A Guide to Creating a Well-Developed Character

Character Reviews Template

Name:
Age and Gender:
Physical Description:
Personality (include strengths and weaknesses):
History (summarized):
What makes them unique?:
What helps the audience establish a connection to them?:

Example:
Name: Amity Falconhurst
Age and Gender: 17, female
Physical Description: Long, blonde hair that reaches the small of her back. Her eyes are foggy and faded over due to her blindness. Her skin is rather pale, and she has a lot of freckles sprinkled across her nose.
Personality (include strengths and weaknesses): She has a way of making someone feel completely exposed, be it from her blank stares or her mild manner. She's rather up in the clouds, resulting in her ending up in danger an awful lot. She can't really be left alone. She rarely expresses emotion, unless someone is harming a person she cares about. In that case, you may wind up on Death's doorstep. She keeps her thoughts in her head, causing her to come off as quiet or emotionless, despite having an entire world in her head.
History (summarized): Amity was only six when her vision began to falter. By the age of nine. she was classified as legally blind, and by 12, she had lost her sight entirely. Only one person, Amber, stayed with her through this. Without her, Amity doesn't know where she would be.
What makes them unique?: Possibly her blindness, and her desire to keep her thoughts in her head, even if it pulls her away from forming any other relationships.
What helps the audience establish a connection to them?:  Her protectiveness over those she cares about and the sense of having one friend she can trust with her life.

Obviously not the best character in the world (I made her when I was twelve, in my starting years), but this will probably be the default example character throughout this guide. Hopefully, this will help me develop her more as we learn together, and I'll consider her worthy of a story again!