A good, concise character biography of each main character in your novel can be a big help when you start working on your novel. The more you know about your characters the easier it will be to write about them and to know how they will act and react in any given situation. A character biography also can be used as a checklist so that descriptions and details of a character's life don't change during the course of the book.
What a Character Bio Should Contain
A character biography should at the very least contain a physical description of each character. It also should contain some details of the character’s life. In addition to the physical and factual information, it should also contain aspects of the character’s personality and how he or she feels about his or her life or situation.
How Long should a Character Bio be?
This varies according to the individual author. Some writers have one page bios on each character, others have fifty pages. You should have enough so you feel you have really gotten to know your character, but not so much that you can’t easily use the bio for a reference. You should also not work on the bio at the expense of working on the book. Some details will fill themselves out as you go along. In the beginning, you can start out knowing only the basics. For most writers, one or two pages per character is enough to create a good starting point for developing a character.
Building a Character Biography
A sample character biography reads a bit like a very detailed job application. Just as an employer wants to know as much as he can about a person he is interested in hiring, as an author you need to know as much as you can about the character you are going to write about.
In order to really know a character, the author must be able to understand how the character thinks and feels and what they might do in any given situation. Sometimes it helps to role play or pretend you are interviewing that character or have him mimic the things you do every day. When you eat breakfast, ask yourself—what would my main character be having for breakfast? Would he drink three cups of coffee? Go for an early morning run? Small details such as these will help add life to your character.
A Sample Character Biography
- Name
- Date and place of birth
- Occupation
- Physical Description: (eye color, hair color, distinguishing features—scars, tattoos, what makes him/her stand out?)
- Marital status: (married, divorced, single, kids?)
- Family background: Are parents still living? What is the character’s relationship with mother, father, siblings?
- Goals: What does your character want most out of life?
- Emotional status: What major problems is your character facing and what is his or her reaction to those problems?
- Extra detail-fill in as needed—What would your character eat for breakfast? What is his or her favorite song? What books are on his bookshelf?
Creating a character bio for each character is a first and essential step toward writing your novel. For more writing tips see :
Side Characters and Minor Characters: Developing Characters to Compliment your Hero and Villain
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