I like characters. A lot. I'll take a cast of amazing characters with a plain plot over an intricate plot with cardboard cutouts any day. It's probably why I like slice of life so much.

Because I like characters so much, I spend a lot of time working on them. It's so much easier to know your characters through and through before writing a story because you already know what they want to do and how they'll act to achieve their goals.

MMHunter made a fantastic main character-OC bio sheet in her writing help book that I've been going by ever since she released it. I've made some minor tweaks for it to fit my stories, and here's what it looks like—

Italicized means it can be removed if it's not applicable to the fic.

The Basics

Full Name:
Name Meaning:
Nicknames:
Age:
Origin:
Orientation:
Occupation:
Weapon:
Family:
Pokémon:
Description (build, scars, voice, right/left-handed, most noticeable feature, clothing):

What Lies Beneath

Personality:
Quirks/Habits:
Strengths/Skills:
Weaknesses/Flaws:
Hobbies:
Fears:
Secrets:
Want to Change About Self:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Favorite Color/Food/Pokémon/Season:
Most Treasured Possession:
Laughs At:
Cries At:
Gets Angry At:
Dealing With Stress:
Optimist/Pessimist/Realist:
Introvert/Extrovert/Ambivert:
Views on Love:
Views on Killing:
Worst Thing a Person Could Do:
The Lie Believed:

History

Childhood:
Schooling:
Personality as a Child:
Worst Memory as a Child:
Dreams as a Child:
Hobbies as a Child:
Important Relationships:
Most Important Life Event So Far:
Greatest Achievement So Far:
Greatest Regret:
Criminal Record:
What They'd Change in the Past If They Could:
Goal in Story:

***

"That's so much work wtf."

Yeah, it is. I would know. Just for TIOG alone, I filled out seven of these. Counting all my other fics on my Google Drive, most of which were never written because of laziness, I've filled out twenty-three. I have so many unused, fully-fleshed our characters it's heartbreaking.

"I don't think I need to know my character has a whale-shaped birthmark on xyr left buttcheek tho??"

🐳 I can definitely vouch that you'll know your characters better than yourself if you sit down and go through this process, tho.

Aaaand that's just for characters. There's still a whole plot to take care of. After Bonds, I realized it's important to actually plan ahead or else you'll screw yourself in the long run. Firsthand experience ftw 😅

For me, the easiest way to plot out chapters is through Google Sheets/Microsoft Excel—

This format lets me make notes of important events that'll affect later chapters, pace character arcs, and take care of subplots easily all while progressing the main plot. It works wonders for jam-packed stories with various things going on behind the scenes. Plot holes, who? (the answer is me bc I know I'll still mess up this dummy-proof setup lmao)

Of course, I'm not telling you guys you must be this nit picky with all your details to write a fic. That'd be cruel of me. This chapter is more of a suggestion on how to build and organize your fics/characters if you're stuck.

I make writing so much harder than what it has to be gdi 🤧