Characters are one of the most essential elements of a story, acting as participants in your plot and advancing the story. As such, character development is a core part of the writing process.
It takes time to develop believable and dimensional characters, and this is probably one of the biggest challenges a writer regularly encounters. Sometimes it even leads to creative blocks that prevent you from moving forward with the story you’re trying to write.
The Best Character Generators
Whether you’re trying to create a character for your novel or just looking for a change of pace, a character generator can serve as a starting point for your creative needs.
Some of these generators are random. With a click of a button, you’re given a random assortment of character traits to work with. Other generators work more like writing prompts, where you have a brief summary of a character’s backstory, appearance, personality, and skills.
Here are some of the best and easiest character generators I’ve found online.
1. Tetra Cube
While Tetra Cube’s generator is specifically made for Dungeons and Dragons, it’s easy to adapt for any fantasy story.
It’s fairly detailed too, with a lot of descriptions that go beyond the usual background information. It even comes with illustrations to help you better imagine the character.
2. RanGen
RanGen is a site dedicated to all sorts of idea generators. Apart from their quick character generator (shown above), they also have generators that focus on specifics such as appearance, personality, and archetype.
3. Seventh Sanctum
Seventh Sanctum is another random generator site (and one of the biggest). They have an extensive list of character generators that range from all-purpose algorithms to ones that cater to specific genres, tropes, and fandoms.
4. Masterpiece Generator
Masterpiece generator creates a character profile based on random information and your input. You have the option of going with the brief description (as seen in the image above), or you can check out a more detailed profile, which goes from basic to more specific information such as hobbies, political leanings, and even a timeline of life events.
5. Random Character Generator
This character generator is as simple as it gets. It randomly creates different characters for you to play with, and there are a lot of customization options too.
Apart from picking the character’s role (hero, villain, support), you can also adjust the level of detail that is generated.
6. Bardot Brush
Bardot Brush is another site with a simple character generator tool. Choose whether you want a human, animal, or inanimate character, then simply click on the button to generate a profile.
7. Lucalicatteart
Lucalicatteart is a Tumblr site with three random generators about character traits, background details, and fantasy identities.
All three are easy to combine with one another. Detail generation is also separate, so if you dislike one aspect, you can just change it without affecting the others.
8. Chaotic Shiny
Chaotic Shiny is another random generator site with tons of generation tools. For characters, you can choose between basic tools to very specific ones that focus on class, attitude, motive, and opinions.
You can also customize the number of results, their genders, and the format they appear in.
9. Writing Exercises
Writing Exercises is a generator site with a much simpler user interface than the others in this list. Just click on the button and it’ll show a brief character description you can play with.
10. Springhole
Springhole has a ton of idea generators, especially when it comes to character tools. You can choose one that focuses on humanoid and non-humanoid characters, backstories, flaws and weaknesses, and even outfits. Some of these even have subcategories for more specific details.
Finding A Character
The best thing about these character generators is that you can keep refreshing them until you find an idea that interests you. And for some of these, you can adjust the level of detail you want to be given depending on how challenging you want it to be.
Sure, you might not find something you like. But more often than not, the simplicity of the results will spark your creativity and desire to write. The barest details leave you space to let your imagination run free and create your own story.
Feel free to consult this list anytime you have difficulties in writing. We also have a ton of other resources that can help with writer’s block, including other generators and writing prompts.
Did you find this post helpful? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- Writing Prompt Generators to Help You Overcome Creativity Hurdles
- First Line Generator Tools to Help You Start Your Story
- 10 Best Character Name Generator Tools
- 5 Villain Name Generator Tools and Tips for Naming Your Antagonist
Cole Salao
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
