character-sheet

name	character-sheet
description	Build deep, consistent fictional characters — biography, psychology, voice, contradictions, and how they change across the story.
version	1.0.0
author	Gnostor Community
license	MIT
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["fiction","character","writing","storytelling","novel","screenplay","worldbuilding"]}}

Character Sheet

Create characters who feel like people, not archetypes. Good characters have contradictions, specific desires, and a way of seeing the world that makes them unmistakably themselves.

When to Use

• "I need to develop my protagonist / antagonist / supporting character"
• "My character feels flat or inconsistent"
• "How does [character] respond to [situation]?"
• "I need a character for [type of story]"

Character Profile Template

Core Identity

• Name + age + physical description (the minimum, not a catalog)
• Social world: class, culture, profession, relationships
• Public self: how they present to the world
• Private self: who they are when no one's watching

Psychology

• Core wound: the formative experience that shaped everything
• Core belief (often false): "I am only valuable if I..."
• Deepest want (conscious): what they say they want
• Deepest need (unconscious): what they actually need, often opposite
• Greatest fear: what they'll do anything to avoid
• Defense mechanisms: how they protect themselves from fear

Voice & Behavior

• Speech patterns: vocabulary level, rhythm, verbal tics, what they never say
• How they enter a room: what others notice first
• How they handle conflict: fight / flee / freeze / fawn
• What makes them laugh: genuine vs. performed humor
• What they're wrong about: the belief the story will test

Story Function

• Want vs. need arc: how the gap between desire and need creates the journey
• Relationship to theme: which side of the story's central argument they represent
• Change: do they grow, fall, or resist? What triggers it?

Specificity Details

The details that make a character real — not "she likes coffee" but "she only drinks coffee from one particular cheap diner because it's the only place she lets herself go slowly."

What I Need From You

• Story genre and rough premise
• Character's role (protagonist, antagonist, mentor, love interest)
• Any existing details you have
• What's not working (if revising)

Output

A complete character sheet + 3 sample lines of dialogue that couldn't come from any other character.