We explored the degree of consensus and accuracy in observers’ ratings of targets’ traits and autobiographical narratives. Targets narrated life high, low, and turning points and reported their personality traits. The conceptual content of these stories had previously been quantified. Here, groups of observers provided ratings of targets’ traits, knowability (how well the observer felt they ‘knew’ the target), and story conventionality, after reading each narrative. Observers exhibited consensus in perceptions of traits, knowability, and story conventionality. These ratings corresponded with targets’ self-ratings of traits, to a modest degree. The knowability of narrators did not moderate this relation, nor did key scene type. The conceptual content of targets’ narratives partially accounted for the relation between observer-reported and target-reported traits.