angela here, happy to welcome savannah cordova from reedsy, who has done some digging to find tools that can help you create your characters. Play around with ideas or dive deep into their backstory, personality, and the forces that drive them to accomplish meaningful story goals, it’s up to you!
We all know that characters are the beating heart of any good story. no matter how original or exciting your plot is, readers simply won’t be able to get involved unless they care about the people (or the robots, or the animals, or whatever your characters are). That’s why before you start writing, possibly even before you figure out your plot, you need to create well-rounded and compelling characters.
You are reading: Character creator for books
It is this prerequisite of character development that makes features like the occupation thesaurus so valuable. because when creating characters, you can’t skip anything! we’re all “round” in real life, after all. so if some of your characters mysteriously lack discernible careers, motivations, or personalities, readers will pick up on it.
Fortunately, there are plenty of stellar tools out there to help you with character development and profiling. here are five character tools you need to know, each designed to serve a different purpose (and listed in the order you’re likely to need them).
1. the creator of the character
Although this tool is titled “character creator”, which sounds pretty general, it actually covers only one aspect of the character: their physical appearance. however, it is the most useful tool I have discovered for this particular function. although there are many “physical appearance” generators, they tend to spit out a combination of features (“curly brown hair/green eyes/freckles”) instead of showing you what the character would look like. I find it much more useful to have concrete images of your characters as you write about them; Plus, it’s fun to experiment with different physical traits and see how they manifest.
Of course, you can always search for headshots on sites like backstage or use images of your favorite actors or models. this may be best if you need an image for a character who is especially tall, short, fat, or skinny; The main drawback of the character creator is the lack of various body types. but everything else is intricately customizable, from the shape of the face to the hairstyle and the wide range of accessories. (if anyone has been able to find a more inclusive, body-positive character creator, please let me know in the comments!)
Tip: When it comes to describing your character on the page, be sure to check out this descriptive database of physical characteristics.
2. reedsy character name generator
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after marking character appearances, reedsy’s character name generator should be your next stop. In the name (get it?) of full disclosure, my team created this tool, so I might be a bit biased as to how cool it is. but seriously: it’s broken down by language, archetype, and even mythologies from various countries, with over a million possible options for character names.
If you want a strong nickname for your protagonist, you can try the hero name generator to find one that means something powerful, like “fighter” or “radiant”. or say one of your characters is Korean, but you don’t speak Korean – you can use the relevant language generator to produce some authentic names. In any case, for those of you agonizing over choosing character names (and sick of baby name websites!), this generator is your lifesaver.
3. rangen personality generator
now we get into the meat and potatoes of your characters: their personalities. You’ve probably already thought about how your characters will behave and interact with each other, as character dynamics are often quite intertwined with the plot. however, you may not have considered how your outward behavior actually relates to your personality. For example, you might have a character who is always loud, energetic, and the life of the party, but is he acting that way because he’s actually very confident and secure, or because he craves attention and approval? this is where personality comes into play.
As you create character personalities, you can refer to a personality generator such as rangen’s. provides lists of qualities related to a character’s kindness, trustworthiness, emotional capacity, intelligence, and other attributes. but of course, true to the name “rangen”, this is a random generator, meaning traits can be completely arbitrary relative to the characters you’ve started building, and even each other. for example, I got a profile where the character’s friendliness was “insensitive”, but his friendliness was “harmonious” (needless to say, not the most compatible combination).
While character personalities don’t need to be perfectly cohesive (to paraphrase Whitman, they can contain crowds), you probably shouldn’t have traits that clearly contradict each other. and you definitely don’t want your characters to seem randomly thrown together, especially since their experiences and environments affect them in very specific ways, which a generator can’t take into account. as a result, this tool is best used for brainstorming, rather than creating full character profiles.
Tip: Planning your character’s personality using the One Stop Positive Traits and Negative Traits Database for Writers is also a great option as it helps you describe these traits through behaviors, attitudes etc
4. springhole character motivation generator
It’s designed for RPGs, but this character motivation tool can definitely be applied to the characters in your story. you may have to rephrase certain motivations to make sense (for example, instead of “the character wants to bring glory to his planet”, you could say “his family” or “his community”), but otherwise it’s quite a nuanced tool.
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Again, as with character dynamics, you probably already have an idea of your characters’ motivations, as they will tie in closely with your plot. however, for any characters you’re unsure about, or need extra motivation to make them more complex, this generator can really help. It could even trigger a subplot or spin-off for a supporting character, who suddenly becomes much more interesting with the help of motivations!
For more motivations (and, indeed, descriptive characteristics of all tendencies), you can of course check out the Character Motivations Database at One Stop for Writers. which brings us to…
5. one stop for writers character creator
Naturally, I have one stop to thank for the writers’ super comprehensive character builder. For those who haven’t tried it yet, this is not your average character template. Instead of just providing the minimum number of blanks for you to fill in, the character creator walks you through the entire process and highlights the importance of the connection between every aspect of your character.
You’ll start with the basics: your character’s backstory, which will emphasize how your past experience has led to your current vulnerabilities. this foundation allows you to intuitively build their personality, behavior, motivations, and more from there. in fact, the greatest strength of the character creator is that it really helps you bring your characters to life: while all the other tools on this list will give you ideas, the character creator will allow you to refine those ideas so that they are consistent, realistic and deep. characters. here is a character profile created with this tool.
best of all? you can try the character creator at any time because one stop for writers has a 2-week free trial. tip: while you’re there, check out your storyteller’s roadmap.
Yes, all of these tools have their own individual strengths, but they are best used together. the whole here is definitely greater than the sum of the parts, because the whole is ultimately the character itself, and that character has limitless potential.
Do you have a favorite character tool? please let us know in the comments!
savannah cordova is a writer with reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best publishers, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah likes to read contemporary fiction and write short stories (and occasionally terrible novels).
You can read more about his professional work on the reedsy blog or his personal writings on medium.
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