Character Sheets for Great Fiction Characters

Learn How to Create Realistic Fiction Characters with Character Sheets

When I was a teenager, my friends and I would all go over to Joe’s house, head down into his basement, and become different characters for the evening. We played the popular role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. In a role-playing game (RPG), each person takes on the persona of a character in the story: a fighter, a wizard, a thief, or whoever else he or she wants. Sitting around the big table on mismatched chairs, we each had a couple of things in front of us: a can of Jolt Cola or Mountain Dew, a bag full of strange dice, and a character sheet.

The character sheet is the important part. It told us everything we needed to know about our character in order to play them convincingly.

When a writer sits down to craft a short story or novel, one of the most important tasks is to be able to write their characters convincingly. In order to do this, a writer might want to take a cue from the teenage role-players. Use a character sheet.

The more you know about your character, the easier it will be to have them act, speak and respond in believable and appropriate ways in your story.

Character Basics

1. Full Name
2. Nicknames – who, what, and why?
3. Age
4. Physical description – height, weight, coloration
5. Career
6. Hobbies
7. Education level
8. Family, friends, and love interests
9. Style of clothing, accessories
10. Where do they live?

The Character’s Past

1. Family dynamics
2. What kind of grades did they get?
3. Were they teased, the teaser, or neither as a child?
4. Any significant trauma? (Accident, abuse)
5. Any emotional upheaval? (Divorce, death of a friend)

The Character’s Strengths and Weaknesses

By now, this should be easy to figure out. Your character’s strengths and weaknesses will depend largely on their history and their basic information. Basically, this asks you to describe HOW the character dealt with the things that happened in the past. It will, in turn, tell you how they will deal with them in the future.