Making a list of characters before starting on the plot

I've tried to write a work of fiction a few times, but so far, I've always failed because I was Writing By The Seat Of My Pants, making up characters, events and even elements of the setting as I went along. This invariably left me stranded after a few chapters without much of an idea on how to move the story forward. So this time, I'm going to do it differently! I have an interesting (I think) story idea, but I'm not going to start writing until I have...

• a general outline of my setting;
• a list of characters with their descriptions;
• and a plot summary, in that order.

I have the setting more or less ready - see this World Building thread. Now, I'm about to start on the characters (and there will be a lot of them). I would like some advice from more experienced writers on the practice of drawing up a list of characters with descriptions - a "character sheet", if you will. Do you do this at all? How do you do it? What do you include: personality traits, motive, position, age, back story?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

edited 1st Jan '12 12:49:50 PM by MidnightRambler

When I make a list, I only put reference information.

Age. Physical traits. Colors. Favorite things.

Stuff I would not know off the top of my head, but not be tied down by, such as if I say s/he's "bubbly" but end up thinking they'd be better off somber.

This is basically the planning method I use. I'll first design the basic premise, then the characters, then the plot.

As for doing a characters sheet, just come up with as many traits and aspects there can be to a person, (Age, Physical Description, Personality) that you can think of, and work from there.

I always find working out a character's childhood and their relationship with their family members to be the most important thing when creating a character. It doesn't matter if you know what your character's favourite dish is when you don't know if they enjoy spending time with their mum. Family is important!

I decide how they die before I even work on anything else.

I think personality, history and how they interact with the other characters are the most important things to pin down about characters.

edited 1st Jan '12 1:57:46 PM by NoirGrimoir

That doesn't make sense to me... it makes for pretty big constraints when you're working on the plot. I happen to be a student of electrical engineering, and one of the things I've learned so far is: when you're analysing a system, first solve for the initial conditions, then work out what happens from there, and from that, determine the end result. Which is what I'm doing by fleshing out my setting and characters first; they're the "initial conditions". What you're saying is basically the other way around.

On an unrelated note, I'm toying with the idea of including some tropes that apply to my characters in their description (for example, for my most-fleshed-out character so far, these would include Action Girl, Authority Equals Asskicking, Scars Are Forever and You Killed My Brother). Is this a good idea?

^ I'd recommend against putting your characters into other people's categories until you're completely done. Put them into your own categories instead. (For instance, I once created four characters as "the Idealist, the Realist, the Fatalist, and the Sadist." I later realized that they respectively matched up to the Optimist, the Cynic, the Conflicted, and the Apathetic, but because I didn't know that, I had an easier time developing my characters beyond those constraints, allowing my Idealist and Realist to eventually switch roles.)

edited 1st Jan '12 3:37:56 PM by feotakahari

Characters are always my first priority, so I fill out entire profiles for any of significance. For my current project, that meant I had about a dozen profiles to churn out. For each profile, I write down the entirety of the given character's involvement in the story and decide their fate. I find writing much easier when I know where everyone's going to end up.

Name, and relevance to the name if any. Some general history and significance to plot. Some spare ideas you may or may not want to incorporate into the plot. Other information that you think is important, such as age/age range, attitudes toward certain subjects, etc. General stuff, really, but don't get distracted with nonsense.

Never. Never ever ever.

Characters are not only shaped by the plot once it is in motion and this method could tempt you to lock them into their starting states, they are also informed by the plot. Selecting characters first limits the range of plots available, as there are simply people who will not have a place in some kinds of story, or who by their nature will convert the story into a different sort. (An organized, disciplined squad of infantry as protagonists would wreck a lot of horror movies, Dog Soldiers notwithstanding.)

edited 1st Jan '12 5:44:52 PM by Night

It is by the bolded method that I have unintentionally created my least cliched and most interesting stories.

I've found that I get the best results with:

Broad world —> broad plot —> broad character outlines —> finer worldbuilding details —> finer character outlines —> finer plot details —> worldbuilding distillation to the important, plot-relevant, character-relevant things —> themes, motifs, and overall message (optional) —> character progression projection —> tying it all together

At some point I throw in a title...

edited 1st Jan '12 5:49:37 PM by Flyboy

Yes yes yes yes yes. I cannot second this strongly enough - having your characters drive the plot and not the other way around will, almost without exception, produce far more interesting stories then having the plot drive the characters.

edited 1st Jan '12 5:53:48 PM by nrjxll

I had done it for the 1st and probably 2nd draft of Manifestation Files.

I strayed. Any outlining I make tends to be slaughtered by the end of the draft. It's not concrete.

It's the chicken vs. egg conundrum. You can't have a plot without characters to make it believable and entertaining and all that jazz. But you can't simply have characters standing around doing nothing, either—

Well, actually you can. Readers are more forgiving towards fleshed out characters going through a light or cliched plot, rather than the most complex and sophisticated plot in the world with cardboard cutouts. And most writers would rather change the plot to fit the characters rather than the other way around.

I also find that once fleshed-out characters have been established, it's easier to make more material.

But either way, as long as it helps you work, you can do whatever you want because the writing process is largely a mystery.

edited 1st Jan '12 5:55:46 PM by Leradny

In my experience, I think far too many writers are not willing to do this. It's why we get things like the Idiot Ball coming into play.

There's a difference between momentary out-of-character moments and having a character be changed permanently. In the cast of the first, even if it allows for dumb things to happen, the character usually goes back to their established personality. In the case of the second, the character actually does make a complete 180 in personality terms, and stays that way throughout the rest of the media.

In interviews, authors usually make note of major plot changes for the sake of a character's preexisting personality, and not the other way around. Unless the other way around makes the character more interesting. Which still has a focus on the character instead of a plot.

edited 1st Jan '12 6:01:38 PM by Leradny

In my experience, when I have to change something within a story, I have to alter both the plot and the characters (not all, but some) to accomodate the fix[es]. I personally find them to be so linked that it's difficult to focus on one without the other.

What I do is:

Basic main character data -> Broad plot, making up characters as I go -> Flesh out every single character (including One Scene Wonders and other one-offs) -> Adjust and focus plot as necessary

As several people have already said, having the characters drive the plot is a good idea. But, that said, you have no idea what sort of cast you'll have until you start writing.

edited 2nd Jan '12 3:30:54 AM by burnpsy

I read somewhere on This Very Wiki that 'in a good drama, the plot follows naturally from the characters; in a good melodrama, the characters follow naturally from the plot.' I abide by that rule, and since I'm going for a drama here, I work out my characters before starting on the plot.

Anyway, I've started on the actual "character sheet". (Some context to understand this paragraph better: my story is set in an Alternate History and focuses mainly on warfare and high politics). The character sheet is a LaTeX document divided into sections for the different countries that are going to play a large part in my story (the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark and France). Each country/section has two subsections: one for civilian authority figures and one for military commanders. Within each subsection, the characters are sorted by how much power they approximately wield (e.g., the head of state comes before a provincial governor, and a marshal comes before a colonel). For each character, the following information is provided:

• Full name.
• Rank (for military officers) and position.
• A short description, including any of the following: back story, explanation of their position, goals/motives
• Some keywords (usually three to seven) indicating their personality traits, e.g. 'calm', 'arrogant', 'loyal'

Thoughts?

I'd add species (if there are non-humans in your setting, obviously), age, and a physical description. If you really like lists, you can note other minutae like their family members and where they're from.

@Night:

I really disagree. I think a lot of stories nowadays have sub-par characters because they're developed too well to fit the plot, if you know what I mean. I think, in my person writing style, characters should come first, and the plot stretch and move to accommodate them so they feel in place. Design the model, then color it, if you will.

However, I'm not going to say doing this or that is inherently right/wrong. Writers write in different fashions. I personally prefer to develop characters, and then write the plot to include/emphasize them as needed. Then again, a lot of my writing consists of coming across characters and having them either serve their purpose before just about leaving, or otherwise permanently join the core cast.

I tend to start with names, then write characters from them, or pin them to existing sketches of characters. All flows from there. But that's just me, of course.

Ah yes, age, forgot about that one. Included it now. As for family members, the 'short descriptions' of some of the main characters contain information about what kind of family they're from. I don't find physical descriptions all that interesting; I'll probably fill them in later, when I've already got a plot summary.

Hm, I don't do that. Indeed, my list so far includes some characters for whom only the 'rank and position' bit has been filled in; I've decided I want the character in that position to play a part in the story, but not yet what they're called or what kind of person they are. For example, in 'The Netherlands -> Military commanders', I've got "??? - Fleet Admiral, commands the East Indies Fleet".