CHARACTER BIO PASTUDIO

• Character Name
• Nickname / Alias
• Date of Birth
• Place of Birth
• Residence
• General Appearance
• Height
• Weight
• Measurements
• Clothing Sizes
• Clothing Choices
• Hair Color
• Hair Length
• Eye Color
• Handedness
• Jewelry
• Tattoos / Marks
• Role in the Story
• Key Relationships
• Education
• Work History
• Skills
• Phobias / Fears
• Bad Habits / Vices
• Quirks
• Best Qualities
• Worst Qualities
• Key Childhood Experiences
• Key Teenage Experiences
• Key Adult Experiences
• Sexual Background
• Favorites (food, clothing, art, music, TV show, movie, book)
• Goals and Motivations
• Morality / Ethics
• Style of Speech
• Words/Slang/Jargon
• Additional Information

• Name: At least first and last. If your character has an alias, you may want to
include that as well.
• Gender: This could be anything, really. Most authors stick to male and female,
but gender is a heck-of-a-lot more complicated than that.
• Sexual Orientation: The importance of sexual orientation changes depending
on the story you wish to tell. For instance, a character’s sexual orientation is
extremely important in a Romance novel, but less so in an Action/Adventure
story where no love interest is ever introduced.
• Age: You can fudge here by saying something like, “Fergus is in his early
fifties” or “Jan had recently had her sixth 29th birthday in a row”. Age may
 change how relatable a character is to your readers and drive how they deal with
the world. Make sure to include it.
• Class/Status: A character’s class or status will determine a lot of things about
him or her, especially the way he or she feels about money and his or her
customs, traditions, privilege, and treatment of other socioeconomic classes.
• Physical Description: Be sure to include things like skin, hair, and eye color.
Mention scars or tattoos, piercings, clothing choice, height, weight, and overall
physical attractiveness. If they are from a particular region with identifying
characteristics, you may want to relay those as well.
• Quirks: Does he or she have a personal item that is always with him or her?
Does your character have a nervous tick or else collect model trains? - habits,
phobias*, hobbies, diseases*, and addictions*. Quirks make characters more
rounded and are outward displays of their personality.
• Morality: A character’s morality often describes their role in a story. Lose
morals may signal that the character is an antagonist, while right-mindedness is
more of a protagonist trait. Signaling a character’s morality may be as simple as
outright stating, “My character is moral” or giving an example like, “James
would jump in front of a subway train to save a baby”.
• Personality Strengths/Weaknesses: We call these Virtues and Vices. This is
one of the more important things about a character to get right. Personality will
determine whether or not a character is relatable to the reader on a much grander
scale than age or gender ever could, and it is vital for characters to be
multifaceted. For example, a character concerned with Justice (one of the Seven
High Virtues) may also be stubborn and a bit outspoken. It is important to note
the strengths and the weaknesses here, as no character is ever wholly good or
evil.
• Skills: Basically, what is your character good at? Does he or she have any
learned or inherent skills (like carpentry, firewood gathering, or magical ability)
that separate him or her from the crowd? Even if many characters in your story
have similar skills, make sure to describe how this character’s skillset differs
from everyone else’s.
• Education: Education does not necessarily mean intelligence (intellect is a
strength), but the kind of education, where the character got it, and why is often
important to the story. For example, language plays an important role in a story
with dialogue, as the character must speak and be understood. The language the
character uses, whether he or she has a broad vocabulary or even if he or she is
able to speak the same language as other characters, all derives from the
education he or she received. Class may play a part in education, and a
character’s skills will certainly be affected by his or her education.
• Likes/Dislikes: This is everything from how the character takes his or her tea to
any prejudices he or she has. Where does he or she like to go? What does your
character like to do? What sort of people does he or she prefer? Like and dislikes
are heavily driven by everything else on this list. Keep the rest of your
character’s bio in mind as you write about their likes and dislikes.
• Childhood/Backstory: Where is your character from? What language does he
or she speak? What sort of parents does he or she have? What was his or her
childhood like? Anything that got your character from birth to the beginning of
the story is backstory, and you can toss in some family or cultural history as
well.
 • Profession: What does your character do to earn a living? If he or she does not
work, address this. A character’s profession takes up most of their adult life, so
it’s important that the reader knows what they do and how seriously they take it.
• Relationships: Relationships are complicated. Talk about your character’s
relationship to anyone they come into contact with regularly and who has a large
impact on their life at the beginning of the story. Ideally, you should mention
someone your character gets along with and someone he or she definitely
doesn’t get along with. Also, it’s a good idea to mention any romantic interests
he or she has at the beginning of the story, his or her relationship with
immediate family, and how he or she does with being alone and in crowds of
strangers (this ties in with strengths and weaknesses).
• Location: Where is the character? If he or she was born there, mention this
(“Lily had never been out of Toronto”). Is he or she starting out in a new place?
The location of the character often tells the reader the location of the story.
Don’t overlook this. Even if he or she starts out blindfolded in an undisclosed
location, the character is still in a location.
• Time Period: When does this person live? Time period and location are
technically setting, but they weigh heavily on a character, so be sure to include
them.
• Religious Beliefs: Whether or not a character’s religious beliefs play a huge part
in the story, it’s often good to know what they feel about God(s) in their world.
We’d also categorize superstitions under religious beliefs, even though these are
usually defined as quirks (see above). If your character’s beliefs aren’t important
to the story, feel free to omit them from the description; if they are, don’t forget
to mention them!
• Fantastical Traits: Is this character magical? Can he or she time travel or do
anything that normal human beings are scientifically incapable of doing? If we
know at the onset (or it’s not a huge spoiler to mention) that your character is
fantastical in some way, tell us! Like skills and quirks, fantastical traits set your
character apart.
• Goals: This item is last, but it should really be first. More important even than a
name, a character’s goals drive the plot. You should make at least one of his or
her goals clear in your bio.

ASPECTS!

• Physiological --height, weigth, age, sex, body colors (eye, hair, skin), age, sex,
race, health, gear, clothing style. Pretty or ugly, short or tall, fat or skinny, etc.
Identifying features.
• Sociological --social class, where they grew up, type of school they attended,
groups they were a part of, how they interact with people, childhood, parents'
attitudes. Lots of friends or few friends, introverted or extroverted, assertive or
passive. Past experiences that have affected them. Their heroes. Write their
resume.
• Psychological (The true make-up of a character and each point affects strongly
how your character interacts)--Fears. Guilts. Wants and Goals. Aptitudes.
Special abilities. Talents. Habits. Irritability. (possibly) Mental illnesses. How
they view themselves. Favorite phrases and words. Reasoning and Beliefs.