Template
Character profile template
One page per character, plus a tracking sheet for the whole cast at once. Copy either into Notion, Google Docs, Scrivener, or a text file — no signup, no email, nothing to download.
The tracking sheet
Before the profiles, the grid. One row per character, and the whole cast visible at once — this is the thing you will actually check while drafting, because opening it costs nothing.
| Name | Role | First ch. | POV? | Last seen | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nel Harrow | Protagonist | 1 | Yes | Ch 31 | Alive, resigned |
| Davey Okonjo | Antagonist | 4 | No | Ch 29 | Arrested |
| Ruth Harrow | Sister | 2 | No | Ch 30 | Estranged |
| Ellis Pike | Ally | 9 | Yes | Ch 27 | Dead (ch 27) |
Example rows from an invented mystery, to show the shape. The “last seen” column is the one that earns its keep: a character nobody has mentioned for eleven chapters is either forgotten or deliberately absent, and you should know which.
The profile
Identity
The facts a reader could contradict you on. Cite the chapter that establishes each one.
- Name, and every alias, nickname, title or misspelling used for them
- Age, and the chapter that states it
- Where they are from, and where they live now
- Job, or what pays for their life
- Family and household
On the page
Only what has actually been written. Everything else is a plan, and plans change.
- First chapter they appear in
- Physical details as described — eye colour, height, scars, the things you will forget
- How they dress, and what that costs them
- Distinguishing habit, tic, or object
- Chapters they appear in
Voice
The section that saves a book. Two characters with the same voice read as one character.
- Sentence length: clipped, flowing, or somewhere between
- Vocabulary and register — who they talk like
- Words and phrases they use often
- What they never say, and why
- How they behave when they lie
Motivation
Want is what they will tell you. Need is what the book is about.
- What they want, stated out loud
- What they actually need
- What they are afraid of
- What they would not do, and the chapter where they do it anyway
- What they have to lose
Knowledge
Most plot holes are somebody knowing something one chapter too early.
- What they know at the start
- What they learn, and the chapter they learn it
- What they still do not know at the end
- What they believe that is wrong
Relationships
One line per person. Track the change, not the label.
- Who, and what they are to each other at the start
- What they are by the end
- The chapter the relationship turns
- What each one wants from the other
What to skip
Most character templates on the internet ask for zodiac sign, favourite colour, and what is in the character's bag. Filling those in feels like progress, which is exactly the problem: it is writing-adjacent work that produces no book. If a detail will never reach the page and will never constrain a scene, it is not worth a field.
The sections above are the ones that get contradicted in real manuscripts — names, ages, eye colour, who knew what and when. That is what a profile is for.
Common questions
How detailed should a character profile be?
Detailed enough that you never contradict yourself, and no more. A profile listing a character's favourite childhood breakfast is procrastination unless the breakfast appears in the book. Record what is on the page, and what you need to keep straight.
What is a character tracking sheet?
A single grid covering every character at once — name, first chapter, POV or not, current status — as opposed to a profile, which is one page per person. Most writers need both: the profile for depth, the sheet to see the whole cast without opening twelve documents.
Should I fill this in before writing?
Fill in the motivation section before, and everything else during. Appearance and voice details invented in advance rarely survive contact with a draft, and a profile that disagrees with the manuscript is worse than no profile, because you will trust it.
How do I keep character details consistent across a long book?
Cite the chapter beside every fact. When two entries disagree, the citation tells you which one the reader actually saw, which turns an argument with yourself into a lookup.