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A Question of Characters
The good and bad of character sheets
If you’re a writer it’s almost certain that you’ve seen a character sheet of some sort or another. The internet is full of these lists. I definitely know what character sheets are because I used to spend hours filling them out. But was I really getting anything useful out of these long sheets? Do you? Everyone’s different, but consider how character sheets fit into your writing process before you fill out your next one.
Do you need one
Do you even need a character sheet? If you’re writing a short story, you may not need a whole lot of information and can skip those sheets that seem to have hundreds of questions. On the other hand, maybe writing a character sheet doesn’t fit how you think and want to plot. Just because people say you should use them, doesn’t mean that you should or need to. Use these lists if you find them useful. Don’t if you don’t.
Decide on the purpose
What is the purpose of the sheet for you? Do you want to really get to know the character? Does it tell you a lot of important things or do you really want to know every little tiny piece of information about your character before you start writing them?
Do what you enjoy
One reason to do involved character sheets is that you genuinely enjoy writing out the details. If filling out tons of questions about your character is fun, by all means go ahead. Do what you need to keep writing fun and fresh. Just be ready to alter your details as needed.
Idea generation
Sometimes you’re really stuck for a character or a part of their details. More detailed character sheets can help give you a chance to try to explore more of the character and get more in depth. On the other hand, this depth can be artificial. You’ll just have a lot of random facts, but none of them add to what you’re looking for or need. Don’t depend too hard on these sheets for what you’re looking for.
Pick a useful character sheet
What constitutes a useful character sheet depends on the person, but as far as I’m concerned a useful sheet is one that is shorter and encourages you to…
