Here is my personal example: Name: Rohtua T. Dog (Alias: Tommy Atkins) Nationality: British Citizen Sex: Male Gender: Masculine Date of birth: 01-01-2001 Age: 12 Place of birth: Accra, Ghana Location: London, UK Agency/Department: Joint Intelligence Committee Occupation: Tactical Servant Rank: MBE Status: Active Duty Marital status: Single Number of children: 0 (Since I'm German, it is very hard for me to make it as formal and correctly as possible. The occupation is fictional of course, but I still need help with British Arms and their formal ways to identify themselves. This ID-card must be fictional as well since the story is somewhat of the sci-fi and supernatural genre.)
Suggestion: Save character profiles for Role Playing Games and for driver's licenses, not for writing. Once you start thinking of a character as a collection of attributes and statistics, your characters lose dimension.
Yeah, I wrote a character profile today, it went: Langley: Brave, Cocky, Inquisitive, Friendly. Think about whether those details really tell you anything about a character. I have a friend who does massive character profiles that include star signs, blood types and all sorts of stuff. She's written more profile than story.
I mean if you really like structure, I would suggest making a timeline for the life of your character. (Event A) happened at age 5. (Event B) happened at age 12. (Event C) happened at age 25.. and so on... These experiences alone will help you understand your character more deeply. Not only that, it would give you a basis for a plotline.
. Even if you decide to go down this route, your example is far from logical: A government ID card in your setting would likely be restricted to initials and surname, staff number, date of birth, perhaps height, and a photograph. Don't forget, it's an ID card, not a CV for a job interview.
You say this a lot.... Sometimes, profiles help people. That might be true for you, but not others. They help me remember what I need to remember, and I put them on my laptop, so that I can edit easily, and neatly. It's more of a character info sheet. My brain doesn't work the way normal people's brains do, and I forget everything. This helps me remember what I need to know about my characters.
Profiles are fun to make, after you've created you character. Doing it before limits your character design to a rigid structure of ABCD and your characters would have no other defining qualities other than your parameters
Let me clarify that I am NOT writing profiles in my stories! This is just part of my own personal overview, people. Besides, the story I write is based on an RPG I plan!
@SwampGod; There is no duplication. "Sex" is your biological term, "Gender" the social term. And yes, I start them young. There is a huge meaning behind it. Thank you for the other suggestions, this will help me a lot.
considering what this is for, it works, but if it was for any other genre, it would be a little over the top, generally i never mention dates (with maybe the exception of a flashback or something of the kind) but age is something i do mention... i will be honest, 12 does seem a little young, but thats my opinion, and im sure you have reasons for choosing that age and also the date
