Character Profile

How to use the xTiles character profile template to create an interesting and likable character?

Here, you can find a character profile template based on many researches and compilations. In an attempt to present you with something that will work, we checked dozens and dozens of them. So, let’s start creating your next character together. But first, here are a couple of suggestions about using the template.

1. Put everything in. Now, when you’re at the beginning of creating your character, you can’t precisely know what will be helpful and what won’t. So, put everything that seems at least interesting or worth a second glance in your character profile. By working on it later and developing it, you will see what is worth using and what is unsuitable.
2. If you use the xTiles character profile, it will be easy to rearrange everything later when you’re more aware of how your character should look. You can delete anything you want without any harm to the whole picture. And if you decide that your character doesn’t need something that you thought to be crucial earlier, just delete it. No crossings. The profile won’t be ruined as if you would use a paper notebook or a character profile template for Google Docs, where one accidental movement might spoil lining, tables, justifying, etc.
3. Additionally, if you want to develop some aspect of your character better and think about it more carefully, you may go deeper and create a sub-document. You may dive into your characters, giving them everything they need to look real to a reader. Besides, your ideation process won’t be limited because you can freely add textual content, rich content, links, etc., to get a better understanding of the person you’re writing about, therefore, better represent them to others.
4. Make a separate profile for every important character. If you want to be convincing, you need to pay attention to every character in your story. Even those who shortly emerge for a few pages must be interesting. Don’t deprive them of background stories, memories, and curious little details. Naturally, you don’t need to put as much effort into them as the main characters require, but their role is still hugely important for the picture in general. Think about them as supporting roles, and remember that those get Oscars and Golden Globes too.

Now, let’s switch to more specific suggestions and start outlining a character we want to get in the end.

1. Decide on what character you will work on – protagonist (the main character in your story), antagonist (a character or group of characters that stand opposite your protagonist), anti-hero (may still be your central character but without traditional heroic attributes), foil (a character who will make your main hero features more noticeable), or confidante (a character what will know your main hero the best).

Before you decide on this one, please remember that every story is unique, and there are no rules that can force you to create characters of the needed types only so that the story will work. Whether it works or not depends on many factors and their combinations. So, be inventive. Let your imagination free and enjoy.

2. Now, we need to get the main information about your character – name, age, place of birth, current place of residence, nationality, marital status, education, etc. These formal details are needed to put your character in a frame where they will develop further and, maybe, go beyond it during the process or as a catharsis in the end.

Guides on character profile creation often claim this part is the easiest one. Well, it may be if you already have some ideas about your character profile. However, they are starting points, so please don’t neglect them. The person’s nationality, education, or social status are often catalysts for a story’s development, so they should be polished and well-thought-out.

3. The next step is to imagine how your characters look. Their height, eyes color, hair color, etc. You may find someone whose physical appearance matches your character on the internet and put their photo in the profile. It may be a celebrity or a person you know.

What is important about this step, you need to think about whether your character will have distinguishing marks or not. Do you want them to have scars or tattoos, for example? Will it help to represent them better and show their individuality? Do they wear a certain piece of clothing or accessories constantly? All these small details make a character alive.

4. Now, let’s decide on your character’s main characteristics. Are they soft, scared, brave, ignorant, funny, self-destructive, boring, tired, depressed, curious….? You may try to combine a couple of characteristics if you want to create a complicated multi-layer character. Don’t be scared to blend those that don’t combine at first glance. For example, it may seem that a person can’t be funny and depressed at the same time, but it may be their inner struggle.
5. It’s time to come up with the character’s backstory and biography before the story begins or they emerge in it. Did they love their parents? How did their school years pass? What music did they like when they were younger? Remember to use your imagination and use little accents every now and then to make the character seem real.
6. What can make a fictional character seem even more real? Think about their quirks and flaws. What do they like or dislike doing? What can’t they stop doing? Maybe there is something strange about the character’s behavior that even you can’t understand fully. All details are important.
7. Finally, outline who your character is in the beginning and whom you would like them to see at the end of the story. Everything in the middle will be the work to do, but at least you will see where to move. However, remember that everything may change. You don’t have to stick to your initial idea if you see that your character moves in other directions.
8. And one last time, we would like to remember that let no rules or conventional ideas limit your imagination. Create freely using the xTiles character template!

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