Character profile template

Open the template with Quick depth

Most character sheets fail in one of two directions. A short one leaves the important questions unasked, and a long one never gets finished. This template makes the depth a choice per character: the same profile starts at 13 fields, and any character can be raised to 38 or 56 at any time. Nothing is lost when a depth is lowered — the fields are hidden, and the answers come back when the depth does.

Quick — 13 fieldsIdentity, the engine of the character, and the arc in a line. Five to ten minutes, and enough for a large secondary cast.
Standard — 38 fieldsEnough for a collaborator to write them correctly: voice, mannerisms, backstory, the misbelief they act on.
Deep — 56 fieldsFor the protagonist, the antagonist, the anchor of a series — plus up to four fields the genre preset adds of its own.

Quick: 13 fields · Standard: 38 fields · Deep: 56 fields

Identity

Who they are, and where they sit in the story.

Nickname or aliasQuick: What other characters actually call them. Leave blank if they are only ever called by their full name.
PronounsQuick: Free text, so it fits any world — she/her, he/him, they/them, or a system you invented.
GenderQuick: Only matters as far as the story makes it matter.
Age or age rangeQuick: An approximate range is fine. An exact age lets the timeline check compare it against events.
Occupation or role in the worldQuick: What they do when the plot is not happening.
Why this nameStandard: Heritage, a naming tradition, or a choice somebody else made. Storing the reason is what turns a fact into a writing tool.
Birth year or story-yearStandard: Anchors them in the timeline. Use your world's calendar if it has its own.
Where they are as the story opensStandard: One or two lines: their circumstances on page one, before anything changes.
Class or standingDeep: Money, status, or whatever substitutes for both in your world.
Why that nicknameDeep: Who gave it to them — and whether they answer to it.
Species, ancestry or lineageStandard: Include what it costs them socially, not just the label.
Political affiliationDeep: Faction, party, court, or the side they are quietly on.
Religion or moral philosophyStandard: What they believe, or what they profess to believe.

Appearance

What a reader notices. Where continuity slips first.

HairQuick: The detail readers notice and writers forget by chapter twelve.
EyesQuick: The other classic continuity slip. Colour, and anything unusual about them.
Build and frameStandard: How they take up space — described as a stranger would see it across a room.
Skin and complexionStandard: Worth pinning down for the same reason as hair and eyes: it is a detail a reader notices the moment it drifts.
Distinguishing marksStandard: Scars, tattoos, birthmarks — and how they got them. The story behind a mark is usually more useful than the mark.
Signature outfit or styleStandard: The thing they reach for, and the one item that matters for a particular scene.
VoiceStandard: How it sounds out loud, not what it says.
HeightDeep: Only worth an exact number if it matters. Relative height is usually enough for a scene.
Dominant handDeep: Rarely noted, load-bearing in action scenes.
Default expressionDeep: Their resting face. Fill in the blank: they have a resting ___ face.
Speech register and vocabularyDeep: How they would ask a stranger for a favour, and how that differs from asking a friend.
Mannerisms and ticsDeep: What their hands do when they are lying. The physical tells a collaborator can actually use.

Personality & motivation

The engine: want, need, fear, and the lie they act on.

Core traitsQuick: Three to five. More than five is a description, not a character.
Weaknesses and flawsQuick: Flaws are where the arc lives. A character with no flaw has nowhere to go.
External goal — what they wantQuick: The thing they are actively chasing. Concrete and pursuable — something a scene could show them doing.
Internal needQuick: What they actually require, which they usually cannot name out loud.
Core fearQuick: What they will arrange their whole life to avoid.
StrengthsStandard: What they are genuinely good at — and the cost of being good at it.
Values above all elseStandard: The one thing they will not trade, even when it would be sensible to.
Emotional triggersStandard: What makes them react before they think.
Habits and quirksStandard: The small repeated business that makes them feel lived-in on the page.
How they handle conflictStandard: Fight, placate, deflect, go cold. The default a scene will fall into.
The lie they act onStandard: The false thing they believe about themselves or the world. Most templates omit this, and it is the field that makes an arc work.
SecretStandard: What they are hiding, and from whom.
RegretStandard: The thing they would undo. Distinct from the formative wound: a regret was chosen, a wound was suffered.
What they lose if they failStandard: Name the specific loss, not the abstract one.
Pet peevesDeep: The small things that make them unreasonable. Cheaper characterisation than a flaw, and often more memorable.
How they approach loveDeep: How they behave when they care about someone — rarely the same as how they say they behave.
What they find funnyDeep: A character with no sense of humour still has one — try writing a joke they would tell.

Backstory

What made them this way.

Hometown or originStandard: Where they are from, and whether they would go back.
Family and upbringingStandard: Who raised them, and what that household expected of them.
Formative woundStandard: The event that taught them the lie they act on.
Key life eventsDeep: One per line. These can be attached to timeline events later.
Education or trainingDeep: Formal or otherwise. Include who paid for it, since that is usually the interesting part.
Heritage, culture and first languageDeep: Including what they left behind, and what they cannot stop doing.
What they always carryDeep: Object, keepsake, weapon, or the thing in their pocket that a scene will eventually need.
Historical events witnessedDeep: Which of your world's events they lived through, and on which side.

Arc

How they change — or refuse to.

Arc typeQuick: Positive: they change. Negative: they fall. Flat: they hold, and the world changes around them.
Starting stateStandard: Who they are when the story begins, in one honest sentence.
Turning pointStandard: The moment the change becomes possible — or impossible.
Ending stateStandard: Who they are at the end. Mirror it against the starting state and the change becomes visible.
What they must let go ofStandard: The belief, habit or person they have to release before the arc can complete.
What they refuse to changeDeep: The line they will not cross, whatever it costs them.

Voice & continuity

How they sound, and what must not change.

Open threads about themStandard: What is still undecided — the questions a collaborator should not answer for you.
Speech habits and catchphrasesDeep: One per line, including the habits that annoy the other characters.
How they lie or deflectDeep: A collaborator can write a character convincingly if they know how the character avoids a question.
Sample linesDeep: Two or three lines in their voice. Worth more than a paragraph describing it.

Every field carries a one-line explanation of what it is for, so a Deep profile can be finished without stopping to work out what a field means. Where the reasoning is as useful as the fact — why this name, why this nickname — the template asks for the reason rather than just the answer.

Character: Mara Vale
Role: Protagonist
External goal: Discover who sent the letter written in her handwriting.
Internal conflict: Mara wants the truth but fears reopening the family secret.
Core fear: That the truth will prove she abandoned her brother.

Important relationships:
- Elias Vale — missing brother; source of Mara's guilt.
- Dr. Imani Reed — trusted friend who challenges Mara's assumptions.

Character arc:
Mara begins by hiding evidence from everyone. She gradually learns
that protecting the family story has prevented her from understanding it.

Continuity questions:
1. What does Mara already know about the handwriting?
2. Why has she avoided the orchard for ten years?
3. What would make her trust Elias's message?

Collaborator note:
Protect Mara's hesitation and guilt. Do not resolve the mystery
in the next scene.

The plan's worked example, as the tool compiles it

Which field each line of the example came from
Line in the example	Field it came from
External goal	External goal (want)
Internal conflict	Internal struggle
Core fear	Core fear
Important relationships	Relationship entries
Character arc	Arc — starting state, turning point, ending state
Continuity questions	Open questions
Collaborator note	Protected canon (do not change)

FAQ

Why does the bible come before the invitation?

A collaborator can only contribute well when they know the characters, the relationships, the world's rules and the continuity you want protected. That context is the thing this tool makes, and it is the thing you can hand over without handing over the book.

Why is the bible safe to share?

The bible is the safe artifact. It says who these people are and what must not change, and it says nothing about how the story ends, so sharing it does not mean showing anyone your draft.

How do I invite the role I actually need?

A co-writer needs the cast and the rules. An editor needs the arc and the open questions. A beta reader needs the one-page brief. Because the bible separates those, each of them can be given the right half.

Why review a response against the same ground?

When two people work from the same protected canon, a disagreement is about the story rather than about which version of the character they each remember.

What do I get on Nexet that this tool cannot do?

The tool builds the context; Nexet is where a story is written against it. A Nexet project holds your scenes and your bible together: draft in the Manuscript Studio, keep the characters, world, plots and outline in the same project, and let the cast and the do-not-change canon stay visible while you write. It also keeps a revision of every scene, and it tracks the plot threads and the outline. The finished work exports as Word, PDF, EPUB, Markdown, Final Draft and more.

Can I invite a co-writer or an editor to work from my bible?

Yes, and that is what the bible is for. On Nexet you invite someone as a role, whether co-writer, editor or beta reader, and they work from the same approved context rather than from a copy that drifts. Each role is given the part of the context its job needs, and a private thread keeps the conversation with the work instead of in an email.

What is the Writers' Audition Arena?

It is where you find someone to write with. You publish a frozen seed: a passage from your own work, held at that exact version. Other writers answer it with continuations, and you read them and choose. Your manuscript is never handed over by publishing a seed: what they see is the seed, and the writer you pick works on from there.

How do I get this bible into a Nexet project?

Export the JSON file, which is the round-trip format and the one that imports back without loss, then start the project on Nexet and bring it with you. Importing the file directly is coming; until it ships, the JSON export and the one-page brief are what travel, and the brief is what a collaborator reads first.

Does Nexet cost anything?

Nexet needs an account, and it starts free: you can create projects and write in them without paying, with more project slots available if you want them. Nothing on this page is affected either way: the free tool, its exports and its brief stay free, and they never ask for an account.

“You shouldn’t have to send your entire book to get useful feedback.”

The draft and the bible in one project. Draft a scene in the Manuscript Studio with the cast, the world and the canon beside it, so the reference sits where the writing happens instead of in another file.
Invite the role you actually need. Bring in a co-writer, an editor or a beta reader as a role. Each works from the same approved context, with a private thread for the conversation.
Never lose a version of a scene. Revisions keep a copy whenever a scene changes, so an edit is not a one-way door and a collaborator's answer can be read against what it answered.
Find a collaborator in the Arena. Publish a frozen seed of your own writing, read the continuations other writers send back, then work with the one that fits. Your manuscript stays private.
Take everything with you. Export the project or the finished document as Word, PDF, EPUB, Markdown, Final Draft, Rich Text, OpenDocument, plain text, HTML or JSON. Nothing is locked in.

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