Today I’m letting you take a peek inside my process. If you’ve ever wondered how I craft a character out of thin air, this blog is for you.

When it’s time to come up with a fresh book idea, there are a lot of elements that go into it. There are the tropes and plot points, scene ideas I know I want to include, and, if it’s a next book in a series, there are details that also need to be included in the next book for continuity purposes. (What do you mean he had only one eyebrow in book one, but in book two he has both?)

At the beginning it can be overwhelming to make decisions about every single part of a character. Sometimes you just need a starting point. A place to jot down those first thoughts about a character and the story idea you’re contemplating. At this stage, an exhaustive list that includes favorite foods, pet peeves, or their biggest regret in life might be too overwhelming. If you are in need of a list of prompts to help jumpstart your book, I’ve got you covered.

That jumping off point is a form I call: the Quickie Sheet.

The Quickie Sheet gives me juuuust enough prompts to start the ball rolling on plot, character, and the elements I know I want in my story. These include the basic character descriptors such as age, eye color, and hair color. I also write out any relevant current details such as living situation (apartment? house? roommate?) and education (did they go to college?) Once the basics are out of the way, I also like to outline important story elements such as what time of the year the story takes place (Christmas? Spring Break?) and a location for my story—on a lake in Ohio, or in a penthouse in Chicago?

Before you fill out your quickie sheet, there are some questions you will want to ask yourself:

1. What kind of character do you want to write? Is he grumpy? A playboy? A billionaire? A bad boy?

2. What situations are you most excited to write about? A reunion? One night stand? Destination wedding?

3. Who are you patterning your characters after? A celebrity or model? Or are they made up in your head? You can either start here, with an idea of what your characters look like, or you can end here. After you have filled out your Quickie Sheet, you can take those choices to Pinterest and begin building your world visually.

There is no wrong way to build characters, plot, and setting. Just find what works for you. What I know about my method is that elements of my characters emerge as the I write the story. If I try and hammer out every detail before I start writing, I feel bored because there are no surprises, or overwhelmed because I can’t remember the 100 things I decided about them at the start. For this reason, the Quickie Sheet is my first stop.

You can pick up a download of the Quickie Sheet in my Shop for just $2. It includes pages for character #1, character #2 and I have even included a character without a number in case you have to print multiple blank sheets. The download is yours forever, and you can reprint it as often as you like.

Now you’ll never be at a loss for a place to start when designing your characters!