Creating character sheets can help develop your characters into full fledged people. Before you know it, you’ll have things to slip in about your characters that surprise even you. You can find out that your quiet middle-aged librarian is really into hockey and EDM. It happens. Character sheets can also help you keep track of the little things. The stupid tiny details that you forget and make you want to scream. Like what the name of your character’s guinea pigs are. That isn’t something you want to forget.

📌 Start with the basics.
Write down the simple things – what your character might have on their IDs, what they fill out on application forms. Name, nicknames, gender and pronouns, age (approximate is okay), birthday, height and weight, distinguishing physical features, if they wear glasses or contacts, what languages they speak or otherwise know, and if you want, the MBTI personality type that best describes your character. These are basic things that you’ll want to keep consistent. You won’t want to forget that yes, your character does wear dark glasses so no, you can’t write about what their eyes are up to.

📌 Move onto the external.
What’s your character’s place in the world? Specifically, look at the relationships they have with other people. Your character’s family, marital status, sexuality, significant others, pets, closest friend(s), other friends, enemies, other relationships, ethnicity and/or race, and religion are all good things to consider. If you’re working on two or more characters, keep in mind that the relationships one character values might not be the same as the other person. Just because Person A considers Person B a close friend, Person B might not think of Person A that way. Play around. Some of the best conflict in stories can come from knowing how your characters interact.

📌 Get physical.
Not fighting your characters (unless you want to), rather dig into their physical presence. You’ve already covered how they look generally. Now you want to look at the other details, the kinds of things a good actor or con artist could change in an instant. To start, figure out what their diction (word choice) is like, how fast they talk, if they have any natural accents, and other speech patterns. Do they have any particular mannerisms (behaviors)? What’s their general demeanor like? You can also look at how they groom themselves, what their usual physical posture is, what gestures they make often (including nervous tics), and what their handwriting looks like. All of these details can make it easier for you to describe your character, and thus create a stronger image for your reader to imagine.

📌 Work, home, and other fun things.
Find out your character’s education level and any degrees earned. What’s their job? Do they like it? Where have they worked in the past? What’s their financial situation? Figure out where they live. That can be the country, the city, or right down to the street number, if that’s what you want. Are they an owner or renter? Do they live with anyone else? What do their main living and working spaces look like? Are there any other places where they spend a lot of time? How do they usually get to all these places (car, bus, horse and carriage, private helicopter, etc.)?

📌 Likes and dislikes.
This is a fun one. And often quite challenging. Don’t let it fool you. Figuring out what characters like and dislike. Like hobbies. Some people don’t even consider themselves to have hobbies. It’s your job to figure out what your characters do in their free time. Even if their hobby is just vibing. What are their eating habits and food preferences? What’s their sleep schedule like? What kinds of books, music, TV, and other entertainment do they like? Any specific titles? You’ll also want to think a little about how they dress. It can be as simple as what kind of shirts and pants they wear, or as detailed as a link to a Pinterest board. If there’s any special accessories that are important, like wedding rings or other mementos, make sure to make a note of that too.

📌 Become a doctor.
Not literally. Just a WebMD doctor, if you get really into it. What’s the general health status of your character? Are they perfectly dandy, on death’s door, or somewhere in between? Any allergies, chronic conditions (including mental kinds), disabilities, or addictions? Do they take medications – or magic suppressant potions? Your call. If relevant, a detailed medical history might help you keep track of more complex backgrounds. Just don’t define a character entirely by their mental/physical ability levels. People are complex. Your characters should be too.

📌 Get inside their head.
Time for the fun part. Figure out what it’s like to be inside your character’s brain. Ask about their fears and their secrets. Find out their general outlook on life and humanity/people, and how they approach both. I write a lot of surly-ass cynics with hearts of gold. What makes them the most comfortable? Most uncomfortable? Their greatest wish, greatest fear, greatest strength, greatest weakness? What otherwise stresses them out? Consider their political/ideological stance, both in relation to specific parties (if applicable) or general ideas. What would they think about welfare programs? Race and gender? Global trading? Go big or dig deep. Ask what they value. Find their prejudices, fair or not. You don’t have to like everything about your character. That said, other characters won’t love everything about any given person, either. Investigate what other characters think about your character. Discover what your character thinks about themself. Any conflict between the two? Capitalize on it. Fascinate yourself by asking your characters how they feel about free will and fate. It’s rarely a simple answer, but it can define many of their actions and reactions. How does a believer in free will justify bad decisions? How do the faithful hold their faith after tragedy strikes? If you want to get really deep, ask how your character themself would react to being asked about any of these things. What would they lie about? What do they want to believe about who they are?

📌 If there’s anything else relevant to your character that you haven’t included, write it down! Remember, character sheets are for your reference. Don’t skip this.

If you’re lost for plot points later on in your process, character sheets can help you find the little bits of conflict and humanity that make fresh ideas smash into your brain. Those weird hobbies you vaguely mentioned? Well, turns out the heist needs a badminton expert now. Those guinea pigs? Your character has a side gig photographing theme for Instagram. It’s your character. Go with it. The better you know your character, the easier it is for them to tell you their story.

There are many character sheets (templates) available online. Download them and craft a detailed sketch, it will surely help in long run.

To the participants: You have already been added to a drive folder where the character sheet has been provided. You can make a copy of the doc and use it.

Keep writing!