Creating an Awesome Fiction Character Profile Worksheet

By Mary Kole

Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.

Creating a compelling character is one of the most critical elements of writing a great novel. Without a well-crafted protagonist, your story may fall flat. Fortunately, crafting a comprehensive character profile worksheet can help you avoid one-dimensional characters and ensure your protagonist and supporting cast come to life. In this article, I’ll explore everything you need to know about creating a character profile worksheet and how to avoid common character craft mistakes.

What Is a Character Profile Worksheet?

A character profile worksheet is a tool for brainstorming and outlining the essential elements of your character. The worksheet may consist of several simple questions to more complex prompts designed to build your character's backstory, present situation and goals, and personality. Creating a profile worksheet for each of your major characters before beginning your writing process can help you understand your character's motivations, avoid continuity mistakes, and develop more nuanced, layered characters. Win-win-win!

The Ingredients of a Character Profile Worksheet

When drafting a character profile worksheet, consider their backstory, goals, values and beliefs, personality traits, physical attributes, and emotional makeup. Answering questions like "What does your character want?" "What are their fears?" and "How do they react under pressure?" can help you develop characters that are fully realized and relatable to your readers. (Notice I’m not asking you about their favorite music or hobby—those are preferences and aren’t characterizing, defining personal qualities.)

Questions to Ask When Creating a Character Profile Worksheet

When creating a character profile worksheet, it's essential to delve deep into your character's psyche, backstory, inner struggle, and current situation, to bring them to life. Here are some questions that can help you gain clarity and insight into the character's motivations and personality:

  • What are your character's primary objectives and motivations?

  • What need or wound lurks beneath the surface?

  • What are your character's strengths and weaknesses at various stages of the plot?

  • What is your character's biggest fear?

  • What is your character's emotional makeup?

  • What is your character's backstory?

  • How does your character respond to conflict?

  • What are your character's relationships like?

How to Execute a Character Profile Worksheet

Once you've developed a character profile worksheet for each of your major characters, it's time to use that information to create compelling and multi-dimensional characters. Use your character's backstory, motivations, and personality traits to guide their actions and reactions in each scene in a cause-and-effect chain over the course of their character arc. Remember to let your character's emotional makeup shine through via showing as they work their way through the plot, rather than just telling your readers how they feel.

To ensure you develop a well-rounded character, make sure your profile worksheet includes information about your character's:

  • Physical attributes

  • Personality traits

  • Backstory

  • Motivations

  • Fears and limitations

  • Relationships

  • Emotional makeup

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Your Character Profile Worksheet

There are a few common mistakes writers make when developing their character profile worksheets. Avoid these to ensure your characters are nuanced, relatable, and multidimensional. The mistakes to avoid include:

  • Making your characters too perfect and unrelatable

  • Leaving out crucial backstory information

  • Making all of your characters the same

  • Giving each character one key attribute without any nuance or contradiction

Crafting a character profile worksheet can feel daunting at first, but it's essential to creating a compelling novel. Remember to develop layered characters and avoid common mistakes to ensure your readers stay engaged and connect with your story's protagonist and cast of secondary characters.

Click here to purchase Writing Interiority: Crafting Irresistible Characters, my book on interiority and character creation. Explore your protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, reactions and interpretations, expectations, and inner struggles to create a rich, immersive experience. This guide will empower you to create characters who live and breathe on the page, fostering an unbreakable bond with your audience.