Meet the story characters you can write with
Meet hellowriter's original story characters, each with a portrait, a past and stories to read. Grab one as a starting point and write your own, free to start.
Meet the story characters
Every hero here is original: invented and illustrated for hellowriter, not borrowed from a book or a show. Each one comes with a portrait, four traits that make them tick, a short backstory, and the stories they already appear in.
Skim the gallery, open the one that catches you, read a page, and when a character feels right, the same page hands you into writing a new story with them.
Six heroes to start, one for each corner of the site: the fantasy story generator, horror, romance, sci-fi, the mystery story generator, and a gentle one from the bedtime story generator.
Character ideas you can steal
Character ideas get easier when you start from what makes book characters memorable: something they want, a flaw that keeps getting in the way, and a secret they'd rather keep.
Bram wants a quiet life, can't stop taking in strays, and is hiding a debt from his old company, so every guest at his door is a small problem. Take any hero in the gallery apart the same way and you've got a starting point you can bend into your own.
For fantasy character ideas, swap the innkeeper's war for a curse and keep the ledger. Change the want, keep the flaw, and a familiar face becomes someone new. Or build one from scratch with the character generator.
Write with a ready character
Pick a hero and hellowriter keeps them straight for you. Their name, their look, the way they talk, and the four traits above all carry into the story, so the innkeeper in chapter 8 is the same man you met on the card. You write; hellowriter holds the character steady and illustrates each scene as it goes.
Hit "Write a story with…" on any hero page and the writer opens with them already cast. For someone who's yours from the first line, build one in the character generator and drop them into the same story.
Free character profile template
The free character profile template is a one-page sheet for building characters fast. It has prompts for the parts that shape a character: their name and role, what they want, what stands in the way, the secret, how they talk, and a line for their look.
Print it, fill it by hand, or paste your answers into hellowriter to start a story with them. No email, no sign-up. Download it once and use it for as many characters as you like.
Story characters, questions answered
What makes a good story character?
A good story character has three things working against each other: something they want, a flaw that keeps getting in the way, and a secret they're protecting. That tension is what makes them feel alive on the page. Bram Holloway wants a quiet life, can't stop taking in strangers, and is hiding an old debt, so every guest is a small test.
Can I use these characters in my own story?
Yes. Every character in the gallery is free to write with, and hellowriter keeps them consistent as your story grows, so their look, voice, and traits stay the same from the first chapter to the last. Open any hero, hit write, and the story opens with them already cast. You can change anything about them once you're in.
Are these characters based on existing books or shows?
No. Every hero here is original to hellowriter, invented and illustrated for this gallery, with no ties to any existing book, show, or game. That's deliberate: original characters are yours to build on, with nothing to license and no one else's canon to match. Write them however your story needs them.
How do I create my own character?
Use the character generator. Give it a genre, a vibe, or a single trait, and it builds a full character with a name, a personality, and a backstory you can edit. When one clicks, drop them straight into hellowriter and start a story. You can also grab the free character profile template and fill one in by hand.
What's in the character profile template?
The free character profile template is a one-page sheet that walks you through the parts that shape a character: their name and role, what they want, what stands in the way, their secret, how they speak, and their look. Fill it in by hand or paste it into hellowriter to start a story. It's free to download, with no email.
Pick a hero above and write your own story with them, or build a character from scratch with the character generator. First page free, no sign-up.
Write with a hero