For novelists and short story writers
Character Sheet & Profile Template
A one-page character sheet for fiction writers: what your character wants and needs, the wound behind both, how they talk and who matters to them.
How it works
What is a character sheet for writers?
A character sheet for writers, also called a character profile, is one page on what drives a character's choices. It names what they want and need, the wound behind both and the lie it taught them. It also covers their biggest fear, how they talk and who matters to them. Give a sheet to each main character and a single line to each walk-on. In Aspects of the Novel (1927), E.M. Forster wrote that "the really flat character can be expressed in one sentence,"1 such as Mrs. Micawber's "I never will desert Mr. Micawber."
Fill the core fields as a chain: the wound teaches the lie, and the lie shapes what they want and need. In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge's wound goes back to being left at school over the holidays, a "solitary child, neglected by his friends."2 In K.M. Weiland's reading, that past taught him the lie3 that a man's worth can only be measured in money. So he hoards it when what he needs is people. Belle, the fiancée he loses, names his fear: "You fear the world too much."
The sheet works on its own: download it and fill it in yourself. To have River draft it, write a line or a few paragraphs about your character in the box at the top, then click Edit with AI. No character yet? The character generator invents one from a line, and the character name generator finds a name to fit. Once you're drafting, keep the facts that must stay fixed in a character bible.
How it works
From a name to a whole person
Download it or open it in River
Download the one-page sheet as a Word document, or click Edit with AI to open it in River.
Describe your character
Optional. Write a line about them or paste your notes in the box first, or tell River once the sheet opens.
Check the first pass
River fills every field and keeps each fact you gave. Change anything that doesn't sound like them.
Add the next one
Ask River for a sheet for another character, or for a short scene that shows this one's want and voice.
June Adeyemi
Protagonist, 17. Debate captain in Columbus, Ohio.
- Want
- Win state finals and the scholarship that comes with it.
- Need
- To say what she believes, even when it loses.
- Wound
- At twelve she told a teacher about her father's drinking. A year later he left, and the family blamed her.
- The lie
- The truth costs you your family.
- Fear
- Being the reason her family breaks again.
What you'll get
Want, wound, voice and relationships on one page
- One page per character: want, need, wound and fear
- A voice note, plus a line only they would say
- Three key relationships, and where each one is tense
Before and after
Your notes in. One full page out.
June Adeyemi, 17, debate captain who can argue any side but her own. Narrator of a YA contemporary set in Columbus. Lives with her mom and her little brother Tobi. Her dad left the year after she told a teacher about his drinking. Best friend Priya is her debate partner and is quietly applying for the same scholarship. June says "respectfully" right before every insult.
Want: Win state finals and the scholarship that comes with it. Need: To say what she believes, even when it loses. Wound: At twelve she told a teacher about her father's drinking. A year later he left, and the family blamed her. The lie they believe: The truth costs you your family. Voice: Fast, precise. Says "respectfully" right before every insult. Relationships: Priya. Best friend and debate partner. Tense: she is quietly applying for the same scholarship.
Every fact you gave stays. Everything else is a suggestion: keep what sounds like your character and rewrite the rest.
What lands in your doc
What's on the sheet
- Want and need
What they chase, something you could see or count, and the truth they have to accept. - Wound and the lie
The past event and the hurt it left, and what it taught them about themselves or the world. - Biggest fear
What they would do almost anything to avoid, so you know where to press. - Voice in two lines
How they talk, from sentence length to what they never say, plus a line only they would say. - Three relationships
Who, what they are to each other, what this character wants from them, and where it's tense. - Look and change
Three details a reader notices first, and who they are at the start and at the end.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What should a character sheet include?
A character sheet needs only what shapes a character's choices: want, need, wound, the lie it taught and their biggest fear. Add how they talk, one line only they would say, and the people who matter, with what's tense between them. End with three details a reader notices and how they change. Skip trivia like star signs unless it changes a scene.
Is a character sheet the same as a character profile?
Mostly, yes. Writers use both names for a page that captures one character and what drives them. A character bible does a different job. It keeps every recurring character consistent across a book or series, logging fixed facts like eye color and what changes from chapter to chapter.
How is a character's want different from their need?
The want is the goal they chase. K.M. Weiland, author of Creating Character Arcs, writes that it "will almost always be something external, something physical."4 The need is the truth they must accept, which she calls "the personalized antidote" to the character's lie. The gap between the two is where your story's tension lives.
How do I give my character a wound?
Pick one painful event from their past, specific enough to picture, and name the hurt it still causes. K.M. Weiland separates the ghost, the wound and the lie3: the event that haunts them, the pain it left, and the false belief that grew from it. Then let the wound show in what your character avoids, not in a backstory dump.
Is this a D&D or tabletop character sheet?
No. This sheet is for fiction writers building characters for a novel, a short story or fanfiction. A Dungeons & Dragons sheet holds game details instead, from ability scores to class features5. D&D Beyond, the game's official digital toolset, offers printable sheets to download. If you're writing a player character's backstory, the wound and voice fields still help.
Is this character sheet template free?
Yes. Download the sheet as a Word document with no account or signup, then fill it in by hand. Edit with AI opens the same sheet in River, which is free to start. There you can fill it in, share it or ask River to change it. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
What does Edit with AI do?
It opens the sheet in a free River workspace. If you described your character in the box first, River writes a first pass of every field, using each fact you gave as written. Describe up to three characters and each gets a sheet. With the box empty, River offers to fill it in with you or to suggest three character ideas.
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