Create a rich character for your story

This prompt builds a character profile for your story. You give the character's role, such as hero, villain or mentor, and the genre and setting, and it covers name and age, appearance and more.

text-character-profile — chatgpt — 60 words

Create a character profile for my [NOVEL / GAME / SCRIPT].

Role in the story: [HERO / VILLAIN / MENTOR]
Genre and setting: [DETAILS]

Include: name and age, appearance in 3 details, backstory, what they want vs what they need, a flaw, a secret, how they speak (with 3 sample lines) and how they change by the end. Avoid clichés.

Edit in the builder Copy & open ChatGPT ↗Copy & open Gemini ↗Copy & open Claude ↗

The gap between "want" and "need" is what makes a character interesting.

Get a better result

What you will get

A full character sheet: name and age, three appearance details, backstory, want versus need, a flaw, a secret, three sample lines in their own voice and how they change by the end of your story.

Common mistake

The character is a stack of familiar tropes.

Fix: Ask for “three details that surprise the reader and do not fit the usual hero or villain type”, and say which clichés to avoid in your genre.

Also watch for

Want and need are the same thing. Follow the tip: the want is what they chase, the need is what they lack. If both read alike, ask “rewrite so the want works against the need”.
The sample lines all sound like the author. Give the character a speech habit, such as short sentences or a regional phrase, and ask for lines that would not suit any other character.

Try a variation: relationship map

Add “and describe how this character sees three other characters in the story, what each one wants from them, and one tension in each pair”.

Still not right? Reply with this

Rewrite the secret and the flaw so they create conflict with another character in my story. Keep the rest the same.