Free Character Tool for Authors

[ACFan]

One thing that any author runs into is remembering the stats on their characters. With over 80 characters in my story alone, my notes were getting rediculous! Akeentia developed a program to help track the characters in the universe that has sprung up around Memories, one that became so successful that he released a public version for any author to use.

 

After discussing it, we've decided that we will make it available to the writers at GA. The program is called "The Felis Character Roster Program". You can enter specifics and notes on all of your characters, even breaking down by story for those of us having multiple stories. You can make a 'locked' copy of your database available to your readers if you wish; all we ask is that they get the program itself from our site to ensure that they get the latest version and are able to update the executable. You can also save your information as a text file and convert it to a web-readable page if you wish.

 

Here is the official overview:

 

Overview: This is the Felis Character Roster Program. It was designed and programmed with standard default character profile information such as: Name (first, middle, last, nick), Age, Birthdate, Gender, Preference, Eye Color, Hair Color, Original Story, Significant Partner, Race/Species, and an extra section just for character notes. It allows you to view a list of all the characters entered and their information and has advanced search methods that allow you to search by first name, last name, nick name, or by story. The design allows for multiple stories to be entered and easily sorted. When you are finish adding character profiles the program saves it as an encrypted file that's even lockable to prevent others from modifying the file. It also allows you to export the file as a text file.

 

The program is available at the link below; click on the 'Felis Programs' button to get to the software download area.

 

Note: Vista users need to set the permissions on the installation folder to allow the update function to modify files. Since none of the CSU Productions staff has Vista yet, I can't give you a step-by-step on how to do it!

 

Download link: http://www.paddedroom.us/Site/Felis/FelisMain.htm

 

The Felis Character Roster Program executable and storage methods are copyright 2005-2007 Author Development Inc. (AKA Felis Software), a division of CSU Productions. Distribution to authors who are members of the GA Community is approved by the creator of the program and CSU Productions.

 

Moderator: Could you please pin this so it is available for future new authors?

 

Thanks,

 

AC

[JeffsFort]

Oh cool, you guys did bring it to GA

 

Guys, this is seriously worth checking out. I have two stories saved with this program and made the "Roster" available to my readers as a download on my personal site. The feedback i've gotten has been really cool. Most like the fact that I enter some background info on each character as well as their stats. It's a little extra that is rough to maintain on a character listing web page and it helps when I'm writing to keep them consistant. He did an awesome job designing it

 

It's worth a few minutes to check it out, that I promise

[Camy]

I'm hopeless at keeping character notes, often finding myself hunting through previous chapters for hair colour, eye colour etc. This program looks like the perfect solution!

 

Thanks!

 

Camy

[NickolasJames8]

Actually its not bad. I dl'd it a few weeks ago and tried it out. The only part I dont like is how it has certain info that has to be entered like a last name and a first name....some of my characters don't have those.

[Razor]

Oh wow, this looks great! I'm one of those people who has serious issues remembering my own characters... if I'm not careful I muddle them up and get them confused. This'll be a huge help, thanks.

[Bondwriter]

I downloaded it a while back, as well as the Note Tracker. It works fine, but I don't have many stories with enough characters (or long enough) that I was too afraid I'dforget about them. Then, with my adventure serial, in which I have lots of characters, not based on real life people I know and visualize well, this may turn out handy, especially since some characters are featured in only a few paragraphs in one episode out of three, but will come back on a regular basis. And you only need to feel in the info you have, you don't need to fill the whole sheet out.

[Ieshwar]

I'm in the same situation as Francois. I haven't written some big series right now but I'm definitely planning one. So this seems to be really useful.

 

Thanks for helping writers like us!

 

Ieshwar

[Graeme]

I've got a lot of characters in my latest story, and I've been using a simple word document to keep track of them (since most of them are minor characters that I only really need to keep track of their names and what they do). However, the biggest problem I've had is simply remembering to update it when I introduce a new character. That same problem will apply here.

 

Definitely, it is worthwhile having something to keep track of details when there is a large cast of characters, so I would recommend having a look at this program, but you also need to maintain some discipline in using it....

[ACFan]

Just a note on the comments I've seen above!

 

 

The only fields that are required entries are the ones that are used for the Search and Index function. These are First Name, Last Name, and Story. Since First Name and Last Name are indexes they have to be filled with unique values -- personally I'd say that for unnamed characters I'd use the chapter number they first appear in (One, Two ...) as a last name and ascending letters ( A, B, C ...) as a first name. Then if at some future point you decide to name the character all you have to do is edit it and you have everything already done. That will also help you find them. Another way would be their job (Clerk, Policeman) as a first name with a letter after the name to make it unique - if you have three policemen in a chapter it could end up like "PolicemanA Three" "PolicemanB Three" and "PolicemanC Three" as their full names. If you are working on chapter 27 and need to know how many policemen were in chapter three you would have the info in about ten seconds just by looking at the list sorted by last name.

 

Everyone will use it slightly differently; get creative and you'll find that you will save hours of searching for the tidbit of info that seemed to be useless at the time you wrote the character.

 

AC

[Lugh]

sighs...

 

I've tried this program in the past and have one major complaint. It's not set up for fantasy writes all that well. If this has changed please let me know.

 

Lugh

[NickolasJames8]

Just a note on the comments I've seen above!

The only fields that are required entries are the ones that are used for the Search and Index function. These are First Name, Last Name, and Story. Since First Name and Last Name are indexes they have to be filled with unique values -- personally I'd say that for unnamed characters I'd use the chapter number they first appear in (One, Two ...) as a last name and ascending letters ( A, B, C ...) as a first name. Then if at some future point you decide to name the character all you have to do is edit it and you have everything already done. That will also help you find them. Another way would be their job (Clerk, Policeman) as a first name with a letter after the name to make it unique - if you have three policemen in a chapter it could end up like "PolicemanA Three" "PolicemanB Three" and "PolicemanC Three" as their full names. If you are working on chapter 27 and need to know how many policemen were in chapter three you would have the info in about ten seconds just by looking at the list sorted by last name.

 

Everyone will use it slightly differently; get creative and you'll find that you will save hours of searching for the tidbit of info that seemed to be useless at the time you wrote the character.

 

AC

 

What I ended up doing was this......

First Name

 

Justin's

 

Last Name

 

Brother

 

This really helps out, especially since no one in the story was assigned a last name except for one teacher toward the end of the story. But then he wasn't given a first name because he was called Mr. Kessler by the kids. Anyway, thank again for telling us about this program

[Irony]

This is really useful. Thanks.

 

About the Manditory Fields thing.

You could always just put "n/a"

[Kizuna]

Thank you so much for this program! I downloaded it a little while ago, and I've already put all my character and their info in there!

[AFriendlyFace]

ohh, this sounds great! Despite the fact that I write a glacial pace, the story I am working on is very character driven and I have quite a few details for each of my characters.

 

Unfortunately, when I downloaded the program I couldn't actually figure out how to use it/make it work. I don't see how to create any characters. I tried to read the "help" section, but it kept talking about buttons I didn't have/couldn't find *shrug*

 

Anyone have any tips?

Kevin

[Dark Star]

ohh, this sounds great! Despite the fact that I write a glacial pace, the story I am working on is very character driven and I have quite a few details for each of my characters.

 

Unfortunately, when I downloaded the program I couldn't actually figure out how to use it/make it work. I don't see how to create any characters. I tried to read the "help" section, but it kept talking about buttons I didn't have/couldn't find *shrug*

 

Anyone have any tips?

Kevin

 

Hi, maybe I can help here. You should see an "Add" button down at the bottom of the screen when you open the program. Click on it then add information as you want ending by clicking on "Save" which will ask you where you want to save the database file for later retrieval so you can have multiple files if you wish. Select where you want to save it and do so. That should work for you. Also when you go back into a specific file just click edit to add or make any changes to a character's information then save. Hope this helps and if it doesn't then I would suggest downloading it again or contacting Akeentia@paddedroom.us for further assistance as he wrote the program.

 

DS

[AFriendlyFace]

Hi, maybe I can help here. You should see an "Add" button down at the bottom of the screen when you open the program. Click on it then add information as you want ending by clicking on "Save" which will ask you where you want to save the database file for later retrieval so you can have multiple files if you wish. Select where you want to save it and do so. That should work for you. Also when you go back into a specific file just click edit to add or make any changes to a character's information then save. Hope this helps and if it doesn't then I would suggest downloading it again or contacting Akeentia@paddedroom.us for further assistance as he wrote the program.

 

DS

Thanks for the help. Actually though I don't have an "Add" button down at the bottom. All I have are buttons for "Add group" and "Delete group" at the top. And click on "Add group" only allows me to create a new name for my group, but doesn't give me any new windows, fields, or buttons. *Shrug*

 

I'll try to get around to emailing Akeentia for help. Thanks for the addy!

 

 

 

-Kevin

[Dark Star]

Thanks for the help. Actually though I don't have an "Add" button down at the bottom. All I have are buttons for "Add group" and "Delete group" at the top. And click on "Add group" only allows me to create a new name for my group, but doesn't give me any new windows, fields, or buttons. *Shrug*

 

I'll try to get around to emailing Akeentia for help. Thanks for the addy!

 

 

 

-Kevin

 

 

Ok now I am totally confused. I have no idea what you have there since the program I downloaded is nothing like that. I did send an email out to some people who may be able to help you with this so check back here over the next day or so and maybe they will have responded. They actually know a computer from a hole in the ground which I don't.

 

Sorry I couldn't help more

 

DS

[The Story Lover]

Ok now I am totally confused. I have no idea what you have there since the program I downloaded is nothing like that. I did send an email out to some people who may be able to help you with this so check back here over the next day or so and maybe they will have responded. They actually know a computer from a hole in the ground which I don't.

 

Sorry I couldn't help more

 

DS

 

 

 

Kevin,

It sound likes you are using the Felis Note Tracker and not The Felis Character Roster Program. If you try that program you will see the buttons every one is talking about. If you still have problems let me know and I will try and asnwer them.

 

TSL

[AFriendlyFace]

 

 

Kevin,

It sound likes you are using the Felis Note Tracker and not The Felis Character Roster Program. If you try that program you will see the buttons every one is talking about. If you still have problems let me know and I will try and asnwer them.

 

TSL

Oh my! I do feel a bit a foolish now! Thanks, TSL!

 

Thank you so much, DS!

[ACFan]

**** UPDATE AVAILABLE ****

 

 

There is an update to the program available at http://www.paddedroom.us/Site/Felis/FelisMain.htm

 

 

 

Some new features have been added and a few bugs have been exterminated.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all of your input!

 

AC

 

 

 

*Vista User Note:* The check for updates function has issues unless you change the permissions on the installation folder. I don't have Vista, so I can not tell you what settings need to be made, if someone can post the required adjustments it would be appreciated!

[juliandarling]

This is genius! Thanks!

[colinian]

**** UPDATE AVAILABLE ****

 

There is an update to the program available at http://www.paddedroom.us/Site/Felis/FelisMain.htm

 

Some new features have been added and a few bugs have been exterminated.

 

Thanks for all of your input!

 

AC

 

*Vista User Note:* The check for updates function has issues unless you change the permissions on the installation folder. I don't have Vista, so I can not tell you what settings need to be made, if someone can post the required adjustments it would be appreciated!

 

I installed the updated version (on top of the earlier version) under Vista Ultimate 32 bit, and Help-Check for Updates seems to work fine. It told me I have the latest version.

 

Colin

[Zeoanne]

I just downloaded the latest version of Felis and see how convenient it will be to have especially when one have multiple stories going on at the same time and tend to mix up characters!

[Skylights]

I can't seem to click the link.

Is it unavailable anymore?

[Zeoanne]

Here's the link darling... I've not used mine yet but will when I continue with my stories which, who knows when that'll be !

 

http://felis-character-roster-program.software.informer.com/