You know the secret to a good book? Memorable. Characters. Your characters drive your story. Without them, there is no story. So, crafting characters that feel and act like conscious beings is key to delivering a novel that’s impactful and interesting. We’re leading you through all the aspects of developing a character outline that will do just that. Or, skip straight to our free downloadable outline to start drafting right away.

First, What Makes a Character Memorable?

A good, memorable character will have a few core traits about themselves that’s prominent in everything they do. From brushing their teeth to saving the world, these traits lead their thought process.

The trick is to remember it all comes down to specifics. Lean into certain qualities about your character that are beyond the generic tropes. Think specific qualities of well-loved characters from other franchises. Klaus from Umbrella Academy is loved because he’s a quirky guy haunted by his power. This haunting led him to do some questionable things (drugs and starting a cult) but overall, he has a good heart. The specifics of what this character gets into makes him memorable and often a fan-favorite. In short, lean into the specifics of your characters’ events and emotions. Don’t rely on generic descriptors like “dark” or “innocent.”

Need some help? Here’s a list of traits to get you brainstorming:

• Relatable
• Honorable
• Funny
• True Evil
• Evil but with understandable intentions
• Quirky
• Realistic
• Haunted
• Disturbed
• Chaotic

Do You Need a Character Outline?

To put it simply: it doesn’t hurt to plan. The more you plan, the fewer plot holes and major fixes you’ll have in your upcoming drafts. Here are some identifiers to help you decide whether or not to create a character outline:

If you’re a planner: Let’s face it. You probably already have one and are looking for ways to flesh it out further. You’ll definitely enjoy having character outlines handy as you begin your first draft.

If you’re a pantser: Yes, I know, I know. Planning sucks and ruins your creative spirit. But a little bit of character planning isn’t going to hurt you and will prevent you from having too many plot holes and major inconsistencies you’ll have to fix later.

If your book is character driven: It’s imperative character-driven stories have full outlines of their characters. They are what’s driving the story after all. Your outline will help you figure out how your character will respond to situations and each other to keep the tension going. Without an outline, you’ll be winging their actions which will lead to inconsistencies in their behavior as your draft progresses.

If your book is plot driven: Plot-driven books don’t necessarily need fully fleshed out characters since they’re not the driving force. However, you don’t want your characters to feel robotic either. A character outline, even a brief one, can prevent characters from feeling unrealistic.

If you’re writing genre fiction: Some genre fiction doesn’t need too much depth for characters as they rely on tropes and stereotypes. (Think romance stories with the naïve woman and dark, mysterious love interest.) A brief character outline for these stories may be all you need.

What Goes into a Character Outline?

There are obvious questions you should answer about your character and not-so-obvious questions. This checklist will help you make sure your characters are fully fleshed out.

Creating an Outline that Works for You

Your outline should reflect what works for you. Part of your creativity should go into how to devise your outline. Need some ideas? Here are some considerations based on how you like to write:

For the designers: creating a colorful template may help you connect to each character. You can choose colors/fonts/pictures to reflect your individual characters, giving them each a unique page to inspire their scenes.

For the pantsers: a basic Word or Google Doc with basic bullet points under headers may be all you need to get thoughts and ideas down. Writing by the seat of your pants is your forte, but getting some basic ideas down can help craft characters that make reasonable decisions.

For the planners: a dedicated template will help you craft every angle needed to perfect your characters. Whether you design your own template or borrow ours, this template is your lighthouse in the uncharted seas of your book.

A Free, Comprehensive Character Outline Template

Want a free, easy-to-fill-out outline that covers everything you need to know about your character? Our character outline template covers all the necessary aspects of your character mentioned above. It asks you pivotal questions about the characters’ motives, desires, and flaws to get you thinking about how your characters interact with other characters, the world, and the events of the story. Below are two pages of our template–get the full worksheet by downloading via the button below.  

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