Characters and Character Development

Welcome to our section for developing characters. Without good and interesting characters you don't have a good story. This section provides information and resources about how to build and strengthen your characters.

Character Profile Worksheet
Our character worksheet has been very popular with writers over the years. Use as it as a guide to keep track of facts and details about your many characters.

Character Names
Need help coming up with names for your minor characters? The Internet is here to help.

Character Traits
You have an entire memory at your disposal to help you think of character traits. There are also many resources such as psychology resources and lists of personality trait to help you build characters.

Character Flaws
Stephen J. Cannell says in his article "Designing the Characters that the flaws in a character are "always more interesting than the strengths." Find out more about what he says to say, plus links to other articles and character flaw resources.

Character Archetypes in Fiction
Learn about the character archetypes found in fiction including archetypes in genre fiction.

Mary Sue Characters
Is your character too perfect? Have you created a Mary Sue?

Left, Right, Left, Right: Character!
Alex Keegan talks about characters and how to make them live.

Authors on Characters
Read what famous writers have said about the importance of creating believable characters.

Fiction Section
Return to the homepage of our fiction section where you will find fiction news, articles, resources, markets, writing prompts and more.

Review: Characters & Viewpoint
A review of Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card (Writer's Digest Books).