

In short, try to find unique combinations of each of these character traits, in a way that isn’t comical (unless it’s supposed to be).

I would suggest that there are at least two characters that best profit from a character profile: your protagonist and your antagonist.

However, if you really want to go the extra mile, keep repeating these steps for more of your supporting characters.

Just ensure your time spent writing characters does not keep you from writing the book.

Final Thoughts

I hope you found all of this helpful.

As someone who loves outlining, I find that creating a character profile is just as useful as creating a plot outline. It speeds up my writing and increases the quality.

If you like what you see here, we have a complete character profile template that you can check out to facilitate your character creation process. .

And if you enjoyed this post, you might like everything else we have on character development, including:

How to develop characters
Character questions
Types of characters

Jason Hamilton

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

How to write a book using google docs, how to write dark fantasy: a guide for new authors, how to write a book using microsoft word, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

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What is Character Profile and How to Create One

Nathan Brooks

Published on Jun 05, 2024, updated on Jul 19, 2024

In the realm of storytelling, whether it's for novels, films, or video games, one of the most critical elements is the development of well-rounded and engaging characters. A character profile is a detailed blueprint that outlines the various aspects of a character's personality, background, and motivations.

What is a Character Profile?

A character profile is a document or a set of notes that contain comprehensive information about a character. It serves as a reference point for writers, helping them to maintain consistency and depth throughout their narrative. This profile includes physical descriptions, psychological traits, personal history, relationships, and other elements that define the character's essence.

Why Create a Character Profile?

Creating a character profile is beneficial for several reasons:

1. Consistency: It ensures that a character's traits and behaviors remain consistent throughout the story.

2. Depth: It helps in creating multi-dimensional characters with complex motivations and emotions.

3. Development: It aids in the character's growth and evolution over the course of the narrative.

4. Connection: It facilitates a stronger connection between the character and the audience.

5. Collaboration: In team projects, it provides a clear understanding of each character for all involved parties.

How to Create a Character Profile?

Creating an effective character profile involves several steps that can be tailored to fit the needs of the story and the character. Here's a detailed guide:

1. Basic Information:

- Name: The character's full name and any aliases.

- Age: The character's age and how it influences their perspective.

- Physical Description: Height, weight, distinguishing features, and attire.

2. Background:

- Early Life: The character's upbringing and family history.

- Education: The character's learning experiences and how they shaped their worldview.

- Career: The character's professional journey and accomplishments.

3. Personality Traits:

- Strengths: Positive attributes that define the character.

- Weaknesses: Negative traits that create conflict or growth opportunities.

- Values: Core beliefs that guide the character's actions.

4. Motivations and Goals:

- Desires: What the character wants to achieve, both short-term and long-term.

- Fear: What the character is afraid of, which can be a driving force behind their actions.

5. Relationships:

- Family: The character's family dynamics and how they impact the character.

- Friends: The character's friendships and the support they provide.

- Enemies: Rivalries or conflicts that add tension to the story.

6. Conflicts:

- Internal: The character's internal struggles and how they cope with them.

- External: The challenges the character faces from the external world.

7. Development:

- Arc: The character's journey and how they change over time.

- Decisions: Key decisions the character makes and their consequences.

8. Unique Quirks:

- Habits: Unique habits or mannerisms that make the character memorable.

- Tics: Any physical or verbal tics that reveal more about the character's nature.

9. Visual Representation:

- Images: Sketches or photographs that help visualize the character.

- Mood Boards: A collection of images, colors, and themes that represent the character.

10. Voice and Dialogue:

- Speech Patterns: The way the character speaks, including dialect, slang, or formal language.

- Writing Style: The tone and style of the character's dialogue.

Boardmix: Your Online Whiteboard for Character Profile Creation

Boardmix is an online whiteboard that is suitable for creating in-depth character profiles. In Boardmix, the character creation isn't limited to paper or word processors. Here you can visualize your characters, draw them, connect their relationships and backgrounds visually, and see them come alive.

Features of Creating Character Profile on Boardmix

1. Visualize Your Characters

Sketch out your characters right on the board. You can illustrate their physical features, their attire, their emotions, or anything else you find defining about them. Don't worry if you're not an artist; even simple sketches can go a long way in visualizing your characters.

2. Map Out Relationships

Boardmix allows you to visually map out the relationships between different characters. Draw lines connecting characters who have a relationship and annotate the lines with the nature of their relationship.

3. Illustrate Backstories

Draw out pivotal moments from your characters' backstories. Illustrating these moments can help cement them in your mind and make the backstory feel more real and cohesive.

4. Display Key Traits

Use text boxes to jot down important personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, hobbies, and other vital information about your characters.

5. Connect Character Arcs

Create a visual path of your character's development throughout the story. Use arrows and milestones to indicate significant turning points or changes in their arc.

6. Sync Across Devices

Your character boards are saved online and can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, ensuring that you can work on your character profiles whenever inspiration strikes.

7. Collaborate in Real Time

You can invite others to view or edit your boards, allowing for real-time collaboration. This feature is particularly useful if you're working on a story with co-authors or if you want feedback from others.

Steps to Create Character Profile on Boardmix

Boardmix's online whiteboard provides the ideal environment for creating robust and comprehensive character profiles. A character profile template can guide you through the process, ensuring that you don't miss any critical details. Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Choose a Character Profile Template

Start by selecting a character profile template. This can be a pre-existing one provided by Boardmix or one you have created yourself. The template should include sections for basic information, physical description, personality traits, relationships, backstory, current life, and future goals.

2. Fill in the Basic Information

In the allocated section, add the basic details of your character. Use text boxes to jot down their full name, age, gender, birthplace, current residence, and occupation.

3. Sketch the Physical Appearance

Use the drawing tools to sketch your character's physical appearance. Draw their face and body and color them accordingly. Also, write down their height, weight, eye color, hair color and style, and any distinctive features in a text box next to your sketch.

4. Describe the Personality Traits

Next to your sketch or in a new text box, jot down the personality traits of your character. Include their strengths, weaknesses, fears or phobias, hobbies and interests, and skills or talents.

5. Illustrate Relationships

Using arrows or lines, visually represent your character's relationships with others in your story. Write a brief note next to each line describing the relationship.

6. Craft the Backstory

Create another text box for the backstory of your character. Write about their education level, significant life events, formative experiences, and family background. Consider adding sketches or symbols to represent crucial elements of the backstory.

7. Detail Current Life

In a separate section, provide information about your character's present life including their living situation, career situation, relationship status, and daily routine.

8. Plan for Future Goals

In the final section of your template, outline your character's immediate and long-term goals, what motivates them to achieve these goals and the conflicts or obstacles they might face.

9. Review and Save

Once you have filled in all sections of the template, review it to ensure all information is accurate and complete. Make any necessary adjustments and then save your board.

10. Share, Collaborate and Export

If you want feedback or are co-writing a story, share your character profile with others. They can view or edit the board in real time. You can also export it in various format such as Word, PDF, PNG and more.

Using a template on Boardmix streamlines the process of creating a character profile by prompting you to consider each aspect of your character's life in detail. The blend of visuals and text creates an engaging and immersive character creation experience.

Tips for Creating a Compelling Character Profile

Creating a compelling character profile can be the difference between creating characters that are flat and forgettable, and characters that feel like real people. Below are some helpful tips to help you create in-depth character profiles.

1. Start with the Basics

Start with simple details such as their full name, age, gender, birthplace, current residence, and occupation. These basic details form the foundation of your character.

2. Build a Physical Profile

Describe your character's physical attributes including their height, weight, eye color, hair color and style, and body type. Include any distinctive features like scars, birthmarks, or tattoos. Remember, these physical features can hint at the character's past or personality.

3. Develop Their Personality

Detail out your character's personality traits, their strengths, weaknesses, fears or phobias, hobbies and interests, skills or talents. These attributes contribute greatly to who your character is at their core.

4. Understand Their Relationships

Character relationships can often drive the plot of your story. Detail out significant relationships both past and present, familial relationships, and friendships. Don't just include who these relationships are with, but also the dynamics within these relationships.

5. Consider Their Backstory

Every character should have a backstory that explains how they became who they are now. Detail out their education level, important life events, formative experiences, and family background. A well-crafted backstory adds depth to your characters.

6. Dive into Their Current Life

Describe your character's current living situation, career situation, relationship status, and even their daily routine. These details can provide valuable insight into the life of your character.

7. Plan Their Future

Character growth is an essential part of storytelling. Outline your character's immediate goals (what they want in the next chapter of your story), long-term goals (what they want by the end of your story), motivations (why they want these things), and the conflicts or obstacles that stand in their way.

Creating compelling character profiles can be time-consuming, but it's an investment that pays off. The more work you put into understanding your characters, the more realistic and engaging they will be.

Creating a character profile is an essential step in the storytelling process. It provides a solid foundation for character development and ensures that the characters in your story are rich, believable, and engaging. By following the steps outlined above, you can craft character profiles that will resonate with your audience and enhance the overall quality of your narrative.

Boardmix's flexibility makes it an ideal tool for creating character profiles. It moves beyond traditional text-based profiles and embraces the power of visualization in understanding and developing your characters. No matter where you are in your writing process - whether you're brainstorming, drafting, or revising - Boardmix offers a dynamic way to bring your characters to life.

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Character Profile Template

Create the perfect character for your story

Creating a character profile is a great way to map out a fictional character's life. No matter whether you're a professional or a hobbyist writer, creating a profile is the best way to define your character's backstory, appearance, traits, goals and flaws. Everything you'll need to create an authentic, and relatable character that enriches your story.

Round-out your characters by giving them a detailed personality that stretches beyond the story itself. Some aspects of their personality won't make it into the story, but will help to inform the decisions they make as the story unfolds.

Once you've imagined your characters, you can map their relationships to understand them from a different perspective. To learn more, check out our guide to creating compelling characters .

This template is part of our guide on How to plan a novel .

Explore ideas
Organize visually
Share with your team
Gather feedback
Export to PDF

How to use this template

Whether you’re writing a professional novelist or a hobby writer creating your first screenplay, follow this step-by-step guide to learn the modern process of creating believable and engaging characters in Milanote, a free tool used by top creatives.

1. Start with an empty template

The Character Profile template contains empty notes for your ideas and descriptions, plus placeholders for reference images, videos and links. Before you begin, think about the type of character you'd like to develop and how they fit into the story.

Create a new board for your character.

Create a new board

Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.

Choose the Character Profile template.

Choose a template

Each new board gives you the options to start with a beautiful template.

2. Decide on a type of character

A character might start as a bundle of random ideas, traits and plot points from a story outline, so it’s important to bring everything together in one place. A character archetype can help narrow your focus. There are twelve common archetypes or personas that we recognize across literature, mythology, and the human experience:

The Innocent: Represents purity, optimism, and naivety. The Innocent seeks safety, avoids conflict, and believes in a world of goodness and simplicity.
The Everyman: Represents relatability and ordinariness. The Everyman is a down-to-earth character who faces everyday challenges and resonates with a wide audience.
The Hero: Embodies courage, bravery, and a desire to conquer challenges. The Hero goes on a quest or adventure to overcome obstacles and achieve greatness.
The Outlaw: Represents rebellion, non-conformity, and a desire for freedom. The Outlaw challenges authority and societal norms.
The Explorer: Embodies a thirst for adventure, curiosity, and a desire to discover new territories—both physically and metaphorically.
The Creator: Represents imagination, innovation, and the desire to bring something new into existence. The Creator is often an artist, inventor, or visionary.
The Ruler: Represents leadership, authority, and responsibility. The Ruler seeks to create order and structure.
The Magician: Embodies mystery, transformation, and the ability to see beyond the surface. The Magician has access to knowledge and powers others may not possess.
The Lover: Represents passion, connection, and the desire for intimacy. The Lover seeks love, relationships, and deep emotional connections.
The Caregiver: Embodies compassion, nurturing, and a desire to protect and care for others. The Caregiver takes care of others' needs and well-being.
The Jester: Represents humor, playfulness, and the ability to bring laughter and joy. The Jester provides comic relief and light-heartedness.
The Sage: Embodies wisdom, knowledge, and a desire to understand the world and its mysteries. The Sage offers guidance and insights to others.

Archetypes provide guidelines for behaviors, emotions, and actions that can help push a story. For example, the Explorer is naturally curious, restless, and driven to push boundaries, such as Detective Sherlock Holmes.

Add a note to describe the basics.

Drag a note card onto your board

Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left-hand toolbar.

3. Add specific characteristics

Once you've defined an initial archetype, you can begin to shape the character and make them original. Consider the emotional connection between your audience and your character, and work towards the desired outcome. You may find that switching the age and gender of a character can lead to very different responses from your reader.

Add a note to describe their characteristics.

Consider the character's role in the story and the purpose they serve. Are they the protagonist, antagonist, or a supporting character? Knowing their role will guide you in choosing characteristics that align with their narrative function.

4. Build their backstory

Your character's backstory describes the journey they have taken up to this point. It allows you to explore their fears, weaknesses, and motivations and to define their purpose. You can explain the character's methods and evaluations—why they act the way that they do, the choices they make, and how it drives the individual forward. Are they making progress towards their goal, or making things worse?

Add a note to describe their backstory.

5. Give them quirks, faults, and flaws

Your character should come from an authentic place. That means that the character probably has some contradictions that make them a little out of the ordinary. Are they quick-tempered and easily provoked, leading to frequent outbursts that strain relationships with others? Or are they overly self-critical, constantly doubting their abilities and feeling inadequate compared to others? If a character is too simplistic, it can feel cliched.

Incorporating quirks, faults, and flaws into your character profiles can create more well-rounded and relatable individuals, making them feel human and allowing readers to connect with their struggles and growth throughout the story

Add a note to describe their quirks and flaws.

6. Give your character an arc

A believable character grows and changes as your story evolves. Just like real people, they adapt and respond to life's events.

The Coming-of-Age: Do they experience a clearer sense of self and purpose?
The Redemption: Do they confront their flaws, seeking to become a better person?
The Self-Discovery: Do they unravel, leading to a deeper understanding of themselves?
Transformation: Does the character undergo a big change, adopting a new life?
The Acceptance: Do they overcome life's obstacles and gain a fresh perspective?

Consider where your character starts in the story and how they change. Character arcs help convey growth and development making your story even more believable.

Add notes to describe the change in your character.

Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left hand toolbar.

7. Add visual references

Even if you're writing a novel, visual references and inspiration can help bring your character to life. There are lots of fantastic sites where you can find great visual inspiration for free, like Pinterest or Google Images .

Use the built-in image library.

Use the built-in image library

Search over 3 million beautiful photos powered by Pexels then drag images straight onto your board.

Add image files to your board.

Upload a file or document

Click the "Upload file" button or just drag a file onto your board. You can add images, logos, documents, videos, audio and much more.

You're done!

Now that you've created a unique fictional character, you have a great reference to use while writing your story. Use this template below to start inventing your next amazing character.

Start your Character Profile

Bring your characters to life.

Milanote is where creative professionals organize their most important work.

Free with no time limit

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COMMENTS

How to Create the Ultimate Character Profile [+ Template]
Reedsy's Character Profile Template. A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours. Download now. 1. Construct the character's outer appearance. To be able to identify a criminal, detectives build a painstakingly thorough file of said criminal's physical characteristics.
How To Create A Character Profile (Template and Worksheet Included!)
This feature allows you to create a list of hex color codes of colors associated with your characters. Specifically, this could be useful for skin tones, hair color, and eye color. Generally, this might be for consistent elements in a design, especially if you are open to your character drawn in varying outfits.
How to Create a Character Profile: Complete Guide with Template
2. Age. Picking the right age for your characters also plays an important role in the creation of your story. Clearly, a 9-year-old main character will have a different perspective than a 30-year-old. Age will also affect your dialogue, and even the commentaries inside your narrative. Also, pay attention to how long your story spans.
How to write a character profile
Creating your character profile: Delving into the detail. When crafting your character profile, you'll want to start with the basics and then delve deeper: Basics: Start with the basic details - name, age, and physical description. Personality: Next, consider their personality traits, values, likes, and dislikes. Backstory: Uncover their past.
How to Create a Character Profile in 12 Steps [+Free Template]
Steps to Create a Character Profile. Here is a step-by-step procedure for creating a character bio: 1. Understand the Basics. Before starting, first, find out which of your characters will need a character profile. Then decide on the basics. It will be a long process and you'll go through a lot of information.
Creating Psychological Profiles of Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird
Introduce the concept of a psychological profile. For the purposes of this assignment, a psychological profile of a character is a list and explanation of the various factors that affect a character's motivation and decision making throughout the course of the novel. To begin the psychological profile activity, ask the class two discussion ...
Ultimate Character Analysis Worksheet & Template Guide
A character study is an important aspect of literary analysis, and our character analysis worksheets provide a comprehensive framework for analyzing and understanding characters in a story. These templates allow students to create detailed profiles that explore various elements, such as development, traits, and interactions with other characters.
PDF 1776 Character Profile assignment
1776 Character Profile Research Assignment. Once you have [1] chosen your character from the Revolutionary War Era list (it's online on Teacher Website), you need to do some quick research of that historical person. To do this, you need to [2] answer the questions below about that person.
How to Create a Character Profile: A Step-by-Step Guide For Beginners
Those who espouse building character profiles naturally advise that your protagonist, antagonist, and each of the more important orbital characters in your story get their own separate profile. Many great novelists and colleagues of mine swear by them and wouldn't dream of developing a character any other way. If you've never written one ...
How to Create a Character Profile
4. Character's Name: -- (Describe relationship with this character and changes to relationship over the course of the novel). How character is different at the end of the novel from when the novel began: Additional Notes on This Character: You can find out more about character building in our characters section.
PDF To Kill a Mockingbird Psychological Character Profile Assignment
Psychological Character Profile Assignment All group members will help each other in gathering information. help to assemble the poster. participate in the presentation of the group's poster. Guidelines for Presentation Each group will present its findings to the class. In the spirit of Atticus's profession,
Fictional Character Profile Worksheet
Fictional Character Profile Worksheet. I created the Fictional Character Profile Worksheet to help writers understand their characters and develop motivations. It is a fillable PDF, which means you can use it for many characters (just change the file name) and detail their individual motivations. The sheet helps add details about the following:
How to write character profiles: 10 tips and a template
How to write character profiles: 10 tips. Draw on your story idea or scenario. Root character profiles in Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Use a detailed character profile template. Imagine core interal and external conflicts. Try character generators for inspiration. Brainstorm initial action and reaction beats.
How to Create a Character Profile: With Template and Step by Step
Step 4: The Backstory Level. At this point, you have the basic details, physical appearance, personality, and mannerisms of your major character. Now it's time to add the basic functionalities of backstory. It's at this stage that you begin explaining why a character is the way they are.
What is Character Profile and How to Create One
Creating an effective character profile involves several steps that can be tailored to fit the needs of the story and the character. Here's a detailed guide: 1. Basic Information: - Name: The character's full name and any aliases. - Age: The character's age and how it influences their perspective.
Character Profile
Create a new board for your character. Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it. Choose the Character Profile template. Each new board gives you the options to start with a beautiful template. 2. Decide on a type of character.
Character Profile Template Assignment
CHARACTER PROFILE TEMPLATE INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION. Character's Name Birth-Death Years Picture of Character: Find a digital photo of the individual and paste it here. Most Noted For: CHARACTER PROFILE REPORT Biographical Information: Include life experiences that impacted thoughts and actions on Western Civilization.
Writing Great Characters: How to Create a Character Profile
Character creation is part of a writer's overall world-building process. Consider the process of developing characters to be as important as shaping the plot itself. Here are three writing tips to keep in mind when shaping your character profiles: 1. Create a character outline.
Character Profile Roman Empire to High Middle Ages Assignment ...
Character Profile Assignment, you will download and fill in the Character Profile Template. Sections of the template may vary based on the figure selected, but you must meet the 500- word count requirement. This word count does not include the reference list or the template text.

How to Create the Ultimate Character Profile [+ Template]

About Dario Villirilli

What is a character profile?

What makes a good character profile template?

How to create a character profile

1. Construct the character's outer appearance

The Basics 📖

Physical Appearance 👀

Speech and Communication 💬

Which contemporary author are you?

2. Build out the character's backstory

External Relationships 💜

Part 3. Understand the character's goals and motivations

Psychology 💭

The Present and Future 🔮

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How to Create a Character Profile in 12 Steps [+Free Template]

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Steps to Create a Character Profile

1. Understand the Basics

2. What is their Physical Appearance?

3. How do they Communicate?

4. Know their Props

5. Discover the Background and Past

6. Discover their Likes and Dislikes

7. Understand their Psychology

8. Find about their Family

9. Explore their Relationships

10. Where do they Live?

11. What are their Jobs/Hobbies?

12. What are their Goals and Motivations?

What is a Character Profile?

Types of Main Characters

1. Antagonist