Character Bio Sheets from M.C. Sheridan

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With me today is the talented M.C. Sheridan with some awesome writing tips for you on character bio sheets. So let's get this party started.

Hi! My name is M.C. Sheridan but you can call me Mea. I’m a writer of short stories that I accidently turned into a Fantasy series. Oops! I love video games, cross-stitching and am a huge RPG enthusiast. I’m a brand-spanking-new writer and an indie author. I may be a bit green, but I’m learning as I go and loving every second it.

Let me tell you about character bios. When it comes to writing, I’m a total pantser so I don’t always have my thoughts—let alone my character descriptions—clear in my head. When I started my book, I had an idea of what I thought my characters looked/acted like but when it came to typing it out, I sometimes forgot the colour of their eyes, the stubble on their chin, or the subtle nuances that made them stand out from the others. I even forgot for a hot minute that one of my characters was missing a thumb!

No, no this just wouldn’t do. Enter character bios. Giving my characters each a bio was one of the best things I’ve ever done for my book and it was kinda fun too. I answered all of them as if the character himself/herself were in an interview. Name, age, nationality, pet peeve, favourite ninja turtle. Okay maybe not the last part but you get the idea. I like to use Scrivener when I write and it comes ready with a character sketch template for you to use but if you don’t have that program, or you just want to get a more in-depth look into your MC’s, the internet is filled with tons of templates for character bios that you can use. You can also search questions to ask my character and you’ll get some really great results. I had no idea who my MC’s first kiss was until I answered that question in her bio and now it’s become a pretty important part of the second novel, maybe even the series. Now, I find myself confidently able to check back through my character backgrounds and making sure that my characters look like they’re supposed to, and say, or not say, things that are within their ‘character’. It’s like my own little cheat sheet that my second-grade teacher Mrs. Palmer won’t give me a detention for when she catches me peeking at it after I forget to study for my spelling test the night before. It’s really amazing how helpful they can be.


The point is, it’s never a bad idea to get to know your characters, even your secondary ones, beforehand. It gives more depth to them that maybe you yourself didn’t even know they had. Part of the magic of writing is being able to breathe life into your characters and making them come alive on the page. Knowing your little babies inside and out will make it easy for your audience to fall in love with them just as much as you did. Until… you know… you kill one of them off.

tldr; Make bios for your MC’s. It’s the best advice you never knew you needed.

Writing Announcements

My Novella and first book, The Echo: A prelude to The Adventure of Dauntless Grimm, is now available in ebook for pre-order on Amazon. Paperback available March 15th. I also recently launched my new website and blog! Yay!

A special thank you to Mea for her fantastic contribution today! You can find her in these places:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MCSheridan2

Website: https://www.mcsheridan.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07P5GYC2R

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