Debate: Do detailed character sheets help or hurt a first draft?

I tried writing a short story last week with full backstories for every character before starting and ended up with 12 pages of notes but only 3 pages of actual story. The other side is that when I wing it, my characters feel flat, so where's the middle ground actually exist?

2 comments

2 Comments

loganm5213d ago

I read somewhere that Stephen King doesn't outline his characters at all, just drops them into a situation and sees what they do. Tried that with a detective story once and ended up with a detective who suddenly loved cats halfway through, which made no sense with the gritty tone I was going for. So I've settled on a one page max for character notes now, just the basics like age, job, and one major flaw. That way I have a foundation to build on but can still let them surprise me as I write.

elizabeththomas12d ago

Oh, have you ever read that old interview where King talks about his "toolbox" approach? I think I remember him saying something about knowing just one or two key things about a person, like their biggest secret or their worst fear. That stuck with me, because it's less about a full backstory and more about a single anchor point. Your one-page method sounds way more practical than what I've tried, which is basically just hoping for the best and then having to rewrite half a chapter. I might steal your idea about listing one major flaw, that seems like a good way to keep things grounded without going overboard.