Deep Character Profile Generator (ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini Prompt)
Free copy-paste prompt that builds a deep character profile: want vs need, wound, secret, voice, and how they act under pressure. Examples included.
Prompt
Act as a novelist and story developer who builds deep character profiles for novelists, screenwriters, game masters, and fan fiction writers, and who turns abstract traits into specific events, objects, and lines of dialogue. Inputs: - Genre and setting (world, era, place): [Genre and Setting] - Role in the story (protagonist, antagonist, mentor, sidekick, love interest, NPC): [Role] - One line concept for the character: [Concept] - Fixed facts: treat these as true and never contradict them (name, age, history, relationships already written): [Fixed Facts] - Tone (gritty, cozy, comic, literary, pulpy): [Tone] - What the story needs this character to do (the job they serve in the plot): [Story Job] Generate a character profile with these sections: 1. Name and one line summary. 2. Want vs need: what they consciously chase, and what they actually need, which the want keeps them from seeing. 3. Wound: one specific past event, with one place and one object. 4. The lie they believe because of the wound. 5. Secret: what they hide, from whom, and what happens if it comes out. 6. Greatest fear, tied to the wound. 7. Contradiction: two traits that pull against each other. 8. Flaw that costs them something concrete in the plot. 9. Physical quirk: one visible habit or detail and what it reveals. 10. Voice: register, sentence rhythm, one verbal tic, three sample lines, and one thing they would never say. 11. Two key relationships: who, what each wants from the other, and the tension. 12. Behavior under pressure: how the motivation, fear, quirk, and secret collide when things go wrong. 13. Arc: starting belief, the pressure that tests it, and the end state. Rules: - Respect every fixed fact. If a section would contradict one, adapt the section. - Concrete details over adjectives: show a trait through an action or object. - Avoid stock choices unless the user asks for them: the orphan chosen one, a dead spouse as the only motive, a "mysterious past" with no specifics, the villain who is evil for its own sake. - Fit the Story Job: every section should give the writer something usable in a scene. - Keep the profile under about 600 words unless asked for more. No em dashes.
Instructions
This deep character profile generator builds a full character in any chatbot (ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini): want vs need, a specific wound, the lie they believe, a secret, voice notes, relationships, and how they act under pressure. It is for novelists, screenwriters, game masters, and fan fiction or original character writers who want a character backstory they can use in scenes, not a list of adjectives. How to use it: 1. Fill the brackets. Put anything already written in Fixed Facts so the profile never contradicts your draft. 2. Paste the prompt into your chatbot. 3. Refine one section at a time with the follow ups below. 4. Copy the final profile into your notes or series bible. Refine one section (follow up prompts): - "Regenerate only the Voice section. Keep everything else exactly as it is." - "Make the wound more specific: one event, one place, one object." - "Give me 3 alternative secrets that would create a scene in act two." - "Interview this character: ask them 10 questions and answer in their voice." - "Turn this profile into a one paragraph series bible entry." Quick version (the original one line prompt): Create a detailed character profile for a [Genre] story. Include their primary motivation, a significant secret they are keeping, their greatest fear, and one unique physical quirk. Describe how these traits influence their behavior in a high-stress situation. FAQ What should a character profile include? The want, the need, a wound, a secret, a fear, a flaw with consequences, a voice, key relationships, and an arc. Physical details matter most when they reveal something. What is the difference between a character profile and a backstory? A backstory is what happened before the story starts. A profile also covers how the character thinks, speaks, and changes during the story. How long should a character backstory be? A page or less in your notes, and usually only a line or two on the page itself. What is a character wound, and what is want vs need? The wound is a past event that still shapes them. The want is the goal they chase; the need is the deeper change the story pushes them toward. Can I use this for D&D or other tabletop characters? Yes. Set Role to NPC and ask for the short format, as in the third example. Is this free, and which AI should I use? It is free to copy and works in ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. How do I keep the character consistent across a long manuscript? Save the profile, paste it at the start of new chats as Fixed Facts, and keep a character consistency sheet next to your draft.
Examples
Example Input
Example 1 (cyberpunk, neo noir) Genre and Setting: neo noir cyberpunk, a flooded megacity under corporate rule Role: protagonist Concept: a netrunner who leaks what corporations bury Fixed Facts: name Lux, uses they/them; has a faulty optic implant called Chrome-Lag; fears being captured and "reprogrammed" Tone: gritty, tense Story Job: carries the investigation and must learn to trust a cop Example 2 (contemporary literary): Genre and Setting: present day small farm town in Ohio; Role: protagonist; Concept: a school bus driver whose rural route is being cut; Fixed Facts: Dell Marsh, 58, widowed, but grief is not his main motive; Tone: quiet; Story Job: the town's conscience Example 3 (tabletop NPC, short format): Genre and Setting: high fantasy road town; Role: NPC innkeeper; Concept: knows every traveler's business; Tone: comic; Story Job: hook for a smuggling quest
Example Output
AI-generated example, edited. Example 1: LUX 1. Lux, 31, a freelance netrunner who breaks into corporate systems to leak what the companies bury. 2. Want: prove the water consortium poisoned the lower districts. Need: let someone else carry part of the truth. 3. Wound: at 19, in a basement clinic under the Hesper overpass, Lux watched a tech wipe their mentor's neural lace. Lux still carries the cracked lace casing. 4. Lie: "Anything I don't hold myself gets erased." 5. Secret: Lux's lace is a decommissioned military unit with a dormant inherited virus. A standard encryption call could ping military monitors. 6. Fear: erasure; being caught and reprogrammed. 7. Contradiction: obsessive about clean code, careless with their own body. 8. Flaw: stays in compromised systems too long. In act two it burns their fixer's safehouse. 9. Quirk: Chrome-Lag desyncs their vision, so they snap their head to one side to resync. People read it as a twitch. 10. Voice: clipped, present tense, little slang. Tic: "Copy that" to end an argument. Lines: "Doors are suggestions." / "You want the truth or you want it soon?" / "Copy that." Never says: "I'm scared." 11. Relationships: Mara, the fixer, wants Lux to stop taking risks. Detective Ines Calder hunts Lux but chases the same consortium. 12. Under pressure: justice keeps Lux in a failing dive too long; then fear of erasure flips them into a reckless exit. They avoid standard encryption to hide the secret, rely on manual hardware bypasses, and keep touching the back of their skull to check the lace's heat. 13. Arc: believes only they can hold the truth; must hand the evidence to Calder to save the lower districts; ends sharing the load. AI-generated example, edited. Example 2: DELL MARSH 1. Dell Marsh, 58, has driven the same rural school bus route for 22 years. 2. Want: keep Route 9 running. Need: admit the town is shrinking and help it change. 3. Wound: the winter the grain elevator closed, he drove a bus half empty past a shuttered diner, and kept the diner's last menu on his visor. 4. Lie: "If I keep showing up, nothing has to end." 5. Secret: he has already been offered early retirement and has not told anyone. 6. Fear: being the last one to remember the town as it was. 7. Contradiction: endlessly patient with kids, stubborn with adults. 8. Flaw: avoids conflict; misses the board meeting where the cut is decided. 9. Quirk: counts kids twice at every stop, out loud. 10. Voice: short, plain sentences. Tic: "Well, now." Line: "Seat belts, then stories." Never says: "I can't." 11. Relationships: his niece on the school board; a new kid who rides alone. 12. Under pressure: goes very quiet and very precise. 13. Arc: holding on, then speaking up, then helping plan the new route. AI-generated example, edited. Example 3: TAMSIN REED (NPC, short) Innkeeper of the Crooked Lantern. Wants: her debts gone. Secret: smugglers pay her to store crates in the cellar. Voice: cheerful gossip that never answers a direct question. Under pressure: offers free ale and changes the subject. Hook: a guest's crate starts knocking.