Develop a fictional character for this project. Story premise and genre: [STORY PREMISE] Character’s role in the story: [CHARACTER ROLE] What I already know about them: [EXISTING NOTES] Story pressure and central conflict: [CENTRAL CONFLICT] Point of view, setting, and tone: [POV SETTING TONE] Create a character who can generate meaningful choices under pressure, not a list of traits. Preserve every fact in my notes. Where details are missing, make grounded creative proposals that fit the premise, and label those proposals so I can change them. Build the character from these linked elements: 1. External goal: a concrete thing they pursue in this story. 2. Internal need: the emotional or moral capacity they lack, which makes their usual strategy costly. 3. Wound and false belief: one past experience and the conclusion they drew from it; avoid using trauma as decoration. 4. Contradiction: two true qualities that clash in action, such as generous with strangers but controlling with family. 5. Stakes, secret, and line they will not cross at the opening. 6. Relationships: how their behavior changes with an ally, rival, authority figure, and person who sees through them. 7. Voice: sentence rhythm, favorite evasions, vocabulary level, sensory attention, and what they never say directly. Do not use an accent as a substitute for voice. 8. Arc: the initial coping pattern, two escalating tests, a midpoint choice, and the final changed or unchanged choice. Produce a 900- to 1,200-word dossier with sections for Core Engine, Backstory, Present Behavior, Relationships, Voice Guide, Arc Beats, and a 250-word scene in which the character wants something simple but reveals pressure indirectly. Keep the scene in [POV SETTING TONE]. Before answering, check that every backstory detail affects a present choice and that the voice sample does not merely explain the character’s traits. Ask up to 3 clarifying questions only if a required input is missing.
Fill in
| Placeholder | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [STORY PREMISE] | Describe the story’s premise and genre in a few sentences. | A contemporary mystery set in a fading New Jersey beach town after a local archivist disappears. |
| [CHARACTER ROLE] | State the character’s role, such as protagonist, antagonist, mentor, or supporting lead. | Protagonist and reluctant investigator. |
| [EXISTING NOTES] | Paste any fixed facts, images, scenes, or traits you already have. | Mara Velez, 34, runs her late father’s print shop, restores old photographs, and avoids her older sister’s calls. |
| [CENTRAL CONFLICT] | Describe the conflict that will force the character to make difficult choices. | Mara must expose the town council’s land deal, which may implicate the father whose memory she protects. |
| [POV SETTING TONE] | Give the viewpoint, immediate setting, and desired tonal qualities for the scene. | Close third person; her print shop during a rainstorm; observant, restrained, lightly comic. |
How to use
- Paste facts that cannot change, including age, setting, plot events, and relationships already drafted.
- Read the Core Engine and Arc Beats before using the scene; they should create choices your plot can test.
- Check the voice guide against dialogue you have already written and remove any mismatch.
- Follow up with: “Write three scenes that test Mara’s false belief without naming it.”
Variations
Antagonist build
Use this when you need an opposing character with credible goals and agency.
Develop an antagonist for [STORY PREMISE]. Their opposition to [PROTAGONIST] centers on [CONFLICT]. Fixed facts: [EXISTING NOTES]. Create a 700-word dossier covering their legitimate objective, moral boundary, private fear, public mask, leverage, and the argument they would make for their own actions. Map three confrontations in which they force the protagonist into harder choices. Do not make them evil for its own sake or give them knowledge they could not have. Before answering, check that their plan would still make sense if the protagonist were absent.
Dialogue voice
Use this when the character exists but their dialogue sounds interchangeable.
Create a dialogue voice guide for [CHARACTER] in [GENRE AND SETTING]. Existing dialogue or notes: [SAMPLE OR NOTES]. Their current objective in the scene is [SCENE OBJECTIVE]. Produce a one-page guide covering sentence length, diction, rhythm, subtext habits, evasions, humor, and taboo subjects, then write three 120-word exchanges with [OTHER CHARACTER]. Each exchange should pursue a different tactic. Do not use phonetic spelling or catchphrases as personality. Before answering, check that each exchange can be identified without dialogue tags.
Character arc repair
Use this when a drafted character changes too suddenly or not at all.
Diagnose and repair this character arc. Character notes: [CHARACTER NOTES]. Current plot beats: [PLOT BEATS]. Desired ending: [DESIRED ENDING]. Identify the exact belief or strategy that must change, then propose five revised beats: setup, first consequence, failed adaptation, irreversible choice, and ending. For each, state the visible action and the internal pressure behind it. Preserve [NONNEGOTIABLE ELEMENTS]. Before answering, check that the ending is earned by prior choices rather than a late revelation.
Tips
- Give the character a strategy that once protected them; a flaw becomes dramatic when it works until the story raises the cost.
- Put the central contradiction in behavior, not adjectives: show what they do differently with people who have different power over them.
- A secret should alter decisions, relationships, or risk. If revealing it changes nothing, it is backstory rather than story material.
- Test voice in conflict and intimacy; a voice guide based only on neutral conversation will not survive a real scene.
FAQ
How much backstory does a character need?
Only enough to explain the pressures and strategies active in the present story. A dossier can be longer than the material that reaches the page.
Can AI create a character that does not feel stereotyped?
It can help if you provide social and story context, then test each trait against the character’s individual objectives and relationships. Remove details that serve only as shorthand.
Should I use the generated scene in my draft?
Use it as a voice and behavior test first. Rewrite it in the language and pacing of your manuscript before treating it as a final scene.