It can sometimes be helpful to make a Trait Chart for each character. This is especially helpful during the early stages of character development, before the character becomes as real to you as your mother. There are several charts of this sort available, some extremely detailed and some containing only facts and figures. I've tried to make one that includes the most important traits to help you visualize your character, both physically and emotionally.

To use this chart, print it out and make a copy for each of your characters. If you can't get it to print nicely, email me and ask me to send you a Word Document containing the Character Chart. Following this chart are explanations for Physical Characteristics, then a list of Personality Components.

Inspiration for Writers

Character Chart

PART I. PHYSICAL

Full name

Date of Birth/Age

Address

Race/Ethnic Background/Nationality

Height

Weight/Body Build

Hair

Eyes

Peculiar Physical Traits
Glasses/Contacts
Smokes
Nervous Habits
Distinguishing Marks

Health

Smell

Voice

Usual Walking Style

Mannerisms

What type of clothes/shoes/accessories does he/she wear?

Any peculiar tastes in clothes/shoes/accessories?

Eating habits/mannerisms/tastes

PART II. GENERAL

Occupation/Social Class

Views on Money/Spending Habits

Education/Intelligence

Marital Status

Birth Order

Political Party/Views

Religious Beliefs/Strength of Beliefs

Sexual Orientation/Values

What is his/her usual disposition?
Optimist/Pessimist?
Introvert/Extrovert?
Confident/Self-conscious?

How does he/she feel about his/her appearance?

Type of car

Most important possession

Hobbies/Recreations/Sports

Talents

What is a normal day like for this character?

Greatest Fear

Major Goals
1.
2.
3.
4.

PART III. RELATIONSHIPS

Significant Other/Relationship

Who does he/she live with?

Who does he/she spend the most time with?

Father/Relationship with him/Occupation

Mother/Relationship with her/Occupation

Siblings/Relationships

Children/Ages

Best Friend

Other Important Friends

Feelings toward animals

How does he/she view his family?

How does he/she view his friends?

How does he/she view his boss/co-workers/employees?

How does his family view him?

How does his friends view him?

How does his boss/co-workers/employees view him?

Who is his hero?

Other comments:

(c) copyright 2000, Inspiration for Writers,
http://www.InspirationForWriters.com/tip8.html

Full name - a character's name is very important. Surely, different types of people come to mind when we hear the names "Bubba" and "Thurmond Elton Radclift, III." Therefore, we must carefully consider both the first and last names of our character, as well as his or her nickname. A good quality Baby Names (with meanings, preferably) book is a great addition to your reference library. Consider the character's age, ethnic background and social status in naming your character. The telephone directory can help to find last names; there are also websites and books that list surnames by ethnic origin.

Besides the character's official name, we also need to know what he is called (and, perhaps, what he prefers to be called).

Date of Birth/Age - we should carefully consider assigning our character a birthday. Even though I am not a follower of astrology, I check my character's sun and moon signs, as this helps in fleshing out the character. I also check for important historical occurrences on both the day and during the character's developing years of life (any of us who know people who lived through the Great Depression know that they have been affected by that).

Address - this can be as detailed or as vague as you wish, but it should answer a few questions: does the character live in a large city, the suburbs, a small town or deep in the country? Does he/she live in the United States or elsewhere? If in the States, which region? What is the economics of the neighborhood/area/region?

Height - this doesn't need to be specific. "Tall" or "average" is fine unless it is a defining characteristic of the character.

Weight/Body Build - again, we don't really need to know a character's exact weight, only if he or she is stocky, slender or "had a figure that . . ."

Hair - keep in mind the character's ethnic background in assigning hair and eye color. Of course, you do not always have assign typical coloring to your characters, but if you don't, you'll need to explain. You may also want to mention the length of the character's hair, the style, and the type (curly, wavy, straight).

Eyes - Besides the color of the character's eyes, also include the shape, length of ashes, shape of brows and anything else peculiar to this character. This is a good place to be creative in listing the eye color. Instead of "brown," try "copper" or "chocolate." Instead of blue, be specific: sapphire, aquamarine or crystal blue.

Peculiar Physical Traits - list any peculiarities of your character's appearance here. Does his left eye twitch when he lies? Does he chew his lip when apprehensive? Does he smoke? What does he smoke? What brand? How often? If he wears eyeglasses, what do they look like? Does he have any moles, scars or birthmarks?

Glasses/Contacts
Smokes
Nervous Habits
Distinguishing Marks

Health - does your character have any health problems or weaknesses? Does he/she walk with a limp, have a plastic jaw, suffer from migraines? Arthritis? How is his/her blood pressure? Is he a walking heart attack, or does she run five miles every morning before dawn? How does he feel about his health? Is she a hypochondriac? Or has she never been to a doctor in her life?

Smell - everyone has a smell. It can be the clean smell of deodorant soap, the strong smell of a specific perfume or aftershave, the musty smell of old age, the tell-tale smell of stale beer. Of course, a character's smell can change from scene to scene, but try to imagine what he/she typically smells like on an average day.

Voice - does he have a deep, resonant voice? Does she have a throaty voice or a squeaky voice? Does his voice crack? Does she usually shout or whisper? Can he carry a tune? Is his tone pleasant or grating? Does she speak with perfect grammar or slur her words? Does he insert an expletive between every second word? Which one or ones? Does he have a distinguishing laugh? Does he talk rapidly or slowly?

Usual Walking Style - Does he limp? Is he always in a hurry and runs everywhere he goes? Does she skip? Wiggle?

Mannerisms - What else distinguishes this character from everyone else? Does he greet people with a hug? Do his hands move when he talks? Does he snap his fingers regularly? Does he shrug his shoulders? Does he slouch? Have military posture?

What type of clothes/shoes/accessories does he/she wear? Does he have a favorite flannel shirt he wears every Saturday? Does she apply makeup before breakfast? Is his dress impeccable or gaudy? Trendy? Casual? Classic? Expensive? Second-hand? Matching? Scuffed?

Any peculiar tastes in clothes/shoes/accessories? What is his favorite article of clothing?

Eating habits/mannerisms/tastes - Does he slurp? Burp? Gulp? Eat on the run? Prefer steak or hamburger? Sushi or spaghetti? Eating out (and where) or at home? Big meals or small? Is he polite or piggish?

PERSONALITY COMPONENTS

Personality Components are those emotional and psychological attributes characters may possess. Feel free to print the following list and copy it for each character. Either circle the components that apply to this character or use the list to select components to be added at the end of the character chart. Each character should possess several attributes in order to be well-rounded.

Absent-minded Abrasive Abusive Accident-prone Accommodating Accomplished Adaptable Adventurous Affectionate Agnostic Agreeable Aggressive Alone Aloof Ambitious Amusing Angry Annoying Antisocial Anxious Apathetic Apologetic Appreciative Apprehensive Approachable Argumentative Aristocratic Arrogant Articulate Artistic Assertive Audacious Authoritative Belligerent Bewildered Bewitching Boisterous Bored Bossy Brave Brazen Calculating Callous Carefree Careful Charismatic Charming Chaste Cheerful Classy Clumsy Cocky Compassionate Compliant Composed Compulsive Conceited Condescending Confused Congenial Confident Conscientious Conservative Considerate Consistent Conventional Content Contrite Controlling Cooperative Cowardly Crafty Cranky Creative Critical Crude Cruel Cultured Cunning Curious Cynical Daffy Dainty Debonair Deceitful Decent Delicate Defiant Despicable Detached Determined Dignified Direct Disciplined Disgusting Dishonest Disorganized Distant Distraught Dogmatic Domineering Dowdy Downtrodden Dramatic Dull Dumb Easy-going Educated Eccentric Egocentric Egotistic Elusive Embittered Emotional Empathetic Energetic Enigmatic Enthusiastic Excessive Excitable Exotic Extravagant Exuberant Faithful Fanatical Fatalistic Fearless Feisty Finicky Flamboyant

Flexible Flippant Flirtatious Flustered Focused Forgiving Fragile Frank Friendly Frigid Frugal Frustrated Fun-loving Gaudy Gentle Glamorous Gloomy Good-natured Graceful Gracious Grandiose Gregarious Greedy Grotesque Grumpy Haggard Hateful Heartbroken Hesitant Holy Honest Honorable Hopeful Hospitable Humble Hypocritical Hysterical Idiosyncratic Ignorant Imaginative Immature Immodest Impatient Impeccable Impudent Impulsive Incoherent Incompetent Inconsiderate Indecisive Indifferent Indiscreet Inept Infantile Informed Inhibited Inhumane Innocent Insecure Insensitive Insouciant Insulting Intelligent Intimidating Intolerant Introspective Introverted Inquisitive Insightful Intellectual Intelligent Intuitive Inventive Irresponsible Irreverent Irritable Jealous Judgmental Kind Knowledgeable Lascivious Lazy Lethargic Lewd Liberal Logical Lonely Loving Macho Maniacal Manipulative Materialistic Mature Mean Melodramatic Merciful Messy Meticulous Miserly Modest Moody Naïve Nasty Neurotic Noble Noisy Nonchalant Non-committing Nostalgic Obedient Obnoxious Obscene Observant Obsessive Open-minded Opinionated Opportunistic Optimistic Organized Ornery Outgoing Outspoken Overbearing Paranoid Passionate Passive Patient Perceptive

Persistent Persuasive Pert Perverted Pessimistic Petty Philanthropic Pious Plain Polite Pompous Practical Presumptuous Pretentious Prim Private Profane Promiscuous Prosaic Proud Psychopathic Psychotic Pushy Quiet Quirky Rational Rebellious Reclusive Reliable Religious Remorseful Remote Resentful Reserved Resilient Respectful Righteous Romantic Rowdy Rude Ruthless Sadistic Saintly Sarcastic Sassy Savvy Self-absorbed Self-conscious Self-effacing Self-righteous Selfish Selfless Senile Sensitive Sensual Sentimental Serene Serious Shallow Sheepish Shy Silent Silly Simple Sincere Sleazy Sloppy Sluggish Smart Sneaky Snobby Soft-spoken Spiritual Spiteful Squeamish Stern Stingy Stoical Straight-laced Strict Stubborn Submissive Subtle Supportive Surly Suspicious Sweet Sympathetic Tactful Talkative Telepathic Temperamental Tense Tentative Thoughtful Thrifty Timid Tireless Tolerant Tough Traitorous Trivial Trusting Tyrannical Unassuming Unclean Uncommunicative Unconventional Uneasy Uninhibited Unmotivated Unreasonable Unscrupulous Vain Vengeful Verbose Vindictive Virtuous Vivacious Vulgar Vulnerable Well-groomed Wholesome Wicked Withdrawn Worldly Zany Zealous

(c) copyright 2001 by Sandy Tritt.

Sandy Tritt is the founder of Inspiration for Writers, a manuscript critique service for writers. She is the fiction editor for Confluence and the president of the Ohio Valley Literary Group. Sandy frequently gives writer workshops and public readings.