The Ultimate CHARACTER PROFILE for NaNoWriMo (new and improved!)

Are characters destined to be humans only?

<3

Would writing a biography from three different points of view on the same character be okay? (For personal notes mostly)

Can I add some movie characters for a story

The "get my free writing templates" link, is not working. It is broken

Ever since I discovered your video about "how to write characters that are not like you", I kept coming back to more of your videos when I hit a wall in my writing. I've been going on and off lately but I have some written drafts, character profiles, and the like, but listening to your advice and guidance made me see what my writing needs so that I can move forward bit by bit till I finish the story. Your videos have been the clearest instruction manual to me so far and I love how there is always a structure. Thank you so, so much! ☺️❤️

I"ve never seen any of your video's before, I have a really grerat idea for a story but Have no clue how to even put anything together, so I'm hoping your channel will help. But that aside, I just wanted to say I love your eye shadow!!!:) It looks awesome!:) Hope you are having a great day. :)

Sorry, I know I'm late, but what is the difference between "What definitive steps could they take to turn their dream into a reality?" and "How does your protagonist feel they can accomplish their goal while still steering clear of the thing they’re afraid of?" if they are both describing actions to get what my protagonist (thinks they) most desire?

I also sort every single one of my characters into Hogwarts Houses.

My characters are in Prison

I am just starting my writing dreams, and your videos have really been a way I have learned to improve my writing skills. I love your vids, thank you for the help I really needed Abbie!

Osha from the Acolyte is a very passive character, she gets knocked out multiple times so she can wake up somewhere where the plot needed to be. I guess the writers couldn’t think of a good way to get them where they wanted them to be. 🙄

Not me memorizing the intro theme

I was trying to answer these questions for my protagonist, and when it came to distinctive skills/abilities, I wanted to write something even if it wasn't quite necessary in my modern universe. I wrote down "can play violin i guess" and left it there until I remembered that he's supposed to be an excellent surgeon 😭

Dear Abby

Thank you for the work you do to share your passion with me. Your videos have changed my life and ability to connect with my family, friends, work, businesses, artists, city, state, country, the world at large and my life. You have given me a stronger conviction for everything in my life through your videos. I have been going through a lot and I've been in a lot of emotional and mental illness but a new joy has appeared in my mind and lit up my heart; I want to teach literature and language arts in schools now. Thank you for sharing. You are highly valued and a gift.

I think I could just listen to you speak all day. Thank you so much for all your advice!

Do it like me:
watched this video, was too lazy to do it, wrote the first few chapters and each chapter one character in particular had a different personality and goals, watched the video again, figured him out, now he's stopped having split personality disorder 👍 gonna do this for every other character now, too.

Question 14 does the object have to be an inanimate object or can it be a character or a pet or anything living?

Also can you give me some examples for question 10?

Thank you thank you thank you🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Thanks abbe I wrote a cartoon story because of your tips and im just 12 and im from india don't mind my english 😅

I tried to listen to this in the background while playing a game... but man, now I need to turn the game off, start the video over, and go through it again with a document open to actually do this 😂

THANK YOU! Thank you so much!

Oh my god...I came back a year later. I have designed 2 OCs based on real people + added some stuff & conflicts, and I got such juicy internal conflicts, I'm going to scream!! They're so amazing, fot together so well (they're a couple) and I hope in 5 years (yes, 5) max. I will be able to write a huge romance series and hopefully it gets made into a TV show. That's my biggest author goal right now...but since I'm trying to make it as much as reality (cuz it's happening right now) I have tk wait till the last year I'll see them...😂😂

I’m such a panser for real. I intend to write backstory for one of my characters today!

I really like that you use a mix of you talking to the camera and putting up those beautiful slides that have all your points on them. It makes the video very engaging and makes note taking much easier. Thank you!

About physical description, could you plzzz show any real life example

Character's name:
Role in story:
Physical description:

Age:
Personality type:

Distinctive skills/abilities:

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What is their greatest fear?

What is their misbelief about the world?

What happened in this character's past to make them believe this lie?

What do they most often criticise others for?

---

What is their love language?

How do they respond to emotional pain?

Top three things they value most in life?

Is there an object they can't bear to part with and why?

Describe a typical outfit for them from top to bottom.

What is their method of manipulation?


Character goals


How is your character dissatisfied with their life?

What does your character believe will bring them true happiness or contentment?

What definitive step could they take to turn their dream into a reality?

How has their fear kept them from taking this action already?

How does your character know they can accomplish their goal while still steering clear of the thing they are afraid of?


Relationships and conflicts


In a few words, describe the MC (main character)'s relationship with this other character. (Feel free to use story examples as reference)

What are some points of conflict/weaknesses in their relationship?

What do they agree on? What do they disagree on?

Do they keep any secrets from each other? If so, what and why?

How did they meet and how long have they known each other?

How will their relationship change over the course of the story?

my favorite part about making my protagonist mentally unstable is that i can these questions with incredibly said explanations for the basic information and really silly explanations for things that should be emotional and it'll still be perfectly normal and in character.
for example: they value feeling loved because is incredibly rare for them despite the fact they are the type of person to try and dedicate their entire life to somebody they care about leading them to constantly get into (platonic) relations that are losing games on purpose becuase they have learned that being lied to is the closest they will probably get to actually being cared for.
meanwhile for precious item: A random frog amigurumi they made one time because they like frogs and they will hide in a bathroom stall to hug it when anxious.
distinctive ability: strangely good at crocheting without any patterns and used to have his room stuffed to the brim with them because when he was alone it's literally all he would do so now he has like over a 100 tiny little creatures in his room.

As somebody who has a bit too much of a visual brain and knows my character is developed but doesn't know how to write them a fun trick i learned for some of these is to look up lists of whatever your tryna find out because if they are developed and know the answer but not what to write down you should EASILY be able to identify it from whatever lists you shuffle through and go like "ohhh that's the word i'm looking for!"
for example: for greatest fear you can look up a list of phobias and you'll find out from the list the word for the fears you need! did this with my character and managed to pull autophobia(fear of being alone) and Cleithrophobia(fear of being trapped in an enclosed space, this is different from claustrophobia because it isn't about the size of the room but rather the availability of the exit to the room :D)
if you couldn't already guess the phobias are becuase he died via starving to death in an abandoned escape room after his friends locked him in as a joke not realizing the doors were jammed and wouldn't let him out even after finding the right code to leave. this door jamm is the actual reason the place was shut down but only he knew cause he was the only who did research and none of his friends were listening to his warnings since they were too busy ghost hunting cause ya know, idiot teens. since being alone and trapped is what killed him it is now his biggest fear becuase of severe PTSD cause ya know, dying is traumatizing.

This is very helpful!! I’m just wondering, do you do this for all characters in the book or do you still use the side character profile for characters who aren’t in the story as much?

I found out that i like side character of my story more than the main character. What now?

Thanks! This is great for getting the character out of my head, and on paper

Thank you. I was on a roll for about a week and then got stuck. I realized that I had a halfass plot because I didn't take the time to truly develop my own characters. This process of creating these character profiles was like sitting my characters down in front of me and interviewing them. I'm glad I took the time to get to know my characters and now I have a better direction on where to take my plot. I still kinda don't know what I'm doing but now I have a flashlight in the dark.

I'm so happy with my MC. I've been crafting her trilogy for over ten years now, that I instantly had answers to all these questions. I'm ready to seek lit agents.

Thank you for reminding me to work on not only the main character's arc, but the arcs between each of the side characters with the main character!

Question, what is a good way to describe and inhuman character? Example, an incubus.

ive found that RanGen's quick character format has some great attributes, and is a good starting place in general. the generator itself creates what they look like, personal beliefs/status, even their favorite things. But i just ignore the preexisting information and plug in my own stuff on a sheet. i do add in my own sections as my story needs it but i still think the format is a great place to start. but i will def take your stuff into account as well

I love your video podcast, I purchased your character profile template but when I tried to download it, the zip file had an error message “Unsupported file type” could you please help? Thanks

Thanks!

okay I just love you

Thanks, Abbie!

im not using this for nanowrimo, but only cuz i want to :)

Hey abbie. It woild be amazing if you made a video explaining everything a beginner would want to know about Nanowrimo. Like how do you upload your story or whete you write it. Literally everything basic. It wiuld hekl beginners like me alot .

Thank you for existing <3 this is so helpful

Aspiring writer here who has 8 chapters already wrote of a novel I want to complete without any structure during my process. I am writer that works best writing on a whim. I did this throughout highschool and college with some success. I need to reel in myself and actually plan so I can keep moving forward instead of writing a chapter and then not touching it for 6 months. I’m so glad I discovered your channel. I’m a new subscriber but I can tell your channel is going to help me so much.