Character profile: [Name]
For a minor character, At a glance, Want and need and Voice are enough.
In one sentence:
See an example character
Ines Calder, 41, harbour pilot in a North Sea fishing town
In one sentence: A harbour pilot who hasn't made a mistake in twenty years wants the contract for the new freight line, but winning it means working with the brother who knows what really happened the night their father's boat went down.
Want: The freight contract, and with it enough money to buy back her father's boat.
Need: To let someone else carry part of the weight, starting with her brother.
Wound: At sixteen she was at the helm when the family boat ran aground. Her father told the inquiry he was steering, and never sailed again.
The lie: “If I never get it wrong, nobody has to pay for me.”
Under pressure: Takes the wheel, literally and otherwise. In chapter 3 she pilots a ferry through fog rather than let the new man try.
Voice: Short sentences, harbour slang, never says sorry; changes the subject to the weather.
Arc: Positive. In the last act she hands her brother the helm in a storm, and tells the town the truth about that night.
At a glance
Full name | |
Age | |
Role in the story | |
Point of view | |
Occupation | |
Home | |
Archetype | |
First appears |
Appearance
Only what the story will mention.
First impression:
Build and coloring:
The detail readers remember:
Clothes:
How they move:
Personality
Aspect | Answer | How it shows in a scene |
Core traits | ||
Strengths | ||
Flaws | ||
Fears | ||
Under pressure | ||
Secret |
Want and need
Want:
Why they want it:
Need:
Stakes:
Make the want and the need pull apart. The want is a goal the character could visibly win or lose, on the page from the first chapter. The need is something they can't see yet. If getting one also gets them the other, there is no inner conflict, and the climax is only a contest.
Backstory and wound
Where they come from:
The wound:
Who knows about it:
The lie it taught them, in their own words:
Voice
Speech patterns:
Verbal habits:
Never says:
Inner voice:
Sample lines
At ease | |
Cornered | |
Lying |
Relationships
Name | Who they are to them | Tension between them | By the end |
Arc
Stage | What they believe | What they do | Chapter |
Start | |||
Turning point | |||
End |
Arc type:
Positive, negative or flat?
Positive: they trade the lie for the truth, and win something because of it.
Negative: they hold on to the lie, or swap it for a worse one, and fall.
Flat: they know the truth from the start, and the story changes the people around them instead.
Notes
Open questions, details fixed on the page, changes for revision.