Create a character readers want to return to.
A memorable character has clear motives, a distinctive way of speaking, and an opening scene that invites a reply. This guide helps you build those pieces, then refine them together.
Updated October 7, 2026
Creating on the web
Sign in to save account drafts, generate covers, and submit characters for review. Without signing in, you can make a browser preview. Preview characters and scripted stories stay in this browser; they are not published to the Feva community. Live account chat is not available on the web yet. Learn how saving and publishing work.
In this guideStart with a premise
One character. One tension. A place for the reader.
Start with the experience you want to create: a quiet companion, a difficult partnership, a mystery to uncover, or an adventure that needs two people. A premise gives every later choice a purpose.
Someone wants something, but something stands in the way. The reader arrives when their involvement can matter.
Mara, an adult ferry captain, is tracing her missing brother’s last crossing. Tonight the lighthouse goes dark. A passenger may have seen something she missed.
This is an original example for the guide. You can follow the same character from image brief to finished opening, then apply the method to your own world.
- Decide the promise. Name the role, immediate goal, obstacle, and connection to the reader.
- Write the invitation. Draft a short description and an opening with a clear next move.
- Add what drives behavior. Give the background motives, habits, relationships, and a consistent way of speaking.
- Match the image. Choose a recognizable cover that belongs to the same story.
- Preview, revise, and save. Check the reader’s first impression before submitting an account character.
Try a different kind of story
Everyday connection: An adult bookshop owner saves an unclaimed parcel for the reader. Their evening routine changes when the sender’s name turns out to be familiar.
Adventure: An adult cartographer needs a companion to verify a map that changes overnight. The reader has a piece she is missing.
Rivalry: Two adult restorers have competing explanations for a damaged painting. The reader can challenge either account.
Change the stakes and rhythm, while keeping the reader free to decide how they participate.
Make the face and the story belong together.
A cover is an invitation, not the whole biography. At card size, a reader should be able to recognize the subject and sense the story’s mood. Publishing an account character requires a cover and portrait; a cover is optional in an account draft or local preview.
Write an image brief you can revise
Describe a clearly adult subject, defining features, clothing, expression, pose, setting, light, and framing. Keep a few distinctive visual facts stable across attempts. Put the subject before secondary scenery, and avoid asking for several incompatible art styles at once.
Portrait of Mara, a 32-year-old night-ferry captain, on a rain-dark pier. Short black coat, weathered hands holding a silver compass, alert expression. One clear subject, soft lighthouse glow, muted blue and amber light, vertical composition, room around the face for a square portrait crop, no text or logos.
In Feva’s AI cover tool, choose an available style, enter your prompt, and optionally add a reference image. Inspect the results before selecting and cropping one. Review the displayed cost before generating; a generation request is separate from saving a draft. Available styles and prices come from the service.
A reference is guidance, not permission to use someone’s likeness or art. Use your own or authorized material. Feva’s web tool does not offer image upscaling, face-similarity sliders, or an automatic prompt enhancer. Do not assume that another generator’s parentheses or weighting syntax has the same effect here.
Check both crops
Upload JPG, PNG, WebP, or HEIC/HEIF up to 12 MB; GIF is not supported. HEIC decoding depends on the browser, so use JPG or PNG if it cannot read the file. Prefer a sharp vertical image with space around the subject. The editor crops a vertical cover and derives a square portrait; you can adjust the portrait separately.
- At card size: is the subject recognizable without zooming?
- In the cover crop: are the face, hands, and important prop still visible?
- In the square portrait: does the face fit without cutting off identifying features?
- In the story: do clothing, setting, and age agree with the description?
A larger file cannot rescue blur or a tiny subject. Use a clearer source rather than relying on a numerical resolution target. Keep watermarks, unrelated logos, and text overlays out of the image.
Introduce the promise. Explain what sustains it.
The reader-facing description, opening scene, and background serve different jobs. Repeating the same biography in all three makes a profile longer without making it clearer.
- Name
- A recognizable identity. Up to 50 characters.
- Main character’s gender
- Choose Male, Female, or Non-binary to match the character. No option is selected by default.
- Description
- The hook readers see on the card and profile: who this is and why the encounter matters.
- Opening scene
- The moment the reader enters, with room for their first response.
- Background
- The motives, history, relationships, and behavior that make the character coherent.
- Visibility and tags
- Who can find the character, and which relevant themes describe it. Account creators can select up to 10 available tags.
Give the description a specific hook
Lead with role, tension, and the reader’s connection. One or two useful sentences beat a list of generic adjectives. Put important dark or distressing themes in plain language; the cover should not promise a gentler experience than the writing provides.
“Mara is mysterious, kind, and loves adventure.”
“Mara runs the last ferry after her brother vanishes. Tonight the lighthouse goes dark, and she needs a witness who will tell her what they saw.”
A familiar name alone does not define a character. Choose details that distinguish this person’s situation and relationship. Avoid keyword stuffing or using tags that do not fit the premise.
Keep visibility and background sharing distinct
Visibility lets you choose Public or Private for the character. The Public switch beside Background separately controls whether readers can see the background text. If the background reveals a mystery’s solution, consider hiding it. Keep the public description clear about the story’s themes.
Private characters must still follow Feva’s rules. Hidden background text is not a place for passwords, personal data, or other secrets. In browser previews, Public only affects your own Discover view; it does not share the character with other users.
Length limits and useful length are different
The current editor allows a name up to 50 characters, a description and background up to 100,000 each, and an opening up to 20,000. Those are limits, not targets. Start with a concise hook, a few readable opening paragraphs, and enough background to explain recurring behavior. Expand only when the next detail does a job.
Required text, a chosen gender, a cover, and the applicable rights confirmation must be ready to publish. An unfinished account draft can be saved earlier.
Start an encounter, not a lecture.
A useful opening shows where we are, what has changed, what the character does, and why the reader might respond. Give enough context to act without explaining every secret.
Place → visible action → a distinctive line → an unanswered question or choice.
Let the character notice, ask, offer, and react. Leave the reader’s feelings, memories, actions, and answer to them.
*The last ferry knocks against the pier. Mara catches its rope as the lighthouse goes dark. She turns, holding the gangway open.*
"You picked an unusual night to cross, {{user}}. Did you see when the light went out?"The last ferry knocks against the pier. Mara catches its rope as the lighthouse goes dark. She turns, holding the gangway open.
You picked an unusual night to cross, Sophia. Did you see when the light went out?
Changing the passenger’s name does not change their choices. Avoid openings such as “You fall in love immediately,” “You tell her everything,” or “You follow without hesitation.” A meeting can be tense without making the reader’s decision for them.
Use the formatting Feva actually displays
- Actions and narration
*Mara catches the rope.*renders as an action. Pair the asterisks around the text.- Spoken dialogue
“Did you see the light go out?”distinguishes speech visually. This does not select or generate an audio voice.- Reader’s name
{{user}}inserts the reader’s name. The older{{user_name}}also works. Use Insert reader name and Full preview in the editor.- Paragraphs
- Separate scene beats with line breaks. Test the result on a phone as well as on a wide screen.
The current opening renderer is not a full Markdown editor: image links and bold syntax do not provide rich image or bold formatting. Single quotes do not select a supporting character’s voice. Other template variables, including {{char}}, are not supported in the opening; write the character’s actual name.
Revise an opening that stalls
Starts too vaguely: “Hello. How are you?” → Add a place and something happening right now.
Too much explanation: A page of history → Keep one immediate clue and move the causes into Background.
Controls the reader: “You agree to help” → Ask what they saw or offer a choice.
Has nowhere to go: A finished scene → End with a question, unresolved action, or discovery the reader can respond to.
Replace adjectives with reasons and patterns.
“Guarded,” “warm,” or “confident” can mean many things. Explain what brings out a trait, what the character does because of it, and how that affects their relationship with the reader.
“Mara is anxious but brave.”
“When worried, Mara checks a knot twice. She still takes the night crossing because passengers depend on her.”
Identity and adult age: Present goal and obstacle: A formative event that still matters: Connection to the reader: What earns or damages trust: Habits under ordinary pressure: Speaking style and a short example: What the character knows at the opening: What remains unknown or can be revealed later: Boundaries that leave the reader in control:
Read Mara’s completed background
Notice how the background connects the missing brother, practical habits, voice, and lighthouse scene without repeating the public hook.
Mara Vale is a 32-year-old night-ferry captain. She took over the crossing after her brother disappeared on the river. She wants to trace his last journey, but keeps the ferry running because the town depends on it. She is practical with strangers: she checks their route, offers a dry coat, and asks one precise question at a time. When worried, she inspects a knot she has already tied. Trust grows when someone follows through, not when they flatter her. She speaks in short, direct sentences, using river landmarks rather than elaborate metaphors. Her dry humor surfaces when the immediate danger has passed. She knows the river; she does not know what the passenger has seen, remembers, feels, or chooses. At the opening, the lighthouse has just gone dark. Mara has a timetable with an unexplained correction, but has not connected it to the disappearance. Reveal clues through events and conversation rather than explaining the mystery at once.
Use dialogue as a writing test
Draft a few possible exchanges in your notes: a friendly question, a disagreement, and a change of subject. Check whether the character still has a recognizable motive and voice. Use the results to improve Background.
Reader: “I’m only here for the crossing.”
Mara: “Then a crossing is what you’ll get. Mind the loose board. If you notice anything near the lighthouse, I’d still like to hear it.”
Reader: “You don’t trust the keeper?”
Mara: “I trust a timetable. His has been changed twice. That’s all I know.”
These lines show practical care, restraint, and a clue without forcing the reader to help. Avoid giving every situation the same catchphrase or making every answer deliver a new revelation.
The web editor currently has no separate example-dialogue, conversation-style, reply-guidance, creator-note, voice, or worldbook controls. It preserves advanced values already stored in an account draft. Writing sample exchanges here is a revision exercise, not a setting that uploads them or guarantees future replies.
Spend detail where it changes the interaction
- For a companion: describe everyday habits, conversation rhythm, and how familiarity grows.
- For a mystery: separate known facts, mistaken assumptions, and clues that may be revealed.
- For an adventure: explain the immediate obstacle and the world rules needed to make a decision.
- For a rivalry: establish what each person wants, where they disagree, and what could change the relationship.
Cut duplicated facts, contradictions, and lore that never affects the scene. There is no Feva-wide token target or punctuation trick that guarantees personality or memory. Field capacity is not the same as a model’s context window, and scripted preview replies cannot measure either.
Test one problem at a time
Preview the cover, portrait, description, opening, name substitution, and background visibility. Read the first scene as someone who has never met the character. Then revise one issue and compare the result.
- Can the reader decline the invitation without the premise falling apart?
- Does a question about the setting reveal something concrete?
- Is there a natural slower beat as well as a reason to move forward?
- Do the description, opening, and background agree about the character’s knowledge?
A local story uses scripted replies. It can check presentation and the local flow, but it cannot validate an account character’s long-term consistency, pacing, or response quality. When testing on a surface that supports live chat, compare several fresh conversations instead of treating one good reply as proof.
Draft first. Preview carefully. Submit when ready.
Saving a draft, saving a browser preview, and submitting an account character are different actions. Choose the flow that matches where you want your work to live.
Save draft saves an unfinished character to your account. Find it under My characters → Drafts. Publish to Feva submits the prepared character for review. Submission does not mean approval.
When browser storage is available, the editor keeps a local draft as you type. Save character adds the character to this browser’s My characters. It stays local even when set to Public. Signing in does not transfer it to your account.
- Save an account draft while writing. You do not need a finished cover or every required field yet.
- Check all required fields. Add name, gender, description, opening, and background; resolve unsupported opening variables.
- Inspect the cover and portrait. Confirm the crop, character age, quality, and image rights.
- Choose visibility and background sharing. Use relevant available tags, and check which text readers will see.
- Confirm content rights when requested. Read the linked terms, then select Publish to Feva to submit.
- My characters Read the review status; a submitted character is not necessarily visible to everyone.
After submission
My characters shows the character’s review status. If changes are requested, check the cover, public text, themes, and content rights against the standards below. The web page does not currently show detailed rejection reasons or give a review deadline. Contact support if the next step is unclear.
Use Edit in My characters to prepare an account draft from a submitted character. Save and resubmit your changes for review. Keep the character’s identity, central relationship, and tone recognizable; a substantial new premise is often clearer as a separate character.
Protect a draft when something goes wrong
Leaving with account edits: save or explicitly discard the current changes when prompted. Browser recovery copies help on this device, but do not replace an account draft.
Save or submission fails: keep the form open, preserve important text, and inspect Drafts or My characters before retrying an uncertain submission. Do not keep clicking while a request is running.
Cover generation partly fails: inspect available results and the displayed charge feedback or error before trying again. A generated image still needs to be selected and used in the draft.
Changing devices: use an account draft. Another browser, site address, or cleared storage cannot retrieve this browser’s local preview copy.
Respect the reader. Check the whole profile.
These are practical checks drawn from Feva’s Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Read those documents for the full rules. A label, private visibility, or hidden background does not waive them.
- Adults only. Feva is for adults, and all characters in your creations must be over 18. Stating an adult age does not make childlike or exploitative presentation acceptable.
- No pornographic or exploitative content. Keep explicit sexual material and nudity out of public imagery and descriptions; a mature label does not authorize prohibited content.
- No hate, harassment, or real-world harm. Do not target people or groups, glorify self-harm, or encourage violence or criminal activity. Avoid graphic violence and distressing imagery in public profiles.
- Respect rights and privacy. Use original or authorized writing and art; do not impersonate people, expose private information, or use a real person’s likeness without permission. AI generation does not remove your responsibility to check rights.
- Keep fiction recognizable as fiction. Characters are not professional medical, mental-health, legal, financial, or emergency services.
Make themes clear without disguising them
Browser previews offer Standard and Mature · 18+ as theme labels. Feva is an adult service with either label. The account editor currently has no rating selector. Describe significant dark or distressing themes clearly.
A final reader-facing checklist
- The subject is clearly adult and recognizable in both image crops.
- The name, description, and opening promise the same character and experience.
- The first scene has a natural response and does not decide the reader’s feelings or actions.
- The background explains motives without contradicting the opening or revealing hidden answers publicly.
- Theme descriptions and tags are accurate, with no misleading claims or keyword stuffing.
- Spelling, formatting, name substitution, rights, and visibility have been checked.
Clear, original writing and a coherent presentation are worth improving for their own sake. No image resolution, token count, tag, or writing trick guarantees approval, ranking, likes, or exposure.
Ask a useful question. Get a useful second look.
Where do I put personality and example dialogue?
Put identity, motives, habits, relationships, and speaking style in Background. Write sample exchanges in your notes to test the character’s voice. The web editor currently has no separate example-dialogue field.
Why does Public not share my preview character?
Without signing in, you save a browser preview. Its Public switch only changes your local Discover view. Sign in and select Publish to Feva in the editor to submit a character to Feva.
Can I check AI reply quality in Full preview?
Full preview shows the opening scene and reader-name substitution. Local story replies are scripted. These previews cannot test an account character’s live replies or memory.
Do I need hundreds of words or a certain token count?
No fixed length guarantees a stronger character. Explain the facts that affect behavior and cut repetition. Start small, preview, and add detail when you can say what it changes.
What if a feature is temporarily unavailable?
Keep your draft and use the available save or retry action. If an account tool explicitly says it is unavailable on the web, do not assume the same feature is available because it works in an app. Help explains the current feature boundaries.
How should I request feedback?
Share a concise premise and the specific problem: “Does the opening give the reader a choice?” or “Does this voice match the background?” Avoid sharing private account information or work you do not have permission to distribute.
For an issue Feva needs to receive, email [email protected] with the page, what you tried, the visible error, and a screenshot if helpful. Never send passwords, verification codes, or access tokens. A local preview report stays in this browser and does not send a support request.
The Help center covers saving, account features, coins, and troubleshooting. For content or rights questions, include the character link or visible ID when available. Wait for clarification before resubmitting the same work repeatedly.