Character development, something writers both love and hate. You're plotting a brand new book, and who comes knocking? Your cast. 

Now, you can put as little or as much into character development as you want (just like world building), but to save us time and sanity, we're going to approach this in multiple parts. 

Part 1: General Information and Appearance

Part 2: Lifestyle 

Part 3: Personality/Mentality 

Part 4: Social Connections (ie. Friends, Family, and Enemies) 

Part 5: History Growing Up

Each section will include an explanation as well as parts of a worksheet you can use to help you develop your characters. Now let's get started!

General Information

When you first jot down your character, this is just the general information you need to describe them. This will also give you a starting point of who they are at the beginning of the story to what they're like at the very end. 

Character's Full name: What's in a name? Obviously your character needs a name, so let's have it. Is there anything unique about it? Does he/she have a secret name that only the write and certain characters know? 

Reason/Name Meaning: Whether you're named after your great grandfather, or your parents' favorite fandom (I'm looking at you, Bella and Edward), there's often a reason behind the name. Is the history of the name important? 

Nickname and Reason for Nickname: This one can get fun, especially if your character hates the nickname. It's good to have the name listed somewhere in case you want to go back and use it throughout the story. 

Age: How old is your character in earth years, or whatever planet your character is on? You can also list how old he/she is by the end of the story. 

Birth Date and Place: It's good to know the place of birth in case your character ever goes back there (or never leaves it). Often a birthplace can define a character, so you want to keep that in mind. 

Death Date if applicable: Whether our characters like it or not, we know their future. You can list the death date here and cause of death so you stick to it. Or, if you have vampires, or other undead characters, you'll want to know how long they've been dead... and possibly decomposing. The smell.  

Gender: Cisgender male/female, Transgender, Transsexual, Binary, Non-Binary, Genderfluid, etc. 

Current Address: Where does your character start out at the beginning of the story? Does he have a home, or is he a traveler? 

Education: We often say that characters have particular skills, but we don't always explain how they learned to do things. Did they go to school? Who was their mentor? Did they have to learn everything by themselves? Let us know!

Occupation: Bounty hunter? Knight? Damsel-in-distress? What does your character do, and in that vein, who does he serve? 

Transport: I'm putting this here for both fantasy and science fiction fans. For fantasy, there's often a trusty steed that carries the character through the story. A beloved equine that lifts the character's spirits. 

Yes... I went there. For science fiction folks, your character might have a special ship that carries them through space. Think Serenity from Firefly.  You can put as much information here as you need, even ship type or animal species. And their names. Names make them important.  

Part character plays in the story : Your character needs to have a purpose. If you can't think of one, then you don't need the character. If you start losing track of what your character is supposed to do, you can refer to this. 

Additional notes: Anything I missed, or any information you want to make sure you remember as you go through the story? That's what this spot is for! 

Okay, we're halfway through. Not too scary yet, right? Next we're going to step into physical appearance. 

Physical Apperance

Eye color: Brown? Green? Chartreuse? Keep it consistent. 

Glasses or contacts: If your character has glasses at the beginning of the story, they better appear through the rest of it. Too many characters have been punched in the face and not had their glasses broken. Also, do you know how frustrating it is when your glasses steam up in different environment settings?

Weight and Height: Knowing the weights and heights of your characters in relation to one another is important so Sue isn't looking up at Gary when she should actually be looking down because he's shorter. Also, if you have a small character, keep that in mind if you have him go head-to-head with a robust villain. 

Ethnicity: If you want to bring ethnicity and skin color in, this is the place to do it. There are a lot of sites that use PC ways of describing skin color. Tumblr, oddly enough, is a good place to look. But please, stop comparing skin color to food. It's disrespectful (unless it's romance and you're comparing skin to chocolate, then that seems to be okay). 

Species: For fantasy, and science fiction, you might end up having different species. This section alone can be broken out into a lot of questions like what kind of species, the specific appearance of that species, traits, strengths, weaknesses, etc.

Type of body/build:  As with height and weight, what's the character's build? Knowing this can help you with descriptive words. Chiseled chin? Lithe body? Muscular biceps? Curvy/curvaceous? Get creative! 

Distinguishing Marks/scars/Tattoos: This is something authors often lose track of. Which side of the face is the scar on? Your character has tattoos at the beginning of the book and is missing them during an unclothed scene. I'd even suggest drawing the tattoos or scars so you know how to describe them later. It also helps you ensure you don't swap the size or location of the scars *coughHarryPotterfilmscough* 

Meaning behind distinguishing Marks: What do the marks mean? Is the scar left over from an evil wizard? Is the tattoo in memory of a loved one, or because the character loves birds? 

Hair color and type: You can use a lot of words to describe the color of your character's hair. And again, you want to keep the color, the length, and the type of hair consistent. 

Are they healthy: Whether your character is healthy or sick, you'll typically be able to tell from outside appearance. Dark bags under the eyes = lack-of-sleep. Ashen skin = possibly sick. Rosy, plump cheeks = probably healthy. Hollow/sunken cheeks = possibly sick or emaciated. 

If not, why not: What's going on in their life that's making them sick? Is it physical or situational? 

Physical disabilities: As more authors focus on creating diverse casts, you may have characters with physical disabilities. It's great to have the representation! But you want to note it as well and acknowledge that the character might be hindered in some ways, but stronger in others. 

Left or Right handed: Seriously, which one is it?  

Carries any weapons: Why is this in the physical appearance you might ask? You're going to notice if someone has a bunch of swords, a spear, guns, or visible weapons on them. Make sure your character doesn't somehow lose them through the story without explanation. or magically pull them out of thin air.

What's in your character's pocket: What does he typically carry around with him? Is he resourceful and living off the land, or does he carry everything and the kitchen sink? 

Face claim: Sometimes we like to pick an actor or actress to portray our character so we can envision them better. 

Additional notes:   Missing anything? Add it here! 

And that, my dear fae folks, is the end of part 1. Try your hand at the character sheet list to create yours! If you think anything is missing, feel free to post it below! Part 2 will go into character lifestyle and vices. 

If you have other topics you'd like us to cover in between Character Development, let us know!