Character templates

Comments: 56

• 29 Dec, '17
  Ariel

  That’s also a great idea. Frankly, I see a place where I can create a character but it’s confusing for me. It’s just a blank page and I feel that unless I have most of my character down on paper that blank page doesn’t serve me

• 28 Feb, '18
  Megan

  It would be nice to have a couple of different template to chose from. Like, Protagonist, Antagonist, Anti-Hero, Villian, etc. Just different ones to play around with to maybe jot down things about our characters or to make us think of things we hadn't before that could be useful to make more dynamic characters.

• 01 Mar, '18
  Olivia

  I feel like this is great maybe even a Character Questionaire and a whole template, I even have an amazing template that I use for my characters. I would be happy to share it with you if you'd like.

• 24 Mar, '18
  Mieka

  One thing that really helps me build my characters is having a sort of template and space where I can add pictures so i have an example of what i want my character to look like. With an area for strengths and weaknesses and overall just kind of outline basics of the character then leave notes at the bottom.

• 04 Apr, '18
  Sonya

  I have a template you can use. There aren't enough characters to post it here, but it's roughly 2 pages of basic information for character building. I also have a much longer, very intimidating one that I use for fantasy and sci-fi.

• 20 Apr, '18
  Emma

  Great idea.

• 05 May, '18
  Miri

  Perhaps a basic template would be good, but I personally would like a simplified spreadsheet, where we can add/remove various parts/lines of the template and rearrange as needed. (I'd even support a spreadsheet-like blank page that could be used for various purposes - I imagine this would make setting up the export easy!)

• 02 Aug, '18
  Kidd

  Personally, I'm not a huge fan of strict templates (the old "100 questions method usually nets me some pretty boring characters), but I wouldn't mind a pool of short prompts that I can draw on. (Stuff like "What style of comedy would this character perform if they were a comedian?" or "If given a chance to talk to one person in their world's history, dead or alive, who would it be?")

• 28 Oct, '18
  Traci

  I would like to see the character section more like the plot grid where everything is on note cards and can be arranged in the order that best suits the writer. Maybe the cards could have a frame where a photo could be uploaded and the basics already on the cards like name, age, DOB, etc.

• 09 Nov, '18
  Emily

  I don't like that I can't make my characters without adding to my word count. I can add all I want to the plot section of the manuscript without adding to the word count, but if I type in the character spots, it adds to my word count. My character sketches shouldn't be counted as part of my word count.

• 11 Nov, '18
  Jacob from Dabble Admin

  Hey Emily!
  
  The word count source for a project's goal can be set to
  1. Project
  2. Manuscript
  3. Book
  
  To exclude word count from story notes choose Manuscript or Book instead of the whole project.

• 29 Nov, '18
  Chet Sandberg

  This is a great idea. Right now, I'm doing a VERY spec-related form of fiction and I constantly have to refer back to previously written material or try to duplicate some specs in folders.

• 16 Feb, '19
  David Weller

  This may or may not be beneficial, but....I took the Scrivener template published by KM Weiland (which includes both character and story guidelines/templates) and made a book in Dabble that has all that information. What would be nice is if I can tell Dabble to make a copy of a book - then I would just have the character templates right there. Obviously, this isn't the same as a full-fledged template system, but I feel like it's a good alternative.

• 29 Apr, '19
  Mark

  Better would be to provide a general template feature so you can create as many templates as you want and apply them as needed as you can in Scrivener. For example, templates to describe locations as well as characters.

• 10 May, '19
  Skye

  Heeey...
  I actually really like mark's idea of a template feature to just let us create our own general templates. So people who have ones they like can use their template and those who don't can (maybe?) find/use templates that we post in the community (pending people being willing to share)

• 22 Jun, '19
  Victoria

  I think, as long as you don't turn it into "you have to use my templates or else", It'd be a really good thing. There are a lot of writers (like me) who struggle with initial character planning and need some template help. But I know some others who have a process that works, or have a template that they like, and honestly, as a writer, when you find something that works, it kinda turns into your version of the bible.

• 28 Jun, '19
  Kalina

  I would definitely be down for a template feature like Scrivener's, where you have template files and can edit them at will and then apply those templates to new files.

• 08 Jul, '19
  pamela foland

  I would love the template feature, the ability to add images, and built in character templates with a place to load an image or images

• 18 Oct, '19
  Rachael

  I 100& agree with this!

• 12 Nov, '19
  Amanda

  Being able to add character pictures would definitely be nice!

• 18 Jan, '20
  Maria

  This is a feature i miss a lot. I have made a character overview (and scene overview) in Word but it would be awesome to have it all in one place. AI like to find a picture that are "close" to the character in my head and have as inspiration and I miss that here.

• 17 Apr, '20
  Anja

  I second Mark's suggestion about the template Feature. I am not a fan of premade template at all, I always make my own. If you include premades please do it in a way that makes them invisible to those who don't want to use them.

• 05 May, '20
  Tammy Goodwin

  The ability to add photos of people who look like your character would be helpful

• 11 May, '20
  Peta webb

  I am lucky iwith my current project that i have created a fair few characters already, so could just drop them in, but a template in here would again save me having to go in and out of other sites to copy out my info into here.

• 07 Jul, '20
  Sharada

  I like the idea of templates. I don't mind pre-made templates, but I feel it would be much more useful if we could create our own templates? I know different people have different writing styles and use different card formats/sheets/charts for character bios, plot, brainstorming etc. so supporting user-created templates like Scrivener seems like a great idea to me.

• 09 Jul, '20
  Maria

  I think this a great idea. Right now I have a word doc with my characters, with photo inspiration etc. it would be great if it could be added to Dabble. Of course it depends on how it is added. I´d love if it could be where you could key in details like there´s a field for name, age, sex, species, hair color and so on... and also larger fields for longer texts. And I doubt it is possible but if it could have relations between characters like mom - son

• 12 Aug, '20
  Ariana

  I love this idea! Writing about my characters on a straight piece of paper is difficult for me. At the very least, bullet points would be helpful. Also, I was trying to figure out the relationship between some of my characters, so if there was a way to be able to view multiple character sheets or templates at the same time, or a different kind of template for foils or comparisons, that would be fantastic!

• 14 Aug, '20
  Jane

  I like the idea of being able to create our own template. I have. Very detailed on I use in Scrivenor but would prefer to use Dabble and not keep switching.

• 20 Aug, '20
  Guido F. Manzaon

  I would love a character template that is kinda separated from everything else, more like a way to save the info in a database, with pictures if needed, and a way to like tag if a character is in any way present in a chapter. That would also work for settings templates also.

• 03 Sep, '20
  Tyler N.

  New user to Dabble here (about 2 months ago), and I have to say, this Character Template(s) idea should definitely become reality.

• 09 Oct, '20
  Ashley

  YES! The only reason I haven't pulled the trigger and fallen in love with Dabble is the lack of character and world building. I want to see info about my character, preferably in the drop down menu form. I don't want to type it all out. Their hopes, dreams, secrets, lies, role, etc. With some character and world building, dabble would be perfect. As long as the price doesn't raise. At $120 per year, it needs to offer more.

• 13 Jan, '21
  C JW

  Would be awesome if we could add images to my character sketches or setting, please consider. Thanks!

• 13 Jan, '21
  Heather Merged

  When writing a book, I carefully craft my characters. Often times I need to refer back to their physical description. I also create a full back story for them. It would be nice if the section for Characters maybe had something like: Character Name, Hair Color, Eye Color, Body Type, etc.
  
  I also do a lot of research into outfits, houses, environment, etc. It would be helpful if I had an option to save those photos so I can easily refer back to them.

• 14 Jan, '21
  JohnBredesen Admin

  "Template Character Cards & Ability to Add Photos" (suggested by Heather on 2021-01-13), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 27 Feb, '21
  Angel H Polanco

  Like John asked it'd be great to be able to add pictures and have template character cards

• 28 May, '21
  Anthony Pero

  It makes more sense to allow us to duplicate Notes before providing templates. That way we can create our own templates and save them, and reuse them. And duplicate books. Then we could create our own book tempaltes, with out own character templates, and just duplilcate the boilerplate when starting a new project.

• 02 Jul, '21
  Joan

  I'm using the trial period of Plottr now and I am falling in love (but not with the name; I don't like writing programs with misspelled names, grhh). I love the character templates, as well as story structure templates etc., and especially the color coding. It's a big ask, but if you would merge with Plottr (or add similar tools) I would re-subscribe in a heartbeat!

• 10 Jul, '21
  Joi

  Yes the blank page for character and world building is useless. Please create a character building template, it would be helpful.

• 01 Sep, '21
  Fredrik Haugen

  I second that the templates should be general and be able to be used in both characters and world building.

• 14 Sep, '21
  CINDY JONES

  Yes, please add templates or at least the ability to duplicate a note. I already have copied and pasted my character templates into Notes, but I have to do it each time for a new character. I also use these notes at the beginning of my chapters > Character and Scene: POV Character: Additional Characters: Day/Time:
  Location: Draft of Scene: > (Adding these to the Character Archs cards would help me too if you could.)

• 08 Oct, '21
  Jan

  Please just give us the ability to create templates to meet our needs. I need to have character and location templates with the ability to upload pictures and notes from my sources re: places so that I don't need to retype notes that I can just refer to if I have the ability to place them in my templates. The blank sections are useless to me. Another question about this is why is it taking so long to make some of these changes? I see that this has been a topic with numerous members in support for years. Finally, the question about character notes changing word count was answered by Admin:
  11 Nov, '18
  Jacob from Dabble Admin
  Hey Emily!
  
  The word count source for a project's goal can be set to
  1. Project
  2. Manuscript
  3. Book
  
  To exclude word count from story notes choose Manuscript or Book instead of the whole project.
  
  Where are these setting options? I see very little ability to interact and customize this tool.

• 09 Oct, '21
  Dan

  Character templates would be awesome. I've been getting into a lot of writing these past few weeks and I came across Living Writer and Dabble. In honesty, Dabble has such promise and I hope to see some beneficial changes soon. Apart from Living Writer, Dabble has a similar set up, but I enjoy how you are free to write titles and notes for those titles. Perhaps the character templates could be enhanced a bit by adding a few features? I don't know how other writers would feel about profile pictures, descriptions, details, etc. But writers need as much to work with as they can, even more so if the writer works full time. I don't know how everyone else feels about this, but hopefully it will help them out and assist them in their work. I have high hopes for Dabble and can't wait to see what it becomes entirely.

• 14 Oct, '21
  Mark

  Wow I see this was raised 4 years ago (Nov 2017) and appears to be under consideration still, even though it's the most voted item in the list as of today.
  
  I made a new suggestion a few minutes ago but now I don't know if it was worth doing - will it just sit around for 4 years too?
  
  I agree with Ashley's post above from a year ago (Oct 2020). At the prices being charged, this software really does need to offer more, and an updated website doesn't really justify another $96 from me I'm afraid.

• 20 Oct, '21
  Bryce Wilby

  This is a great idea, especially if you can manipulate the template. I always assign an Enneagram type to my characters and list their motives, fears, desires etc - so having a template to put those into would be great.

• 09 Jan, '22
  Joseph

  I would love templates. For now, I am using a plot grid. The leftmost column is the character's name and other columns for the following: function (protagonist, etc.), outer goal, inner goal, character arc, etc. Waiting for templates, but this will work.

• 22 Apr, '22
  Latarsha

  My thoughts exactly. The idea 💡

• 17 May, '22
  Phoenix

  It needs to have the ability to add photos too, you know you found that model who has the exact colour hair or a moodboard of their style of clothes to help outfit descriptions later on.

• 12 Jun, '22
  Puff Cat

  I was looking into subscribing, but no character templates and no ability to add character photos is a dealbreaker for me.

• 19 Jul, '22
  Allison Yancy Admin

  "Character building" (suggested by Morgan on 2022-07-12), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

• 29 Aug, '22
  Michael

  I have a series going and I seem to add more descriptors and parts of the character's life with each book - be good to just move that into a central doc