If you imagine your favorite novels, they probably all have memorable heroes. Detailed and realistic characters are at the heart of every good story. In order to create detailed characters, you need to consider every part of a character's story, from their age to how they speak. This is why it is crucial to build character profiles for your characters. A character profile is a catalog of everything you know about your characters. A character profile (or portrait) is a record of their personality traits, physical appearance, motivations, fears, and much more. A character profile is essential to writing a detailed character, so continue reading about how to write an efficient character profile.
Why Should you Create a Character Profile?
Creating a character profile is a great way to map out a character's life and create detailed characters. In a character profile, you officially define a character's role, basic information, appearance, backstory, goals, fears, and much more. A character profile compiles everything you need to know about a character in one place. In order to have a successful story and detailed characters, it is important to make a character profile.
6 Elements of a Good Character Profile
Creating a character profile is essential for your characters and the reader. Here are the main topics to consider when crafting a character profile:
Character Information
The first thing to do is determine the character's role in the story. By assigning specific roles to your characters, it will be easier to write about them and choose who the POV is. The main character roles in a novel are typical: the protagonist, antagonist, sidekick, love interest, and villain.
Fundamental Information
It is critical to identify the basic and fundamental information about your character. This category doesn't include their backstory or deepest motivations, instead, it is the information that is essential to their being. Consider who your character is in the moment, before thinking about what shaped them. Ask yourself about how your character would behave in the present. It is important to remember, that your characters should feel real and relatable to readers, they should not be perfect. Trust me, your readers will thank you for it. Basic information to know:
Full Name
Nickname?
Age
Accent
Birth Order
Nationality
Race
Current residence
Occupation
Income/Salary
Do they have kids?
Physical Details
Understanding the physical characteristics of your characters will be extremely helpful for you and your readers. Consider a character’s appearance and how their look may alter their interactions with others. You don't need to know everything about their physical look, but you should be able to have a clear image in your mind. You probably won't describe every part of a character's look in detail, but you should know what they look like. Here are aspects of a character's image you should determine:
Height
Weight
Body type
Fitness
Skin color
Hair color
Hairstyle
Eye color
Glasses?
Freckles?
Unique features
Backstory
As humans, the events we experience help shape our lives. Your character should be the same. As you craft your character, make sure you know about their past and the experiences they have endured. For example, your character may be shaped by where you grew up. Maybe it is a dramatic event they went through? Whatever aspect of their past it may be, get to know your character’s story and history. By identifying their backstory you are sure to learn what motivates them and what scares them. Listed are things you should know about their past:
Accomplishments
Birthdate
Birth order
Family members
Education
How was their childhood?
How are their familial relationships?
Have they endured anything dramatic?
Failures
What motivates them?
Childhood home town
Personality
In addition to your character’s physical appearance, you need to know their personality. Everyone has their own, unique personality, so your character should too! Ask yourself these questions: what annoys your character? What is their personality type? Are they adventurous? Do they follow or lead? Do they have particular vices? What do they enjoy doing? Do they have any fears or phobias? Continue reading for things to know for detailed characters.
Are they an introvert or an extrovert?
What annoys them?
Do they anger easily?
Do they follow or lead?
How smart are they?
Are they spontaneous or organized?
What do they fear?
What gets them excited?
What are their favorite hobbies?
What are their talents?
Are they confident or insecure?
Emotional Characteristics
Layering in emotional characteristics is much harder than choosing their physical appearance, but you need to. Emotional characteristics are what your character feels and thinks. If you conjure the emotional characteristics of your character, your character will appear well-rounded and realistic. Here are emotional characteristics you should know about your characters:
What are their strengths?
What are their weaknesses?
What motivates them to live?
What do they fear?
How do they deal with conflict?
What are their secrets?
What makes them smile?
What do they long for in life?
How do they deal with sadness?
How is their mental health?
What mannerisms do they have?
As you create your characters, make sure you have answers to all the questions asked above. By answering these questions, you are sure to create a detailed character. For more tips on writing characters, click on the button below.
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