creative writing character sheets

The Best Character Template Ever (100+ Character Traits!)

So you have an awesome story and want to bring it to life with some incredible characters, but organizing all those character ideas in your head can be tough!

I know, I’ve been there. We’ve all been there (trust me, I did a very legit survey of us all).

To help, here is a very thorough list of more than 100 different character traits you can use to understand more about your character than you do about your friends and family. Fill out this template with as many or as few details as you’d like. You can even grab your fillable PDF at the bottom of this article.

Readers will sniff out a half-baked character from a mile away, and you better pray they never find a poorly written character in your book. Luckily, this template will help you avoid both of those pitfalls.

How to Use This Template

Hopefully, this template is, for the most part, straightforward. But there are some options that might give you some pause. For the sake of clarity, I’m going to quickly go over the different sections of the template.

In general, the traits get deeper and deeper into the abyss of your character’s soul the further down the list you go.

Demographics are your basics. This is the sort of information someone could likely glean from a short conversation with your character or what the government might gather from a census.

Physical appearance is what someone would notice about your character if they looked at them. This goes beyond just hair, eye, and skin color, though. Things like your character’s gait or their fashion style can add a lot of depth for your reader.

History allows you to understand a character’s past. More importantly, it allows you to understand how that past affects their actions in your story. Some of this information might never see the light of day, but it allows you to craft dynamic, complex characters.

Psychological traits are those that aren’t readily apparent to an onlooker but are critical to how your character operates in any given situation. This is where you start getting deep with things like flaws , desires, and traits that make people (or non-people) who they are.

Communication is not only important for things like dialogue and writing, but they are easy ways for you to differentiate between your characters .

Strengths, weaknesses, and abilities are very vague terms but are quite important. This is especially true for genres like fantasy or sci-fi, and these traits can be helpful when crafting your main characters, including villains .

Relationships are important for characters, even if it means highlighting how alone they are. Relationships can go a lot further than immediate friends, family, or partners. Try and take some time to think about exactly who is involved in your character’s life.

Character growth is the most important category in this template. Here is where you include things like arcs, archetypes, conflicts, goals, and motivation. You need to pay attention to this section, because these ideas will be the ones that make memorable characters.

So check out the template below and think about how you can use it to build your characters. 

The Best Character Template Ever

Demographics.

• Sex/Gender:
• Occupation:
• Socioeconomic status:
• Other notes:

Physical Appearance

• Skin color:
• Hair color:
• Fitness level:
• Scars/Birthmarks:
• Other distinguishing features:
• Disabilities:
• Fashion style:
• Accessories:
• Cleanliness/Grooming:
• Posture/Gait:
• Coordination (or lack thereof):
• Weaknesses:
• Birth date:
• Place of birth:
• Key family members:
• Notable events/milestones:
• Criminal record:
• Affiliations:
• Skeletons in the closet:

Psychological Traits

• Personality type:
• Personality traits:
• Temperament:
• Introvert/Extrovert:
• Mannerisms:
• Educational background:
• Intelligence:
• Self-esteem:
• Skills/talents:
• Morals/Virtues:
• Phobias/Fears:
• Angered by:
• Pet peeves:
• Obsessed with:
• Bad habits:
• Favorite sayings:
• Accomplishments:

Communication

• Languages known:
• Preferred communication methods:
• Style and pacing of speech:
• Use of gestures:
• Facial expressions:
• Verbal expressions:

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Abilities

• Physical strengths:
• Physical weaknesses:
• Intellectual strengths:
• Intellectual weaknesses:
• Interpersonal strengths:
• Interpersonal weaknesses:
• Physical abilities:
• Magical abilities:
• Physical illnesses/conditions:
• Mental illnesses/conditions:

Relationships

• Partner(s)/Significant other(s):
• Parents/Guardians:
• Grandparents:
• Grandchildren:
• Best friends:
• Colleagues:
• Mentors/Teachers:
• Idols/Role models:
• Non-living things:
• Clubs/Memberships:
• Social media presence:
• Public perception of them:

Character Growth

• Character archetype:
• Character arc:
• Core values:
• Internal conflicts:
• External conflicts:
• Goals: 
• Motivations:
• Epiphanies:
• Significant events/plot points:

Craft Amazing Characters With Dabble

Creating characters your readers will love (or love to hate) has never been easier than with Dabble. By keeping all of your notes about characters and your plot just a click away from your manuscript, you’ll be able to write a story that is bound for the bestseller lists.

You can click here to grab a PDF copy of this template, or you can just copy and paste the categories you want from this article directly into your Character Notes in Dabble.

That’s not all! We also have a handful of other resources that can help you make some awesome characters. Be sure to check out:

• Our complete guide to creating characters
• 101 character goals
• A metric ton of character ideas you can use with this template
• 65 character development questions
• 20 original character interview questions
• A downloadable character profile

The best part? You can add all of these into your character’s folder in Dabble. Your character will be more real than you or I.

Enough dilly-dallying, time for Dabbling. Click here to get started with your totally free, no credit card required trial of Dabble and build your amazing characters today.

Happy writing!

Doug Landsborough can’t get enough of writing. Whether freelancing as an editor, blog writer, or ghostwriter, Doug is a big fan of the power of words. In his spare time, he writes about monsters, angels, and demons under the name D. William Landsborough. When not obsessing about sympathetic villains and wondrous magic, Doug enjoys board games, horror movies, and spending time with his wife, Sarah.

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How to Create the Ultimate Character Profile [+ Template]

Ask any great novelist and they’ll likely tell you that good writing starts with good characters. But sharp character development is also one of the toughest hills to climb, especially if you’ve struggled to think through those tried-and-true questions that keep you up at night:

• Are my characters convincing?
• Do my characters have depth?
• How do I make sure my character  has an arc ?

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.

We strongly recommend our character profile template in a PDF format and fill it out as you go along. 

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

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

The Three-Part Character Profile Template:

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

Part 1. The Outer Layer

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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Part 2. The Flesh

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. The Core

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 story motivation .

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? Why do they want it? Every other answer in the character profile template builds up to this. This is 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.

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?
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Home » Blog » Character Development Sheet Templates [Download Here]

Character Development Sheet Templates [Download Here]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Whether you are working on web series, a blog based series, a novel, a screenplay, or a story, it is pertinent that all characters are strong and believable. As a writer, you can’t go without a character development sheet.

This is an indispensable tool where the chart is filled so that you will not just come up with an interesting story but with strong characters that the reader will like.

It is important to note that the core of any character is in the development. Proper development is the foundation of every great and memorable character.

A character development sheet will include many crucial character development questions that will put you on the right track.

What is Character Development?

If you have learned how to write a novel or if you have ever taken any course on how to write a book , I’m sure you’ll know that character development is the sole of any type of novel writing.

It is the crux.

According to Thinkwritten , character development is defined as:

“The process in creating a persona in a story AND the changes this persona goes through during the course of the story.”

A simple definition comes from YourDictionary :

“The process of creating a believable character in fiction by giving the character depth and personality.”

Here is a character development checklist that will help you figure out what is character development in novel writing :

Now that you know what character development is and how it relates to novel writing, it is time to move forward and understand why exactly you need to have a character sheet template.

Character Development Questions

Character development is what every writer should work on perfecting if they want to be a published author.

You need to have a character sheet template that you can use anytime to develop the antagonists, the protagonists, or even the minor characters in your story. This includes the details of their lives and their struggles.

Character development is the act of developing a convincing and unique fictional character by providing them with emotional depth.

This applies to all things you can create a character out of – be it humans, toys, animals, etc. They all need to go through the character sheet template so that they can be better molded and suited to the story.

Character development questions are the best way to go about this. Sure, you can sit there and type out all the information you can think of for your character. But, you will likely miss a lot of important stuff.

But by answering specific, targeted character development questions, you’ll cover everything – even the things you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.

The Benefits of Preparing a Character Development Questionnaire

Whether you create your own character development questionnaire from scratch or use a pre-existing character sheet template, you need it to be comprehensive and in-depth.

If you have a good, all-encompassing character development questionnaire, you’ll be getting the absolute best out of your characters.

There are several benefits of having a character development sheet that you can use over and over again:

• Having a character development sheet will enable you a write on a character that matches your expectation.
• It helps writers to track the growth of a character over time so that the character will continue to grow throughout the story.
• Filling in a character development sheet is a fun thing to do, you will enjoy getting to know your character a little better.
• A character sheet template should inspire and make you think about your character in new ways, devoid of any limitations.
• It will give you an insight into the different ways you will continue to add to your character as the story progresses.
• It will help you stay on track and only add details that are necessary and relevant as your character progresses.
• A character development sheet will help you develop fictional characters that will be realistic to your audience.
• What causes a professional writer to stand out from an amateur is a high level of creativity. With this character development sheet, it will help put your creative mind to work. It will be able to create very original and outstanding characters for any project you are handling.

Having a good, all-encompassing character development template will help you immensely even in the future. Once created, it can be used for any character in any novel and be just as effective.

How to Create a Character Development Sheet

Before creating a character development sheet, you need to consider two aspects of character development. Character development is both internal and external.

Internal Character Development

This is about the drives behind their actions. What are their goals? What motivates their choices and behavior?

External Character Development

As the name implies, this is talking about their experiences on the outside. This could be how they struggle and deal with situations and circumstances. It will also include their transformative experiences.

What to Include in Your Character Development Sheet

You have a book that you need to author, and of course, you will need all kind of characters in the book. So, you need a character sheet template to store all the information you have about each of them so that you don’t mix up the characters in the course of your writing.

You also want to make sure that the characters won’t be confusing and contradictory. These are the reasons why you need a character development sheet. So that you develop each character as expected.

Below are the steps on how to frame your character development sheet.

Step #1: Get to the Root

This is about keeping track of personal details and things about their life. It will include the character’s name, birthday, age, gender, residence, job, and nickname.

Step #2: The Character’s Inner Circle

Let your readers know their direct contact, people they can depend on. It could be friends, their employees, and partners. The people closest to them.

Step #3: Personal Feelings

Of course, your characters will have opinions and skills. Add these to your character development sheet. It could be the character’s habits, talents, attitude, vices, and traits.

Step #4: Include the Character’s Personality

This is one of the most important parts of a character development sheet. A character will always have a personality, and that is what will be pronounced in the story.

So, this should be tackled in a way that even if the figure of the character changes in the course of the story, you can make sure the readers don’t get lost by keeping the character true to their real selves, even though developmental changes.

Step #5: Include Appearance

You should have an appearance section in your character development sheet.

Final Step: Miscellaneous Information

This is making room for all other points that you needed to add but didn’t fit into any of the other categories. You don’t need to throw out such useful information.

You can create a section like this and include the information – it could be anything from language, quotes, a prized possession, likes and dislikes, etc.

Character Development Sheet Tips

There are pertinent questions we need to ask ourselves. Maybe ask them before building a character and filling out the character development sheet. This will help us know what we are working on.

Tip #1: Set Goals

You want to create characters who have goals. Each character should have something there are striving to achieve, even if it is something small.

Tip #2: What is the Driving Force for Each Character?

What will keep the character going? There should be a reason why they will want to get to the very end.

Tip #3: Fear of Failure

This is where you need to internalize your story. There are times where a character feels awful, how will your story progress from there? What will they do about it?

Tip #4: How Will the Character be affected?

Consider how the journey you are creating will affect the character in different ways: emotionally, physically, mentally, will it affect their self-esteem or confidence?

Tip #5: How Will This Bring a Change?

Figure out if the journey will bring any change to the character. Flesh out your thoughts and consider all possibilities.

Character Development Sheet Template

Below is an example of a character sheet template and a list of several character development questions that will help you write a book with perfect characters.

Using the aforementioned steps, you can start to draw up your own character development quetionnaire. You can also copy this sheet and fill in the information accordingly.

• Character’s full name
• Date of birth
• Nickname if applicable
• Place of birth
• Place of residence
• Schooling/degrees
• Do they live alone?
• Do they own a pet?
• What kind of pets?
• Income level
• Education level
• Marital status
• Quality of relationship with child
• Do they need glasses?
• Prominent features
• Any other distinguishing marks?
• Who does she look like? (Mom or dad)
• Any chronic health conditions
• Do they live a healthy lifestyle?
• Style of dress
• Do they wear jewelry?
• Natural hair color

Speech and Language

• Accent or dialect
• Favorite words
• Speech pattern
• Common gestures
• Describe personal habits
• Is he or she prudent?
• What is their morning routine?
• Describe the workday
• Do they enjoy their job?
• What do they have for lunch?
• What do their evenings look like?
• How do they spend their free time?
• Do they usually sleep alone?
• Any recurring dreams?
• What are they really bad at doing?
• Was the childhood a pleasant one?
• Earliest memory
• Notable sad moments
• Happiest memory
• Amount of school attended
• Significant childhood events
• First sexual experience
• Family origin
• Parents marital status – together? Divorced? Remarried?
• Mother’s name
• Mother’s occupation
• Father’s name
• Occupation of the father
• Is the character adopted?
• Relationship with siblings
• In-laws (if married)

Relationships

• Best friend
• Other close friends
• How do they react to friends, strangers, lovers, and spouse?
• Are they successful in their career?
• Are they jealous of other’s success?
• Do they have a mentor?
• Do they tend to judge?
• Are they understanding?
• Who can the character rely on?
• Is the character a pessimist or optimist?
• What’s the characters personality type?
• Describe their long term goals
• Short term goals
• Who inspires them?
• How does the character react to change?

Favorite Things

• Favorite food
• Do they drink?
• Do they like to read?
• Favorite movie
• Favorite show
• Do they like to go on social outings?
• Favorite music
• Do they play any sports?

Tips on Creating a Strong Character With a Wow-Factor

When write a novel and you are presenting your character to the readers, it is a good idea to take a look at your character development sheet and follow it. There are tons of character development questions that you need answers to in order to get better at character development for your upcoming fantasy novel .

You want to avoid confusing your audience. Rather, you want them to get to know and love your character as much as you do. You can use the following points to achieve this.

• Introduce your character at the beginning of your book.
• Let your readers see your character shortcomings and flaws.
• Let your character be put in a situation where they can be different.
• Create a plot where your character can embrace personal change.
• Show the readers what the new and improved character can accomplish.
• As the story progresses, show your readers who your character is now as opposed to who they used to be.
• Let your character fail sometimes.
• Let emotional stress or passion drive some of their decisions.
• Is the character fulfilled enough to end the plot?
• Finally, where does the character go from there? Keep things open to further evolving and developing. Real people never stop changing, so why should your character?

Character Development Sheets are Flexible

These are just some of the topics you can add to the character development sheet. There is no right or wrong way to do it, the point is getting to know your character and how they will develop as you’ll write a novel or book .

It all comes down to how you want your character to progress. Some fields here are optional, but it is a great starting point in creating your character sheet template. The important thing is that it helps you flesh out your character and turn them into a real person that both you and your readers will understand.

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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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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 500,000 beautiful photos powered by Unsplash 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.

Sign up for free with no time limit

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• Development
• Scriptwriting

Character Development: Write Stronger Characters [with FREE Worksheet]

f there’s one thing writers will agree on, it’s that character development is super critical to writing a winning script.

It’s also a hard thing to master – oftentimes requiring spreadsheets and graphs for something that should be more… human.

But does it have to be that way?

How to create a character shouldn’t be an arduous process.

And, with our character development worksheet, it’s not.

Here I’ll show how to use our worksheet, which can help answer your own character development questions as you get into the weeds of writing.

This worksheet can be a powerful tool to help you figure out how to develop characters that follow a succinct character arc.

We’ll also go over what a static character and a dynamic character are, and which one may be best for your story.

First, what is character development?

Putting the “work” in character development worksheet, wait, hang on… what’s a flat character then, so... should i avoid static characters, how to develop a dynamic character, more dynamic character development examples, character development throughout black panther, character development: write stronger characters .

Character development is the process of creating a character for a work of fiction such as a  feature film , television show, or novel.

As mentioned, it’s often boiled down to two kinds of characters:  Static character development  and  dynamic character development .

You probably remember hearing your mom or teacher mention how some things help “build character.”

But what does that mean when it comes to writing?

Character development is also the way in which characters change throughout a story. And it's not that far from what your mom was talking about.

One foundation of writing is challenging your protagonists (and antagonists). As they work to achieve their goals, we must make sure it’s harder for them to accomplish those.

This - like the chores, the second job, the long slog to school everyday - helps with character development. It changes them as the narrative marches forward.

When characters change in the course of a story, it’s called having a character arc. 

Character Development - The Character Arc

Audiences like this kind character development because it creates relatable, real characters. 

The changes we push our heroes through reflect the human condition we're all a part of.

But what if they don't change?

That’s the static character development definition - one that does not go through an emotional or physical transformation by the end of the narrative.

This is also known as a flat character.

Ones that do change? Those are dynamic characters.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: WRITE STRONGER CHARACTERS 

Character is defined as all the elements that make a character feel relatable and real. 

While this may be encapsulated in a series of idiosyncrasies and preferences, it’s best summed up in belief systems.

Because what we believe defines what we do.

The best way to ensure that you have a compelling character is to create a list of beliefs in the beginning and fill in the box.

Next, come up with specific actions the character takes based on those beliefs.

Then, after you’ve established beliefs and actions, fill in them for each subsequent section as the narrative unfolds.

Whether your character exhibits a change in their belief systems over time is a topic we’ll pursue below, but the “delta” (or change) should be listed.

For example, in  12 Angry Men , Juror 3 believed that the boy on trial was guilty, so he voted guilty.

But, as the narrative unfolded, he went from vehemently believing that the boy is guilty and, therefore, voting guilty to flipping in the end .

He changed his belief and, therefore, his vote to not guilty - despite being the last and most aggressive Juror to do so.   

That about as simple as an example can get, but it’s an example nonetheless of clear character development and a character arc.

It’s not uncommon for many characters to remain the same throughout the narrative - that’s a static character. We’ll go over what the definition of a static character is in a bit.

The ones who  do  change are called dynamic characters.

Dynamic characters follow a character arc - like Juror 3.

Flat characters don’t follow an arc, but historically have had tremendous success.

It’s simple: The static character is one that doesn’t change by the end of the story. 

Which is also a flat character. They’re interchangeable.

That, on paper, sounds kinda boring.

Why would anyone make a static character?

Because audiences come to love their consistency.

Jerry Seinfeld was was always the same guy at the end of one episode as he was at the same time next week.

There was a rule on Seinfeld of,  "no hugging, no learning."

Sheldon Cooper is always going to say bazinga .

And, even thirty years later, Roseanne hasn’t changed her  recognizable laugh  - if anything.

These habits and idiosyncrasies that we grow to love are part of great character development.

But if you were to fill in the character development worksheet with Seinfeld, Sheldon, or Roseanne, you would see that their beliefs never change from the beginning.

CHARACTER: JERRY SEINFELD

While they may try something new or different within the episode, your static characters always end up back at square one. 

That’s because plug and play sitcoms need static characters so they can go into syndication and last for decades.

If Jerry changes, what happens to the show?

Change is necessary to all stories though, so what DOES change? 

The world and the characters around them. Static characters stay the same, but the people around them change. The world around them changes.

Sometimes as a result of their actions. Sometimes in order to push them places, or challenge their static nature.

Despite all of this, dynamic characters have recently taken over the popular landscape in film and TV.

Complicated protagonists and anti-heroes who occupy a gray area in our narrative structures are breathing life into the case for dynamic characters.

In one word, yes. In more words... well, let's take a look.

It all depends on your priorities. As we mentioned, static characters have had a lot of success. Static character development has proven to create huge franchises.

More examples of static character development include Sherlock Holmes. How often does he carry the lessons from one book to another?

He's still the same wily Sherlock he was at the end of one as he is at the beginning of another.

Did James Bond learn and grow over the decades-long franchise? Is he a different person in  Die Another Day  as he was in  Goldfinger ?

Character Development - James Bone Skyfall

Nope. And yet audiences still adore him.

So then why should you make dynamic characters?

Because, recently, less-serialized shows and properties have become more popular.

Breaking Bad was built on the back of a man going through a major metamorphosis.

Character Development - Breaking Bad Character Transformation

Mad Men  painted a less black and white picture.

Positing that Don Draper may look as though he's changed, but he's only adapted to a changed environment (the '60s versus the '50s).

Essentially All Don's journey taught him is how to sell to a "new generation."

For an ad man, that's a big deal. 

CHARACTER:  Don Draper

The same can be said for Tony Soprano - a man who goes to therapy to sort out his mental health issues can’t be the same person at the end of the day. 

Or can he? He’s still Tony Soprano the mobster, father, and son we knew him from the pilot.

Character arcs are trending toward ambiguity in some respects, but they’re still there.

If you want to create a dynamic character that uses its change (or lack thereof) to make an artistic statement, our character development worksheet is a great tool for you to use.

The only thing you have to do to make a dynamic character is force them to change - that’s the core of character development. 

If we're being smart, that change will come from a process that character undergoes.

You know… like a character arc. Where they show changes in what they believe through actions they take.

This “showing” aspect is critical as it's the only way the viewer will get the perception of change.

It's a form of proof.

You can use our character development worksheet to make sure that your character’s values and, thus, their actions are different at the end of the story than they were at the beginning.

This can create a more engaging character. People are drawn to change because it creates an aspirational hero.

You can either present a protagonist as a charming person who will always be that way (Sherlock Holmes and James Bond) or as someone who betters themselves.

Showing someone push through adversity to create a positive change in themselves is inspiring.

For a character development example, look at Disney movies - every hero is dynamic.

No Disney princess, prince, or talking animal is the same at the end as they were at the beginning. They all ended up changing their belief systems in some way or another.

At the end of it all, how they lived changed as well.

Audiences want someone to look up to and having great character development presents that opportunity.  

Ebenezer Scrooge is a classic example. It takes a pretty intense haunting to convince him that Christmas is good, but in the end he gets there. 

Character Development - Ebenezer Scrooge

In  Lady Bird , the titular character grows to become more accepting of her mother, her roots, and, subsequently, her actual first name.

Character Development - Lady Bird Character Arc

In  Black Panther , T’Challa goes from wanting to isolate Wakanda so he can protect their way of life to being more willing to use their technology to make the world a better place.

Character Development - Character Arc - Black Panther

Each of these examples shows signs of growth and action. 

The characters followed an arc, changed their belief systems throughout the narrative, and, therefore, their actions followed suit.

That’s the definition of character development.

To see how T’Challa fits into the character development worksheet, take a look…

Character:  T’Challa (Black Panther)

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So, in review, we know that a dynamic character is someone who exhibits change and a static one is someone who does not.

We know that both are common and successful.

So whether your protagonist is dynamic or static is up to you as a writer and depends on what kind of story you are trying to tell.

If you want to make sure that the characters you created go through a powerful change, you should use the worksheet.

This will help you plot out exactly how they change throughout the narrative.

That way you can feel confident that you’ll write dynamic characters that create an engaging experience for whomever you send that next award-winning script to. 

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Character Development Worksheet: An Essential Writing Tool

Writing and Publishing

I n my opinion, character development is one of the most entertaining parts of story creation. After all, stories are exciting events happening to interesting characters, so the better work you do at creating strong, compelling characters, the better they will carry the story forward for you. Whether you use a specific character development framework, such as the hero’s journey , as an author, you must know your characters intimately. Your readers will only ever know about 10% of what you know. That will allow you to understand why the characters behave a certain way and drive the plot naturally, riding on the character’s strengths and exploiting their weaknesses.

There are many ways to create characters, and most tutorials involve some chart where you write down various things about your character and keep building on them.

In my Master Novel Outlining and Tracking tool, I have included a character development worksheet, and you can use it freely. But, I thought it would be good to write a separate post on using that particular worksheet from the tool as I believe it’s that important. And besides, creating characters is one of my favorite activities in the pre-writing period.

Below, I’m breaking down the different dimensions tracked by my sheet, as well as the more advanced tools you can use to shape your character’s personality or allow it to come alive.

Character Development – Basic Information

From the worksheet perspective, I recommend defining the character’s name or nickname and gender identity. That allows the worksheet to use the name in the various questions further, making it easier to connect to the character.

Basic things to decide first:

• Date of Birth
• Place of Birth
• Father’s Name
• Mother’s Name
• Ethnic Background / Race
• Sexual Orientation
• Languages Spoken
• Facial Hair
• Clothing Style
• Glasses / Contacts
• Facial Piercings

Depending on the type of story you write, some of the items above might be unusual. For instance, if you are working on a Fantasy or Science Fiction story, your world’s specifics will define the breadth of options you have. Feel free to add any other specific parameters relevant to creating your primary character. In my blog post, Create Fantasy World Names for Characters , I discuss name creating in-depth, so feel free to check it out as well.

In-depth Details

• Marital Status
• Military Background
• Occupation History
• Favorite Food
• Favorite Fiction Genre
• Special Skills or Abilities
• Life Philosophy

Some of the items here might be later utilized in the story to ground your character. So, maybe one of the favorite foods, let’s say hummus, is something that your character would eat at their grandparents’ house and is forever linked to a sentiment of peace and calmness. This means that some of the items you decide here won’t stay static on paper as a “just because.”

Character Development – Questionnaire

Ask these questions in order, and don’t hesitate to give long-winded answers. The more you answer, the better the character will be shaped.

To make this more grounded in reality, I will use the example of a character called Dan. Please make sure to fill in the gender, name, and nickname first (even if they’re temporary) because the worksheet automatically uses those to create pertinent questions in the questionnaire.

• Are there any distinguishing facial features?
• Any birthmarks or scars?
• Who are Dan’s friends?
• Who is Dan closest to?
• What happens when Dan is angry?
• What is Dan’s biggest fear? Who has he told this to? Who would he never tell this to?
• Does he have a secret?
• What makes Dan laugh out loud?
• Has he been in love? Had a broken heart?
• If Dan could have a superpower, what would it be?
• What does Dan like to eat?
• What does he like to read?
• What about sports?
• What does Dan like to wear on various occasions?
• Verbal Idiosyncrasies / Speaking mannerism
• Physical Idiosyncrasies / Noticeable body language
• When Dan thinks of his childhood kitchen, what smell does he remember? Why?
• Spring cleaning is due. What does Dan throw easily, and what is he holding on to?
• What is Dan doing over the weekend?
• What is Dan’s strongest bad memory?
• What is Dan’s strongest good memory?
• What is Dan’s idea of perfect happiness?
• What does Dan think was his greatest achievement to date?
• What is Dan’s favorite occupation?
• What is Dan’s most treasured possession?
• What does Dan dislike the most?
• What is Dan’s greatest regret?
• What talent would Dan like to have?
• What trait does Dan most deplore about himself?
• What trait does Dan most deplore in others?
• What does Dan most value in his friends?
• Who are Dan’s heroes in real life?
• Which living person does he most admire?
• Which words or phrases does Dan overuse?
• If Dan could change one thing about himself, what would it be?

Of course, you can add or edit the questions to match better with your world. For instance, the concept of “weekend” might not exist in your world, so adapt the questions to your needs. Be wary of too many physical details and too many idiosyncrasies. A handful of them for your main characters are okay, especially if they are linked to something relevant. But don’t give every single character a scar or birthmark because that just looks weird.

Story Context Questions

By now, we are starting to have a pretty decent idea of who the character is. His inner self is beginning to shape up. That’s good. But now, we need to put him into the context of the story. The story might change the character, or it might not. One way or another, your character will act within the story’s confinements, so we need to have some ideas about the character’s state.

These are extremely important to establish the character’s motivation. If you have a great character doing things for no reason, readers will not connect with them. You need to know what they want and why they want it. It’s a very critical part of integrating your character into the story. If you don’t do this step correctly, your character’s actions will feel forced, and readers will walk away.

• What does Dan want the most?
• Why does he want it?
• How far is he going to go to get it?
• If he fails, what happens?
• If he succeeds, what happens?

Character Arc Questions

Keep in mind: not all stories have to have a character arc. That being said, it’s always a good idea to understand what happens to the character throughout the story. Do they change? If so, how? If they don’t change, that’s something essential to know as well.

• Describe Dan before the story began
• Describe Dan as the story starts
• How do the events change Dan?
• Describe Dan in the middle of the story
• Describe Dan at the end of the story
• What lesson did Dan learn?
• What lesson did Dan teach others / the reader?

Character Development – Bio

Now that you finished with the Q&A, you should spend some time writing down a short bio and a short storyline from the character’s perspective. The first part is probably easier, while the second part might not be known at the story’s beginning. If you are an outliner, you probably know what happens, and you can project the story from the character’s perspective. If you don’t know, that’s okay. Leave this part for a later time. When you return to it and write a few paragraphs to describe the story from the character’s perspective, interesting things happen. You discover new dimensions of your character, and then you can go back and fold those back into the story.

• Character’s Backstory – brief bio, life events, what happened before the story
• Character’s Perspective – how is the story unfolding from the character perspective – do this part *after* you complete the scene list

General Attributes

This last puzzle piece is just a top-level attribute listing with levels. This will be like building a game character if you are familiar with gaming. I don’t particularly use this a lot, but if you have groups of characters, you could use this matrix to compare or ensure that a “team” covers all required characteristics for a particular task.

Attributes (Answer 1-10)

• Intelligence
• Physical Strength
• Propensity for Evil
• Propensity for Good

Personality Tests

Below is a sample report of such a personality test generated from the Master Novel Outlining and Tracking Tool . And, be honest: you’ll do this for yourself, too, won’t you? Go ahead, I did mine, and it felt good…

Here are some additional links you could use to generate a personality test for your character online:

• 16 Personalities Free Personality Test
• Personality Perfect Free Personality Test
• Human Metrics Personality Test

The worksheet available for download with this article also includes the Zodiac data. Enter your character’s birth date and see what comes up in the Western and the Eastern Zodiac boxes. Note that the Chinese zodiac is approximate, especially for birthdays in February or March. That is due to the way the Chinese New Year is calculated.

Use this tool as liberally as you want, or skip it altogether.

Character Development Worksheet Download

Without any further ado, please download your copy of the character development worksheet below.

Character Development Worksheet

As always, if you find any bugs or have any ideas on how this could be improved, please comment below! If you enjoy this post, please share it on your favorite social media networks.

Now, before you go, I have…

3 Questions For You

• Do you use a framework for developing characters, or do they just come as you write?
• What are some of your favorite characters from literature?
• What do you feel is the most challenging part of character development?

Please share your answers in the comments below. Sharing knowledge helps us all improve and get better!

Hi there! I’m Iulian, and I want to thank you for reading my article. There’s a lot more if you stick around. I write about personal development, productivity, fiction writing, and more. Also, I’ve created Self-Growth Journey , a free program that helps you get unstuck and create the beautiful life you deserve. Enjoy!

Related posts:

character, organization, outlining, writing tools

Cool spreadsheet! Nice article too. 1) I’ve never been paid for writing. My characters develop usually through a combination of different formal frameworks and writing the plot.

2) Favorite Characters Bean from Orson Scott Card’s Enderverse Series (I damn near tap danced across the bookstore when I realized that Ender’s Shadow was all about Bean!) Gallowglass from Deb Harkness Discovery of Witches series I also love nursery rhyme characters. I did a short news cast called Storyland News on YouTube. The sound is awful at the beginning.

3) I struggle with well rounded villains.

Thank you so much for this excellent article on Character Building. I’ve been struggling for 2 months to flesh out my characters read through many many articles and books to no avail. Until now. I have my protagonist, side kick and mentor’s personalities all laid out to be able to start with the rest of my characters in 2 days! Thank you, thank you for your guidance

Thank you so much. I’m really glad this post helped! Good luck with the book.

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Home › Writing Topics › Characters › Character Sheets: Q & A

Character Sheets: Q & A

By Tannille on April 12, 2021 • ( 0 )

Recently, a member of my writers’ group asked me for my thoughts on character sheets. In response, I have created this little Q and A. 

What is a character sheet? What does a character sheet include? Where can templates be found? Is it better to use a writing app or paper? Why use character sheets? Can characters be created by filling in character sheets? 

What is a character sheet?

A character sheet is a template, form, or worksheet for writers to fill in with details about their characters (one character per sheet). 

What does a character sheet include?

It varies. Some templates are more in depth than others. The writing app Scrivener offers a template with the following categories for writers to fill in; name, age, location, role in story, physical description, personality, occupation, habits/mannerisms, background, internal conflicts, external conflicts, and notes.

Writers can design or customise their own character sheets. Depending on genre, writers might need to track different elements. My current novel series is set in an urban fantasy world. There are a growing number of fantasy races and factions I need to keep track of. I designed my own templates, added race and faction, and used wording that makes sense to me. Over the years, I have created character sheets in standard list format and table format (something about filling in boxes).

Where can templates be found?

Many novel writing apps, such as Scrivener , offer templates within the app. Campfire Blaze is an app designed for world building, plotting and creating series encyclopaedias. Campfire character templates are easy to use and look very professional. Writers can design their own character sheets with both Scrivener and Campfire. 

DIY templates can be created on word processors (MS Word, Apple’s Pages, Scrivener). DIY is a better option for writers who prefer to fill in worksheets by hand.

Note: I only mention apps I have experience with. 

Is it better to use a writing app or paper?

To go digital or paper is a personal preference. Some writers love pen and paper. Paper lovers can print their character sheets off and fill them in by hand. Option b, for those trying to save printer ink, write the character sheets out as needed. Storing sheets in a binder system that allows for pages to be moved and sorted as needed is recommended. There is room to grow and allows for characters to be added in alphabetical order (or any other personalised grouping). 

Electronic lovers will need a writing app that has a document management system, such as Scrivener or Campfire. These apps allow for sheets to be shuffled around as required within the app. If you’re writing a series, Scrivener might not the best choice. In my experience, Scrivener struggles with the volume of data required because the system isn’t designed to be an encyclopaedia. Although, Scrivener works well for a solo novel with a limited cast. Campfire is like Wikipedia for creative writers. 

 Hard copies can be made of the character sheets and filed away. 

Why use character sheets?

They are an invaluable and fantastic reference tool, especially for continuity. Saves heartache when editing and a place to refer to while writing. Keeps track of details: what colour was so and so’s hair again? The sheets act as a handy checklist and helps makes sure the character is well rounded.  

Can characters be created by filling in character sheets? 

In theory. Filling out character sheets can turn into a trap. They can aid procrastination. Writers risk boxing themselves in by believing a character is a certain way, leading to possible future plot issues or writer’s block. The process of creating characters via character sheets is like creating characters by numbers (think paint by numbers), its rarely organic and risks relying on stereotypes. In my experience (and other writers I know), the characters created by using character sheets are ditched for characters more suited to the plot. Plot shapes characters and therefore, developing plot is more productive. Discover characters as you write or plot, characters reveal themselves as they chase their goals. Read Creating and Developing Characters for further details on the relationship between character and plot.

There are better ways to get to know your characters rather than relying on character sheets. Try writing exercises designed to explore characters.

On the plus side, character sheets encourage beginner writers to look at characters in a complex way, for example, the character’s internal conflicts. Writers who are character focused might have better mileage creating characters with sheets. Every writer should try everything at least once. 

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Using Character Sheets in Fiction Writing

Writing fiction is a bit like baking a cake. You need the right ingredients in the right amounts, or it will turn out awful. For fiction, you need the right combination of plot, action, description and character development to bring your story to life for your reader.

Character development can be one of the most important things about writing fiction. You want to create a realistic group of characters to move your plot along and to do that you need to know them. But how much do you really have to know about them before you start writing?

Well, that depends on the kind of story you are writing. The length of your tale will dictate the amount of character information you will need to make them come to life. For simplicity’s sake, I’ve broken my character sheet down into what I use for each type of writing. Your character sheets may vary.

Flash Fiction

Writing flash fiction is one of the hardest types of writing. You have to create a story with just the minimum of words and it has to make sense. For most flash fiction, you only need the most basic character information.

Name: Age: Height: Weight: Hair color and style: Eye color: Complexion and skin tone: Character’s body build:

These should be enough to create a flash fiction character.

Short Stories

Short stories have a higher word count, so the characters in those should be more developed. You have more leeway with your character’s descriptions and can even give background information, which will make them more real for your readers. Use the above information and add the following:

Character back story: Identifying marks: Facial features: Hand features: Scent: Mannerisms or gestures:

Novellas and Novels

Novellas and novels require the most detailed characters because they are as much character driven stories as plot driven. Character sheets with more detailed physical description, personality traits, and an extensive background will go a long way to making your story one that pulls a reader in and keeps them reader from beginning to end. Use all of the above plus the following:

Strongest personality traits: Weakest personality traits: Needs of the character: Ambitions: Father’s name: Age: Physical appearance: Mother’s name: Age: Physical appearance: Sibling’s names and descriptions: Favorite sayings: Interests and hobbies: Favorite foods: Favorite colors: Pets: Education: Religion: Financial situation: Future plans: Possessions this character values most: What drives your character: How does your character handle conflict: What is standing in your character’s way: What is their favorite room and why: What vehicle do they drive: Favorite sport(s): What are your character’s prejudices: How does your character feel about love: About crime: What is their neighborhood like: What is your character’s philosophy on life: What is your character’s family life like:

You also should have a rough background and timeline for this character, from childhood through the start of the story. Break it down into 5 year spans, unless your character is fairly old, then go with 10 year spans. Finally, have a profile summary, taking everything you have for the character and write up a one or two paragraph summary. It is a good way to focus your character’s information, and could be used in your story.

Book Series

When writing a series of books about the same characters, it is imperative to keep some kind of record of their traits. Do not rely on your memory when it comes to writing each book. As an avid reader of series books, it is amazing the number of times a character’s eyes have been dark blue in one book and dark brown in another then gone back to blue. While most casual readers won’t catch that kind of mistake, your dedicated readers will. It costs you nothing to keep a notebook with your character sheets and reference it when writing the next book in your series. It will go a long way to keep the continuity of your books intact.

A note on describing clothing. Unless clothing change is crucial to your story’s plot limit your fashion descriptions. You do not need to tell every single piece of clothing your character is wearing. A basic idea of their attire is enough for most readers.

Your characters are as important to your story as your plot. Developing them will help bring your tale to life, but taking the time to plan them out prior to writing is a great way to make them real to you and your reader.

About the Author: Dawn Arkin is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers. Her portfolio can be found at http://darkin.Writing.Com/ so stop by and read for a while.

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Click here to jump straight to the questions

The Ultimate Character Questionnaire and Worksheet (over 150 character questions)

The Character Questionnaire is a list of questions, put into groups, to help prompt writers to add detail and depth to their characters.

The best way to use the Character Questionnaire is in the Novel Factory  writing software  (which you can try completely free), but if you don't fancy that, then you can scroll down to view all of the questions below. And if you join our mailing list (form at the bottom of the page), we'll email it to you as a PDF.

What is a Character Questionnaire?

A character questionnaire is a list of character development questions that can be used by writers to add depth and detail to the characters in their novels.

The questions are usually organised into categories, such as personal details, physical appearance, personality, friends and family and backstory.

More detailed character questionnaires may also include topics such as love, conflict, work, education, hobbies, favourites, possessions, spirituality, values, daily life, and more.

Why use a character questionnaire?

A character questionnaire is a great way to get our brains working in new directions.

It's not intended like an exam, that you must complete for each character in order to get full marks. In fact, you should only consider doing it at all for the major characters. And even then it's most useful as an inspirational tool, not a plodding box ticking exercise.

The questions can help us think about aspects of our characters we might not have considered otherwise. They can prompt us to develop new, unique elements of their personality.

We can use questions to give us ideas about how we can contrast our characters and create conflict between them.

Or they can help us discover details about their home or work life which will enrich our descriptions and make them feel more three dimensional to our readers.

Note - a questionnaire is not a good way to  start  building a character. The questions are too piecemeal, and your character needs to have a more coherent core before you get to this stage.

(The Novel Factory includes other  character development worksheets  to help building characters with strong central drives).

How to use these character development questions?

All tools are only really useful if you use them right. Here are a few dos and don'ts to help you get the most out of this character questionnaire:

• Start by browsing quickly over all of the questions to get a sense of the sections
• Vary how you use the questionnaire depending on the character / the day / your mood
• Pick out the questions that you find work best for you, and use them to create your own personal streamlined questionnaire
• Completely ignore any sections you don't feel are relevant to your character
• Mix it up - one day you might decide to pick 10 questions completely at random. Another day you might decide to complete all the questions in a single section.
• Approach it as a brainstorming exercise
• Allow your mind to go down a rabbit hole, if one question inspires you to write an entire scene from that character's history , than fantastic!
• Understand that your in-depth knowledge of the character will bleed into your writing, even if the vast majority of this information is never written in your manuscript
• Try to answer all of the questions for any given character
• Feel you have to go through the questions in order
• Try to follow a rigid pattern over and over
• Use it to start building a character - you should already have the broad brushstrokes of your character, including what drives them and their biggest flaw
• Use all of the information in your novel - most of the answers should be internalised, not spelled out

Don't forget, the Novel Factory software includes other character sheet templates for you to fill in, such as basic info character voice, game show introductions, characterisation and background.

If you like this, then you might want to check out our Roadmap - how to write a book and get published, in fifteen steps.

Would you like this questionnaire in PDF format? Then sign up for our newsletter below.

How to Conduct a “Character Interview”

Rather than simply sitting down and filling out the character development questions as the author, a fun way to use the questionnaire is to use it as a basis for 'interviewing' your character.

To do this, you can imagine you're sitting in a room with your character, and they are answering the questions directly for themselves, in the first person.

So if you had the question:

What is in their fridge?

A straightforward answer might be: seven types of cheese, lots of vegetables and a microwave lasagne.

But if you were conducting the questionnaire as an interview, you would ask the character:

What's in your fridge?

And the answer might be something like this:

"What's in my fridge? Now let me think. I've got that delicious Camembert, which goes perfectly with Merlot, and a few other delicacies for the board, but thinking about it I'm a bit low on cheeses, I should pop down to the market this week. I've got the bog standard veg in the crisper, you know, just the usual: courgettes, kale, celery, aubergine, beef tomatoes, spring onions, broccolli and cauliflower. What else? Oh yes, there's that God awful microwave lasagne that my son bought - I wouldn't go near the disgusting thing with a brage pole, but what can you do?"

As you can see, if you really try to get into the character's head while answering the questions, then you end up learning a lot more about their life and preferences, as well as developing their all important unique voice.

When doing character interviews, it can be very useful to get a clear visual in your head - not only of the character, but of their surroundings.

Where is the interview taking place - can it be somewhere that suits your story world or the character themselves?

Is it happening in a police interrogation room? In their living room? Even on a TV interview show? Having clear visuals like this can really help you get into the zone.

If you're doing this, you might also want to think about which questions you're going to ask in the interview. You may want to delve into their past and passions, particularly if it's a TV interview setting.

If it's a police interview, you might focus on questions relating to conflict, or work, education and hobbies.

Either way, as advised above in the general advice on how to use character questions, you are very unlikely to want to ask all of the questions in one sitting. Better to select a shortlist first and get more detailed answers, then try to rush through too many and get fatigued.

150+ Character Questions

Basic character questions.

• First name?
• Middle names?
• Date of birth?

Physical / Appearance

• Hair colour?
• Hair style?
• Eye colour?
• Glasses or contact lenses?
• Distinguishing facial features?
• Which facial feature is most prominent?
• Which bodily feature is most prominent?
• Other distinguishing features?
• Birthmarks?
• Physical handicaps?
• Type of clothes?
• How do they wear their clothes?
• What are their feet like? (type of shoes, state of shoes, socks, feet, pristine, dirty, worn, etc)
• Race / Ethnicity?
• Mannerisms?
• Are they in good health?
• Do they have any disabilities?

Personality

• What words or phrases do they overuse?
• Do they have a catchphrase?
• Are they more optimistic or pessimistic?
• Are they introverted or extroverted?
• Do they ever put on airs?
• What bad habits do they have?
• What makes them laugh out loud?
• How do they display affection?
• Mental handicaps?
• How do they want to be seen by others?
• How do they see themselves?
• How are they seen by others?
• Strongest character trait?
• Weakest character trait?
• How competitive are they?
• Do they make snap judgements or take time to consider?
• How do they react to praise?
• How do they react to criticism?
• What is their greatest fear?
• What are their biggest secrets?
• What is their philosophy of life?
• When was the last time they cried?
• What haunts them?
• What are their political views?
• What will they stand up for?
• Who do they quote?
• Are they indoorsy or outdoorsy?
• What is their sinful little habit?
• What sense do they most rely on?
• How do they treat people better than them?
• How do they treat people worse than them?
• What quality do they most value in a friend?
• What do they consider an overrated virtue?
• If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be?
• What is their obsession?
• What are their pet peeves?
• What are their idiosyncrasies?

Friends and Family

• Is their family big or small? Who does it consist of?
• What is their perception of family?
• Do they have siblings? Older or younger?
• Describe their best friend.
• Ideal best friend?
• Describe their other friends.
• Describe their acquaintances.
• Do they have any pets?
• Who are their natural allies?
• Who are their surprising allies?

Past and Future

• What was your character like as a baby? As a child?
• Did they grow up rich or poor?
• Did they grow up nurtured or neglected?
• What is the most offensive thing they ever said?
• What is their greatest achievement?
• What was their first kiss like?
• What is the worst thing they did to someone they loved?
• What are their ambitions?
• What advice would they give their younger self?
• What smells remind them of their childhood?
• What was their childhood ambition?
• What is their best childhood memory?
• What is their worst childhood memory?
• Did they have an imaginary childhood friend?
• When was the last time they were crushed with disappointment?
• What past act are they most ashamed of?
• What past act are they most proud of?
• Has anyone ever saved their life?
• Strongest childhood memory?
• Do they believe in love at first sight?
• Are they in a relationship?
• How do they behave in a relationship?
• When did you character last have sex?
• What sort of sex do they have?
• Has your character ever been in love?
• Have they ever had their heart broken?
• How do they respond to a threat?
• Are they most likely to fight with their fists or their tongue?
• What is your character’s kryptonite?
• If your character could only save one thing from their burning house, what would it be?
• How do they perceive strangers?
• What do they love to hate?
• What are their phobias?
• What is their choice of weapon?
• What living person do they most despise?
• Have they ever been bullied or teased?
• Where do they go when they’re angry?
• Who are their enemies and why?

Work, Education and Hobbies

• What is their current job?
• What do they think about their current job?
• What are some of their past jobs?
• What are their hobbies?
• Educational background?
• Intelligence level?
• Do they have any specialist training?
• Do they have a natural talent for something?
• Do they play a sport? Are they any good?
• What is their socioeconomic status?
• What is their favourite animal?
• Which animal to they dislike the most?
• What place would they most like to visit?
• What is the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen?
• What is their favourite song?
• Music, art, reading preferred?
• What is their favourite colour?
• What is their password?
• Favourite food:
• What is their favourite work of art?
• Who is their favourite artist?
• What is their favourite day of the week?

Possessions

• What is in their fridge:
• What is on their bedside table?
• What is in their car?
• What is in their bin?
• What is in their purse or wallet?
• What is in their pockets?
• What is their most treasured possession?

Spirituality

• Who or what is your character’s guardian angel?
• Do they believe in the afterlife?
• What are their religious views?
• What do they think heaven is?
• What do they think hell is?
• Are they superstitious?
• What would they like to be reincarnated as?
• How would they like to die?
• What is your character’s spirit animal?
• What is their zodiac sign?
• What do they think is the worst thing that can be done to a person?
• What is their view of ‘freedom’?
• When did they last lie?
• What’s their view of lying?
• When did they last make a promise?
• Did they keep or break their last promise?
• What are their eating habits?
• Do they have any allergies?
• Describe their home.
• Are they minimalist or a clutter hoarder?
• What do they do first thing on a weekday morning?
• What do they do on a Sunday afternoon?
• What do they do on a Friday night?
• What is the soft drink of choice?
• What is their alcoholic drink of choice?

Miscellaneous

• What is their  character archetype ?
• Who is their hero?
• What or who would your character dress up as for Halloween?
• Are they comfortable with technology?
• If they could save one person, who would it be?
• If they could call one person for help, who would it be?
• What is their favourite proverb?
• What is their greatest extravagance?
• What is their greatest regret?
• What is their perception of redemption?
• What would they do if they won the lottery?
• What is their favourite fairytale?
• What fairytale do they hate?
• Do they believe in happy endings?
• What is their idea of perfect happiness?
• What would they ask a fortune teller?
• If your character could travel through time, where would they go?
• What sport do they excel at?
• What sport do they suck at?
• If they could have a superpower, what would they choose?

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Sir Ender New Member

In-depth character sheet.

Discussion in ' Character Development ' started by Sir Ender , Jan 2, 2008 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); This is basically a longer in-depth fill-in-the-blank character development guide. I use it once in a while if I'm writing about one specific character, or one character really stands out more than the rest. FULL NAME: MEANING: NICKNAME: MEANING: AGE APPEARANCE: BIRTHDAY: ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: SPECIES: GENDER: ALLERGIES: SEXUAL PREFERANCE: THEME SONG(S): APPEARANCE HAIR COLOR: HAIR STYLE AND LENGTH: EYES COLOR: EYESIGHT: HEIGHT: WEIGHT: OUTFIT/CLOTHING STYLE: ABNORMALITIES(TAIL): DISTINGUISHING MARKS(SCARS,MOLES): SELF CARE(MAKE UP): FIRST IMPRESSION ON PEOPLE: SKIN COLOR: BODY TYPE/BUILD: DEFAULT EXPRESSION: POSTURE: MEASUREMENTS(FEMALE ONLY): PIERCINGS: DESCRIBE THEIR VOICE: RELATIONSHIPS MOM: HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: DAD: HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: SIBLINGS: HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: CHILDREN: HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS: PAST LOVER(S): CURRENT LOVER: REACTION TO MEETING SOMEONE NEW: ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS: HOW SOCIABLE(LONER,ETC): FRIENDS: PETS: LEAST FAVORITE TYPE OF PERSON: PARENTAL TYPE(PROTECTIVE,ETC): AFFINITY WITH...: FAVORITE PEOPLE: LEAST FAVORITE PEOPLE: PERSONALITY ..WHEN YOU FIRST MEET THEM: ..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY LIKE YOU): ..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY DISLIKE YOU): FAVORITE COLOR: FAVORITE FOOD: FAVORITE ANIMAL: FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: FAVORITE ELEMENT: LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: LEAST FAVORITE ANIMAL: LEAST FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: LEAST FAVORITE ELEMENT: HOBBIES: USUAL MOOD: DRINK/SMOKE/DRUGS: DARK VERSION OF SELF: LIGHT VERSION OF SELF: HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY: CLASS IN AN RPG: BELIEVE IN GHOSTS: (IN)DEPENDANT: SOFT SPOT/VULNERABILITY: OPINION ON SWEARING: DAREDEVIL VS CAUTIOUS: MUSIC TYPE: MOVIE TYPE: BOOK TYPE: GAME TYPE: COMFORTABLE TEMPERATURE: SLEEPING PATTERN: CLEANLINESS/NEATNESS: DESIRED PET: HOW DO THEY PASS TIME: BIGGEST SECRET: HERO/WHO THEY LOOK UP TO: WHAT ANIMAL WOULD THEY BE: FEARS: COMFORTS: HOW DO THEY ACT WHEN THEY ARE... SAD: HAPPY: ANGRY: AFRAID: LOVE SOMEONE: HATE SOMEONE: WANT SOMETHING: CONFUSED: HOW DO THEY REACT TO... DANGER: SOMEONE THEY HATE WHO HAS A CRUSH ON THEM: PROPOSAL TO MARRY: DEATH OF LOVED ONE: DIFFICULT GAME/MATH/ETC: INJURY: SOMETHING IRRESISTABLY CUTE: LOSS OF HOURS OF WORK: HISTORY BIOGRAPHY: FIRST APPEARANCE: KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGES: SCHOOLING LEVEL: FAVORITE SUBJECT: INTERESTED CAREERS: EXPERTICE: PUZZLES: CHEMISTRY: MATH: ENGLISH: GEOGRAPHY: POLITICS/LAW: ECONOMY/ACCOUNTING: COOKING: SEWING: MECHANICS: BOTANY (FLOWERS): MYTHOLOGY: DRAMATICS(ACTING,SINGING): READING LEVEL: HOW GOOD ARE THEY AT PLANNING AHEAD: IMPULSIVE/STRATEGY: ROMANCE DO THEY TAKE INITIATIVE: HOW DO THEY ACT(SHY,ETC): GENTLEMAN/LADYLIKE VS KLUTZY: GO SLOW VS JUMP INTO: PROTECTIVE: ACT LIKE FRIENDS OR LOVERS: WHAT KIND OF PRESENTS DO THEY BUY: TYPE OF KISSER: DO THEY WANT KIDS: DO THEY WANT TO MARRY: MAKE GOOD OR BAD DECISIONS: ARE THEY ROMANTIC: HOW ARE THEY IN BED: GET JEALOUS EASY: WIFE/HUBBY BEATER: MARRY FOR MONEY: FAVORITE POSITION: WHAT WOULD HAPPEN ON THEIR DREAM DATE: OPINION ON SEX:  

Crazy Ivan New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Alright, by this point, why don't we just start up a giant topic for character sheets? ...>.<  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); That would be easier to find them all xD  

RomanticRose Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Mine is too long to fit in one post.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); O__o seriously? That would be per-etty long.  

Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); I personally don't believe in character sheets. I feel they lead to cookie-cutter characters, because the same criteria are used for every character, Also, they are somewhat inhibiting to character development, because you put too much emphasis on what a character is like at one moment of time . I prefer to treat a character like meeting a new acquaintance in real life. At first, you know very little about the person. If you met them in person, you would know height, weight, hair color, the big zit on the chin, and the sour breath. On the other hand, if you met them online, you might know a name, some interests, gender, and what part of the world they live in. What you know is determined by the circumstances you meet the person in. Even more, you discover the person a little at a time by watching them interact with people and deal with situations they are confronted with. They will not be completely consistent. If you catch them on a bad day they may seem crabby and impatient, or distracted and bored. The next day, you may see a completely different side of them. So I start with a handful of characteristics that are either important, or immediately obvious upon meeting the person. Then let them develop through interaction with the plot and the other characters. The result will be flexible, dynamic characters who seem as real and as quirky as the people you meet in real life. And you don't lock down your character from the outset with a whole slew of irrelevant details.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); I only use character sheets as a basis for what the character is like at the beginning, or even before, a story takes place. Normally I wouldn't go into personality and that much detail, but it was a thought for people who do. Characters create themselves in my mind, and as I write I learn more about them and am able to expand what they're like.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Sir Ender said: ↑ O__o seriously? That would be per-etty long. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Cogito said: ↑ I personally don't believe in character sheets. I feel they lead to cookie-cutter characters, because the same criteria are used for every character, Also, they are somewhat inhibiting to character development, because you put too much emphasis on what a character is like at one moment of time . I prefer to treat a character like meeting a new acquaintance in real life. At first, you know very little about the person. If you met them in person, you would know height, weight, hair color, the big zit on the chin, and the sour breath. On the other hand, if you met them online, you might know a name, some interests, gender, and what part of the world they live in. What you know is determined by the circumstances you meet the person in. Even more, you discover the person a little at a time by watching them interact with people and deal with situations they are confronted with. They will not be completely consistent. If you catch them on a bad day they may seem crabby and impatient, or distracted and bored. The next day, you may see a completely different side of them. So I start with a handful of characteristics that are either important, or immediately obvious upon meeting the person. Then let them develop through interaction with the plot and the other characters. The result will be flexible, dynamic characters who seem as real and as quirky as the people you meet in real life. And you don't lock down your character from the outset with a whole slew of irrelevant details. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); RomanticRose said: ↑ It runs about 12 pages of questions. I do lots of character work. Click to expand...

Klee New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); I don't use character sheets either, but I think it's interesting to see what others use to create and define their characters. A topic for character sheets would be a good idea.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); I agree with seeing how others create their characters. I like seeing how people think differently than I do when I'm writing my stories.  

Edward Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); I like Character sheets from other people because they make me think about things that wouldn't be in the story, but would shape a character's personality. And some things just give me ideas. Like Astrological signs, my fictional world needs them. And a person the character hates who has a crush on them sounds like something good to add to a story, especially if it's one of the villains with an "I'm deeply infatuated with you" crush instead of one of those cliched, femme fatale "I'm evil, and sexy, and I want you because you're good and corruptible" tropes. In fact, this one gets pretty indepth when it comes to things that don't change. One of my characters is fifty, his Hero isn't going to change.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Edward said: ↑ And some things just give me ideas. Like Astrological signs, my fictional world needs them. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); In fact, this one gets pretty indepth when it comes to things that don't change. One of my characters is fifty, his Hero isn't going to change. Click to expand...

Torana Contributor Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); I am terrible for over creating characters. I'd rather create characters than write poetry and stories. But there isn't much in that really. I don't have a character sheet but I know my characters inside out before I begin writing most of the time...  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Okay, I'm gonna be honest here: When writing for myself, I positively despise character sheets. They hamper my creativity and nail down my character to one specific way of being, as opposed to being people who can change or surprise you. Writing everything down like that? Aargh. It would drive me insane.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Crazy Ivan said: ↑ Okay, I'm gonna be honest here: When writing for myself, I positively despise character sheets. They hamper my creativity and nail down my character to one specific way of being, as opposed to being people who can change or surprise you. Writing everything down like that? Aargh. It would drive me insane. Click to expand...

B-Gas New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Character sheets are great as a starting point- but really, you need to fill out two. One for when the novel starts, one for when it ends. If you don't, you haven't really made a character, you've made a machine. Characters develop. Machines, as complicated as they may well be, don't.  

Tori New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); I like to use character sheets as a starting point. Sometimes I think they're a bad thing (for me anyway) because they distract you from writing your story. Especially if you start to go into too much detail!  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Agreed!  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); B-Gas said: ↑ Character sheets are great as a starting point- but really, you need to fill out two. One for when the novel starts, one for when it ends. If you don't, you haven't really made a character, you've made a machine. Characters develop. Machines, as complicated as they may well be, don't. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Tori said: ↑ I like to use character sheets as a starting point. Sometimes I think they're a bad thing (for me anyway) because they distract you from writing your story. Especially if you start to go into too much detail! Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Cogito said: ↑ Oh, really? That gave me a good chuckle. Click to expand...

Iulia New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_27867982afe6dac363ef407765f8a185'); }); Tshana I agree that characters grow a lot. I don't like boxes that confine your space. I do, however, feel that character sheets are a good starting point. They help me to figure things out. Don't force yourself to answer a question because it's there. It you don't know, don't answer. Anyhow, I thought I'd fill this out for the main character of my newest story. FULL NAME: Tshana Noelle Valystaez MEANING: Noelle means "day of birth". Tshana I made up. Without the "T", however, it means "beautiful" AGE: 19 BIRTHDAY: N/A ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: N/A SPECIES: Human GENDER: female ALLERGIES: this is a good question. I do not know yet, though. SEXUAL PREFERANCE: straight THEME SONG(S): N/A APPEARANCE HAIR COLOR: reddish brown HAIR STYLE AND LENGTH: about waist lenth. partly curly. she doesn't bother with it. EYES COLOR: dark green EYESIGHT: 20/20 HEIGHT: 5'4" WEIGHT: 111 OUTFIT/CLOTHING STYLE: Relaxed. she will wear dresses if she must but prefers something that allows her to move around comfortably. ABNORMALITIES(TAIL): N/A DISTINGUISHING MARKS(SCARS,MOLES): scar on her collar bone from being scratched by a tiger. Various scars and bruises simply from living. SELF CARE(MAKE UP): no make-up. FIRST IMPRESSION ON PEOPLE: Outgoing, savage, kind, pretty SKIN COLOR: medium fair BODY TYPE/BUILD: slim, not much of a bust or hips. DEFAULT EXPRESSION: ? a bit sarcastic, I suppose. POSTURE: not "exeptible for a lady" (Bringing on the quote which was quoted twice or even thrice: "Then I'll stay a mere girl forever") PIERCINGS: right eyebrow - an accidental piercing, and never decorated with jewelry RELATIONSHIPS MOM: Noelle Odetta Valystaez HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: she died in childbirth DAD: Samuel Valystaez, a farmer HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: well SIBLINGS: Calumina Gardener, 23, sister HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: quite well, though they're quite different, they understand one another. CHILDREN: none HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: N/A OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS: PAST LOVER(S): She's a virgin, and never took much of a romantic interest in boys as a young girl. Later she had crushes but was never in a relationship, if you will CURRENT LOVER: none at the beginning. we'll see how it goes. REACTION TO MEETING SOMEONE NEW: Usually either quite shy or very outgoing, depending on what they seem like to her. ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS: Not well. Tshana is very independant. HOW SOCIABLE(LONER,ETC): fairly sociable FRIENDS: several throughout PETS: her cat, Roshe LEAST FAVORITE TYPE OF PERSON: girly or incompetant PARENTAL TYPE(PROTECTIVE,ETC): N/A AFFINITY WITH...: Everhart, Lockhart, Roswitha, Ilsa FAVORITE PEOPLE: Ilsa, her father LEAST FAVORITE PEOPLE: Johan, Mary PERSONALITY ..WHEN YOU FIRST MEET THEM: Her? I s'pose you might think she's a minx, in every way ..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY LIKE YOU): she becomes more kind and more relatable ..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY DISLIKE YOU): she becomes just plain mean. spiteful. FAVORITE COLOR: green and red FAVORITE FOOD: N/A FAVORITE ANIMAL: N/A FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: Guitar, or Lyre, or Saw FAVORITE ELEMENT: earth LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: pink LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: N/A LEAST FAVORITE ANIMAL: N/A LEAST FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: N/A LEAST FAVORITE ELEMENT: N/A HOBBIES: football (soccer), swimming, hiking, telling stories, playing the guitar USUAL MOOD: N/A DRINK/SMOKE/DRUGS: none DARK VERSION OF SELF: is sarcastic, easily annoyed, and ruthless. very spiteful and malicious, even slightly twisted LIGHT VERSION OF SELF: is kind, smart, forgiving HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY: not very! CLASS IN AN RPG: N/A BELIEVE IN GHOSTS: in a way. she has even seen one before, yet she sort of . . . denies it (IN)DEPENDANT: independant SOFT SPOT/VULNERABILITY: She's very competitive OPINION ON SWEARING: She swears occasionally, but does not approve of too much swearing, esspecially unnessesary swearing. DAREDEVIL VS CAUTIOUS: quite daring MUSIC TYPE: N/A MOVIE TYPE: no movies in my stories BOOK TYPE: thriller GAME TYPE: athletic COMFORTABLE TEMPERATURE: she prefers warm weather SLEEPING PATTERN: she usually sleeps well, but has rediculous nightmares when she has a fever CLEANLINESS/NEATNESS: not very. she's not disgusting or anything, but she doesn't try very hard at neatness. DESIRED PET: N/A HOW DO THEY PASS TIME: playing various games with herself and others; farming or hobbies. BIGGEST SECRET: she usually keeps her mother's death to herself - she takes no pleasure in pity HERO/WHO THEY LOOK UP TO: she looks up to her sister Calumina, but does not desire to be like her. She looks up to her father in the same way. WHAT ANIMAL WOULD THEY BE: minx/fox FEARS: being disrespected or beat. (not beaten, beat. as in conquered.) COMFORTS: her own skills. her friends. HOW DO THEY ACT WHEN THEY ARE... SAD: mean HAPPY: hyper, excitable, sly ANGRY: firey AFRAID: usually quiet and testy LOVE SOMEONE: N/A HATE SOMEONE: firey WANT SOMETHING: does what she can to get it CONFUSED: pretends she isn't confused HOW DO THEY REACT TO... DANGER: "bring it on" SOMEONE THEY HATE WHO HAS A CRUSH ON THEM: h! nice. N/A PROPOSAL TO MARRY: N/A DEATH OF LOVED ONE: N/A DIFFICULT GAME/MATH/ETC: again, "bring it on" INJURY: no big deal SOMETHING IRRESISTABLY CUTE: N/A LOSS OF HOURS OF WORK: she doesn't much care HISTORY FIRST APPEARANCE: In the story? In the very beginning, as she is the main character. KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGES: 1. Her home town's language, though the book will be written in English. SCHOOLING LEVEL: she's very smart, but a bit hasty. She knows plenty of things, but is more street-smart than book-smart FAVORITE SUBJECT: N/A INTERESTED CAREERS: N/A EXPERTICE: knows tons of survival tips. very good at climbing trees and swimming, though she almost drowned as a child. PUZZLES: she loves puzzles, riddles, and such CHEMISTRY: N/A MATH: She's fine at it as any girl in her time period - or maybe slightly better, but she doesn't enjoy it ENGLISH: N/A GEOGRAPHY: quite good. she has a great sense of direction and can almost always get where she wants to go. POLITICS/LAW: N/A ECONOMY/ACCOUNTING: N/A COOKING: not too good. SEWING: ha! no. MECHANICS: she's pretty good at mechanics naturally, but doesn't study them BOTANY (FLOWERS): N/A MYTHOLOGY: she knows quite a few myths. she makes an effort to learn them so she can tell them if the circumstance calls for it. DRAMATICS(ACTING,SINGING): she's an amazing singer, but doesn't sing much. READING LEVEL: average. she loves to read. HOW GOOD ARE THEY AT PLANNING AHEAD: not very IMPULSIVE/STRATEGY: impulsive ROMANCE DO THEY TAKE INITIATIVE: yes, I suppose HOW DO THEY ACT(SHY,ETC): akward GENTLEMAN/LADYLIKE VS KLUTZY: klutzy GO SLOW VS JUMP INTO: jump into PROTECTIVE: N/A ACT LIKE FRIENDS OR LOVERS: friends WHAT KIND OF PRESENTS DO THEY BUY: knives or wood. "something you can use, of course." TYPE OF KISSER: N/A DO THEY WANT KIDS: N/A DO THEY WANT TO MARRY: eventually MAKE GOOD OR BAD DECISIONS: both, of course ARE THEY ROMANTIC: no HOW ARE THEY IN BED: N/A GET JEALOUS EASY: yes indeed WIFE/HUBBY BEATER: no MARRY FOR MONEY: NO FAVORITE POSITION: N/A WHAT WOULD HAPPEN ON THEIR DREAM DATE: catch fireflies and maybe wade out into the lake OPINION ON SEX: Not till you are married. She does not really think about those things.  

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Cheat Sheets For Writing Body Language

What is body language and how do you use it when you write? Use these cheat sheets to help you with your body language descriptions.

What Is Body Language?

People react to situations with micro-expressions, hand gestures, and posture. Most of us are not even aware of them. However, what we do with our body language has a huge impact on other people and how they interpret and perceive us.

‘Even when they don’t express their thoughts verbally, most people constantly throw off clues to what they’re thinking and feeling. Non-verbal messages communicated through the sender’s body movements, facial expressions, vocal tone and volume, and other clues are collectively known as body language.’ ( Psychology Today )

Body language happens when we are doing something. We could be sitting, standing, or walking. We could be talking or thinking . Body language is often an involuntary reaction to something perceived by one of the five senses .

How To Use It In Writing

Using body language is one of the best ways to show and not tell when we write.

This is why we are always told to use body language in our writing. Sometimes, it’s easier said than written. So, I created these cheat sheets to help you show a character’s state of mind through their body language.

When you are completing your character biographies , be sure to include how your main characters move and talk. This is especially important for your protagonist , antagonist , confidant , and love interest . They are the characters that hold the story together and they should be as well-rounded and believable as possible.

The Top Five Tips For Using Body Language

• Use body language to add depth to dialogue .
• Use it because more than 50% of human communication is non-verbal.
• Use it to show how your character’s emotions affect their actions.
• Use it to help you show rather than tell your reader everything.
• Use it in moderation. If overused, it can slow your story down.

TIP: Use our Character Creation Kit  to create great characters for your stories.

Use this list to help you with your body language descriptions. It will help you to translate emotions and thoughts into written body language.

Obviously, a character may exhibit a number of these behaviours. For example, they may be shocked and angry, or shocked and happy.

Use these combinations as needed.

Use our  Character Creation Kit  to create great characters for your stories.

If you enjoyed this, read:

• The 17 Most Popular Genres In Fiction – And Why They Matter
• How To Write A One-Page Synopsis
• 123 Ideas For Character Flaws – A Writer’s Resource
• The 7 Critical Elements Of A Great Book
• All About Parts Of Speech
• Punctuation For Beginners
• 5 Incredibly Simple Ways to Help Writers Show and Not Tell
• 5  Instances When You Need To Tell (And Not Show)
• The 4 Main Characters As Literary Devices
• 106 Ways To Describe Sounds

Source for skeleton image

Top Tip : Find out more about our workbooks and online courses in our shop .

• Body Language , Creating Characters , Show Don't Tell , Writing Tips from Amanda Patterson

53 thoughts on “Cheat Sheets For Writing Body Language”

Wow….that’s probably one of the most useful lists I’ve ever seen…thanks!

Very useful…simply superb. Will be handy for me when I sit down to write next time.

A mullion trillion thanks for this incredibly useful page of “show” instead of telling. Thank you xx

I would have liked to pin this on pint rest 🙁

This is the best of the “show” lists I have either made or found. Superb.

Love, love, love these! Thanks for compiling them. I’m going to share them and put them in a file to resource. Michelle Random Writing Rants

This is very useful.

Its really helpful….

great post really!!! thanks for sharing

This is one of the most helpful writer’s guide posts I have ever seen. It is so hard not to write “He looked at her in awe”, but think about the specific body language in that situation. It also helps think about the traits a character can have… Every person is different so one can even put individuality into the writing by giving certain characters characteristic emotional expressions.

Thank you so much for sharing this!!

Thank you, Kimberley.

I know I’ll be referring back to this list often. Thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you, Melissa.

Perhaps this is the best way to hone up the writing skills of one’s own and I should be very thankful to you for helping the writers through this .

This is dangerous if astute advice. Anything that aids progress writing is useful, but anything that aids progress stops you thinking – and it is only by thinking that he universe opens a portal and pours out something original.

Great information not only for writing but observation of these behaviors in action. As a school counselor I am interested in non-verbal cues from others.

Great work! high degree of observation! really impressed.

This is great. There is one word that comes up SO OFTEN that it is distracting to me as a reader and that is “gaze.” People are gazing at things, at each other, they’re gazing all over the place. One time I counted the number of times “gaze” was used in a book and found an instance of 5 times in 4 consecutive pages. But another book used “gaze” 5 times in 4 consecutive PARAGRAPHS. Why the editors don’t catch this is beyond me. My favorite “gaze” quote from a book is, “Her brown gaze settled upon the distant mountains.” That didn’t make me think of her brown eyes. My first thought was that she was seeing smog! Is it strange to say a color with “gaze”? I’ve also seen something like, “His blue gaze swung up.” (the man was driving at the time) It sounds strange to me, but maybe that’s just me. The book with the distant mountains sentence used “gaze” heavily from the second page all the way to the second to the last paragraph! It was painful to read. I got rid of the book.

Very helpful to have this all in one place! Thanks!!!

Thank you! This is great! 🙂

Thank you for this post. It’s very helpful.

This is a good list. But I believe we can always be a little more creative in mixing them up to denote various degrees and subtleties in an emotion.

Yes, Ayan. As it says in the post: ‘Obviously, a character may exhibit a number of these behaviours. For example, he may be shocked and angry, or shocked and happy. Use these combinations as needed.’

These cheat sheets are worth their weight in gold! Thank you for taking the time to put them together.

AWESOME! I was just speaking with a friend who mentioned I needed to do this a little more. Thank you so much.

such an amazingly helpful post! Thank you!

Thank you. We’re glad you find this useful.

Melody, Would have ditched that book too. That’s just bad writing.

Please send me any further articles you put out. This one is very helpful. It makes us aware of the use of each movement as a symbol of inner thought. Thanks

This is the most helpful article I have read about telling vs. Showing. Thank you.

Thank you, Wendy.

Thanks for this really usefull I find that I use the same emotions over and over.

Thank you! This is an excellent reference for a desirable result.

“Excellent list,” she said, rubbing her hands together and grinning. ; ) Thank you!

Thank you, Melissa! I love it!!

Excellent!!

I read this very useful and generous article on stumbleupon.com Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me!

Thank you for the positive feedback. I’m pleased that this helps.

Thank you for this :))

Thanks for the helpful post! Great resource for the scripts I’m co-writing.

Simply superb compilation ! No more adjectives.

Thank you! We’re glad that you find these lists helpful.

Very useful! Thank you so much!

What a succinct and useful list!

“Unfortunately,” (pause, lips pursed indicating deliberation and thought) “these are almost” (stress on final word, downward tilt of the head with slight inclination to the left as the speaker maintains gaze on listener indicating mock-serious intent) “entirely” (extra stress on this word, head lifts and turns full-on indicating intent) “cliché” (jaw firms, slight downward shift of the brow, eyes narrow indicating mild annoyance.) “Sorry” (head lifts, jaw pushes out, eyebrows raised indicating belligerence and complete lack of genuine apology).

quite informative, and precise. thanks.

i’m highly grateful to you, thanks a lot n million, may god bless you a long and happy life

This is so useful! Thank you, thank you very much!

OMG! I impressed to read it. Really, you are doing good job.

Very informative thanks!

I need something different for pleading. and it’s not on the list. Why is the emotion I want not almost never on the lists? xP (Arg)

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