Rhea

Just wondering, does anyone do character charts for their characters and how detailed are they? How do you go about making them, if you do? Are the character charts all done, or do you leave details to put in as your story progresses?

My character charts look something like this:

Name: Arturo Bearn
Appearance: Short and stocky, blond, blue eyes, a face that reminds people of an innocent little boy
Family: (who his father, mother and siblings are)
History: (background, younger life, any special gifts or abilities, profession if any)
Personality: (personality, strengths, weaknesses, faults)

And my personality part is a bit empty, I'm filling it in as I write, I'm letting the story develop my characters.

Another question: do you think it better to determine every facet of a character's personality, or to let the story go and develop things from there? I have the main bits of personality down.

PamHKyle

I don't keep charts like you describe them. My characters develop themselves as I write.
But I do keep a little book with all the names of the characters in the story (even the non important ones) to prevent me using the same name twice for different people.
Sometimes I add small details that come up when I'm writing (stupid little things like birthdays 'n such), so I won't have to scan the whole story if I need that detail again.

Gothic Rose

I do character charts only for my cameo characters, to prevent repeating like PamHKyle did, and in case I want to reuse them later in the story.

My main characters come equipped with multi-page backgrounds telling everything in their life that has gotten them to this point before they enter the story. Everything we are now comes from where we've been and who influenced us, my characters are no different.

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ravravrav

try my program FilmFilerPlay - it's got a tab for characters where you can write about their history, age, sex, personality, dreams etc.

http://www.filmfiler.com/products.html#play

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CabinFever

I think it depends on whether it's a Character Driven story or a Plot Driven Story. For a Character Driven story the author needs to have every single detail in place before writing the story. The opposite for Plot Driven stories.

Kimahri

I have character charts for my characters but I leave them somewhat raw so that as I write my characters are not limited. They continue to develope as the story developes.

kimahri

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Phantom Rose

My Format:

(Basic)
- Name; Nickname(s)
- Age
- Gender
(Physical Description)
- Skin hue
- Height
- Build (slender, muscular, etc.)
- Eyes (color, shape/size, unusual - slit pupils? glowing? etc.)
- Clothing
- Other (piercings, tattoos, unusual markings, etc.)
(Personality)
- Values (what do they care about?)
- Goals
- Likes/dislikes
- Strengths/weaknesses
- Fears
- Habits
- Other
(Past)
- Birth (anything unusual?) and childhood
- Family Life (relationships, siblings, etc.)
- Education
- Social Status (of family)
- Important Events
(Current Life)
- Friends
- Enemies
- Love life
- Social Status
- Occupation
- Home (if any)
(Role in story)
- Relation to Plot
- Importance Level (Major, minor, etc.)
- Story "role" (protagonist? antagonist? etc.)
- Fate (death, change, etc.)

Of course, I only do this for the main characters. I forget little details a lot, so I need to fill out character profiles...

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