Character Development

Great stories are driven by compelling characters. FictionMaker.ai’s entity type system gives you complete control over how you design, develop, and track your characters.

Characters as Entity Types

In FictionMaker.ai, “Character” is an entity type you define. This means you decide exactly what information to track for your characters. Different projects need different approaches:

Novel Characters

Literary fiction focuses on internal life:

Identity

  • Full name (and how they introduce themselves)
  • Age and birthdate
  • Physical appearance (height, build, coloring, distinctive features)
  • Voice and speech patterns
  • Typical clothing and style

Psychology

  • Core personality traits
  • Internal conflicts and contradictions
  • Fears, phobias, anxieties
  • Desires and dreams
  • Secrets they keep

Background

  • Childhood and family
  • Formative experiences
  • Education and career
  • Relationships that shaped them
  • Wounds and trauma

Arc

  • Starting state (who they are at the beginning)
  • Want vs. need (what they pursue vs. what they actually need)
  • Growth points and setbacks
  • Climactic choice
  • Ending state (who they become)

RPG Characters

Tabletop games need mechanical information:

Basic Info

  • Name, race, class, level
  • Player name (if PC)
  • Physical description
  • Personality summary

Statistics

  • Ability scores
  • Skills and proficiencies
  • Hit points and armor class
  • Saving throws
  • Speed and senses

Abilities

  • Class features
  • Racial traits
  • Feats
  • Spells known/prepared

Equipment

  • Weapons and armor
  • Magic items
  • Mundane gear
  • Currency and valuables

Background

  • Origin story
  • Bonds, ideals, flaws
  • Faction affiliations
  • Quest hooks

Session Notes

  • Key moments
  • Relationships with party
  • Character development
  • Goals and motivations

Historical Fiction

Period pieces require research-backed details:

Historical Context

  • Birth year and location
  • Social class and status
  • Occupation appropriate to era
  • Education (if any)

Period Details

  • Clothing and fashion
  • Speech patterns of the era
  • Religious beliefs and practices
  • Daily life and routines

Historical Connections

  • Relationships to real historical figures
  • Involvement in historical events
  • How history affects their life
  • What they don’t know (that readers do)

Accuracy Notes

  • Research sources
  • Intentional deviations from history
  • Things to verify

Game Characters (Video Games, Card Games)

Interactive media has unique requirements:

Gameplay

  • Stats and attributes
  • Abilities and skills
  • Progression path
  • Balance notes

Presentation

  • Visual design notes
  • Animation requirements
  • Voice direction
  • Sound effects

Narrative

  • Role in story
  • Dialogue samples
  • Barks and callouts
  • Relationship to player

Designing Your Character Entity Type

When creating a Character entity type, organize fields into logical groups:

Identity Fields

Who is this person on the surface?

Names

  • Full legal name
  • Preferred name / what they go by
  • Nicknames from friends
  • Nicknames from enemies
  • Titles or honorifics
  • Previous names (maiden name, former identity)

Demographics

  • Age and birthdate
  • Gender and pronouns
  • Species/race (for fantasy/sci-fi)
  • Nationality or origin
  • Languages spoken

Physical Appearance

  • Height and build
  • Hair color, style, length
  • Eye color
  • Skin tone
  • Distinguishing marks (scars, tattoos, birthmarks)
  • Physical disabilities or conditions
  • How they move (gait, posture, gestures)

Presentation

  • Typical clothing style
  • Signature items or accessories
  • Grooming habits
  • How they want to be perceived
  • How others actually perceive them

Personality Fields

Who is this person beneath the surface?

Core Traits

  • 3-5 defining characteristics
  • How these manifest in behavior
  • When these traits conflict

Strengths

  • What they’re good at
  • Admirable qualities
  • Skills they take pride in

Weaknesses

  • Character flaws
  • Bad habits
  • Blind spots
  • What they’re bad at

Emotional Life

  • Default emotional state
  • What makes them happy
  • What makes them angry
  • How they handle stress
  • How they show affection

Values and Beliefs

  • What they consider right and wrong
  • Religious or spiritual beliefs
  • Political views
  • What they would die for
  • What they refuse to do

Speech Patterns

  • Vocabulary level
  • Favorite phrases or expressions
  • Accent or dialect
  • How much they talk
  • Tone (formal, casual, sarcastic)

Background Fields

How did they become this person?

Origin

  • Birthplace
  • Family structure (parents, siblings)
  • Childhood environment
  • Economic circumstances growing up

Formative Events

  • Key childhood memories
  • Defining moments
  • Traumatic experiences
  • Achievements and failures
  • Turning points

Education and Training

  • Formal education
  • Skills learned
  • Mentors and teachers
  • Self-taught abilities

Career/Occupation

  • Current job or role
  • Previous jobs
  • Professional skills
  • Reputation in their field

Secrets

  • What they hide from everyone
  • What they hide from most people
  • What only close friends know
  • What they’ve forgotten or suppressed

Relationship Fields

How do they connect to others?

Family

  • Parents (living or deceased, relationship quality)
  • Siblings
  • Extended family
  • Chosen family

Romantic

  • Current partner(s)
  • Past relationships
  • Romantic orientation
  • Relationship patterns

Social

  • Close friends
  • Acquaintances
  • Colleagues
  • Enemies or rivals

Affiliations

  • Organizations they belong to
  • Causes they support
  • Communities they’re part of

Story Fields

What’s their role in the narrative?

Narrative Function

  • Protagonist, antagonist, supporting, minor
  • What they represent thematically
  • What plot threads they’re involved in

Character Arc

  • Starting point
  • Goals and motivations
  • Obstacles they face
  • How they change
  • Ending point

Scenes

  • Key scenes they appear in
  • Scenes that develop their arc
  • Scenes that reveal their character

Development Notes

  • Ideas for future development
  • Questions to answer
  • Inconsistencies to resolve

Multiple Character Types

Create several character-related entity types for different levels of detail:

Main Characters

Full entity type with all fields. These are POV characters or major players who need complete development.

When to use: Protagonists, primary antagonists, central supporting characters.

Supporting Characters

Reduced field set focusing on their role in the story.

Suggested fields:

  • Name and brief description
  • Role in story
  • Relationship to main characters
  • Key traits and quirks
  • Relevant backstory only
  • Arc (if any)

When to use: Secondary characters who appear multiple times but aren’t POV characters.

Minor Characters

Minimal information for characters who appear briefly.

Suggested fields:

  • Name
  • Brief description
  • Role/occupation
  • One defining trait
  • Scene appearances

When to use: Shop owners, guards, one-scene characters, crowds.

Referenced Characters

For characters mentioned but never seen.

Suggested fields:

  • Name
  • Who mentions them and why
  • Relevant information only
  • Whether they might appear later

When to use: Historical figures, deceased relatives, off-screen characters.

Organization Members

For tracking faction membership when individuals matter.

Suggested fields:

  • Name
  • Organization and rank
  • Loyalty level
  • Special skills
  • Narrative role

When to use: Members of guilds, military units, corporations where you need to track multiple individuals.

Character Relationships

Relationships bring characters to life and drive plot. Define relationship types that matter for your story:

Familial Relationships

Blood Relations

  • Parent / Child
  • Sibling (full, half, step)
  • Grandparent / Grandchild
  • Aunt/Uncle / Niece/Nephew
  • Cousin

Legal Relations

  • Spouse / Partner
  • In-laws
  • Adoptive relations
  • Guardian / Ward

Chosen Family

  • Found family member
  • Honorary aunt/uncle
  • Godparent / Godchild

Social Relationships

Positive

  • Friend
  • Best friend
  • Ally
  • Confidant

Professional

  • Mentor / Student
  • Employer / Employee
  • Colleague
  • Business partner

Negative

  • Enemy
  • Rival
  • Nemesis
  • Bully / Victim

Complex

  • Frenemy
  • Unrequited love
  • Estranged (former friend/family)

Narrative Relationships

Structural

  • Protagonist / Antagonist
  • Foil
  • Deuteragonist

Romantic

  • Love interest
  • Ex-partner
  • Romantic rival
  • Affair partner

Functional

  • Comic relief for
  • Voice of reason for
  • Temptation for
  • Moral compass for

Custom Relationships

Define any relationship that fits your narrative:

Obligation

  • “Owes a debt to”
  • “Owes a life debt to”
  • “Made a promise to”
  • “Bound by oath to”

Hidden Connections

  • “Secretly related to”
  • “Secretly admires”
  • “Secretly plotting against”
  • “Unknowingly connected to”

Specific Events

  • “Betrayed by”
  • “Saved the life of”
  • “Killed [family member] of”
  • “Witnessed [event] with”

Relationship Details

For each relationship, you can track:

  • Type: The relationship category
  • Quality: Positive, negative, complicated
  • History: How it developed
  • Current state: Strong, strained, secret
  • Narrative importance: Key to plot, background detail
  • Notes: Anything specific about this connection

Character Hierarchies

Characters can exist in hierarchies to organize large casts:

Group Structures

  • A Crew contains Crew Members
  • A Family contains Family Members
  • A Squad contains Squad Members
  • An Organization contains Departments containing Employees

Using Hierarchies

For organization: Keep track of who belongs to what group.

For inherited traits: Members might inherit faction beliefs or organization resources.

For scenes: Easily pull all characters in a group for group scenes.

For development: Track group dynamics alongside individual development.

When Not to Use Hierarchies

Some character organizations work better as relationships:

  • Loose alliances
  • Secret memberships
  • Characters belonging to multiple groups
  • Temporary groupings

Connecting Characters to Your World

Link characters to other entity types to build a rich, interconnected narrative:

Locations

  • Characters live in Locations
  • Characters were born in Locations
  • Characters work at Locations
  • Characters own Properties

Organizations

  • Characters belong to Factions
  • Characters lead Organizations
  • Characters founded Groups

Beliefs

  • Characters worship Deities
  • Characters follow Philosophies
  • Characters practice Religions

Objects

  • Characters wield Weapons
  • Characters possess Artifacts
  • Characters wear Signature Items

Events

  • Characters participated in Battles
  • Characters witnessed Historical Events
  • Characters caused Incidents

Concepts

  • Characters practice Magic Types
  • Characters mastered Skills
  • Characters discovered Technologies

These connections let the AI understand your character in full context.

AI-Powered Character Development

The AI understands your characters and their relationships:

Generate Backstories

Provide basic information and the AI generates detailed backstory:

  • Consistent with your world’s history
  • Creates connections to existing entities
  • Suggests formative events
  • Identifies potential conflicts

Write Dialogue

Generate character voice that matches their personality:

  • Uses their vocabulary and speech patterns
  • Reflects their emotional state
  • Maintains consistency across scenes
  • Adapts to conversation context

Create Portraits

Generate character images based on your descriptions:

  • Physical features match your text
  • Clothing and style appropriate
  • Mood and expression options
  • Multiple angles or ages

Suggest Development

The AI can propose character development:

  • “Based on their fear of abandonment, this betrayal scene could be a major turning point.”
  • “Their mentor relationship with X could parallel their unresolved issues with their father.”

Identify Dynamics

Analyze relationships between characters:

  • Potential conflicts
  • Natural alliances
  • Power dynamics
  • Chemistry or tension

Check Consistency

Review characters for contradictions:

  • Timeline errors (too young for that event)
  • Personality inconsistencies
  • Knowledge errors (knowing something they shouldn’t)
  • Physical description discrepancies

Character Arcs

Track how characters change throughout your story:

Arc Structure

  1. Starting Point: Who are they at the beginning?

    • Beliefs, behaviors, relationships
    • What’s their status quo?
    • What are they missing?

  2. Inciting Incident: What disrupts their world?

    • How do they initially respond?
    • What choice does it force?

  3. Rising Challenges: What obstacles do they face?

    • External conflicts
    • Internal struggles
    • Relationship tensions

  4. Midpoint Shift: How does their understanding change?

    • New information or perspective
    • Raised stakes
    • Deeper commitment or doubt

  5. Dark Moment: What’s their lowest point?

    • What do they lose or sacrifice?
    • How do old patterns fail them?

  6. Climactic Choice: Their defining moment

    • What decision do they make?
    • How does it reflect their growth (or failure to grow)?

  7. Resolution: Who do they become?

    • New beliefs, behaviors, relationships
    • What did they gain or lose?
    • How is their world different?

Tracking Arcs

Use fields or linked entities to track these milestones:

  • Create an “Arc Beat” entity type linked to characters
  • Use a rich text field for arc notes
  • Tag scenes with arc progression markers
  • Create a visual timeline of character development

Multiple Arcs

Major characters often have several intertwined arcs:

  • Internal arc: Psychological/emotional growth
  • External arc: Their story goal and pursuit
  • Relationship arcs: How specific relationships evolve
  • Thematic arc: How they embody the story’s themes

Best Practices

  1. Define what matters: Don’t over-engineer character profiles. A minor character doesn’t need trauma history.

  2. Start simple: Begin with essential fields. Add more as you develop the character.

  3. Use relationships: Characters exist in relation to others. Build the web of connections.

  4. Let AI help: Generate details to overcome blank page paralysis. Edit to make it yours.

  5. Track arcs: Characters should change. Document their journey.

  6. Connect to world: Ground characters in your setting. They should feel like they belong there.

  7. Interview your characters: Use AI chat to “talk” to your characters and discover new facets.

  8. Maintain consistency: Use consistency checking to catch errors before readers do.

  9. Revisit and revise: Characters deepen over time. Update their profiles as you learn more about them.

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