How to Write a Character Bio (With Examples!)
If you’re starting a new roleplay (RP) or Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TTRPG), then one of the things you will be expected to provide is a character biography. If you aren’t familiar with writing character bios, then you might be a little stumped on what exactly needs to be included, and what is better left out.
Although there is no perfect, established way of writing a biography for a character, there are a couple of things you could do to make it more effective and useful to your fellow roleplayers and TTRPG players. But first, you should make sure you understand exactly what a character bio entails before writing your own.
This article is specifically about creating character bios for roleplays, tabletop games, and other collaborative writing settings. If you’re looking for how to create a character for a story, try checking out How to Make Characters Interesting, Complex, and Unique instead.
What is a Character Bio?
A character bio, also known as a character profile or character biography, is a brief overview of your character that you can provide to others prior to the start of a game or roleplay. It gives them an introduction to your character before the narrative actually begins, which makes it easier to create plots and interact between characters.
Generally, a character bio includes basic information about the character, such as their name, appearance, and behavior, but it can also include topics such as backstory and motivations. Bios can look different depending on what they are being used for, the genre of the story, and the other players’ preferences.
Why is a Character Bio Important?
Character bios make it much easier for other players or RP partners to get to know your character. By providing information on your character up front, you can allow others to get to know them, build relationships between characters, and come up with ideas for the story based around your character’s information.
In addition to that, having a good character bio can be helpful to reference later, especially if they are part of a long campaign. Bios help keep your characters consistent and true to their original design. Even the best writers forget things about their characters over time, so it’s a good idea to write everything down anyway. When I take notes on my characters, I usually keep the character’s bio at the top of the page and simply add to it as events unfold in the story.
How Long Should a Character Bio Be?
One of the most important things to keep in mind when writing a character bio is that it should be short . You need to keep it clear, concise, and brief. You aren’t trying to give away your character’s life story, after all. You just want to break the ice and introduce them to the other players and characters. After all, if you gave away all their secrets at the beginning, there wouldn’t be any mysteries to uncover over the course of the story.
As a general rule, you should try to keep your character bios shorter than a page (which is typically about 300-500 words). If you make it much shorter than that, you likely wouldn’t be doing your character justice. If you wrote much more than that, however, most people probably wouldn’t get around to reading the whole thing. Character bios aren’t exactly known for being riveting literature.
What to Include in a Character Bio
When you’re writing your character’s bio, you don’t need to create an entire novel about their life and exploits. You only need to include the details that are important for others to know from the beginning. Some things aren’t even important enough to share at all.
Although some people have preferences about the ways they want character bios to be formatted, this is the generally accepted formula for writing a good character bio.
The Most Basic Character Elements
The first thing you should establish in your character’s bio is the most basic elements of who they are. That includes things like their:
- Species (if applicable)
You don’t need to get fancy here. This is the easy part—just give the basic information and move on to the next section.
The Character’s Physical Description
Next, you’ll want to give a basic description of what the character looks like. For this section, you’ll want to consider their:
- Physical details
- Clothing style
You can cover this information in bullet points, but I find that it is much more effective to write this part in paragraph format. That makes the bio feel more like an introduction to the character, and less like some kind of legal document.
If you need some pointers for designing your character, check out Tricks for Describing a Character’s Appearance (With Examples) .
Remember to keep this part brief. Physical appearance is only one small part of a character, and you don’t want to waste too much time and energy describing what they look like—especially since you don’t want their bio to be too long.
The Character’s Personality
Obviously, most of the character’s personality should come out as you are playing them, but it’s still a good idea to give your RP partners or TTRPG players an indication of their personality before the game or RP begins.
As with the other sections, this part should be kept brief. You just want to cover the most important aspects of their personality. You know, the traits and behaviors that define who they are. That could be anything from “grumpy” or “hot-headed” to “innocent” or “creepy.” Just give a few adjectives to describe them, and describe some of their dominant behaviors. This section shouldn’t be any longer than a few sentences.
The Character’s Backstory
This section is the tricky part. You want to explain enough of your character’s backstory to explain how they got where they are in the present day, but you don’t want to give away too much and make your character a completely open book. Not only that, you want to make sure the information you are providing is meaningful to the story, and not just useless facts.
When summarizing the character’s backstory for their bio, you should cut out everything except for the bare bones. The details aren’t important now (and you can reveal more over the course of the story anyway). Instead, draw attention to a few milestones in the character’s life, whether that relates to family, education, tragedy, or something else.
What happened in their past to turn them into the person they are at the beginning of the story? Focus on those points, and leave out all the rest.
If your character doesn’t have much of a backstory yet, you might want to check out this article before moving on: How to Create Compelling Character Backstories .
What Motivates the Character
When you’re creating a bio for a character, you’ll want to consider their motivations and goals. A character without a direction is boring, so make sure you have some idea of what your character wants before the story begins. Do they want to start their own business? Hunt ghosts for a living? Avenge their dead brother? What is going to motivate your character to actually do something ?
This part of the bio is often labeled as “present day,” or it’s lumped in with the backstory section. Regardless of how you choose to format it, the point is worth drawing attention to by itself. This part is particularly important for RPs and TTRPGs because it gives partners and fellow players the context they need to understand how this character operates.
The Character’s Quirks and Flaws
I cannot stress this enough: every character needs to have flaws.
All characters need flaws. No one is perfect, so none of your characters should be either. Even if your character is perfect in one regard, they need to be flawed in some other way. The best sharpshooter in the world might be afraid of snakes. The world’s most mesmerizing dancer might have self-confidence issues.
Quirks are also important! They operate a lot like flaws, though they don’t interfere with the character’s ability to live their life normally. Having a weird sense of humor or a tendency to fidget isn’t necessarily flawed behavior, but it is worth mentioning in this section as well.
Flaws and quirks are indispensable when it comes to creating interesting characters. They create conflict, and make characters more realistic and sympathetic. Without those details, your characters just won’t resonate with other players. Or worse—you’ll get accused of creating a Mary Sue .
If you want more information on creating flaws for characters (and why they’re so important for stories), check out How to Create Complex Flaws for Characters .
Miscellaneous Traits and Abilities
Finally, you’ll probably want to include a miscellaneous category at the end of the bio. Depending on your personal preference and the genre of story you’re creating, this part could also go closer to the top. You could also use a different term, or include this category as part of the character’s basic info.
This is the section in which you include anything important that wasn’t covered in the other sections. This could include things such as the character’s:
- Magical Abilities
- Special Skills
- Languages known
Basically, this section is meant to cover anything else that your RP partners or TTRPG players need to know about your character.
What NOT to include in a Character Bio
That “miscellaneous” category probably has you scratching your head. If that’s supposed to cover the other important parts of your character, how do you know where to stop?
There are many things that you should never include in a character bio, but there are two distinct reasons why things should be left out: either the point is boring and doesn’t matter, or it is much more fun to reveal that particular piece of information over the course of the story instead.
Here are some things that should be left out of character bios because they are uninteresting :
- Their Zodiac sign
- Every single detail of their appearance or personality
- Their entire life story
- Their birthday
- Their entire family tree
- Their favorite food/color/etc
Here are the things that should be left out because they would make good plot points later :
- Their secrets
- Their relationships with other characters
- Their strengths and weaknesses
- Their past trauma or struggles
Character Bio Examples
Character bios don’t have to show off your best writing skills. The point isn’t to impress the pants off the other players, and it’s definitely not to prove you’re a better writer than anyone else. You aren’t showing off, you’re just providing a resource on your character that is necessary for the game or RP.
With that said, here are some examples of character bios to give you a better idea of how to apply all this information.
Sample Character Bio 1
Name: Rory Bannon
Sex/Gender: Male
Species: Human (Superhero)
Superpower: He can float.
Power Drawbacks: He’s not very good at controlling his ability, and it is dependent on his mood. Sometimes, he will begin to float when he gets excited.
Appearance: Rory is tall and lanky, and his limbs almost look too long for his body. He has brown hair with a stripe of orange in the front. He has a goofy smile, and he holds a lot of childish optimism in his sunny green eyes. He always wears a suit no matter where he goes, believing that dressing for success is the first step to achieving it.
Personality: He’s chipper and optimistic, and all his friends agree that he’s a bit of a hopeless romantic. He’s a dreamer, and his head is often stuck in the clouds.
Backstory: Rory is an only child from a loving home. He decided to attend a school for young heroes to learn how to control his powers, with the full support of his doting parents.
Goals: He wants to learn how to control his powers and use them to help others.
Quirks: He’s gotten pretty good at floating up—just not at coming back down again.
Sample Character Bio 2
Name: Alice Howard
Nicknames: Red, Little Red, Pumpkin (by her father)
Sex/Gender: Female
Appearance: Alice is the preppy, pretty girl at school, with a figure that makes boys drool. Her long hair is a gorgeous shade of reddish-brown, and delicate freckles dot her petite, pale features. She is careful to keep her makeup perfect, and she is always pushing the limits of what her school’s dress code allows.
Personality: Despite her looks, Alice is remarkably insecure. She thrives off compliments and bases her entire self-worth on what others think of her. One bad pimple is enough to get her to skip school, and she takes even the smallest insults to heart. Despite how she feels about beauty and her own self-image, she always tries to be uplifting and encouraging to other girls, and would never say anything nasty about the way someone looks.
Backstory: Alice lives with her grandparents since both of her parents are deployed Marines. Her grandparents are getting quite old, and they often require her help more often than she needs them. She does her best to be responsible, but she often regrets that she can’t get out as much as other girls her age.
Goals: Alice has a history of bad relationships. All she wants is a good boyfriend and real friends.
Quirks: She has a tendency to be clingy and physically affectionate with her friends.
Misc: Alice’s one true love is food, specifically greasy, tex-mex food.
Sample Character Bio 3
Name: Samson Anders
Nickname: Sams
Species: Half-human, half-demon
Height: 6’2”
Hair: Long, Brown
Eye Color: Hazel
Skin Color: Medium-light
Physical Details: He has a large scar over the left side of his neck and collarbone, and multiple smaller scars all over.
Personality: Harsh, cold, and unapproachable. He has a softer side for those he cares about.
Past: He isn’t one to talk about his past. Most of his friends know that he had a rough childhood, but no one knows the details.
Present: He is living with a friend in a one-bedroom apartment, and the duo are professional ghost hunters.
Goals: Secretly, he hopes to learn more about his demonic side.
Quirks/Flaws: He tends to grow out his facial hair when he is feeling down, simply because he can’t be bothered to shave.
Character Bio Generator
Need characters but short on inspiration let the originality.ai character bio generator do the work for you say goodbye to writer’s block and blank pages..
One of the most challenging things for any writer is to create realistic characters. They need convincing personalities with histories as well as unique motivations, traits, and features.
Ideating character bios from scratch can be time-consuming and difficult. This is where the Originality.ai Character Bio Generator comes in handy.
What Does the Originality.ai Character Bio Generator Do?
The Originality.ai Character Bio Generator is a tool that creates character profiles in just a few simple steps.
The generator includes an organized set of prompts and questions where you can input key descriptive features, the genre of the publication, talking points, and the tone of voice. Adding these pieces of information provides characters with depth.
The generated result then produces a possible name, age, occupation, appearance, and background of the character.
It then expands on this with further detail about the character’s personality, motivations, internal conflict, and character arc. The tool is excellent for quickly crafting several rich profiles to prototype potential characters for your stories.
Features of the Originality.ai Character Bio Generator
Here are the unique features of the Originality.ai Character Bio Generator:
- Allows fine-tuning: Select specific attributes from the generated bio to adjust and further customize.
- Specify the genre of the publication the character will appear in: Choose the genre of the story that you intend to include the character in, whether it’s fantasy, sci-fi, or a dramatic narrative.
- Select desired tone: The tool allows you to define the tone of voice for the generated text. You can pick from a range of tones, such as analytical, formal, or casual.
- Multilingual options: From a drop-down menu, select your preferred language. Options include (but are not limited to) English, Spanish, and French.
How to Use the Originality.ai Character Bio Generator Tool
Here are some easy steps to use for the character bio generator:
1. Input a character description
In the provided text box, describe your character in detail. Include as many details as you’d like, such as their background history, personality traits, and motivations.
2. Choose the genre
Specify the genre of the story. For instance, you could note that the character will appear in a fantasy, science fiction, or romance story.
3. Select talking points
Review the description you provided and flag three to five of the most relevant details as ‘talking points.’ These could be defining traits, essential events, or relationships.
4. Set the tone of voice
Pick the overall tone of voice for the generated bio from options like formal, casual, or analytical.
5. Choose the language
For multilingual generations, pick the target language for the bio from a menu of options. There are quite a few selections to choose from.
6. Start the generation
Click the Generate button to process all your inputs and selections and create a character bio.
7. Copy to clipboard
When the bio fits your vision, copy and paste it into your document or save/export it for use in bios, profiles, or as part of your writing.
8. Fine-Tuning
When you copy the generated character bio from the tool, you can carefully review and fine-tune it to best represent your character concept. The goal is to end up with a bio that reads as seamless and engaging and represents your character as closely as possible. Iterative fine-tuning helps achieve this.
9. ‘Clear Form’ for corrections
Read through the bio and use the clear form button to clear the output box and start again.
Benefits of the Originality.ai Character Bio Tool
Here are some benefits of using the Originality.ai Character Bio Generator:
- Save time: The tool quickly populates basic details like name, age, physical description, background info, etc., so you don't have to come up with everything from scratch. This can speed up the character creation process.
- Adds realism: Details such as occupation, age, and motivations improve character relatability for your audience or readers.
- Encourages variety: The generator is a great way to encourage creativity so you can come up with new ideations.
- Develop minor characters: This tool is especially helpful when you need to introduce peripheral characters.
- Provides building blocks: The bio is an excellent building block that you can then expand upon with your unique expertise and creativity.
- Makes drafting easier: Having some predefined traits for a character is a useful way to step past writer’s block and start preparing your first draft.
Conclusion
The Originality.ai Character Bio Generator is an asset for creatives. It sparks imaginative thought and expression, saving time during character conception and writing. The generated results it produces are a fantastic base that you can further expand.
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The Ultimate Character Bio Template: 200 Character Development Questions
A character bio template is a shortcut for developing realistic characters. It’s the key to creating believable protagonists and antagonists that come alive through your writing. Character bio templates include guiding questions to help you shape your main characters as you write.
Remember: writing great fiction starts with writing great characters!
By answering significant questions about your character’s development, not only will you be able to understand a character inside and out, but you’ll also be able to show your readers the depth of your character.
Creating life-like characters goes beyond just plopping your character into the storyline, giving them a name, and describing a few traits.
Get The Free Character Sheet!
Unlock Your Character's Full Potential with Our Free Character Sheet.
And it’s not just for fiction – but for non-fiction , too. Are you writing a memoir? A biography? A self-help book using “case studies” or examples of people in particular situations? Experimenting with creative writing prompts ?
You’ll want to fill out a character bio template for your main character if you’re writing one of these non-fiction books as well!
Even if your character is modeled after a real person, that’s not enough to make him or her come alive for the reader. As an aspiring author , the first rule of thumb is to fully develop your character. You need to create an individual with a story of their own that readers want to engage and connect with as they read your book.
Your character’s development should not be an afterthought – after all, you’re telling a story, and the story likely centers around the characters.
Invest the time to answer these questions in our character bio template, and you’ll see just how real your character will become.
What is a character bio?
A character bio is a document or template that outlines the biography of a character in a story. Commonly used in the form of a character sheet template, which includes in-depth questions that highlight the character’s traits , descriptions, and journey, the character bio is used as a resource for the writer’s reference.
A character bio template helps the writer keep track of the character’s arc, background, and preferences which then helps the reader understand the character’s dynamics through the story. By creating a character with a past, present, and future, storytellers are able to paint a vivid picture of the character’s behavior and actions as displayed in the story.
The main goal of using a character profile template is to increase the realistic attributes of the character, to ultimately make them more believable and relatable for the reader.
Character bio templates are used mainly by fiction writers and authors, screenwriters, and other storytellers. Character profile templates should be filled out for all main characters in the story, including antagonists, to improve the overall character development.
Why is character development important?
Character development is important because the more developed a character is, the more realistic the character is – and readers want to invest in characters that are believable.
Have you ever been so connected to a book or story that you were devastated when you finished reading it? You were sad to say goodbye to the characters. You wished you could open up the portal to that world forever.
If you’ve experienced that, then you were emotionally invested in the characters and their lives. You connected with them – you felt like you truly knew them. And that’s because the writer did such a phenomenal job developing the character, that they seemed real to you as the reader.
That’s exactly what you want to do with your own writing. You want to write characters that are so fully developed, the reader will become invested in their lives.
And the secret to fully developing characters lies in being able to answer detailed questions about your character, which is how this character bio template will help you.
Top character development tips to use when writing:
- Start with a mind map or outline of your character’s journey in the story.
- Brainstorm the character’s main characteristics as needed for the story’s plot.
- Practice writing about your character to get a solid idea of who the character is.
- Give your character a main goal, purpose, motivation, and flaw.
- Fill out the character bio template to fill in any gaps and get clear on their history and small details.
- Interview your character to build their perspective.
- Complete writing exercises from your character’s perspective to fully develop the character’s mindset.
- Begin writing your story with your fully developed character in mind.
Why should you use a character bio template?
Using a character bio template will help you create realistic characters that your readers will believe in, and connect with.
You should develop a character bio to create believable characters for two reasons.
First, by answering character development questions in a character profile template, you’ll know the character like the back of your hand, which helps you tell your story better.
Second, the character sheet template will help you create an actual individual by painting a comprehensive, detailed picture of who they are – from what they look like to their personality quirks to their biggest mistakes in life.
Reasons to use a character bio template:
- To help you tell your story better
- To prevent inconsistencies in details
- To create a life-like character, full of personality with a comprehensive living history
- To use as a reference when incorporating details about your character
- To improve your character’s development
- To help readers connect and relate to your character
- To immerse your reader in your story
What should a character profile include?
A character profile template should include all of the relevant details that the writer needs to incorporate into the story, to fully develop the character.
Some writers use a basic character bio, with only relevant details that show the character’s arc within the story, while other writers use an advanced, comprehensive character bio with specific details about the character’s life, personality, aspirations, and internal and external features.
The type of character profile you include will depend on several factors, such as the type of work you are creating (ex: novel, short story, film), and the type of writer you are (ex: do you need a comprehensive profile, or just a one-page summary?). At a minimum, you should include the specific details about your character that highlight his or her role in the story, and how they develop within your story.
What to include in your character profile template:
- Character basics such as name and age
- Physical description of the character’s appearance
- The personality traits of the character
- Overview of the character’s health
- Career and education details
- Preferences and motivations of the character
- Description of the character’s family life
- Overview of the character’s main relationships
- Important life stages and milestones
- Character perspectives, outlook, and opinions
- Character’s role in the story’s development
How to use this character bio template
This particular character bio template is comprehensive, and designed to be used as an in-depth resource with more advanced character development questions. Novel and short story writers will benefit from this character sheet template to create a full character bio.
Fill this template out fully for each of your main characters (protagonist and antagonist), and use the sheet as a reference for your writing.
Click here to jump to the Character Template!
It’s best to complete the character bio template once you have your story’s outline, but before you actually start writing your rough draft. If you’ve already started writing your rough draft, that’s okay – you can still use this character bio template and it will be helpful as you edit and complete your draft.
Read this article if you want to learn more about how to write a book outline .
How to use a character bio template to improve your character’s development:
- Start with a good idea of your character’s creation , like who they are and what their purpose is in your story.
- Know your character’s flaws , motivation, main goal, and purpose.
- Begin filling out the basic section in your character bio template.
- Get clear on the physical descriptors of your character.
- Fill out health section of the character bio template.
- Next, build out your character’s career details .
- Think about what your character prefers .
- Dig into the family history in the character’s bio.
- Then, move on to the relationships section of the template.
- Narrow down your character’s main life stages .
- Develop the character’s perspectives and views of the world.
- Next, build the character’s story development .
- Review the full character bio template to make sure every detail connects, and that there are not any inconsistencies.
- Practice writing from your character’s perspective to get a natural feel for the way your character thinks and acts.
- Practice writing about your character from different perspectives (as a narrator, as a friend/lover/enemy of the character).
- Repeat all the above steps for any major characters in your story.
- Reference your completed character bio template as you begin writing.
Following the tips above will help you to develop a realistic character that readers will be invested in.
Don’t just share this character bio template directly with your reader – it is meant to be a complete guide for you as you write about who your character is, and how he or she affects the story.
This character bio template serves as a skeleton for developing a realistic character, so you should be able to answer each question. You need to be able to answer everything about your character, but your reader only needs to know the details that help tell the story.
These character development questions are comprehensive, so this doesn’t mean you need to tell your reader everything about your character. Only give your reader what they need to know about your character as it pertains to your story.
If you’re writing a genre or story that requires more questions, feel free to add more as you see fit! For example, if you’re writing a sci-fi novel, maybe you need to answer more questions about your character’s species, or the special powers that they possess.
As you write, you’ll want to have a copy of your completed character bio template nearby so it can be retrieved easily and referenced. This will help you tell your story more accurately, by avoiding little mistakes or inconsistencies in your plot and story setting .
For example, let’s say you start the story by describing your character as a vegetarian, but later on have your character order a hamburger at a restaurant. This is a detail that many engaged readers will notice!
Tips for using this character bio template in your writing:
- Complete the character bio after your outline is completed. Start filling out the character bio sheet after you complete your story outline , but before you start fully writing your chapters. This will ensure you have a solid idea of what details make sense based on your story’s main events, but still gives you the opportunity to incorporate the small details into your actual story.
- Use the character template as a reference guide when writing. Don’t just fill out the template and share it with your readers. This exercise is meant for you, as the author, so that you can fully develop all the intricacies of your character, and incorporate relevant details to shape who your character is, and their purpose in the story.
- Don’t skip any questions that can be answered. Answer as many questions about your character as possible. Obviously, if a question does not apply to your character (like if they are a child and do not have any past relationships), skip it. But don’t avoid questions simply because you don’t want to think. Cutting corners in this way will reflect in your character’s development.
- Only give your reader what they need to know when you’re writing. Just because you answer every question in the character development sheet, doesn’t mean that your reader needs to know all of those details. Only give what’s necessary, and what will help your reader understand your character better.
- Add more questions as needed. This character bio template is meant to be a starting point for you. If you need to add more questions, do so, especially if you’re writing a genre like hard science fiction where your characters are non-human.
- Think about the small details. Once you start writing, the character bio template will bring value to your dialogue , scene setting, and plot. Don’t be afraid to focus on the small details.
200 questions for your character bio template
Here are the questions you should answer about your character in order to bring them to life:
Character bio template basics
Begin by answering these basic questions about your character. These character development questions are the surface-level facts that you can use to start building your character.
These are the essential facts to fill out for your character, such as name, birthday, race, gender, etc. This section should be particularly quick for you to fill out since you most likely know all of these details for your character already. These questions help show your character’s development on a surface level.
These are the basic questions for your character bio template:
- What is your character’s name?:
- Do they have any nicknames?:
- What is the meaning/significance of their name?:
- What is the character’s gender?:
- How old are they?:
- When is their birthday?:
- Do they have a death day?:
- What is their zodiac sign?:
- Where do they live?:
- Where were they born?:
- What is their ethnicity?:
- What is their nationality?:
- What is their race/species?:
Physical descriptors
Now you can start building out your character’s physical appearance. These are external questions that will paint a physical description, so your reader can envision what your character looks like.
The physical attributes for your character bio template are important because they will also help you write vivid descriptions and actions in your book.
These are the physical appearance questions for the character bio template:
14. What is their physical appearance?:
15. What is their skin tone?:
16. What is their complexion?:
17. What is their natural hair color?:
18. What is their height?:
19. What is their weight?:
20. What is their body type?:
21. What is their build?:
22. How is your character’s posture?:
23. Do they have any birthmarks?: 24. Do they have any scars?:
25. Which is their dominant hand?:
26. What age does the character appear to others?:
27. Do they have a dyed hair color?:
28. What is their usual hairstyle?:
29. Do they have any tattoos? What is the meaning behind them?:
30. Do they have any piercings?
31. What is their makeup style (if any)?:
32. What is their clothing style?:
33. What is their clothing size?:
34. What is their shoe style?:
35. What is their shoe size?:
36. How is the appearance of their nails?:
37. How are their eyebrows shaped?:
38. What do their facial features look like?:
39. What is the character’s face shape?:
40. Do they have facial hair?:
41. What does their voice sound like?:
42. What distinguishing feature about them do people notice right away?:
The character’s personality
Now it’s time to start scratching beneath the surface to better understand the type of personality the character has. These character development questions focus on describing the personality traits within the character’s demeanor as they are in the present time of the story.
For example, most people who are naturally introverts will always be introverts. But, maybe your introverted character has only recently developed a habit of talking to people on the subway as they commute to work every day.
These are the personality questions for the character’s development:
43. Are they an introvert or extrovert?:
44. What are their personality traits?:
45. What is their MBTI personality type ?:
46. Are they an optimist or pessimist?:
47. How is their temperament? Are they generally hot-headed, or cool as a cucumber?:
48. What mood are they often in?:
49. What everyday attitude does your character have?:
50. What are their strengths?:
51. What are their flaws?:
52: What are their mannerisms?:
53. What are their habits?:
54. Are they an early bird or a night owl?:
55. Do they have any pet peeves?:
56. Which of the 7 deadly sins does the character most represent?
57. Which virtue does the character possess most?:
58. What are the character’s weaknesses?:
59. What are their strengths?:
60. Are they expressive? How do they express themselves?:
61. Are they ruled by heart or mind?:
62. What is their mindset?:
63. What is their philosophy?:
64. What are they motivated by?:
65. What words or phrases does the character often say?:
66. What is their life motto?:
Character health bio
This section is all about your character’s health. It covers everything from mental and physical health, to major surgeries, to allergies.
If certain questions don’t pertain to your character, feel free to skip them. Or, if anything needs to be added, do so. Make this section as relevant to your character as it needs to be.
These are the health questions for the character bio template:
67. Is your character more active, or sluggish generally?:
68. Does your character often forget people’s names, or do they have a photographic memory?:
69. Is your character impaired in any way?:
70. What is your character scared of?:
71. Does your character have any addictions?:
72. Are they fast learners? Do they have poor problem-solving skills?
73. Is your character mentally tough ? What are their mental strengths?:
74. In what aspects is your character mentally weak ?:
75. What are their physical strengths?:
76. What are their physical weaknesses?:
77. Do they have any major past illnesses?:
78. Have they had any surgeries?:
79. Have they been in any accidents?:
80. Is your character emotionally stable?:
81. Do they have any allergies?:
Career details
Now it’s time to cover what your character does for a living – or how they spend the majority of their time. Is your character making a living doing a job they hate, but attending night school to get their dream job?
A person’s choice of career, or their type of dream job, says a lot about that person’s qualities and interests, or lack thereof. That’s why it’s important to add career questions to your character bio template.
These are the career questions for the character bio template:
82. What is their job title?:
83. What company do they work at?:
84. What type of career do they have?:
85. What is their education level?:
86. Did they go to college? Where? For what?:
87. How is their work ethic?:
88. What is their job history?:
89. What is their income?:
90. What political party/organizations do they belong to?:
91. Do they do any volunteer work?:
92. What is their dream job?:
93. What job would they do poorly?:
94. How is their job satisfaction?:
Character preferences
Everyone has their likes and dislikes, from books to activities to the time of day. By answering all of these questions about your character in your character bio template, you’ll be able to build up a person that’s realistic and believable.
These are the personal preference questions for your character bio template:
95. What is your character’s diet like?:
96. What are their favorite foods?:
97. Favorite drinks?:
98. Favorite movies?:
99. Favorite music?:
100. Favorite books?:
101. Favorite animal?:
102. Favorite place?:
103. Favorite activities?:
104. Favorite time of day?:
105. What makes them happy?:
106. What makes them sad?:
107. What are their hobbies?:
108. What are their interests?:
109. What do they love to do?:
110. What do they hate to do?:
111. What are they inspired by?:
Family life of the character
Let’s face it – family, or a lack thereof, shapes a person. The same is true about your character.
This section is all about your character’s family life, from their parents to extended family, and even pets.
By knowing the family your character came from, you’ll also learn a lot about your character and why they are the way they are.
These are the family life questions for the character bio template:
112. Who were they raised by?:
113. What is the status of their parents?:
114. What is their mother’s name?:
115. Mother’s age?:
116. Mother’s background?:
117. What is their father’s name?:
118. Father’s age?:
119. Father’s background?:
120. How is their relationship with their mother?:
121. How is their relationship with their father?:
122. What is their parenting type?:
123. Are they an only child? First, middle, or youngest?:
124. How many siblings do they have?:
125. What is their relationship with their siblings?:
126. Do they have kids of their own, or do they want them in the future?
127. What are some interesting details about their other relatives?:
128. Is their family close-knit or distant? How has family life shaped the character? Do they have any sibling rivalries, or are they best friends with a particular sibling?:
129. What do they like most about their family?:
130. What do they like least about their family?:
131. What are their children like (if applicable)?:
132. Do they have any pets?:
Character bio relationships
In this section, you’ll be answering all the questions that have to do with your character’s relationships – from friends to lovers to enemies.
Think about all of the influential relationships your character has been involved with. Each person, and each relationship, is different, so keep that in mind as you fill out this section of the character bio template.
Each of us becomes involved with people who teach us lessons, whether these individuals stay in our lives long or not. The same is true for a well-developed character!
These are the relationship questions for the character bio template:
133. Who are their best friends?:
134. Who is their worst enemy?:
135. Do they have many acquaintances or a few close friends?
136. What is their sexual preference?:
137. Their sexual orientation?:
138. What is their relationship status? Are they happy with it?:
139. Are they married? Divorced? Widowed?:
140. Who was their first love?:
141. Who is their current or aspiring love?:
142. Are there any exes that influenced the character, either positively or negatively?
143. Who does your character love best in terms of their friends and relations?:
144. Who does your character dislike in terms of enemies and acquaintances?
145. Who knows the character best?
146. Who is closest to your character?
Character template life stages
It’s time to cover your character’s life stages. If your character is an adult in your story, then you’ll want to fill out quick details on each question in this section. If your character hasn’t reached a certain stage yet, just skip that part.
For each life stage, you can write a few sentences to describe the overall time period for the character. Don’t feel the need to list out every single thing that happened to your character in a certain life stage – unless you want to.
These are the life stage questions for your character bio template:
147. What was their childhood generally like?:
148. Did anything significant happen in their childhood?:
149. What were their teenage years like? Did anything significant happen?:
150. What were they like as a young adult? Did anything significant happen?:
151. Have there been any significant events in their adulthood?:
152. When did they really grow up and come into themselves? (Their “coming-of-age moment”):
153. Are there any important moments or experiences that shaped them?:
154. How have they changed as a person throughout their life?: Were they raised as a spoiled only child, but later became a Buddhist monk?:
155. Are there any major regrets the character has from their life?:
156. What are the biggest life lessons your character has learned?:
Character perspectives
Next, we’ll go through the questions that will help show us how your character thinks about the world and perceives things.
This is important because it helps shape your character’s mindset, especially if you are narrating the character’s inner thoughts and dialogue.
Filling out this section of the character bio template will also help you as you practice writing in your character’s point-of-view, and will give you a sense of your character’s thought process, and how their mindset affects their actions.
These are the perspective questions for the character bio template:
157. What are your character’s religious beliefs?:
158. How was their upbringing?:
159. What are their core values?:
160. How are their morals? What does s/he believe is evil? What does s/he believe is good?:
161. What would your character risk their life for?:
Character’s story development
Now it’s time to answer all of the questions that have more to do with your character’s thoughts, actions, and role within your storyline.
You need to know what’s driving your character in the story, and what’s getting in their way. Answer each one of these questions as it relates to your story.
For example, when describing the character’s main goal, don’t answer it in terms of their entire life’s main goal – think of the main goal in terms of your story. Maybe your character’s main goal is to live without regrets. But how does that relate to your story? You need to make it more specific to your plot. Maybe your character’s main goal within the context of your story is to help hide persecuted children, even if it means death and dishonor.
These are the story development questions for your character’s development:
162. What important things will happen to the character in your story?:
163. What will they achieve?:
164. What will they fail at?:
165. What is your character’s lifestyle like as it pertains to your story’s time period or setting?:
166. What are some traits your character will possess during your story?:
167. What culture do they identify with?:
168. What is their main goal in the story?:
169. What are some minor goals they have in the story?:
170. What does your character desire?:
171. What are/were their biggest mistakes?:
172. What would “rock bottom look like for your character?:
173. What is their dream life like?:
174. What is their worst nightmare?:
175. What are their favorite memories?:
176. What are their least favorite memories?:
177. What are some things they want in life?:
178. What are some things they don’t want in life?:
179. What obstacles are currently in their way?:
180. Do they have any secrets?:
181. What is their worldview?:
182. Who is their personal hero?:
183. What internal conflicts do they have?:
184. What external conflicts do they have?:
185. What do others think of them?:
186. What do they think of themselves?:
187. What do they wish they could change?:
188. What do they wish they could have?:
189. What gets them fired up?:
190. What do they cherish most?:
191. Things they take for granted?:
192. What inspires them?:
193. What do they have doubts about?:
194. What makes them feel alive?:
195. What makes them want to do better?:
196. What do they want to be remembered for?:
197. How will other people’s perceptions of them change?:
198. How will the character change?:
199. What will your character be doing by the end of the book?:
200. How will your character feel at the end of the book?:
Now that you’ve quickly read through each section of the character template, your brainstorming wheels should be turning as you start to hone in on certain questions about your character that you hadn’t thought of before.
Once you’re ready to start, you can use the blank template below to fill out for each one of your main characters. Remember – keep a copy of your character template sheets nearby for reference as you begin writing!
- Static vs Dynamic Characters
- What Are Stock Characters?
- What Is A Round Character?
Make the most of your character bio template
So there you have it – your very own comprehensive character bio template. Remember, it doesn’t matter what genre you are writing about. Every book should have well-developed characters that come alive through using writing strategies, techniques, and literary elements .
At the heart of every well-written story is a believable character that readers are engaged with and connected to. To create that character, you want to make them as realistic as possible, and you can do that with the help of a character bio template.
Character Bio Templates: How To Write & Examples
Whether crafting fiction stories or developing character studies for performance work like theater, detailed character bios bring your protagonists to life by capturing rich backstories, motivations, personalities and defining moments launching their on-page journeys. Compelling character biographies set the stage for fully formed figures audiences relate to.
This guide explores tips for developing multidimensional character bios along with template examples to model helpful starting approaches capturing both critical plot details and resonating personality essences in your own casts. Let’s start by reviewing key elements to include when profiling characters.
Elements to Include in Character Bios
Impactful character biographies encompass:
Backstory Facts
Overview context like date and location of birth, family members and pivotal settings establishing identity and explaining inherent perspectives tied to upbringing. These building blocks lend realism grounding decisions. Share only most relevant lifestage moments contributing to current outlooks.
For example: Grew up as shy middle child on remote 1960s Midwest farm inspiring solitary hobbies like birdwatching and reading.
Vital Statistics
Capture defining physical traits and biographical data helping envision characters through memorable filters establishing cohesive first impressions around age bracket, appearance and more subtleties like speech patterns.
For example: 32 years old, wiry red hair with slight limp from early injury making self-conscious in crowds.
Personality Profile
Showcase 1-3 standout character attributes through demonstrative examples that make your protagonist compelling, quirky or praiseworthy. These memorable personality hooks attract reader investment through relatability, likability or intrigue.
For example: Brutal honesty regardless of social cues frequently gets her trouble yet she can’t resist exposing hypocrisy. Vlad has signature booming laugh immediately distinguishing his presence.
Motivations & Goals
Explore innermost values and ambitions driving your character’s journey. Are they seeking redemption for past wrongdoings or trying attaining career success to support family? Detail complex psychology through emotional wounds, pressing needs and hopes adding depth.
For example: Seeks trailblazing scientific discovery before disease progresses rendering him bedridden like ancestor inventors. Vies being first female taekwondo champion proving petite athletes mighty.
Let’s examine some example character bio templates putting these key dimensions into action across common creative settings.
Character Bio Examples & Templates
Here are five sample character bio templates spanning fiction stories, theater script development and role preparation best practices covering different core focal points:
Fiction Story Character Bio Template
Full name: Cassandra “Cassie” Brianne Jacobs
Birthdate & Zodiac: March 19th, Aries
Physical: 5’2” petite frame, shoulder-length brown curls, hazel eyes
The younger of two daughters, Cassie grew up outside Portland enveloped in Pacific Northwest evergreen wilderness inspiring a vibrant imagination and wonder of natural worlds. Childhood haemophilia curtailed wilderness adventures leading to solitary hobbies of writing fantasy stories set hiking misty forests. Witnessing inequality towards her disabled father despite diligent provision for their family instilled an innate impulse challenging injustice through thoughtful rebellion from youth through college women’s rights protests.
Personality profile
* Champion of human rights & environmental protection
* Habitual journaler processing observations into reflective action
* Temperamental debater quick to challenge faulty logic or oppression
* Enthusiastic laughter breaks tension Showcases both strengths and growth areas
Motivations closing paragraph
Today, Cassie feels restless in unfulfilling admin role yet fears pursuing activist writing career won’t make ends meet. She decides embarking solo camping trip along Oregon coast for clarity on how to interweave world betterment with personal purpose beyond conventional checklist chasing cultural validation she inconsistently desires. But fate has unexpected encounters in store...
Theater Character Biographies Template
Character Name & Vitals
Natalia “Nat” Cresswood 36 years old5’5” lean dancer physique, shoulder-length curly black hair often worn pulled back in messy bun, green eyes peering intensely taking everything in
The middle daughter of three to an affluent Boston investment banker and philanthropic mother, Natalia grew up participating in gymnastics and ballet dancing from age 4. While she demonstrated natural physical gifts starring incompetitive dance troupe performances through adolescence, Natalia felt increasingly creatively confined by strict choreography regiments and passive gender social norms encouraged among her elite social circles. At 19 Natalia moved to NYC to pursue commercial dancing career and avant garde performances allowing embracing her feminist, queer identity.
Personality & Quirks
* Signature move involves spinning from floor into powerful stance signifying empowerment
* Communicates through spare, precise language and sustained eye contact
* Habitually observes her surroundings before entering new spaces
* Fidgets hands when frustrated suggestive of restricted inner voice
Goals for This Story
Having sacrificed artistic fulfillment the past 10 years for commercial stability paying bills, Natalia realizes sculpting empowerment stage work fusing dance, music and monologues must take priority now before time passes by. But reconciling lingering internalized social expectations around women’s “proper place” remains Natalia’s hidden conflict throughout her visionary choreographic journey.
Method Acting Character Background Exercise
Character basics
Full name: Jonathan “Johnny” Mikeal Vincent
Age & DOB: 43 - January 18th 1980
Physical: 5’10” muscular builder’s frame, close cropped salt & pepper hair with soul patch, hazel eyes
Origins & Upbringing
Born in working class Boston neighborhood, Johnny grew up youngest of 5 children stretched thin by his father’s meager construction wages. Witnessing his overwhelmed parents’ arguments over tight budgets and bringing up 5 kids persevering through scarce means imprinted practical resourcefulness and protective loyalty towards family from young age. Streetfights defending younger siblings also molded reflexive physicality meeting perceived threats with force versus diplomacy - qualities that both served and hindered future dealings rising ranks of local crews.
Personality Qualities
* Brash boldness asserting needs without hesitation
* Observant assessing surroundings before acting
* Generous providing for inner circle no questions spared
* Temper simmers erupting if boundaries crossed
Present Day Motives
Now a rising lieutenant managing illegal arms trade bypassing moral discomfort by rationalizing providing for family above all. Yet Johnny’s protective loyalty gets tested through unforeseen medical crisis forcing reflection on how far he’ll go for kin, crew and his own legacy.
Mix and match components from these templates to build rich multidimensional character biographies fueling vibrant personalities advancing your creative storylines or performances.
Tips for Crafting Standout Character Bios
Beyond covering the core factual and personality elements in your character profiles, apply these additional writing best practices:
1. Uncover defining Epiphany Moments - Explore when your character’s worldview or approach shifted through pivotal interactions altering their place (e.g. first heartbreak, missed promotion, act of betrayal) then map effects on current perspective.
2. Ask probing Questions - What does your character dread most? Dream of late at night? These emotional drivers shape reactions.
3. Contrast Public vs Private Selves - We all portray polished public personas hiding trickier private truths. Expose both along with what formed each.
4. Leave Mysteries - Avoid overdetailing every past moment that defined them. Allow pockets of ambiguity leaving gaps to fill in later keeping intrigue high.
With robust profiles assembled for your leads, supporting roles and antagonists, let’s go over some FAQs on applying character bios improving creative development across different mediums:
Character Bio FAQs
Here are answers to common questions around leveraging rich character biographies to enhance storytelling potency:
Do novels require character bios?
While not mandatory, crafting detailed character profiles outlining backstories, motivations, personalities and pivotal moments often allows authors tighter continuity referencing these key origin details subtly dropping them through dialogue, narration foreshadowing and dramatic irony. Keep bios handy avoiding uneven character shifts.
How do actors use character biographies?
Performers heavily reference developed character bios and backstories to assume roles more immersively through informed emotional connection versus surface reciting of lines. Bios prompt harnessing personas psychologically manifesting authentic expressions, reactions, mannerisms aligned to complex figures crafted through writing phases.
Can you reuse character bios across multiple stories?
While core human psyche chronicling transferable personality types and motivational scenarios applies across fictional mediums, reinvent character bios customized aligning backstories, growth arcs and role details to each storyline’s unique setting and journey to retain authentic freshness avoiding recycled caricatures. Each story deserves wholly original casts.
Do graphic novels require detailed character bios early on?
Visual novelists can reference abbreviated character profiles covering formative memories, key attributes and story goals guiding illustration development translating writing notes into consistent graphic panels showcasing tangible personalities emerging through imagery, action and dialogue. Expanded textual bios help inform ongoing narrative strides.
Robust, thoughtful character profiles translate into richer, more relatable leads engaging audience investment through complex facets, agonies and triumphs mirroring human condition. Immerse in their world to share impactful stories.
Now that you grasp the core components of resonant character biographies and how to leverage them improving your creative process, let's briefly spotlight a few historical examples demonstrating powerful essence-capturing personas:
Examples of Compelling Character Bios
Anna Karenina - Anna suffers ongoing identity crisis straddling refined aristocratic expectations, maternal ambivalence and impassioned yearning for uninhibited romantic transcendence ultimately ending her life by suicide. Complex dimensionality intrigues.
Tom Sawyer - Clever schemer skilled at winning friends through imagination and charm yet haunted by lingering orphan heartache seeking worldstage validation outshadowing humble beginnings. Celebritized psyche timelessly relatable.
As these classic protagonists epitomize, detailed rendered biographies manifesting signature psyche facets, wounds and worldviews lie at the heart of artistic legacies spanning generations. Dive deep conjuring your cast’s complete essence through biography.
How to Use Just Think AI for Character Bio Templates
Just Think AI makes creating compelling character bios easy. Here are tips:
- Share key details about the character - name, age, personality traits, background, abilities etc.
- Provide the story genre and setting details as context
- Indicate if the character is a protagonist, antagonist, supporting role etc.
- Specify any unique attributes, quirks, or details to highlight
With this information, Just Think AI can generate a customized character bio template covering their history, physical description, personality overview and role details in an engaging narrative style.
Just Think AI Prompts for Character Bio Templates
When requesting a character bio template from Just Think AI, provide:
- Character details - name, age, descriptors, abilities etc.
- Genre and setting the character exists within
- Character role in the story
- Any special attributes or details about the character
Supplying this context allows Just Think AI to draft an effective character bio template bringing your creation to life!
Let Just Think AI handle the busywork of composing compelling character bios so you can focus on developing captivating stories!
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Blog • Perfecting your Craft
Last updated on Mar 08, 2024
How to Create the Ultimate Character Profile [+ Template]
About the author.
Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.
About Dario Villirilli
Editor-in-Chief of the Reedsy blog, Dario is a graduate of Mälardalen University. As a freelance writer, he has written for many esteemed outlets aimed at writers. A traveler at heart, he can be found roaming the world and working from his laptop.
Ask any great novelist, and they’ll likely tell you that good writing starts with good characters. But building characters from the ground up is also one of the toughest hills to climb, especially if you’ve struggled with those all-too-revealing questions:
- Are my characters convincing?
- Do my characters have depth?
- How do I make sure my character shows progression and change ?
If you’re having these doubts, you might want to turn to the age-old solution: a character profile.
What is a character profile?
A character profile is a detailed biography of a persona that covers everything from their age and appearance to their relationships with others. By understanding parts of their life that readers might not discover during the course of the story, an author can better understand that character’s life, personality, motivations, and their function within a story.
In this post, we will show you our three-part process for assembling a character profile.
What makes a good character profile template?
Many character bibles present exercises that ask you, “If your character was a color, what color would they be?” For many writers, this is either overkill or a bit too 'woo-woo' for their tastes, and they prefer to create a profile that deals in verifiable facts: height, age, and profession.
Our suggestion lies somewhere between those two approaches, where you build a holistic picture of your character in the context of your story. Our character profile worksheet is in three parts. If you treat a person like an apple, they’re going to have three layers of depth: the “skin,” the “flesh,” and the “core.” (Otherwise known as their physical appearance, backstory, and psychology.) That’s how this character profile template is structured — and if you have a particular area that you’d like to hone, you can skip to it below. Otherwise, this character bible will start with the eagle eye’s view of your character.
The Three-Part Character Profile Template:
- The Outer Layer, or Physical Appearance
- The Flesh, or Backstory
- The Core, or Psychology
How to create a character profile
As another reminder, we strongly recommend our character profile template in a PDF format and fill it out as you go along! Download it below for free right here.
FREE RESOURCE
Reedsy’s Character Profile Template
A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.
1. Construct the character's outer appearance
To be able to identify a criminal, detectives build a painstakingly thorough file of said criminal’s physical characteristics.
That’s the goal of this section, which covers the “skin” of your character: everything from their outer appearance to the way that they speak. Think of it as a kind of offender profile — one that can help you spot your character in the middle of a crowded Times Square.
The Basics 📖
- Place of birth
- Current location
- Nationality
Physical Appearance 👀
What's their:
Do they have any distinguishing features (tattoos, scars, birthmarks)?
What's their preferred outfit?
Do they wear glasses? 👓
What accessories are ALWAYS associated with them (cane, pipe, necklace, etc.)? 🌂
What's their usual level of grooming?
- Smart, very put together
- Untidy but clean
Do they have any distinguishing “tics” and mannerisms?
What's their health like? Do they suffer from chronic illnesses? 🏥
Describe their handwriting (sloppy, neat, careful, unintelligible). ✍
How do they walk? 👣
- Confident, powerful strides
- Lazy stroll
- Fast, walks at a clip
- Distracted, eyes on the ground
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Speech and Communication 💬
How do they talk (rapid, slow, measured, drawl, etc.)?
What's the style of their speech (elevated, educated, peppered with slang, etc.)?
Do they have an accent?
- Stiff, military
- Casual and relaxed
- ‘Turtle,’ tired
Do they gesture?
- Only when agitated or eager
- Doesn’t gesture
- Compulsive “hand-talker”
- Controlled, only to make a point
- Other? If so, explain:
How much eye contact do they like to make (direct, shifty, etc.)?
What's their preferred curse word?
What's their catchphrase?
Any speech impediments?
What are any distinguishing speech “tics”?
What's their laugh like? What do they tend to find funny?
Describe their smile?
How emotive are they? Do they wear their emotions on their sleeve? How easily can others read them?
They have a resting _____ face.
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2. Build out the character's backstory
Characters don’t exist in a vacuum — they’re a product of their environment.
This section in the character template dives a bit deeper into your character and covers their “flesh”: the people, circumstances, and formative influences that filled them out and made them who they are today. It’s the springboard to your character’s biography.
What's the name of their hometown? 🏡
What type of childhood did they have (sheltered, neglected, etc.)?
Describe their education. 🍏
Were they involved in organizations and clubs at school?
- Gay / Straight Alliance
At graduation, they were named Most Likely To ___________ in the yearbook. 🎓
Jobs (if applicable)? What would their résumé look like? 💼
What was their dream job as a child? Why?
Who were their role models growing up? Describe them. 👨👦
What's their greatest regret?
What were their hobbies growing up? ⛳
Favorite place to be as a child?
What's their earliest memory?
What's their saddest memory?
What's their happiest memory?
What's their clearest memory?
What are their skeletons in the closet? 💀
If they could change one thing from their past, what would it be? Why? ⏳
Describe the major turning points or “life beats” in childhood.
What are three adjectives to describe them as a child?
What advice would they give to their younger self?
List their criminal record. ⚖
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- Age (if living)
- Briefly describe their relationship with your character
- What are their names and ages?
- Briefly describe their relationship(s) with your character
Children 👶(if applicable)
Extended family 👴
- Grandparents
- Uncles and aunts
What's their family's economic status? 💰
How often do they see their family in a year?
External Relationships 💜
Who are their closest friends? Describe them.
Who are their other significant friends? 👋
Enemies? Describe them. 😡
How are they perceived by:
- strangers in the street?
- acquaintances at a work function?
- colleagues in the office?
- authority figures?
- friends in their friend circles?
- the opposite sex?
- extended family?
What social media platforms are they on?
- X (formerly known as Twitter)
- Other? If so, explain.
How would they use their social media platforms?
How would they fill out an online dating profile for themselves? ✨
What’s their role in a group dynamic? 💡
Who do they depend on for:
- practical advice?
- emotional support?
- moral support?
How quickly do they respond to emails? 📨
What do they want from a relationship?
Who would be their ideal partner? 💖
Who is their significant other? Describe them. 💕
How many people would attend their funeral?
Part 3. Understand the character's goals and motivations
We’ve come now to the “core”: who your character is deep down.
This section in the character profile worksheet covers the “heart” of your character. If a backstory shapes a dynamic character, this will define them. More importantly, it will help inform the two most important points leading up to your novel: the character’s story goal and what drives them .
Psychology 💭
What do they do on rainy days?
- Street-smart or book-smart
- An optimist or pessimist
- Introverted or Extroverted
What is their favorite sound? 🔊
Favorite place in the world? 🌎
What secrets do they keep? What are they most afraid of people finding out? 🔒
What do they want the most? 🔍
What's their biggest flaw?
What's their biggest strength?
What's their biggest fear?
What is their biggest accomplishment? 📈
What is their idea of perfect happiness?
What's their favorite quote? 👌
Do they want to be remembered? What for? ⌚
How do they approach:
What is the one object or possession that they would rescue from their burning home? 🔥
What (or who) bores them? 💤
What makes them angry? 💢
What do they look for in a person?
How strong is their moral compass? When, specifically, are they willing to compromise their morals?
List the last 10 books they read. 📚
Which fictional world would they most wish to visit?
If they didn’t have to sleep, what would they do with the extra time?
What are their pet peeves? ⚠
If they won the lottery, what would they do?
Describe the character’s bucket list at the ages of 15, 20, 30, and 40.
List the 10 songs that would occupy their All-Time Most Played playlist on Spotify. 🎵
What is the best compliment that someone ever paid them?
In an elevator, do they push the elevator button more than once? 🚪
What would they want their tombstone to say?
The Present and Future 🔮
What is their story goal? (answer in a single paragraph)
Story motivation (answer in a single paragraph)
In other words: what does your character want in the story? And why do they want it?
Every other answer in the character profile template builds up to this. It's critical information to know because it’ll make up the unshakable foundation — and raison d'être — for your story. Whenever you feel like your story is straying off course, go straight back to your character’s story goal and motivation, and you'll find the beating heart of your book.
24 responses
Rachel Mendell says:
02/06/2018 – 12:23
excellent! so much info - thank you.
↪️ Reedsy replied:
07/06/2018 – 04:37
Our pleasure, Rachel. Glad that it helped!
Diane says:
07/06/2018 – 08:50
Wow! I tried to find such kind of list many times. Thank you so much! Creating character is always difficult for me. I imagine tutoriage character but it was not full. With this list Finally I will finish it.
22/01/2019 – 15:37
Nice I was gonna make one myself but this is great since normally I obsess to the point of procrastination.
Gwendolyn Clark says:
13/05/2019 – 00:09
I was never sent a copy to download
↪️ Martin Cavannagh replied:
13/05/2019 – 08:20
Hi Gwendolyn, could you drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll sort you out with a link :)
Sabrina Douglas says:
08/06/2019 – 16:40
I have not received the PDF yet.
10/06/2019 – 13:48
With Gmail, our emails often can be found in the Promotions folder. if it's not there, send us an email at [email protected] and we'll sort you out :)
Tactical Weasel says:
08/06/2019 – 23:18
I was never sent a copy to download either.
Ibidun says:
02/07/2019 – 01:47
This is a developed list of questions for sure. Thank you!
susannelorraineharford says:
21/08/2019 – 08:01
Thanks! Great help in this articke. X peace, susanne
james bolin says:
22/08/2019 – 21:05
This my be a crazy question, but I am writing a science fiction book, and I already made character profiles for my ow use. But, that being said, would it make sense to also include a section in the book that includes all the main characters profiles. It would serve as a reference in case someone wants to know the characters hair color, birth date, and other details. any advice would help thanks
23/08/2019 – 09:04
It would be a somewhat unusual move — but it's not for me to say if it's wrong. Often, you see books provide family trees and brief histories of the 'world' of the story... but that tends to be so that readers can check up on facts that are highly relevant to relationships and plot of the book. In almost all cases, readers won't really need to know things like hair color or date of birth. So, I'd think hard before putting a character stat sheet in your book.
↪️ Nyla replied:
02/09/2019 – 16:12
I don't see why not! Some books did it (sort of); Wings of Fire, Tailchaser's Song, Warriors... I don't think including one would be a bad move. Definitely not something that would kill your story. Keep in mind that I'm a beginner when it comes to books, so I may not know any better. I'm just saying that in my opinion, I don't think it's a bad move.
Satyajay Mandal says:
25/08/2019 – 04:31
You can tweet me to get more updates on the story I'm directing
02/09/2019 – 16:13
What do you mean by "education"? Like what school they went to?
17/09/2019 – 09:02
Yup. Are they a college grad? What did they study? Did they leave school at 18 and take up an apprenticeship — that sort of thing.
27/09/2019 – 14:03
Will i ever get the document to download!
07/10/2019 – 15:48
Hi Sky, if you're still having trouble downloading the template, could you drop us a message at [email protected]? Thanks! Martin
20/10/2019 – 03:56
I will update you about all the details
Max Sangers says:
23/03/2020 – 20:16
I like it, just pls refrain from bad language :)
26/03/2020 – 04:49
No need to refrain from using bad language, if it is assigned to the villains instead of the heroes/heroines
26/03/2020 – 05:02
No need to refrain from using bad language if it is assigned to the villains instead of the heroes/heroines
28/03/2020 – 05:01
This is @*#$ing AWESOME!!!
Comments are currently closed.
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11 Tips to Spice up your Character Bios (FREE Template)
Character bios may seem like busy work, but they’re crucial outline tools that bring light and life to your stories..
If everyone has a story to tell, then every character in those stories needs to be made up of stories of their own, so the tale comes across as real and engaging.
The more detail you give your character, the more the audience can identify with them and the easier it'll be for your project to find its way to the big or small screen. To get your characters in shape, I recommend writing a character bio for them.
Today, we'll go over character bios, mini character bios, and we'll even give you some tips and tricks to deepen your characters with our character bio worksheet. They're the same as character profiles, so if you came here looking for those, you're in the right place.
So let's dive in!
What is a Character Bio?
A character bio, or character profile, is a few sentences or pages that make up your character's story. They help embellish your character's traits and aid in character development and mapping out your character's arc . The bio should give the person reading it a way to personally connect with the character. It should not matter whether or not they are a protagonist or an antagonist ; the bio needs to provide information that makes that person more human. These bios don't have to occur on the screen. But they should be known by the writer, director, and actor to give depth and meaning behind every choice, and be available to provide backstory as needed in the script.
Mini Character Bios
A mini character bio is a one-sentence summary of who that character is, for example, "Bruce Wayne is a billionaire philanthropist who dresses like a Bat to avenge his parents' death at the handle of a criminal." Your mini character bio can help when you're pitching your characters . But if you're creating a bible or a treatment , you might want to write a longer character bio, so development executives know exactly what to expect from the characters in your screenplay.
How to Expand your Character Bio
Since screenwriting is an economical way to get ideas across, we often lose out on the art of expanding our character bios. But we have to be ready to give the long-form version of these biographies because they'll help inform the people playing our character and the casting search. They also are great in helping us define the hoops and hurdles people need to go through to arc. If we now why our characters are a certain way, we can help change them moving forward.
11 Tips for Your Character Bios
When you're expanding your character biographies, it can be hard to think about all the details you need to make a complete person. I've assembled 11 tips and tricks to help you add to your characters' stories. I'll provide examples for each, and we can go through them on the worksheet we provide to help you brainstorm.
1. Personal information
This one is pretty easy. What should we know about your character? Height, weight, hair, personal style - give us the police description of who we are looking at and why they stand out in the crowd. Try to avoid cliches, such as labeling the women hot or beautiful, and telling us how muscular the men are. Sure, if you need to describe a superhero, maybe they're jacked and hot, but go a step further. What else can we know about them?
For example, what do we know about Steve Rogers when we meet him? Sure he's puny, but how big is his heart? Consider digging deep when you get here.
2. Their family
As Dom Torretto can tell you, you're nothing without your family. So whether you're the Dad playing catch with his son in Field of Dreams, or the Joker's dad putting a smile on your face, or the mother from Oedipus , all the way to Stranger Things , let us know about the characters' family.
3. Strengths?
Superman can leap tall buildings in a single bound and is faster than a speeding bullet. Elle Woods knows how to accessorize. What is your character good at? A lot of the story is going to focus on people overcoming things, and the way to plan that out is to see what they're good at and make sure the obstacles butt up against that. So pick out what you think your characters are good at and make sure that shines.
4. Weaknesses?
What's your character's kryptonite? Elle Woods relies too much on what people think of her and doesn't think enough about what she can accomplish. These weaknesses will help guide your story structure . Keep your character bio fresh by talking about your character has problems with so that we have places for them to arc.
While this might get confused with weaknesses, it's a little more personal. Maybe your weakness is kryptonite, but a character flaw would be being willing to save everyone without taking time to save yourself. Think about Peter Parker - his flaw is that he values being a hero over being a kid, and that means sacrificing a lot of his relationships. This inability to show up for his friends is a huge character flaw. And if we include that in the character bio we will know how to craft our story, or even future movies or tv episodes, around this flaw.
6. What’s their backstory?
Everyone comes from somewhere. The backstory is important because we are the sum of our parts. Your characters are the same way. Tell us where they came from and when their strengths, weaknesses, flaws, and family come from. This should be an amalgamation of all the tips - and an explanation for who the character is today. Think about Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy. She's a fierce warrior with issues because Thanos raised her and took her from her fallen planet.
7. Why Do We Care?
Seriously. Why? Empathy is the strongest emotion. It's what connects us to your characters. Every character bio needs empathy. We need to know what these people are going through that makes them accessible to us. Michael Scott started as a character who we kind of hate, but then we realized he just wanted love. Michael was a guy afraid of dying alone, and who doesn't relate with that! Once we found empathy with Michael, he came into America's homes and became one of the most popular characters of all time. And this counts for villains too. We understood Killmonger's intentions, had empathy for his struggle, and it made Black Panther a deeper movie.
8. What do they want?
Wants and desires drive your character's intentions. They're arguably the most critical part of the character bio. The reason we watch your show or movie is to see characters reach for their goals . So knowing what drives them gives your story a ton of purpose. So what does your character want? It could be like Thanos, to rule the universe, or it could just be a small goal that drives a bigger story, like Mud's desire to get his boat running.
9. What’s in their way?
Obstacles, and how they attack them, are the definition of a character. So it's time to define who this person is and what stands in their way from being the fulfillment of their dreams. Indiana Jones wants to be the guy who found the ark, but he has to beat the Nazis to get there. Just like Chiron wants love but coming out and being a gay man is frowned upon in his community. So each character has to overcome what stands in front of them to fulfill who they are in their bio.
10. How do they arc?
We talk about character arcs here. It's the backbone of the story and should align with the story map . When it comes to the bio, we want to know where they start and where they're going. This matters especially in television because if you're staying with these characters for several seasons, we need to have illusions toward where they are going. Think about the Cheers dynamic with Sam and Diane, or even Blackish's Bo and Dre. Who are these people when we meet them? What puts a strain on their relationship and what can we do to bring them closer and tear them apart?
11. Do they have a secret?
The last character bio tip and trick that I love is to give your character a secret. What's something they don't share with the world, or something we could reveal, that deepens who they are in our eyes? You could use a character secret generator , but it's probably better to just get to know your characters. I love big reveals, like Snape's obsession with Harry's mom. But you can have little things too, like Jon Snow being a Targaryen. Wait, that's not so small, but maybe something small like an alter ego, or maybe they have a hidden fear or love. Let your character's secrets get them in trouble, add some emotion, and dictate the path of your story.
Character Bio Worksheet
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Capture Log-Encoded HEVC Video With the Upgraded Final Cut Camera 1.1
A look at the video recording improvements coming to apple’s final cut camera with the latest 1.1 update..
One of the most unique and interesting announcements out of the 2024 Apple Event this year was Apple’s new Final Cut Camera app for iPad and iPhone. And while all the talk today might be about the new Final Cut Pro 11 for Mac (or perhaps the Final Cut Pro for iPad 2.1 ), Apple’s update to Final Cut Camera might sneakily be the most significant for certain video pros.
Set to bring intuitive new pro controls for all of you aspiring (and already professional) film and video directors, this update features new video recording specs and capabilities. These improvements are set to unlock the full capabilities of the new iPhone 16 Pro and should partner well with importing and editing your footage into Final Cut Pro for iPad to complete Apple’s newly optimized workflow.
Let’s look at this Final Cut Camera 1.1 update and what it’s set to offer smartphone videographers.
Apple Final Cut Camera 1.1
The biggest news here is that Final Cut Camera users will now have the ability to capture Log-encoded HEVC video in standalone or Live Multicam sessions. This means that Final Cut Camera smartphone shooters will be able to fully take advantage of the amazing dynamic range of Log while still benefitting from reduced file sizes and even more recording time.
This updated Final Cut Camera will also allow users to enable a LUT preview while recording in Log, which should help showcase the vibrancy of the original scene in SDR or HDR with the Apple Log LUT.
Plus, for iPhone 16 Pro users, you’ll now be able to record beautiful and crisp 4K120 fps footage for even smoother cinematic slow motion, then directly import it into Final Cut Pro for iPad, and begin your edit in a new Apple-approved, seamless flow.
Here are all of the new features and enhancements set to come to Final Cut Camera 1.1:
- Preview your Log video in SDR or HDR with the vibrancy of the original scene by enabling the Apple Log LUT while recording. (Requires iPhone 15 Pro or later.)
- Record in Log and HEVC for increased flexibility and dynamic range combined with smaller file sizes. (Requires iPhone 15 Pro or later.)
- Precisely compose your video using the level with tilt and roll indicators or crosshairs for overhead shots.
- Capture high-quality 4K footage at up to 120 fps with iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
www.apple.com
Price and Availability
Final Cut Camera 1.1 is available today as a free standalone app on the Apple App Store .
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How to Write a Character Biography
How to Write a Character Biography: Unleashing the Power of Your Characters
Creating memorable and relatable characters is the backbone of any great story. To truly bring your characters to life, it is essential to delve deeper into their lives and understand their motivations, fears, and desires. One effective method is to write a character biography, a detailed account of your character’s background, personality traits, and experiences. In this article, we will guide you through the process of crafting a compelling character biography and answer some frequently asked questions to help you along the way.
1. What is a character biography?
A character biography is a comprehensive written profile that provides a deeper understanding of your character’s life, including their history, personality, relationships, and aspirations. It serves as a roadmap for writers to explore and develop their characters, ensuring consistency and depth throughout their stories.
2. How do I start writing a character biography?
Begin by brainstorming key aspects of your character’s life. Consider their name, age, appearance, background, and occupation. Then, delve into their family, childhood, education, and major life events. Think about their values, strengths, weaknesses, and how they interact with others. The more you explore, the better you will understand your character.
3. Should I include every detail of my character’s life?
While it is essential to know your character inside out, not all details need to be explicitly mentioned in your story. Focus on the aspects that are relevant to their journey, personality, or relationships. Avoid overwhelming your readers with unnecessary information, but ensure you have a well-rounded understanding of your character’s life.
4. How can I make my character biography engaging?
To make your character biography engaging, treat it as a storytelling exercise. Instead of simply listing facts, bring your character to life by describing their experiences, emotions, and conflicts. Use vivid language and evoke sensory details to immerse yourself in your character’s world. This will not only make the process enjoyable but also help you create a more compelling character.
5. How can a character biography improve my writing?
A character biography provides a solid foundation for your writing. By knowing your character’s background and motivations, you can create more authentic dialogue, consistent actions, and believable character arcs. It also helps you avoid inconsistencies or plot holes that can weaken your story. A well-developed character biography ensures that your characters resonate with readers, making your story more engaging and memorable.
6. Should I update my character biography as I write?
Absolutely! As you progress with your story, your characters may grow, change, or surprise you. Continuously revisiting and updating your character biography allows you to stay connected with your characters and adapt their journeys accordingly. Embrace character development and allow your characters to evolve naturally as your story unfolds.
7. Can a character biography be used for secondary characters as well?
Yes, character biographies are not limited to main characters. Developing a detailed biography for secondary characters provides a deeper understanding of their motives and actions, enabling you to craft more authentic and impactful interactions. Remember, even the smallest of characters can leave a lasting impression on readers when thoughtfully developed.
In conclusion, writing a character biography is a powerful tool that helps you understand your characters on a profound level, creating more engaging and impactful stories. By exploring their backgrounds, motivations, and relationships, you can breathe life into your characters and make them resonate with readers. So, grab a pen and paper, and embark on a journey of discovery as you uncover the depths of your characters’ lives.
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Character Bio Template for Creating the Perfect Characters
by Holly Riddle
The best books offer characters that feel like real people, characters that are so fleshed out and thorough that you feel as if you really know them. But creating those types of characters is easier said than done!
Once you sit down to start drafting a new short story or novel, you may find that your characters are feeling lackluster at best, or entirely dull at worst. How can you fix this? No matter what stage of the writing process you may be in, creating a character biography using a character bio template can be a great help.
What is a character biography?
A character biography is a reference sheet that tells you everything you might need to know about your character, for any scene that you write. A character bio includes information on your character’s background, personality, day-to-day life, appearance, and more. While not all this information will make it into your story, it’s still useful for plotting your character’s arcs.
Why is having a character biography important?
If you consider yourself more of a pantser than a plotter (i.e., the type of writer who goes into drafting flying by the seat of their pants versus the type of writer who plots and outlines their work ahead of time), then you may wonder if you really need a character biography—especially when you look at character bio templates that ask you for far more information than you might think you need (do you really need to know your main character’s childhood pet’s nickname?).
However, no matter your drafting style, a character biography can be an invaluable resource. The more information you have at the ready, the more well-rounded your characters will be. You might even find that having a character bio template as you write will help you unravel other writing issues that go beyond flat characters, like plot holes or character or story arcs that don’t quite arc .
Things to keep in mind before you write your character biography
Before you write your character biography (using our handy template below), there’s one big thing you need to think about: each character’s purpose within the story .
Often, writers will begin building a character first, thinking about things like personality and appearance and motives—and then wait until they’ve developed this character before actually giving the character a purpose within the story.
This can be problematic for a few reasons, but primarily because you may end up trying to force characters into roles where they don’t belong.
Before creating any character bio or filling out any character template, consider why you need this character in the first place. How are they going to pull their weight?
Think beyond the very baseline role that they might play, as, for example, a main character, love interest, antagonist, or the comedic relief. Think about what they need to be and what they need to offer the plot and your other characters. What makes them so essential to the plot that they absolutely cannot be cut from the story or book?
Once you nail down why this particular character must exist in your fictional universe and exactly what they offer the plot and main character that makes it so, you can begin filling in the more extraneous details that might not matter quite as much, such as basic info and appearance. On the contrary, once you decide on your character’s purpose, you may just find that those details aren’t so extraneous and are, in fact, all the more meaningful.
How to write a character bio (using a template)
When you download your character bio template and begin filling it out, whether you print it and write out all the details by hand or type everything into the Word doc, you’ll notice there are a few details that you need to include.
This is likely all information that you have stored away in your brain somewhere, so getting it down on the page should be no problem.
Think all the information that anyone might be able to find out about your character if they either knew them as a brief acquaintance or looked them up online and discovered a social media profile.
This might include things like:
Nationality
Religious beliefs
Home town and current place of residence
Marital status
Economic status
Core values
If there are any stand-out likes or dislikes, or pet peeves, you can also list those here. For example, does your character prefer to only communicate via snail mail, or does your character dislike chocolate with a passion? List it here!
Appearance and physical characteristics
Think not just of your character’s physical appearance, body type, and personal style, but also how their appearance impacts how they act and how they’re treated.
Do others approach them differently than they might another character, all because of appearance? Does your character like their appearance? Why or why not? How does this impact how they interact with others?
For many characters, health—or the lack thereof—plays a major role in their decision-making and motives. Think about your character’s health and the areas where they might be struggling.
Does your character drink regularly or have any addictions? Bad habits? Does your character smoke? Were they in any sort of traumatic accidents that have made their health a challenge?
Think about your character’s life up until the point were your story begins. What was it like?
Did they have a good or bad childhood? How were their teenage years? Are there any major changes between the way they grew up and the way they live now (i.e., changes in religion, place of residence, best friends, or social or economic status)? How does that influence their behavior and beliefs now?
In real life, background heavily influences the way a person acts and the choices they make, so the same should apply to your characters.
Relationships
What is your character’s relationship with the other people within the story? How do they feel about the other characters? This includes romantic relationships but also those with friends, family, and work colleagues.
Explore how these relationships and all the emotions that go with them impact how your character behaves.
Personality, mental characteristics, and emotional characteristics
What is your character’s personality? Are they shy? Hot-headed? Temperamental? Stubborn? Does your character prefer being around people just like them, or do they love variety?
When building your character profile, think of both your character’s emotional strengths, as well as your character’s emotional flaws.
Your character’s personality will directly play into their thorn, which leads us to…
Character thorns
A character thorn is something that’s stuck in your character’s side. It’s always there, paining them, nagging at them, making their life a little bit worse.
This thorn will eventually propel them to some sort of action and they’ll eventually learn to either live with, or remove, their thorn, but it needs to be there at the start of their fictional journey.
A character thorn could be a bad relationship with parents, a spouse that always outshines them, or a belief that they’ll never be quite good enough. Whatever it is, though, it’s something they can’t ignore.
Every character needs a desire. What do they want? Or, better yet, what do they want so badly that they’re going to end up going after it over the course of your story or novel?
This desire should make sense according to the other information that you’ve already inputted into your character bio template, such as background, thorn, personality, etc.
For example, a character who grew up in an impoverished household with an emotionally neglectful parent, who doted on their other siblings first and foremost, might desire a high-paying career that will allow them to outshine their sibling while also buying their impoverished parents a new house, thus winning their favor and proving themself better than the sibling.
Character development
Your character’s desire and thorn should play into your character’s arc and development. How will they change over the course of your story?
Consider writing up a brief description about your character’s existence at the start of the story—what their life looks like, both externally and internally—and then another brief description about where you’d like them to end up at the end of the story.
Mistakes to avoid when building character bios
As you consider the above details, make sure you avoid some of the most common mistakes that writers are likely to commit when building out, and then using, a character profile.
Using every single detail in a character bio template
This is the big one.
Yes, you’ll have a lot of valuable information in your character bio template. However, you don’t want to merely dump all of that information into your story as soon as you introduce a new character.
The reader doesn’t need—or want—to know all that information at once. They want to gradually learn that information as they get to know your character, over the course of the story.
Don’t dump everything about your characters’ appearances onto the page at once, either. Doing so can make a passage feel stilted and awkward.
After all, when you meet a person for the first time, you don’t automatically think about every color they’re wearing, every brand of clothing they have on, their hair color, eye color, weight, and face shape, all at once. Instead, you maybe notice a few stand-out features until something gives you reason to notice another detail of their appearance.
Do the same when you begin writing a character’s physical description.
Adding details that don’t make sense
Every part of your character’s life should make sense. Their personality, their decisions, their lifestyle—it’s all a result of things that have happened throughout their life.
Don’t pick personality traits or background information at random. With every character detail, ask yourself, why? Truly think about why your character is the way that they are, and ensure every detail is believable.
Does every character need a character bio?
You’ll find that many characters within your story don’t need a full character bio. Minor characters that only play a small role within your story don’t need to be fleshed out to this degree.
However, it’s advisable to create character bios for all of your main characters, and also your secondary characters , including love interests, villains and other characters whose actions heavily influence your main character and/or the plot of the story.
Remember—every character in a story, no matter how large or small their role, has a background, motives and goals. Sometimes, knowing all this and more can help you make the writing decisions that result in believable characters and plot lines.
The Scribophile character bio template
Need more help?
Download our character bio template for an easy, fill-in-the-blanks approach to character template building.
You’ll still need to thoroughly consider every aspect of your characters’ personalities, lives, backgrounds, motives, and more, but, with our character bio template and comprehensive list of questions, you’ll be that much closer to uncovering all the need-to-know details to bring your characters to life.
Download the Character Bio Template (docx)
Download the Character Bio Template (pdf)
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A character bio, also known as a character profile or character biography, is a brief overview of your character that you can provide to others prior to the start of a game or roleplay. It gives them an introduction to your character before the narrative actually begins, which makes it easier to create plots and interact between characters. ...
Here are some easy steps to use for the character bio generator: 1. Input a character description. In the provided text box, describe your character in detail. Include as many details as you'd like, such as their background history, personality traits, and motivations. 2.
A character bio is a document or template that outlines the biography of a character in a story. Commonly used in the form of a character sheet template, which includes in-depth questions that highlight the character's traits , descriptions, and journey, the character bio is used as a resource for the writer's reference.
Level Up Your Team. See why leading organizations rely on MasterClass for learning & development. Whether you're a screenwriter, novelist, or short story writer, using a character bio template can help you create vibrant, believable characters for your narrative.
Just Think AI Prompts for Character Bio Templates. When requesting a character bio template from Just Think AI, provide: Character details - name, age, descriptors, abilities etc. Genre and setting the character exists within. Character role in the story. Any special attributes or details about the character. Supplying this context allows Just ...
Reedsy's Character Profile Template. A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours. Download now. 1. Construct the character's outer appearance. To be able to identify a criminal, detectives build a painstakingly thorough file of said criminal's physical characteristics.
Only the first two sections of the character bio template/checklist (1. Summary and 2. Tags & Quirks) are needed for most characters. Delve deeper (elements 3 through 10) for just a few key characters. Don't fill out a "form" about your character.
A character bio, or character profile, is a few sentences or pages that make up your character's story. They help embellish your character's traits and aid in character development and mapping out your character's arc. The bio should give the person reading it a way to personally connect with the character. It should not matter whether or not ...
A character biography is a comprehensive written profile that provides a deeper understanding of your character's life, including their history, personality, relationships, and aspirations. It serves as a roadmap for writers to explore and develop their characters, ensuring consistency and depth throughout their stories. ...
Download our character bio template for an easy, fill-in-the-blanks approach to character template building. You'll still need to thoroughly consider every aspect of your characters' personalities, lives, backgrounds, motives, and more, but, with our character bio template and comprehensive list of questions, you'll be that much closer to ...