I previously shared that I’m an Excel geek and that I keep all my Red Fox Series character and world-building information in one single workbook. In the next set of blogs I will post, I will share how I use that workbook to stay focused while writing a book series. But first, let me share the story of how this spreadsheet business all began.

It all started with character development. I knew I wanted to write character-driven books. Characters are what readers relate to. They make the book feel like a story instead of a documentary. The connection to the characters is what keeps me reading. So, when I started writing, I knew I wanted my main characters to be realistic and well-developed.

Many authors often fashion a character after someone they know. In my writing, I didn’t want to do that.  Instead, I just write and let the characters tell me who they are.

Side note: The fact that a few characters happen to share traits with some of my friends and relatives is a pure coincidence…

But back to the question at hand, how do I let my characters tell me who they are? Well, it all started when I followed someone’s tip to interview my characters and ask them questions before writing their story.

I literally sat down and wrote a set of important questions for my characters and asked them, such as:

• What is your name?
• What do you like to be called?
• Who are your parents/family?
• What was your childhood like?
• What do you find attractive in another person?
• Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
• Are you a morning person?
• How fast do people get on your nerves?  

Eventually, I found myself having long, candid conversations with them in my head, and soon, some were demanding that I include certain things about them in the book.

As the number of characters and their demands grew, I found that sifting through several documents with lists of questions to find a specific bit of info became, as Maya would put it, a “pain in the arse.”

Impatient me wanted everything in one accessible place for easy reference. Drawing on my day job Excel skills, I turned all those questions into one big spreadsheet and added all the headings my heart desired. For example:

Name  /  Nickname / Age / Born in /  Physical Description / Personality / Likes / Dislikes

Easy to access, easy to find stuff. After I was done, I considered myself a genius!

The final touch was when I figured out how to insert a picture into a cell in the spreadsheet. I went ahead and clipped images of what I think each character looked like from publicly available online sites/sources.

Helpful tip: Looking up pictures for haircuts is my favorite way to search. For example, for Gwen, I searched “haircuts for older women with long gray hair.” I found various pictures, but I picked the one that felt just right for that character. Who is the model? No idea. I just know that I loved her gentle smile, and she represented Gwen to me.

Now, when I need to get into Gwen’s point of view, I simply review her row on the spreadsheet, take some time to look at the picture, have a quick internal conversation with her, and then write.

Another side note: to avoid violating any privacy laws, I keep my workbooks private. No one will ever see the pictures I pick but me. I suggest you do the same.

Honestly, I consult my spreadsheet every time I write. I have to because sometimes a character surprises me — like when Maya reveals she loves strawberries — and I need to update her profile with that detail right away, or she gets mad and starts swearing in my head.

Another perfectly good example happened recently. I’m writing the second book in this series as I type this, and one of my characters surprised the heck out of me when they revealed they had a traveling companion. I was happily typing along, advancing the plot, in this one character’s POV, when suddenly his companion spoke up! 

And it fit. It was perfect for that character to have a counterpart, so I rewrote some sections of the prior chapters to add them in. Then, I created a row in the spreadsheet for the new character, found my ideal picture, and filled in all the fields right away so I could capture them and their personality while they were fresh in my head. I won’t lie, this last surprise complicates the original plot a little, but it offers a fun way to show my primary character’s motivations and personality. It was well worth the rewrites.

Moving on to descriptions, you might already have seen the character images on my website. Those were designed by the KPD publishing team, and I can tell you they were all a close match to the pictures I picked out online, which means the descriptions I wrote in the book for the characters were just specific enough to help people imagine what they might look like.

Here’s a common question that new writers often ask: how much description should we include? For me, it depends on the character, how often they appear in the book, and if the description adds to their story, personality, or the plot in general.

For my characters, I want to include specific details, like the color of their eyes, their skin tone, and hair color—especially when a trait reveals more about their character, like Dave’s spiky black hair—a fun, boyish style that matches our youngest member. It not only shows his youth but also lets you imagine him putting on gel and carefully spiking his hair each morning, eager to start the day looking good.

The one thing some writers do that I will never do is describe specific traits like the width or length of the nose, the shape of the face, or wrinkles on the face… unless it is pertinent to the plot, I don’t do it. In my opinion, details like that should be left to the reader’s imagination. I look at it this way. When I first meet people, I don’t pause to notice every single thing about their face; I don’t stare at their mouth to judge whether their teeth are straight, so why would my characters do that?

For their bodies, I try to be mindful of their circumstances and health, and to add some variety in shapes, because there is no such thing as one perfect body. I’m also mindful that some characters may share similar traits. Like two brothers, so adding a bit more description to the body or face is sometimes necessary.

In my book, the crew is supposed to be somewhat fit and exercise regularly, as per their job’s physical requirements, so I keep them all on the leaner side, but I differentiate by making one tall, one with wider shoulders, one with large curves, and one with short legs.

I also don’t describe my characters in a single long paragraph when a reader first meets them (unless the plot calls for it); I usually try to integrate their descriptions in a way that also shows the reader what’s going on. For example: “His light hazel eyes looked black under the red emergency lights…” I feel that doing this not only adds an ominous touch to the scene but also forces the reader to visualize the character in the situation, further drawing them into the story.

And finally, I’d like to share a bit about how I go about picking a character’s personality. As I mentioned before, sometimes they tell me their personality the moment I start writing, but other times I pick the personality first and then build the character around it.

This is especially true for the “bad guys” because I have a difficult time believing that people are born inherently evil. I’m an optimist, what can I say?!

For my “bad guys” I try to remember that if they were real, they’d be similar to certain individuals I know who had a less-than-healthy upbringing and lacked the role models, tools, or support to overcome their difficulties or medical challenges. I take the time to write a bit of their backstory, explaining how and why their views became different or distorted.

In my life, I’ve learned that fear and anger are the usual motivators for wrongdoing and why people often lash out and hurt others. I take that into consideration in my writing as well. I try to visualize the struggles a character might have faced, consider their reasons for becoming who they are, and then choose a picture that shows them frowning, scowling, aloof, anxious, or in another mood that reflects their inner feelings. I choose an image that aligns with the personality I envision for the character, making them feel more authentic and supporting my plot development. And yes, I sometimes exaggerate their personality a bit for humor. I can’t help it. It’s fun to be the “creator” of your own world!

And that covers all the work I put into my character worksheet in my Red Fox Series Excel Workbook. In my next blog, I’ll share more about the world-building tabs, including the one I created for the main stage itself—the Red Fox, which I brought to life in what was in my head after many, many, many hours of playing with the paint app on my computer.

Stay tuned…