Step 1
It spots repeated names
As you write, Character Studio notices names that appear again and again, and which chapters they appear in. Simple name matching, not AI.
Character Studio
Keep track of your cast as you write. You choose who belongs.
As your manuscript grows, Character Studio keeps track of recurring names, where they appear, and how they’re spelled. You decide which ones become part of your cast.
- Works on imported manuscripts
- Finds repeated names for you
- Character profiles and Cast Map built in
I
The Ninth LanternSaved6,164 words26 min read
ManuscriptFileEditInsertFormatPubliAgent
TPublish
¶BIUST16x2x2“
Characters6Display
AddCast map
6 of 20 profiles on Author Plus
CARRYING THE BOOK3
HRHalvard Rennshared nameage 44 · 36 mentions⋮
SSefa31 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
CVCorren Vale9 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
SUPPORTING2
TRTomas Rennshared nameage 19 · 22 mentions⋮
MAMireille Ashgrove14 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
PASSING THROUGH1
FFerris5 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
1Chapter One — The Ninth LanternChapter One — The Ninth Lantern
Halvard Renn had lit the ninth lantern every evening for nineteen years, and in all that time it had never once refused him. It refused him now. He struck the flint twice, watched the spark die in the oil, and stood a moment in the wet dark of the gantry with his hand still raised.
Below him the estuary went about its business. The tide was two hours from the turn and the mudflats lay open all the way to the channel, glistening, seamed with little rivers that would be gone by midnight.
“It’s the oil,” said Tomas from the ladder, because Tomas was nineteen and had an answer for everything.
“It isn’t the oil.” Halvard crouched, put two fingers into the reservoir and rubbed them together. Clean. Cold. Faintly sweet, the way good whale oil ought to be, with none of the gritty afterfeel that meant a lampwright had been watering his stock.
Not guttered. Not blown. Out, the way a candle goes out when someone pinches it, and the smoke that came off it afterwards went straight up and did not move at all.
I
The Ninth LanternSaved6,164 words26 min read
ManuscriptFileEditInsertFormatPubliAgent
TPublish
¶BIUST16x2x2“
Characters6Display
AddCast map
6 of 20 profiles on Author Plus
CARRYING THE BOOK3
HRHalvard Rennshared nameage 44 · 36 mentions⋮
SSefa31 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
CVCorren Vale9 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
SUPPORTING2
TRTomas Rennshared nameage 19 · 22 mentions⋮
MAMireille Ashgrove14 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
PASSING THROUGH1
FFerris5 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
1Chapter One — The Ninth LanternChapter One — The Ninth Lantern
Halvard Renn had lit the ninth lantern every evening for nineteen years, and in all that time it had never once refused him. It refused him now. He struck the flint twice, watched the spark die in the oil, and stood a moment in the wet dark of the gantry with his hand still raised.
Below him the estuary went about its business. The tide was two hours from the turn and the mudflats lay open all the way to the channel, glistening, seamed with little rivers that would be gone by midnight.
“It’s the oil,” said Tomas from the ladder, because Tomas was nineteen and had an answer for everything.
“It isn’t the oil.” Halvard crouched, put two fingers into the reservoir and rubbed them together. Clean. Cold. Faintly sweet, the way good whale oil ought to be, with none of the gritty afterfeel that meant a lampwright had been watering his stock.
Not guttered. Not blown. Out, the way a candle goes out when someone pinches it, and the smoke that came off it afterwards went straight up and did not move at all.
How it works
From a repeated name to a character profile.
- Step 2
You decide who is a character
When a name is suggested, add it to your cast, or dismiss it. Dismiss a false match once and it won't be suggested again.
- Step 3
Turn a name into a character profile
Once you add someone to your cast, their chapters and appearances are already connected to their profile.
Try it
Try the detector on a page.
Use our sample passage or write your own text to see how the Character Studio name detector works.
Sample passageLiterary208 words
The tide had taken the jetty by the time Maren reached it. She had walked down from the lighthouse in the dark, and the wind coming in across Kessel Bay had gone through her coat twice over. Halvard was waiting at the end of the boards with a lamp he had not bothered to light.
"You are late," Halvard said.
"The road is under water past the mill." Maren took the lamp from him and lit it herself. "Everything in Kessel Bay is under water."
He did not answer. He had been reading weather off that coast for longer than Sennick had been alive, and Maren had learned early that Halvard's silences were arguments rather than absences.
Somewhere up the hill a shutter banged. Ines had left the window open again, and Ines would leave it open tomorrow, as though the house owed the storm an invitation. Sennick would have laughed at the pair of them.
"She should not be out here," he said at last.
"Neither should we," Maren said. She lifted the lamp until it caught the water, and at Kessel Bay the jetty simply stopped, twenty feet short of where it had stood that morning. Ines came down the hill behind them without a coat.
What Character Studio would offer4 names found
Reads like a person
- Maren4 mentions
- Halvard3 mentions
- Ines3 mentions
Places, things, and headings
- Kessel Bay3 mentions
The panel
See your cast in one place.
Know who’s carrying the story, who hasn’t appeared in a while, and which names still need your attention.
I
The Ninth LanternSaved6,164 words26 min read
ManuscriptFileEditInsertFormatPubliAgent
TPublish
¶BIUST16x2x2“
Characters6Display
AddCast map
6 of 20 profiles on Author Plus
CARRYING THE BOOK3
HRHalvard Rennshared nameage 44 · 36 mentions⋮
SSefa31 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
CVCorren Vale9 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
SUPPORTING2
TRTomas Rennshared nameage 19 · 22 mentions⋮
MAMireille Ashgrove14 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
PASSING THROUGH1
FFerris5 mentions · not in this chapter⋮
1Chapter One — The Ninth LanternChapter One — The Ninth Lantern
Halvard Renn had lit the ninth lantern every evening for nineteen years, and in all that time it had never once refused him. It refused him now. He struck the flint twice, watched the spark die in the oil, and stood a moment in the wet dark of the gantry with his hand still raised.
Below him the estuary went about its business. The tide was two hours from the turn and the mudflats lay open all the way to the channel, glistening, seamed with little rivers that would be gone by midnight.
“It’s the oil,” said Tomas from the ladder, because Tomas was nineteen and had an answer for everything.
“It isn’t the oil.” Halvard crouched, put two fingers into the reservoir and rubbed them together. Clean. Cold. Faintly sweet, the way good whale oil ought to be, with none of the gritty afterfeel that meant a lampwright had been watering his stock.
Not guttered. Not blown. Out, the way a candle goes out when someone pinches it, and the smoke that came off it afterwards went straight up and did not move at all.
Your cast, ranked by presence
See your most prominent characters first, and quickly spot anyone who has faded out of recent chapters.
Who's in this chapter
See every character who appears in the chapter you’re working on, without searching through the manuscript.
Names waiting on you
Review names found in your chapters, see their mention counts, and add or dismiss them as Character Profiles.
The profile
Keep everything you know about a character in one place.
The age you gave them in chapter two. The sister you introduced in chapter nine. Keep the details with the character, not scattered across notes you have to remember to update.
Aliases stay connected
You decide which names belong to whom: type Liz and Bess onto Elizabeth’s profile and they count as one character, not three. Character Studio then includes the aliases you have added when tracking appearances across your manuscript.
Identity and details
Keep their portrait, role, description, age, gender, species, background and any custom details you want to remember.
Relationships, in your own words
Connect characters and describe the relationship however you like: sister, mentor, rival, spouse, or anything else. No fixed list.
See where they appear
Follow a character chapter by chapter and quickly spot long gaps, sudden disappearances, or places you may want to revisit.
Carrying the bookHRAdd photoHalvard Renn36 mentions across 9 chaptersACROSS THE BOOK9 of 14 chaptersWHO THEY KNOWTomas Renn · Nephew, and his apprenticerelationSefa turns up in 8 of the same chapters and is not on this list.
EDITINGHalvard Renn
HalMaster Rennalso known as…
HOW MUCH OF THE BOOK DO THEY CARRY?MainSupportingMinorWHO THEY ARELampwright of the Ninth Ward for nineteen years. Keeps the lantern line lit along the estuary, and has spent eleven of those years being extremely good at not writing back.Personalityexact, stubborn, slow to speak, slower to forgive himselfWHAT THEY LOOK LIKEbig through the shoulders, grey at the temples, hands permanently stained with lamp-oilFACTS YOU WANT TO KEEP STRAIGHTAgedigits only44Gendermale
Everything here is optional except the nameCancelSave changes
Carrying the bookHRAdd photoHalvard Renn36 mentions across 9 chaptersACROSS THE BOOK9 of 14 chaptersWHO THEY KNOWTomas Renn · Nephew, and his apprenticerelationSefa turns up in 8 of the same chapters and is not on this list.
EDITINGHalvard Renn
HalMaster Rennalso known as…
HOW MUCH OF THE BOOK DO THEY CARRY?MainSupportingMinorWHO THEY ARELampwright of the Ninth Ward for nineteen years. Keeps the lantern line lit along the estuary, and has spent eleven of those years being extremely good at not writing back.Personalityexact, stubborn, slow to speak, slower to forgive himselfWHAT THEY LOOK LIKEbig through the shoulders, grey at the temples, hands permanently stained with lamp-oilFACTS YOU WANT TO KEEP STRAIGHTAgedigits only44Gendermale
Everything here is optional except the nameCancelSave changes
Cast mapDrawn from your chapters. Nobody has to type it in.share chaptersShared chaptersNever in a chapter togetherCVCorren ValeMain · 2 chaptersMAMireille AshgroveSupporting · 5 chaptersFFerrisMinor · 3 chaptersHRHalvard Rennage 44 · 10 chaptersTRTomas Rennage 19 · 6 chaptersSSefaMain · 8 chaptersfirst together in Chapter Five — The Salt Collegefirst together in Chapter Five — The Salt Collegefirst together in Chapter Nine — What Tomas Sawfirst together in Chapter Two — Low WaterThe whole book
Cast mapDrawn from your chapters. Nobody has to type it in.share chaptersShared chaptersNever in a chapter togetherCVCorren ValeMain · 2 chaptersMAMireille AshgroveSupporting · 5 chaptersFFerrisMinor · 3 chaptersHRHalvard Rennage 44 · 10 chaptersTRTomas Rennage 19 · 6 chaptersSSefaMain · 8 chaptersfirst together in Chapter Five — The Salt Collegefirst together in Chapter Five — The Salt Collegefirst together in Chapter Nine — What Tomas Sawfirst together in Chapter Two — Low WaterThe whole book
The Cast map
See your whole cast on one canvas.
See how your characters connect, where they cross paths, and who disappears from the story for longer than you expected.
The relationships you add
Every relationship you recorded on a profile, drawn between the two characters and labelled in your own words.
Connections found in your manuscript
Characters who appear in the same chapters are connected automatically, so you can spot who keeps crossing paths and who never does.
Follow your cast through the manuscript
Drag the slider across your chapters to see when characters appear and when new connections begin.
Plans
Every plan gets the whole toolkit.
Only the number of Character Profiles per manuscript changes.
- Free plan5profiles per manuscript
- Author Plus20profiles per manuscript
- Authorpreneur40profiles per manuscript
Common questions
Questions about Character Studio.
Other features
Keep working on the book once your cast is organised.
Write or upload
Write in Creator Studio, import a DOCX or PDF, or upload a finished EPUB or print-ready PDF.
Learn moreBook formatting
Choose from 20 themes and 1,800+ Google Fonts, then preview digital and print editions from the same manuscript.
Learn moreCover designer
Start from a template or your own artwork, then preview the front, spine and back in 3D. Print guides are built in.
Learn more
Start writing. We'll keep your cast organised.
Character Studio tracks the cast while you write, so chapter forty remembers what you decided in chapter three.
- Works on imported manuscripts
- Finds repeated names for you
- Character profiles and Cast Map built in