What do your character sheets look like?

[ronde]

Are they in your head, fully formed, before you start writing? Or do you feel like you discover some of who they are as you are writing?

I start with a general idea of personality, likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, but I like to let my characters find themselves as they work through my plot. I've always found it interesting when one of my characters says something to another and I have to stop and ask myself, "How would he or she answer that?" More than once, I've re-written at least part of a character as a result.

 

[AchtungNight]

I start with a general idea of personality, likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, but I like to let my characters find themselves as they work through my plot. I've always found it interesting when one of my characters says something to another and I have to stop and ask myself, "How would he or she answer that?" More than once, I've re-written at least part of a character as a result.

Yeah, my characters are talking in my head to each other this way all the time. Including, I like to believe, sex positive parallel universe variants of the fanfic characters.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I've started retroactively creating sheets for a series I've been working on.
I intended it to be just a short story, but the characters grew on me and I'm at the point now I'm scrolling back through to find a detail I don't want to get wrong.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I wish I used character sheets. My stuff gets all gaga at some point and I lose stuff. But echoing one of your sentiments, I tend to get to know them when I start writing. It's like, I do my best just to let them show me who they are. Which can be hell on the outline I sometimes think I'm sticking to. I think I know what they'll do next, but then they say something in a certain way and it just has to go in a different direction.

I do sometimes get revelations when I'm away from computer and I try to write it down and that sprawling madness is something akin to a character sheet - or maybe an essay as if I'm describing them to my old lit professor. Tis wild no doubt.

So true. The main character in a story I'm working on now was supposed to be a cop. Thanks to a subplot that ambushed me the other day, it looks like she might turn out to be the lead singer in an Irish folk band. Go figure.

 

[MillieDynamite]

She might moonlight as a cop.

So true. The main character in a story I'm working on now was supposed to be a cop. Thanks to a subplot that ambushed me the other day, it looks like she might turn out to be the lead singer in an Irish folk band. Go figure.

Is she a bald singer in an Irish band? You know, as tribute.

 

[SamBomb]

I don't use anything. Should I be?

The only thing like that I use is in my series "Chores Build Character" I have a table that track the points chores are worth and how much Izzy is earning.

 

[SimonDoom]

What do the character sheets look like?

Stained, I should hope.

 

[Euphony]

What do the character sheets look like?

Stained, I should hope.

When Simon commits he COMMITS...

 

[Zootonius]

When Simon commits he COMMITS...

View attachment 2292737

Took me a minute. This is one of those, 'look closer' moments.

 

[Euphony]

Took me a minute. This is one of those, 'look closer' moments.

 

[kinktotell]

I'm getting old and my memory isn't what it use to be, so Character sheets became a necessity for me. But I'm also autistic so OCD is definitely lurking in the shadows making me do it.

My stories tend to be rather wordy and most are series, so having a character sheet has seriously reduced the amount of time spent searching previous stories or trying to remember what someone was wearing, or the shape and sizes of their bits & pieces, or what music they like, or where they work, or how something made them feel, or any one of a dozen other traits they might have.

But like many others, my characters create and discover themselves during the writing process, so now, when a new piece of relevant info about a character pops up, I just crack open the linked character page and add it to my now rather extensive sheets about that character. (But going back over previous stories to create this info sucks! So if you don't have to - don't do it! But - OCD - so you know, once I started, I had to do it. Arrrrgggghhhh!)

I came across a free software tool called Obsidian.md that (for me) is a marvelous tool for keeping this information. And it stores it locally, no cloud account required. It allows me to create a character page and link it to the stories I'm writing. When something new pops up, I just pop up the character and add the note. Or sometimes I'll just search for a pic on google and paste the pic that looks like the character into the sheet, (saves a lot of writing). I also use it for new story ideas or series plots and for saving story drafts that were tossed but contain tantalizing tidbits that could be used else where. The search capability of the software is where it really shines...

I'm getting wordy again.
Cheers

 

[LonRivers]

I touched on this in another thread. I keep spreadsheets (Excel or OpenDocument Spreadsheets from LibreOffice) of information. I can add whatever I need to for that character or characters and maintain it on one workbook.

I keep ages, dates, plot notes, relationship information and anything else that might be relevant to that main character.

 

[Bazzle]

What do the character sheets look like?

Stained, I should hope.

My protagonists tend to have wet sheets.