Q&A for How to Write a Character Sketch

There are no hard and fast rules. I prefer writing them in the third person. This gives me the outside look that my readers will have when reading the finished piece. I think that the first person is only necessary if you are writing the novel in the first person and the sketch is of the protagonist.

Use what you already know about your character, and build on that to make a character sketch.

A quotation is a sentence taken from a text, speech, book, etc. and placed into another text by a second author as a reference.

No drawing is required. A sketch (as used here) is a written summary.

You can, as long as you make it very clear when the perspective is being changed. Consider having someone else take a look at your work to make sure it makes sense to them.

Whichever you prefer. Some people like free-writing outlines, while others like formatted character sheets. If you wish to share your character with other writers, I suggest you go with a formatted outline.

The most important part of the sketch is that it gives you a good idea of the character. If five pages of text is what you think you need, that’s fine, but if you feel comfortable with only a couple of lines, then there’s no reason to stretch it out.

Start a character sketch (or character outline) with the five principles: Name, age, gender, appearance, and occupation. Detailing each of these builds a stable foundation for your character and paves a path for more questions. Then ask more intriguing questions, such as: What is their outlook? Then, branching off their outlook: Are they optimistic, pessimistic, or realistic? What are their ethical or moral beliefs? The questions should be personal and straightforward to help you understand your character.

Read lots of first person POV novels. Don’t copy, just learn from them. Reading a book of similar genre and the same POV can help immensely when writing. And a quick tip before you go: try to avoid overusing words no matter what POV you're writing from, but it’s especially important with first person POVs. Avoid making your main character “report”, for example; “I heard a sound coming from the kitchen. I turned the corner and I saw my mother. For a minute I thought it was a burglar.” It feels like the MC is “reporting” what happened, rather than the reader seeing and hearing it for themselves. Also, keep the character consistent with their backstory.

Mention their energy: Is your character extroverted, introverted, or ambiverted? To add more depth to their energy, add a reason or cause. Does your character have a previous traumatic or memorable event? If so, write a brief or lengthy explanation on it. Also, you’re on the right track; some authors don’t bother with character sketches when dealing with side characters. As a result, their side characters feel empty and dull.

Say you meet your new boss today. You can describe her by saying that she is beautiful, stern, introverted, hard working and humorous.

Present tense is probably used most often, but past tense is appropriate, too.

Yes, you can use this guide to help you understand the process that is behind the characters in your text, and to help you gain an understanding of the author's process when writing the text.

There is no "correct" way to write a character sketch; it is essentially brainstorming! As long as you feel like you are making progress in creating your character, you are doing it right.