#worldbuilding

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.

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.