Character Bio Template: How to Create a Character Bio Template

A character bio template is a document that compiles all the details of a character’s life (such as physical characteristics and backstory). Creating a character profile helps writers clarify a character’s personality, making their behavior within the story relatable to the reader.

A character bio template can help you understand all aspects of your characters, giving you a sense of how they may react under the pressures of the events they encounter. Without a clear sense of a character’s identity, values, and fears, the reader will be unable to appreciate the significance of plot events, and your story will have less impact. A character profile template will help you:

• Avoid story inconsistencies: If you label a character as uptight, but their behavior isn’t consistently tense or uneasy, it will pull the reader out of the reading experience. Knowing your character’s traits will help you avoid disparities in the story.
• Flesh out your character: Answering detailed life questions aids in character development and provides a guide to your character’s arc within the story. A character worksheet will help you create three-dimensional people who feel real to both you and the reader. Learn more about character arcs.
• Improve the reader’s experience: Fully detailed main characters are more believable than clichés. Lean into creating clear-cut characters who differ from one another in authentic, specific ways. Learn more about writing realistic characters.
• Reference your character as you write: Having an easy-to-read character biography at your fingertips will smooth the writing process, freeing you up to concentrate on the story.

Depending on the character’s prominence in your story, you can go as in-depth with character exploration as you feel appropriate. Use a software program, download a free template, or handwrite your template in a notebook, whatever feels comfortable to you. Follow this step-by-step guide to create a character biography for your character:

1. 1. Start with general information. Write down broad details about the character, including their full name, date of birth, and nationality.
2. 2. Add details about physical appearance. Describe the character’s physical traits, including hair color, hairstyle, eye color, height, body type, skin tone, and mannerisms. Do they have scars, birthmarks, or a limp? How did they get them? Do they like or dislike how they look? Are they neat or slovenly? Add as much information as possible.
3. 3. Define the character’s personality traits. Describe their likes, dislikes, and pet peeves. Is your character an introvert or an extrovert? Are they kind or cruel? Are they an optimist, a pessimist, or somewhere in between?
4. 4. Outline the character’s health. Include details such as disabilities and addictions. Are they an athlete? What do they like to eat? How is their sleep hygiene?
5. 5. Describe your character’s family and close relationships. Are they young and still living with their parents? Do they have a significant other, children, parents, siblings, and friends? Describe the character’s relationship with each important person in their life. Is it a good relationship or contentious?
6. 6. Add details about their education and career. Describe their career, including their job title and specific duties at work. Are they educated? Did they go to college? Do they like their job? Do they have dreams of doing something else with their life?
7. 7. Illustrate their personal preferences and opinions. What is your character’s political point of view? What kind of music, food, and entertainment do they like? What are their religious beliefs and cultural interests? Do they have hobbies? Do they play an instrument?
8. 8. Recount their backstory. Where was your character before this story began? Where will they be at the end? Are they happy with where they are in life at the moment? What are the most important life events in the character’s story up to this point? Learn how to write compelling character backstories.
9. 9. Review the information you’ve written and add more as needed. You may discover new traits and information about the character once you start writing.

Keep these helpful tips in mind as you create your character bio template:

1. 1. Outline your story first. Before plunging into character biographies, outline the main plot. Creating a story outline first will help you choose characters that best serve the story you want to tell. Learn how to outline your novel.
2. 2. Answer as many character-defining questions as you can. Take the time to develop your character fully. Ask and answer questions until you feel you know your character personally.
3. 3. Avoid including all the biography details in the actual story. Keep your story moving by only including information the reader must know to understand and engage with the character. It’s not necessary to include every detail from your character biography in the story itself.
4. 4. Create a map of your character’s story arc. This map follows the emotional life and development of your character. What do they learn by the end of the story? What steps must they go through to get there? Get Judd Apatow’s tips on character development.
5. 5. Practice writing as the character. It’s helpful to write some pages as the character, separate from the story writing, to get their point of view into your head. You can also try a written “interview” with the character to get a more profound sense of who they are.

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