OC template
An OC template is a fill-in character sheet for an original character: the fields that turn a name into a person you can write or play.
- Start with name, age, job, want and flaw.
- Add a fear, a secret and how they talk.
- Leave the look for last; it follows from the rest.
Generate an original character
Mecha
Dagny Ruzicka
- Archetype
- Creator
- Traits
- calm, charming and witty
- Flaw
- envies a gifted friend
- Wants
- To keep an old frame flying one more year
- Afraid of
- A phone that rings after midnight
- Secret
- Talks to a houseplant every morning
- Talks in
- Formal words with a warm tone
Hangar's quiet tonight. Grab a seat on that crate, it only sparks a little.
The OC template, field by field
Most OC templates ask for eye color first. This one asks for what makes a character act: what they do all day, what they want, what is in the way, and how they sound when they talk. Fill the fields in this order and the look almost decides itself.
The table below is the whole template, filled in for an invented example, Wren Marrowby, a toll bridge keeper in a fantasy world. Copy the first two columns into your notes and replace the third with your own character.
| Field | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Name | First and family name, easy to say | Wren Marrowby |
| Age | A number, 18 or over | 34 |
| Genre and world | Where they live and what is normal there | Fantasy: a toll bridge high in the mountains |
| Job | What they do all day | Keeps the bridge and collects the toll |
| Want | Something they can get, soon | To pay off the bridge debt by spring |
| Flaw | The habit that costs them | Cannot ask for help |
| Fear | What they avoid | Deep water, which is inconvenient on a bridge |
| Secret | What they keep to themselves | Lets travelers with no coin cross at night |
| Voice | How they talk | Short sentences and dry jokes |
| Greeting | The first thing they say | Toll is two coins. Or a good story, if it is late. |
| Boundaries | What they will not do | Never takes a bribe to close the bridge |
| Look | Last, and only what matters | Weathered coat, lantern, rope burns on both hands |
20 questions to ask your OC
When a field will not fill, ask the character a question instead and answer in their voice. These twenty work for any genre:
- What do you do all day, and do you like it?
- What do you want this week? This year?
- What is stopping you?
- Who do you trust, and who did you stop trusting?
- What are you afraid of, honestly?
- What would you never do, even to win?
- What do you keep in your pockets?
- What did you lose that you still think about?
- Who taught you the thing you are good at?
- What makes you laugh when you should not?
- What do you say when you are angry?
- What do you say when you are proud of someone?
- Where do you go to be alone?
- What is the last kind thing you did that nobody saw?
- What is your worst habit?
- What do people get wrong about you?
- Who is your rival, and do they know it?
- What would you do with one free day?
- What secret would hurt the most if it came out?
- What do you order, every single time?
Character profile template or character sheet: what is the difference?
They are the same idea with different weight. A character profile template is for writers: background, motives, relationships, how the character changes. A character sheet is shorter and comes from tabletop games: the facts you need at a glance in the middle of a scene.
For a character you will talk to or play, the short version wins. You need enough to answer the first question someone asks, and nothing that slows the scene down. The template on this page sits in between: twelve fields, each one something the character can use in a conversation.
How much to fill in before you start
Less than you think. Name, age, job, want and flaw are enough to start a scene. Fear, secret and voice make the second scene better. Boundaries and the look can wait until you know the character well enough to care.
If a field stays empty after ten minutes, leave it. Good answers usually turn up mid scene, when the character says something you did not plan. Write it down then, and the template fills itself over a few conversations.
Turn the template into a character you can talk to
The oeYYeo creator asks for almost the same fields. Name, genre and a one line tagline come first. Who they are holds the age, job, want, flaw, fear and secret. A greeting and two lines in their voice teach the character how they sound. Then you write anything they will not do, choose a portrait, and decide who can chat: anyone with the link, or only you.
Short on time? Use the generator above: it fills every field of the template at once, and one tap opens the result in the creator. Saving needs a free account and runs a safety check. Every character on oeYYeo is AI, an original and an adult.
In their own words
Write down what they order. You learn more from someone's usual than from their whole life story.
Meet Mireya
Slice of life: the rooftop cafe
Mireya Castellan, 24
A rooftop cafe, open from the first rain to the last train. The cello comes out after 10 PM.
Common questions
What should an OC template include?
At least a name, an age, a job, a want and a flaw. A fear, a secret, a voice and boundaries make the character easier to write and to play.
How long should an OC profile be?
A page is plenty. Enough to answer the first questions in a scene, and short enough that you actually read it before you write.
Do I need to fill in every field?
No. Start with five and let the rest turn up while you write or chat. Empty fields are fine; a field filled with something you do not believe is worse.
Can I copy this template?
Yes. Copy the field names and the prompts into your own notes. The example answers are only there to show the kind of thing each field wants.
Read next
Honest by design.
Every character on oeYYeo is AI, and the app says so where you type. Chat is for adults 18 and over.