Download a character profile worksheet that connects goals, beliefs, relationships, and scene evidence to a defining choice and its consequences.
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# Character profile worksheet
Use these prompts to connect a character's goals and behavior to choices in scenes. Fill the parts that help your story, then revise them as the draft changes.
## Place the character in the story
Start with the person and the part they play in this particular story.
### Character name
What name do other characters use for them?
[Write your answer here.]
### Story role
Whose choices does this character drive, support, or oppose?
[Write your answer here.]
## Give them something to pursue
Connect what they want to the belief guiding their choices.
### Immediate want
What specific result are they trying to get, and what will show they got it?
[Write your answer here.]
### Possible need or change
What might they learn, refuse to learn, or hold onto? A character can remain unchanged or change for the worse.
[Write your answer here.]
### Guiding belief
What do they believe they must do to succeed, stay safe, or belong?
[Write your answer here.]
## Turn traits into behavior
Show how the character acts, what that costs, and who pushes back.
### Usual tactic
What do they actually do when someone blocks their goal?
[Write your answer here.]
### Cost of that tactic
What does this approach put at risk for them or someone else?
[Write your answer here.]
### Relationship under pressure
Who wants a different outcome, and how does that change their interaction?
[Write your answer here.]
### Contradiction to dramatize
Where does what they claim conflict with something they do?
[Write your answer here.]
## Find the scene evidence
Write actions and dialogue a reader could point to in the draft.
### Opening behavior
What action first shows their usual approach, before the story tests it?
[Write your answer here.]
### Pressure scene
What obstacle makes the usual approach harder to sustain?
[Write your answer here.]
## Follow the choice into the next scene
A decision earns its place when it changes what happens afterward.
### Defining choice
Which available action do they take, and which alternative do they give up?
[Write your answer here.]
### Consequence
What changes because of that choice, including any new cost?
[Write your answer here.]
### Next scene to write
What must someone now do that they would not have done before this choice?
[Write your answer here.]
---
# Original worked example: Inez Vale
The original example below follows Inez Vale, a bicycle repair-shop owner negotiating a lease. Compare her stated belief with her behavior, then trace the choice into the next scene.
# Character profile worksheet
Use these prompts to connect a character's goals and behavior to choices in scenes. Fill the parts that help your story, then revise them as the draft changes.
## Place the character in the story
Start with the person and the part they play in this particular story.
### Character name
What name do other characters use for them?
Inez Vale
### Story role
Whose choices does this character drive, support, or oppose?
The protagonist, a bicycle repair-shop owner negotiating a new lease.
## Give them something to pursue
Connect what they want to the belief guiding their choices.
### Immediate want
What specific result are they trying to get, and what will show they got it?
Get the landlord to sign a five-year lease before another tenant takes the shop.
### Possible need or change
What might they learn, refuse to learn, or hold onto? A character can remain unchanged or change for the worse.
She may learn to ask for help without controlling every part of the answer.
### Guiding belief
What do they believe they must do to succeed, stay safe, or belong?
If she needs someone else's help, they will eventually take the work away from her.
## Turn traits into behavior
Show how the character acts, what that costs, and who pushes back.
### Usual tactic
What do they actually do when someone blocks their goal?
Fix the immediate problem herself and leave everyone else out of the decision.
### Cost of that tactic
What does this approach put at risk for them or someone else?
She hides debts and loses the trust of Jules, the apprentice keeping the shop running.
### Relationship under pressure
Who wants a different outcome, and how does that change their interaction?
Jules wants a say in the shop's future. Inez wants Jules to stay but keeps refusing to share the lease figures.
### Contradiction to dramatize
Where does what they claim conflict with something they do?
She tells customers the shop belongs to the neighborhood, then removes Jules's name from a proposal they wrote together.
## Find the scene evidence
Write actions and dialogue a reader could point to in the draft.
### Opening behavior
What action first shows their usual approach, before the story tests it?
Before opening, Inez quietly replaces a wheel Jules repaired rather than asking why Jules chose those spokes.
### Pressure scene
What obstacle makes the usual approach harder to sustain?
At the lease meeting, the landlord demands a second guarantor. Jules arrives with a cooperative proposal, but Inez has already promised sole ownership.
## Follow the choice into the next scene
A decision earns its place when it changes what happens afterward.
### Defining choice
Which available action do they take, and which alternative do they give up?
Inez puts the unpaid bills on the table and asks Jules to present the cooperative proposal. She gives up the chance to keep sole ownership hidden inside the deal.
### Consequence
What changes because of that choice, including any new cost?
The landlord delays the signing. Jules agrees to negotiate together only if Inez gives the cooperative members access to the accounts.
### Next scene to write
What must someone now do that they would not have done before this choice?
Inez must open the accounts at a neighborhood meeting and answer a question she previously kept from Jules.
Start with what the character wants, how they pursue it, and the relationships that put that approach under pressure. Use the scene prompts to turn those notes into actions, choices, and consequences a reader can see.
Fill the prompts that help you write the next scene. Return to the profile when the draft gives you better evidence; a supporting character may need fewer notes than the protagonist.
A character can change, resist change, or change for the worse. Describe the choice and its consequences rather than requiring a lesson or a happier ending.
Download the Markdown worksheet and open it in a text editor. You can also use the character profile tool to fill the prompts, read an original worked example, and export your answers.
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