Character Profile Templates for PrepTober

It’s almost October, which means it’s NaNoPrep time!

For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and those who participate undertake the goal to write 50,000 words in November. October is traditionally the month of preparation and is commonly called PrepTober or NaNoPrep.

Part of my prep process when starting a story is to fill out a character profile for every character. Over time I’ve developed this template that I complete for every main character and at least partially fill in for every tertiary character. And now I’m sharing it with you! Enjoy!

Character Profile

Full Name: 

Name Meaning: 

Nickname: 

Age: 

Hometown: 

Current Residence: 

Nationality: 

Religion: 

Education: 

Occupation: 

Income: 

Net Worth: 

 

Appearance

Ethnicity: 

Eyes: 

Hair: 

Height: 

Build: 

 

Attributes

Voice: 

Grooming Habits: 

Fashion: 

Accessories: 

Handwriting: 

Catchphrase: 

Sorting Hat: 

Personality Type: 

Dream Casting: 

 

Backstory

Childhood: 

Past Relationships: 

Work History: 

Criminal Record: 

Aspirations:  

Hobbies: 

 

Family

Father

• Name: 

• Age: 

• Occupation: 

• Description: 

Mother 

• Name: 

• Age: 

• Occupation: 

• Description: 

Siblings 

• Name: 

• Age: 

• Occupation: 

• Description: 

 

Relationships

Friends: 

Enemies: 

Notes

2004 Reading Log

1. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

2. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

3. Ocean’s 11 by Dewey Gram

4. Wicked by Gregory Maguire

5. The Man of Property by John Galsworthy

6. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody

7. The Accidental Buddhist by Dinty W. Moore

8. In Chancery by John Galsworthy

9. To Let by John Galsworthy

10. The White Monkey by John Galsworthy

11. The Silver Spoon by John Galsworthy

12. Swan Song by John Galsworthy

13. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

14. Stone Tables by Orson Scott Card

15. Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier

16. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card

17. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

18. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling 

20. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

21. The Last World by Christoph Ransmayr

22. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson

At this time, I joined a small book club which was basically an excuse for some girlfriends of mine to get together and drink wine. It didn’t last very long as we continually found it difficult to actually read the assigned book that we took turns selecting. I don’t believe it ever got to my turn to select a book. This is the reason that I ended up reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. I disliked it intensely and still have an aversion to her work today. It masquerades as well-researched historical fiction, but it’s mostly garbage.

But on the flip side of that coin, we have Tracy Chevalier who writes excellent historical fiction. I read Girl with a Pearl Earrings after seeing the film and liking it immensely. I read Gone with the Wind in high school and that may have been my first introduction to historical fiction, but I remember Tracy Chevalier’s works being the thing that cemented my love for the genre. And this is the book that started my fascination with literature that intersects with art history which is a huge component of my current work in progress.

“It took a contemplative period film to bring me to this novel, and it took this work of fiction to bring me to an appreciation of art history and the work of the old masters. I had never studied art history academically, and had little experience of museums and little or no knowledge of any period of art. This book got me interested in the old Dutch masters, the lives they led, and the works they left behind, which spurred me on to learn about other eras and styles of painting. I can now spot a Caravaggio a mile off and know that it’s a Caravaggio, not an essential life skill perhaps, but one I’m happy to have. I cringed when in that Keanu Reeves movie Equilibrium, they show a mob setting fire to The Mona Lisa, the flames causing corners of the canvass curling up around the famous smirk. I cringed, not because of the depiction of the destruction of a priceless work of art, but because the film-makers had gotten it so wrong. The Mona Lisa is painted on a wood panel, not a canvass. That’s the kind of thing I know now that I might never have learned had it not been for this novel. ”

— From a 2014 Facebook post about books that influenced me

Everyone was talking about Wicked by Gregory Maguire in 2004, so I picked it up expecting to like it. I didn’t. I’m not sure why I dislike Gregory Maguire and Philippa Gregory so much, since they are widely beloved by millions of readers, but I do. And I’m pretty sure Wicked is one of those rare “movie/musical was better than the book” cases.

Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody was an assigned reading for a class on American History. I remember disliking the class due to some conflict with the professor about my writing style, and resenting the huge reading load. There were 6 novel-length books assigned all about the Civil Rights movement, and I didn’t read all of them. The ones I did read, I learned a lot from. Up until that point, I hadn’t learned much about the American Civil Rights movement, and reading first-hand accounts of people involved in SNCC, the Freedom Riders, and reading graphic descriptions of the death of Emmett Till were eye-opening.

The Accidental Buddhist by Dinty W. Moore was a continuation of my exploration of Eastern religions. I don’t think it was an assigned reading, though I had taken an introductory class that covered Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Janeism, and other religions. I think I continued to be interested in Eastern religions due to my deep love of The Wasteland wherein T.S. Elliot quotes The Upanishads. And, of course, this was post 9-11, so I was trying to understand the perspective of Muslims.

When I read John Galsworthy’s epic family drama, The Forsyte Saga, the newest mini series adaptation had recently aired on PBS.

I love costume dramas! But I also love to read classic literature. So, of course, this was a natural fit for me. I have very vivid memories of the mini-series adaptation, but don’t really remember much about the books. I remember liking them, but they must not have made much of an impact.

I keep thinking I should re-read them.

The Birth of Venus may have been a book club pick, but it’s an art historical fiction, so it’s possible I picked it up on my own. It’s typical of the genre, but not great. I didn’t care for it that much despite it ticking all the boxes for things I usually really love.

I have literally no memory of reading The Last World by Christoph Ransmayr. It’s supposed to be an important work, but either I didn’t finish reading it or it made zero impression on me.

Quicksilver was a HUGE time sink, and I read it on the recommendation of my friend who had suggested Heart of Darkness. I did make it through the bloated volume, but did not continue on reading the series. I didn’t connect enough with the characters to sustain an interest, and I felt like the interweaving perspectives were too spaced out. Overall, it could have been tightened up on several fronts and been better for it.

2003 Book Log

1. Enchantment by Orson Scott Card

2. Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card

3. Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card

4. Flux by Orson Scott Card

5. The Changed Man by Orson Scott Card

6. Cruel Miracles by Orson Scott Card

7. Monkey Sonatas by Orson Scott Card

8. Unaccompanied Sonata by Orson Scott Card

9. Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

10. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

11. Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card

12. Lovelock by Orson Scott Card

13. Magic Mirror by Orson Scott Card

14. Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

15. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

16. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

17. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

18. Sarah by Orson Scott Card

19. Rebekah by Orson Scott Card

20. Saints: A Woman of Destiny by Orson Scott Card

21. Songmaster by Orson Scott Card

22. Heart of Darkness* by Joseph Conrad

23. Breakfast at Tiffany’s and other stories by Truman Capote

24. The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson

25. Secrets of the Vine by Bruce Wilkinson

26. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

27. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

28. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

29. Prentice Alvin by Orson Scott Card

30. Alvin Journeyman by Orson Scott Card

31. Heartfire by Orson Scott Card

32. The Worthing Chronicles by Orson Scott Card

33. K-PAX by Gene Brewer

34. A Tower for Louisville: the Humana Competition by Peter Arnell and Ted Bickford

35. The World’s Greatest Buildings by Trevor Howells

36. Why Paint Cats: the ethics of feline aesthetics by Burton Silver and Heather Busch

37. Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson

38. Crystal City by Orson Scott Card

39. Burning Chrome by William Gibson

40. First Meetings by Orson Scott Card

41. Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

42. Windtalkers by Max Allan Collins

43. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Here we see a continuation with my obsession with Orson Scott Card. He is still cancelled. Moving on…

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson is a jewel and I highly recommend everyone read it. It marked a shift for him away from the sub-genre of cyberpunk that he helped establish and towards near future speculative sci fi that is as sharp and insightful as his previous work. This ended up being the start of the Blue Ant trilogy, but I didn’t know there would be more books in the series at the time, and maybe he didn’t, either. It works as a standalone.

This was also the first time that I read Gibson’s collection of short stories, Burning Chrome. Masterful works, every one. No weak links in the whole collection, and I re-read them frequently. I think I may have been reading Analog and Asimov’s magazines during this time as well.

“Having had a book of short stories chase me away from short form science fiction (referring to Anne McCaffrey’s The Girl Who Heard Dragons) it likewise took another book of short stories to bring me back to the genre. This is a masterful collection with very few weak links. The stories share a general setting and explore the same set of themes from different angles. So, exactly the inverse of Anne McCaffrey’s collection. This is one of the only books in my collection that I re-read with any frequency. ”

— From a 2014 Facebook post about books that have influenced me

And here’s where I took on Tolkien. I love epic fantasy in movies and television. I don’t like reading it. I liked The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I didn’t love it. I LOVE the movies. I don’t know what it is about epic fantasy that I don’t connect with in writing, but I do connect with in visual mediums, but so it is.

I read Tuesdays with Morrie on the recommendation of a friend. It was good. He said if you didn’t cry while reading it, you’re inhuman. I didn’t cry.

On the recommendation of the same friend, I made my first attempt at reading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

“Though widely hailed as a literary masterpiece, I confess I was never able to finish reading it. It is a small book. I could have perhaps forced myself to choke it down, but for the first time in my life I gave up on finishing a book on the grounds that I simply disliked it. I had recently given up my attempt to obtain a bachelor’s degree and was determined to continue studying on my own. As such, whatever my contemporaries who were still studying at college were being assigned to read, I would rent from the library and read on my own. But when I ran up against Heart of Darkness, I surrendered. Though many of my friends enjoyed it, I could not. And I made a decision not to force myself to read it. This marked a point in my life where I left off reading mainly classics in an attempt to prove myself as well-read as my more academically successful friends, and gave myself permission to read for pleasure even if it meant indulging in the latest best seller of no real literary merit. I was allowing myself to be who I was and choose my own path, and was able to shed the pretentious air I had cultivated and be more comfortable with the turns my life were taking instead of resentful of lost opportunities. ”

— From a 2014 Facebook post about books that have influenced me

Taking on more classics, I read Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. The novella, as is often the case, has so much more depth than the movie. It’s a quick read, and still relevant. I highly recommend giving it a read.

K-Pax was so bad, i wondered if it was one of those crappy novelizations of the movie. It wasn’t. It just wasn’t very well written. Very stilted.

Windtalkers was a novelization of the movie, but a decent one hat included some needed background. The author went on to pen some best sellers, I believe.

You’ll see a couple of architecture books in the mix. I have a long-time fascination with architecture, and I find it isn’t often written about in a manner accessible to laypeople. I’ll have to plan a future post about good non-fiction writing about architecture.

At the very end of 2002, I read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for the first time, and in 2003, I caught up with the then-published books in the series, somehow completely missing Sorcerer’s Stone. Maybe I felt like I didn’t need to read it because the movie was already out? Unsure. Anyway, I was late the Harry Potter party, reading them at age 22, but I am still, to this day, a huge Potterhead. I am a Hufflepuff, for what it’s worth.