Mariner Software on Thursday announced the release of Persona, a new tool aimed at creative writers who need to develop characters for their stories. Persona costs $49.95 and a trial version is available.

Persona helps writers categorize characters using 32 different archetypes, developing psychological profiles to help explain their motivation, define behavior and create predictable dialogue. Persona’s goal is to help writers create more compelling and believable characters for their stories, according to the developer.

Writers can also use Persona to explore relationships between characters, create “Smart Groups” of characters based on various attributes, shape details, come up with believable and meaningful names, and more.

Persona is available now from the Mariner Web site, and will also be sold through the Mac App Store and on retail shelves “in the near future.”