10 Days of Character Building: Character Bio Sheets
October 30, 2007 by J.C. Hewitt
This is Day 10 of 10 Days of Character Building
We have reached the final day of character building, and I have saved one of the easiest character generation methods for last. The character bio sheet is not only a simple way to develop a character, it is a simple way to keep track of the characters you develop. When you are writing a longer work, such as a novel, it can be pretty easy to forget a minor character detail. If you aren’t careful, the blue eyes you described in chapter one can turn to brown eyes by the end of chapter twenty.
Using a character bio sheet, you can write down all of the essential details for your character and keep it in a single place so that you can check it and change it whenever you need to. As your story progresses and your characters continue to evolve, you can use this sheet to keep track of any changes you have made to the character. If you keep track of all your details on the bio sheet, your editing process will go much more smoothly.
When you fill out a bio sheet initially, don’t feel as if you have to include a detail for every category. For example, the lies category may be empty when you begin, but if your character is forced to tell a lie on page fifty-five you can add that to the sheet. On your first pass, fill out all of the details you are comfortable with and leave the rest. Also, feel free to add your own categories. My items are merely suggestions.
- Character Name / Nicknames / Aliases:
- Birth Date:
- Place of Birth:
- Residence:
- Height:
- Weight:
- Measurements:
- Clothing Sizes / Styles:
- Hair Color:
- Hair Length:
- Eye Color:
- Handedness :
- Jewelry:
- Tattoos:
- General Appearance:
- Relationship with Family:
- Key Family / Relatives:
- Relationship with Friends:
- Key Friends:
- Key Enemies:
- Educational History:
- Work History:
- Skills:
- Phobias / Fears:
- Bad Habits / Vices:
- Quirks:
- Best Qualities:
- Worst Qualities:
- Key Childhood Experiences:
- Key Teenage Experiences:
- Key Adult Experiences:
- Sexual Background:
- Favorites (food, clothing, art, music, TV show, movie, book, etc.)
- Personal Goals:
- Professional Goals:
- Morality / Ethics:
- Style of Speech:
- Commonly Used Words / Slang / Jargon:
- Lies / Misinformation:
- Other Important Details:
Related links
- 10 Days of Character Building: A Day in the Life (0.500)
- 10 Days of Character Building: Brainstorming (0.500)
- 10 Days of Character Building: Building a Character Using Multiple Perspectives (0.500)
- 10 Days of Character Building: 12 Questions (0.500)
- 10 Days of Character Building: Basing Characters on Real People (0.500)
I didn’t even think of us. Thank you.
The Priest
Character Name / Nicknames / Aliases: Father Bouchante’,
Birth Date: November 19, 1944
Place of Birth: Unknown
Residence: Lubbock, Texas
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 155
Measurements: works out, shoulders and abs, narrow hips, bulge in his pants
Clothing Sizes / Styles: blue, brown, umber, ochre, likes overalls and white t-shirts or solid black, sometimes gray leather vest,
Hair Color: blackish brown, graying temples
Hair Length: long pony tail braid pulled straight back
Eye Color: dark brown
Handedness : left handed
Jewelry: silver cross
Tattoos: none
General Appearance: varies from neat to scruffy
Relationship with Family: family all deceased but was close to mother
Key Family / Relatives: Mother, two brothers, one sister
Relationship with Friends many close friends in his youth, only one presently
Key Friends: everyone
Key Enemies: gets along with everyone, several dark enemies from the past
Educational History: college and martial arts training
Work History: service industries, he is alledgedly a Priest of a Greek Orthodox church, black belt Kajekimbo, Akido and Tang Soo Do Sensai
Skills: primitive crafts, martial arts
Phobias / Fears: afraid of commitment, wife is an unexpected contradiction
Bad Habits / Vices: isolates, sometimes fails to communicate,
Quirks: no automobile, rides a bycicle, wants no children
Best Qualities: loyal, trustworthy, mentors adults and children
Worst Qualities: elusive, secretive,
Key Childhood Experiences: violent death of father
Key Teenage Experiences: being small and having help to raise brothers and sister
Key Adult Experiences: abandonment by first lovek, lived with nomadic Indians of the Southwest and learned to tan hides
Sexual Background: heterosexual, drawn to large women, early sexual identify ambiguous
Favorites (food, clothing, art, music, TV show, movie, book, etc.) classics, Japanese, salsa,
loves coffee, catfish, loves to walk by the water, reads the bible and indigenous American Indian stories and history,
makes his own art, frequents garage sales, movies with Jim Carrie, and likes small animals, fenches fly down and sit on his shoulders
Personal Goals: none
Professional Goals: none
Morality / Ethics: no threesomes, but will fool around with married women or anybody willing,
has had impromptu sex on an elevator with a stranger
Style of Speech: assertive
Commonly Used Words / Slang / Jargon: Educated, extensive vocabulary
Lies / Misinformation: is not an ordainied priest, is not really married to his wife
Other Important Details: says he is Italian and French, he is actually Mexican
Connie, these details already make him a fascinating character!
Dear John, Cheryl and anyone else doing NaNo – all the best, have fun!
I’ll catch up with posting some of these exercises in the next few days.
John,
These character building posts have been absolutely wonderful. I have not taken time to do all this work, as I have suddenly got dumped on at work; hoever, U know where to look when I start working my characters.
Thank you veyr much
I’ve been writing for a long time now, and I used to find that the further I got into a story, I tended to forget details of my characters. So then, I end up going back and re-writing a lot so that the story flows correctly. Using your idea for character bio sheets really helped because now I can just go back and refer to each characters bio sheet. Thanks a million!
[...] 10 Days of Character Building: Character Bio Sheets [...]
This is a very simple character building activity. So simple that you could give it to children to help them write. It creates a more realistic character and also keeps your stories straight!
Kids Craft Zones last blog post..Mother’s Day Flowers!
Hi. Thanks for this very helpful site. I’m also working on my first novel. Just like all the aspirant novelists out there, you’ll never know where you’ll end up with your first book. Either in the bookstores’ shelves or in the trash cans. It’s could go either way, and it’s really up to the writers to increase the percentages of getting their first book published. Keep the invaluable information coming. Regards. JPB.
Julius P. Bantigues last blog post..The Real Reason Why Filipinos Leave And Criticize The Philippine Upon Their Return (Part 2)
What a great disciplined approach to character development! Just don’t let your notes get out on the internet or all the high school kids and college freshman who have to read your novel are going to get an easy “A” on their next report. But seriously, what is it that we remember about great novels? It’s the people and how we might relate or admire them.
really helpful :3
I’ve been stuck on this one fellow of mine XD
this looks amazing, i’ve got to do some MAJOR work on my character bios and the basic storyline. this helps so much!