What Is A Character Bible & Why Do I Need One?

If you’ve ever felt as if the inmates have taken over the asylum when it comes to the novel you’re writing, you probably need a Character Bible.

What Is A Character Bible?

A Character Bible contains all the personal details about any of the characters you write. It needs to be as detailed as possible for your main character. Having thought through all this information before you write Chapter One, will make it vastly easier to write their actions, choices, and behaviour into the book. It’s one of the best preparations you can make when you write a novel. Even if you prefer to pants your books, at some point it’s a good idea to put the book on pause and create said Character Bible.

Great for standalone stories. Essential for series.

A Character Bible helps you to not only get to know your character. But also to remind you of important things like timelines, births, deaths, and marriages etc, if your book sprawls over three, or more novels in a series.

Why You Need A Character Bible

1. Who are you and what have you done with my hero?

If your hero, Brad, (please don’t call your hero ‘Brad’) arrives on the scene in Chapter One with red hair and blue eyes, only to miraculously turns into Sebastian with black hair and green eyes in Chapter Fifteen, readers become a little miffed. They will spend ages flicking back through the book trying to discover who the heck is Sebastian, has Brad gone undercover, did he die, has he changed his name, dyed his hair, wearing tinted lenses? Readers will not thank you for this.

2. Why did it have be snakes?

A Character Bible also allows you to create a better plot. Falling into a tomb whose floor is covered in snakes, well, anyone would be scared, but Indiana Jones having a phobia about them makes that scene, and the character, far more interesting, exciting, and relatable.

13 Things To Include In Your Character Bible

Here’s a list of things you really should know about your character before you start writing.

1. The basics: This goes beyond your character’s appearance and any interesting details. Think beyond stereotypes. Not all heroines are beautiful and spunky in real life. Include age, era, finances, profession, health, weight, height, hair and eye colour, and a brief family tree, etc.
Question: Do you have a very clear idea of who your character is? Why have you chosen this person?
Example: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow

2. Backstory: Your character had a life before Chapter One, what was it? It should have consequences in the present-day life of the book.
Question: Where did your character come from, what made them the way they are today?
Example: The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell

3. Beliefs and morals: Most of the time, our morals come from our beliefs, both of which can change over time through our lived experiences and how we interpret them or the decisions we make about these beliefs, morals, or experiences.
Question: Where does you character draw the line in the sand? What won’t they do, or will they do for money? Do they believe in a higher power or follow a particular code? What beliefs did they have that they turned their back on and why?
Example: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

4. Current situation: Drop your reader right into the middle of your character’s existence just before, just as, or just after something has happened that either changes things immediately, or that leads to change.
Question: Do you know your character well enough to know exactly how they would react, and what they would say, when that change of circumstance occurs?
Example: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

5. Emotional range and behaviours: Unless you character is on Prozac, they will have emotional ups and downs. It’s how they handle them that matters. Even if they look calm on the surface, there are times when, like ducks, they’re paddling like mad beneath the waves. No character should be perfect. Flawed characters are far more interesting.
Question: Do you know your character’s internal life well enough to portray their thoughts and their actions across their character arc correctly?
Example: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

6. Fears and misbeliefs: This can include phobias, but think about what fears on life does your character have? Do they believe that they are too plain, too dumb, or responsible for someone else’s illness or absence?
Question: What misbeliefs about themselves does your character have? If and how will they overcome these? Will it influence the plot or be a result of the plot?
Example: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

7. Likes and dislikes: They may seem trivial, but they drive the decisions people make, as well as their consequences. What a character likes and dislikes will determine where they spend their time, and who they meet.
Question: What likes and dislikes have kept your protagonist from living the life they really want? Will they realise this? What steps will they take to overcome this and find the life they want?
Example: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

8. Hobbies, interests, and passions: We tend to think of hobbies and interests as something to keep us occupied on long winter nights, or our own special delight, such as watching You Tube videos on Ancient Rome. But in books, some hobbies can help solve crimes or keep you alive.
Question: What hobbies does your protagonist have and what does it reveal about them. In The Device Hunter, the protagonist is an assassin but spends his free time carving beautifully life-like animal figurines. And no one ever sees them.
Example: The Martian by Andy Weir

9. Insecurities and sensitivities: We all have them. They can drive us to procrastination, deliberately saying something to hurt someone else before they hurt us, or not applying for jobs we’d be good at because we don’t have enough confidence. It’s often our insecurities and sensitivities that make us the most human and can cause the most conflict.
Question: How were your character’s insecurities formed? What makes her believe them? How will her character arc help her abandon them?
Example: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

10. Secrets: Everyone has at least one secret that they will never tell anyone. But the body never lies, and the truth will, at some point, come out. What happens when it does could be a major turning point in the book or in the character development.
Question: Even if you are the only person who knows what your character’s secret is, it will inform your design of the character as well as their character arc. What secret do they hold?
Example: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

11. Talents, skills, and abilities: Your character doesn’t have to be James Bond or Sherlock Holmes to have talents, skills, or abilities. Everyone has them. That doesn’t mean your character has to have the same skills as anyone else. Not everyone is good at maths, espionage, or has a wand. But what they do, they do very well. They may have the greenest thumb in the village, for example.
Question: Is your character’s talent going to be a soft skill, or a practical one? How will that affect the plot? Remember, people can have more than one skill or ability, and it can be their profession as well.
Example: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

12. What they need: Our physical needs actually are very simple – shelter, food, water, health, and human connection. It’s our wants that tend to screw things up. So much so that when we chase our wants too blindly too aggressively, life decides to give us what we really need.
Question: Forget what they want, what do they need? Anger management, a better self-image, to forgive, courage, a kick in the butt?
Example: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

13. What they want most: It is a truth universally acknowledged that what a character wants is almost certainly not what they need. The same is true in real life. But in literature, it’s what a character wants that often puts them on the path to finding out what they need.
Question: What a character wants is often the basic premise of the plot. The detective wants to find the killer, the gambler wants a big win, the shy boy wants a date to the school dance, the dragon wants more gold, or the stay-at home introvert wants a cosy fire, and lots of good books to read.
Example: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Last Word

Writing is a craft that can be learnt. It’s also a great joy. I hope this blog has given you new ways to think about creating compelling characters.

You can also buy one of the rich and in-depth workbooks and courses that Writers Write offers, to inspire your writing.

by Elaine Dodge. Author of The Harcourts of Canada series and The Device Hunter, Elaine trained as a graphic designer, then worked in design, advertising, and broadcast television. She now creates content, mostly in written form, including ghost writing business books, for clients across the globe, but would much rather be drafting her books and short stories.

What Is A Character Bible & Why Do I Need One?