How to Use the Character Generator
Choose a genre, leave gender and role on Any or set them yourself, and press Generate character. You get a complete character sheet with thirteen fields, from the name down to a backstory hook. Press the button again for a new character.
The Lock button next to each field is what makes the generator useful past the first click. Say you like the secret and the flaw but nothing else: lock those two, generate again, and everything else changes around them. Keep going until the sheet holds together, then press Copy sheet to paste the whole character into your notes, outline or story bible.
Three settings shape the result:
- Genre changes the names, the clothes and distinguishing features, the goal, the secret, the backstory and some of the fears. A fantasy character wants to forge a sword worthy of the old kings; a contemporary one wants to keep a restaurant open through one more winter.
- Gender picks the name and the pronouns. Every other field is written to fit anyone.
- Role steers the archetype and the age. A mentor comes out older, and an antagonist leans toward villains, rulers, tricksters and shapeshifters.
Changing the genre draws a fresh character and keeps whatever you locked. Changing the gender redraws only the name, and changing the role redraws the role, the archetype and the age.
What Each Field on the Character Sheet Means
The sheet runs in the order most writers build a character: the surface a reader meets first, then what drives the character, then what stays hidden.
Name, age and appearance
The appearance line gives one body type, one detail worth noticing and what the character usually wears. A single telling detail does more on the page than a full list of eye color, hair color and height, so pick the detail you would actually mention in a scene. For more names in one particular style, from elvish to Old Norse, use the character name generator.
Role and archetype
These two answer different questions. The role is the character's job in the plot: protagonist, antagonist, mentor, rival, love interest and so on. The archetype is the kind of person underneath: a rebel, a caregiver, a trickster. A mentor can be a jester, and an antagonist can be a guardian who honestly believes the hero has to be stopped. The guide to character archetypes covers all twenty in depth, and the guide to side characters covers the supporting roles.
Personality and flaw
Three personality traits give the character a voice. The generator keeps out traits that cancel each other, so "impulsive" and "cautious" never land on the same sheet. The flaw is drawn separately, because a flaw that gets in the way of the character's own goal gives the plot something to work on. To choose one by hand, the list of character flaws has more than 170, each with an example.
Mannerism
A small physical habit makes a character recognizable in a scene before anyone says a name: someone who counts stairs under the breath, or clears the throat before every lie. The best mannerisms carry meaning, so the reader learns something each time one appears. There are hundreds more ideas in the list of character mannerisms and the guide to character quirks.
Goal (want) and deeper need
The want is what the character is consciously chasing, the thing you would put in a pitch. The need is what the character actually lacks, and it is usually invisible to them at the start. Much of a character arc happens in the gap between the two. A character who wants a promotion and needs to stop living for someone else's approval has a story built in, because getting the want may cost the need.
Fear, secret and backstory hook
The fear tells you where to push in a crisis. The secret gives you a reveal to place somewhere in the plot. The backstory hook is one line of history, enough to explain how the character got here without ten pages of biography.
Random Character Generator by Genre
Each genre has its own banks of goals, secrets, backstories, looks and names, so even a fully random character sounds like it belongs on that shelf. Five sheets from the generator, cut down to their core:
- Fantasy: Elowen Ashdown, early twenties. Wants to get into the mages' academy after two rejections. Secret: was born with magic that is punishable by death. Flaw: cannot ask for help.
- Mystery & Thriller: Graham Fenwick, late forties, a former detective who left the force after a case went wrong. Wants to solve the cold case that ended a career. Secret: took a bribe to close a case years ago.
- Romance: Tessa Hart, late twenties, came back to a hometown after a very public divorce. Wants to prove to the whole town the scandal was a lie. Secret: writes the anonymous advice column the whole town reads.
- Horror: Silas Crane, late thirties, took a caretaker job at a closed hotel for the winter. Wants to stay sober in a house that keeps offering a drink. Fear: sleep, and what comes with it.
- Science Fiction: Imani Okafor, mid-thirties, inherited a ship and its debts on the same day. Wants to buy back an indenture contract. Secret: can hear the ship thinking.
The mystery sheet works because its backstory, goal and secret all point at the same old case. Random draws rarely line up that neatly on the first press. Locking the field that sparks something and redrawing the rest is how a sheet gets there.
Contemporary and historical work the same way. A contemporary character might be a paramedic who has seen too much this year; a historical one might be a war widow running a coaching inn alone, who writes anonymous pamphlets against the crown.
How to Turn a Random Character Into a Real One
A generated sheet is a starting point. These five steps take it from a list of attributes to someone who can carry a scene.
- Connect the flaw to the need. The need is often the cure for the flaw. "Cannot ask for help" and "To accept help without keeping score" are two ends of one arc. If the pair on your sheet doesn't connect, lock the one you like and redraw the other, or rewrite it by hand.
- Put the want and the need in conflict. Strong stories make the character choose between them near the climax. Ask what getting the want would cost.
- Give the secret a price. Decide who would be hurt if it came out, and at what point in the plot it will. A secret that never surfaces stays backstory.
- Tie the character to the first push of the plot. Your inciting incident should hit this person where the fear or the flaw lives.
- Interview the character. Answer a handful of questions in the character's own voice. The character questionnaire has more than two hundred to choose from; a dozen is usually enough to start hearing the voice.
Then place the character in your book outline and check that the role on the sheet matches what the character actually does in the plot. A rival who never competes for anything is a sidekick in disguise.
Using It as a Character Trait Generator
Traits are where generated characters most often go flat, because three pleasant adjectives describe almost anyone. A few ways to get more from the personality line:
- Look for friction. "Loyal, sardonic, frugal" is more interesting than "loyal, kind, brave" because the traits pull in different directions. Redraw until one trait surprises you.
- Show each trait once in action. A trait the narrator states is forgotten by the next chapter; a trait the character acts on in a scene sticks. When you do need to name one, the list of adjectives to describe a character helps with the wording.
- Let the flaw be a trait taken too far. Protective turns into smothering, principled turns into self-righteous. When a sheet puts a matching trait and flaw together, keep both.
Main characters need more than three traits and room to change over the book. Minor characters can run on one trait and one mannerism, which is often all a reader will see of them. The difference is explained in round vs. flat characters.
Using It as a Character Backstory Generator
The backstory hook is one sentence on purpose. Most of a character's history should stay in your notes and leak into the story through choices, reactions and the occasional line of dialogue. Long blocks of backstory in the first chapters slow the opening down.
Use the hook as a seed. Ask what happened just before it, what happened just after, and who else was there. Three answers give you more usable history than a page of biography, and each one is a possible scene or a source of conflict with another character.
An OC Generator for Fan Fiction and Roleplay
Original characters, or OCs, in fan fiction and roleplay need the same things as any other character: a reason to act and something to hide. Choose the genre closest to the world you are writing in, generate, and adapt the details to that setting's own rules and naming. Locking helps here too. Keep the archetype and the secret, and redraw until the rest fits the canon.
Character Generator FAQ
Is the character generator free?
Yes. It runs in your browser and needs no sign-up, and nothing you generate is saved or sent anywhere. Copy the sheet before you leave the page if you want to keep it.
Can I use a generated character in a published book?
Yes. A sheet is a combination of short, general details, and the character you build from it is yours. As with any name, check that the full name doesn't belong to a well-known real person or a famous character in your genre.
What is the difference between a character's want and need?
The want is the goal the character knows about and chases through the plot. The need is the inner change the character has to make, often without realizing it. Stories usually force a choice between the two.
How do I make a random character feel original?
Connect at least two fields to each other, such as the secret and the fear, and change one detail so it cuts against what the genre expects. Then replace the general words on the sheet with specific ones from your own world: a named town, a real object, a particular person.
Is this the same as a character creator?
Many tools called character creators build a picture of a character for games or illustration. This one writes a character sheet for fiction: history, motives and habits in words, ready to go into your outline.
Can I generate names only?
Use the character name generator for names by genre and language, with their meanings. On this page, you can also lock every field except the name and generate again to try different names on a character you already have.
