/character-management

Character Template

Use this template when creating a new character file at characters/{character-name-kebab}.md.

---
name: "{Full Name}"
role: {protagonist|antagonist|supporting|minor|narrator|deuteragonist}
status: {alive|deceased|unknown|missing|cut}
died-in: {chapter-NN}
aliases:
  - "{Alias 1}"
pronunciation: "{optional, e.g. SEER-sha}"
voice-words:
  - "{word or phrase they reach for}"
voice-avoid:
  - "{word they would never say}"
relationships:
  - character: {other-character-kebab}
    type: {relationship-type}
locations:
  - {location-kebab}
tags:
  - {tag-1}
  - {tag-2}
arc: {character-arc-theme}
arc-type: {change-positive|change-negative|flat}
lie: "{The false belief the character clings to}"
truth: "{The belief that would set them free}"
ghost-wound: "{The past wound that made the lie feel true}"
---

pronunciation, voice-words, and voice-avoid are optional. pronunciation feeds the narrator's guide in story build --format narration; the voice lists are checked by story voices. died-in is optional. Set it (with status: deceased) when a character dies on the page so story continuity can flag appearances in later chapters; leave it out for characters who died before the story begins, and keep them in mentions only, since story continuity warns when one is listed in a chapter or scene cast. Posthumous appearances in flashbacks, memories, or recordings belong in chapter/scene mentions, not characters. status: cut keeps a removed character's file. story reindex still lists that file.

Appearance

Physical description: build, height, distinguishing features, typical clothing, how they carry themselves.

Personality & Traits

Core personality traits, temperament, habits, quirks. What makes them memorable in a scene.

Backstory

Key events that shaped who they are. Only include what's relevant to the story.

Motivations & Goals

What drives them. What they want (external goal) and what they need (internal goal). How these conflict.

Location References

Important places tied to this character. Keep this list in sync with notable-characters in location files.

Voice & Speech Patterns

How they talk: vocabulary level, sentence length, verbal tics, dialect, tone. Include 2-3 example lines of dialogue that capture their voice.

Example:

"I didn't come here to make friends. I came here because someone has to clean up this mess."

Character Arc

• Starting state: Where they begin emotionally/psychologically
• Key turning points: What changes them
• Ending state: Where they end up (or projected end)

Arc-type guidance (set arc-type in frontmatter; the lie/truth framing follows the widely taught Weiland school of character arcs):

• Change-positive: The classic arc. The character moves from lie to truth — each turning point cracks the lie a little more until the climax forces the choice between the old belief and the new one. The ghost-wound is the past event that made the lie feel true; reference it whenever the lie resurfaces.
• Change-negative: The tragic arc. The character clings to the lie and doubles down at each turning point. Track the spiral: each refusal of the truth costs more than the last, until the lie wins and the ending is worse than the beginning.
• Flat (steadfast): The character already holds the truth and does not need to change. Do not give them growth beats — write tests-of-steadfastness instead: moments where holding the truth costs them something, and they hold it anyway. Their arc is measured by how they change the world around them, not by how they change.

Antagonist Design

An antagonist file uses this same template — set role: antagonist and give them the same depth as the protagonist. A worthy opponent:

• Believes they are right. The antagonist acts from their own logic, values, and wound — not from a desire to be evil. If you cannot write their case for them, they are a cardboard villain.
• Is stronger in some dimension. Resources, skill, knowledge, position, conviction — the protagonist must grow or outthink them to win. An opponent weaker than the hero generates no tension.
• Argues the counter-premise. The antagonist embodies the story's opposing value (see the premise: / counter-premise: fields in story.md). Their arc is the dark mirror of the protagonist's.
• Could carry the story. Draft their plan as if they were the protagonist of their own plot: goal, plan, escalations, what the protagonist's interference costs them. If their opposition collapses without the hero's involvement, it is passive — rewrite it.

When the true antagonist is a system, culture, or institution, personify it: give the force a face — a specific person who embodies and enforces it. The reader argues with a person, not an abstraction.

Timeline

Key life events in chronological order: