How To Create Fictional Characters, Part 2

This is the second in a series on creating fictional characters.  Part 1 covered an overview. You can download the full template as a Word doc or a PDF.

Personal Life

General History

Family & Upbringing

This includes place of birth, parents and siblings, quality of home life, general family status (wealth, position of power, reputation), and family jobs (is there a family business?).  More is below under “Relationships”.

Schooling

How far did they get and what did they study?  What kind of student (honor roll, flunking stuff, misfit, class clown, skipping classes, a drop out)?  Did they continue beyond mandatory schooling (like college) and why?  Did they know what they wanted or stumble into it?  Are they in debt from school?

Languages

What does he speak, read, write, and understand?  At what skill level does he have his native language and others?  What does he think of it when someone speaks another language around him (irritated?)?

Skills & Abilities

General

Is he good at anything and does that skill have value, or is it useless?  How long has he been good at it?  How did he learn (natural or taught)?  Does he know he’s good at it?  Is he glad or wish he wasn’t?  Did it make people jealous?  If so, how did he deal with that?

Profession

What does he do or hope to do?  Is he doing something other than what he wants?  How did he end up doing this?  Is he happy, indifferent, or upset about it?  How well does he do it?  Is there a difference between how well he thinks he does and others think?

Special

List anything special, unique, or unusual here, including things like disabilities or rare talents and abilities.

Limitations

Does he know his limits?  How did/will he find out?  What are they?

Art of World Building Banner

Relationships

Friends

Does he have friends?  How many?  For how long?  Do they truly know him or is he a loner despite the appearance of having friends?  Is there anything they don’t know?  Anything he wishes they knew or didn’t know?  Can he count on them?  Has he ever turned to them in despair and if so, how did they react?  Is he too damaged/hurt to trust anyone?

Enemies

Does he create enemies?  Why?  Do some people hate him and it’s not his fault (jealousy, for example)?  Has he defeated any enemies?  Does he fear them?  Do they fear him?  Will he ultimately destroy them or they him?  What is his fate on this?

Lovers

Is he married?  Divorced?  Living with someone?  At what age did he lose his virginity?  Has he experienced sexual trauma (rape, molestation) as victim or perpetrator, and how has this affected him?  Is he promiscuous?  Has he ever used a prostitute (would he?)?  What is his reputation?  Is he a great/bad/selfish lover?  Does he break hearts or get his broken?  Does he typically end it or get dumped?

Children

Does he have any children?  Does he know that?  How old?  Gender?  Problems with them?  Does he get along with them and their other parent and family?

Family

What impact have they had on him?  How many parents and siblings?  Alive or dead?

Relations with the Species

If there are other species, how does he get along with them?

Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Dragons
Ogres
Hobbits

Relations with Armed Forces

Do you knights, local guards, or other armed forces?  If so, does admire them or dislike them?  Has he had run-ins with any?  Has he been in jail?  A wanted man?

Local Guards
Knights

Part 3 focuses more on building a fantasy character, though it may apply to anyone who goes on “adventures”.

Author’s Shouldn’t Try to Be Funny in Their Bios

There’s a lot of advice on how to write a professional author bio, and here’s mine: don’t try to be funny or clever.  It seldom works.  It can also make you look juvenile, narcissistic, and unprofessional.  Here are some examples of bad Read More …

Evaluating Artist Feedback, Part 1

Whether a musician, author, or other artist, we’ve all received feedback on our work.  Obtaining meaningful feedback is an art all its own.  Sometimes we have to work at it, deciphering comments to figure out what someone means, so I’ve Read More …

Evaluating Artist Feedback, Part 2

This is part two of the blog about evaluating feedback on your writing or other artistic pursuits. Read part 1 here. Biased Feedback A person giving negative feedback can be biased in some way. We can sometimes tell from their Read More …

Getting My Book In Book Stores

When I decided to start self-publishing, people began asking me if I can get my book in stores, to which I’ve said no, not really. They almost always ask in amazement, “Don’t you want to see your novel in book Read More …

Guest Post: Unconventional Writing Tools

4 Unconventional Tools to Fix Common Creative Writing Problems by Guest Blogger Ethan Miller Once upon a time, there lived a writer who churned bestsellers after bestsellers without breaking a sweat. Words flowed out of him with such ridiculous ease Read More …

How Agents and Publishers Think About Manuscripts

Like most authors, I’ve submitted books to agents and either gotten no response or the form rejection letter. Well, let me be specific – I’ve sent a query letter, one page summary, and anywhere from 5 pages to 3 chapters Read More …

How to Create Fictional Characters, Part 1

Regardless of your genre, authors, screenwriters, and playwrights have much to think about when creating a character. One tool to help is a kind of fill-in-the-blanks template you can use for each one. I’ve developed a rather extensive one over Read More …

How To Create Fictional Characters, Part 2

This is the second in a series on creating fictional characters.  Part 1 covered an overview. You can download the full template as a Word doc or a PDF. Personal Life General History Family & Upbringing This includes place of Read More …

How To Create Fictional Characters, Part 3

If you’re creating a character for fantasy or another genre where they go adventuring, this part of the template may help you.  You can download the full template as a Word doc or a PDF or read Part 1 and Read More …

The Importance of Death

I watch a lot of SciFi (and when available, fantasy) on TV and in movies.  All too often, death means nothing.  A major character can be killed off and I just shrug, knowing they’ll be back, sometimes before the episode Read More …

Writers Block vs. Idea Block

Most authors have “writer’s block” at some point, but I suspect we’re often suffering from something I call “idea block”.  The definition of writer’s block is “the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to Read More …