Character Sheet — SCAFFOLD / TEMPLATE
A reusable template for building character sheets. Copy this whole file, rename it to the character, and fill it by WATCHING (see method note below) — not by filling boxes cold. Structure based on Monique Roffey’s four-heading character-outline method (Physical / Psychological / Interpersonal-cultural / Personal history), heard in the OU “Start Writing Fiction” course, PLUS a flaw/peg section at the top (Novakovich/Garland — the plot-engine) and a connections section at the bottom (for relational/iceberg/motif material that doesn’t live inside one character).
HOW TO FILL THIS (the method — read before starting)
Don’t fill the boxes cold at a desk — that’s the checklist brain, and it seizes. Instead: WATCH AND TESTIFY. Ask Fia for a couple of small ordinary moments the character could be in, picture them, describe what you SEE, and let the details fall out of the watching. THEN file what you found under the headings below. Generate by watching (Option B); externalise into structure afterward (Option A). The headings are a MAP OF WHAT TO GO LOOKING FOR — gait, voice, health, self-knowledge, etc — not blanks to invent. If a box is empty, that’s not a gap to fill now; it’s a thing you haven’t watched her do YET.
⭐ THE PEG / THE FLAW (the engine — fill first, keep at top)
The one contradiction or trait that STICKS OUT and generates the plot. The thing everything else hangs off (Garland’s “peg”; Novakovich’s tragic flaw). Often a contradiction: X and its opposite, both true, both load-bearing. If you know nothing else, know this.
1. PHYSICAL / BIOLOGICAL
age · height · size · state of health · assets · flaws · sexuality · gait · voice (Note: gait and voice are the surface-in-motion — the bits that make a character writable. Easiest to find by WATCHING her move and hearing her speak, not by listing.)
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Voice in motion: how they speak, and how it SHIFTS with who they’re with, their mood, and what they want from the moment. (From OU tip 1.5. Not just “their voice sounds like X” — voice as a variable. For guarded characters especially, how their speech changes by who’s watching IS their character in dialogue form.)
2. PSYCHOLOGICAL
intelligence · temperament · happiness / unhappiness · attitudes · self-knowledge · unconscious aspects
Inner life (angles that reveal the unconscious as well as the conscious)
From OU tip 1.5. Fill these by watching — the last one especially.
- Wants:
- Thinks:
- Remembers:
- Resents:
- Fears:
- Dreams:
- Denies: (the thing they won’t admit to themselves — often the richest line; frequently the FLAW seen from inside)
3. INTERPERSONAL / CULTURAL
family · friends · colleagues · birthplace · education · hobbies · beliefs · values · lifestyle
4. PERSONAL HISTORY
major events in the life — including the BEST and the most TRAUMATIC
CONNECTIONS / ICEBERG / MOTIFS
The relational stuff that doesn’t fit inside one character’s boxes: how they mirror/clash with other characters, shared objects/motifs, the iceberg (what’s true and presses on the page but is never explained on it). Cross-link to other character sheets with wikilinks.
➕ ADD NEW DISCOVERIES BELOW
Every time you watch this character in a new moment and learn something, drop it here, then file it up into the headings when tidying. This section is the inbox.