1 page Character Bios?

i would say that it is most definitely helpful. It's like division of labour: when brainstorming and developing a character, you can focus on details without having to worry about sentence structure, grammar etc. You can write stream of consciousness and produce a nice psychological profile and background of the character. By doing this, you get to know the character intimately. So when you come to write the narrative and scenes, it can flow from your mind like an easy running river, and you don't have to keep stopping to work on the character; that is, you can keep flowing because you know the character in depth and off by heart. Remember: You are the authority of the characters and their stories.

 

sometimes i will just write a lengthy ten page or more bio on my character, then summarise it into a few pages.

 

I tend to create as much about a character as I can, however it's usually on post-it notes that get stuck to a wall. It's almost like a massive mind map by the time I am finished - I am a visual learner and like to have that information right in front of me as I am writing. Sometimes I will find pics of people that remind me of my characters' physical appearances and stick them up too. I find it helps when I am losing focus to bring me back to the task at hand. Almost like having a family portrait in my line of sight.

I am like that with most things though - my genealogical research gets managed the same way. There aren't many empty walls left in my house.....

 

I will make a few notes, but I get to know my characters as I go along. They often surprise me, and I think having a pre-made character bio may pigeonhole them, and hinder their development.

I guess I like to be surprised.

 

Notes are very different from a bio. Notes are structured according to what you realize you need to remember, whereas biographies attempt to capture a character's nature.

But a bio collects a lot of information that will probably never be needed. Worse yet, it can bias you from creating an incompatible background element when you discover you need something different.

 

I don't make bios for my characters because I think that it can hinder writing. I usually keep a list of the actions/characters and add bullet points about the ones that are recurring or what direction I see them going at a particular point in the story. This may or may not be where the character goes but he helps me keep track about how I feel about a certain character as the story progresses (and ideally how the reader may also be viewing them, what they might expect to happen, etc.).

It helps me make sure the characters actions are realistic and so I can see how this character went from being one way to another. It also helps me see all the possibilities in how I can develop everyone.

 

Me? I jot down personality characteristics about each character (the more important, the more notes, although that isn't necessary.) I have their histories in the back of my mind and as I go along writing and developing the plot, the characters tend to get more complex, and I add that to the list. Bios take time that could be used for better things, and frankly, they bore me. One of my character's notes usually start out like this:

Molly: fearful, somewhat selfish, would easily betray her friends, gossiper, not very open.

And perhaps progress into such a product:

Molly: ESTJ fearful, somewhat selfish sometimes, would easily betray her friends (but always regrets it), gossiper, good-hearted and tends to make a lot of mistakes, never can make up her mind, admires Lucy very much, is quick-tempered and she always tries to right her wrongs, is clumsy and judgemental, doesn't think things through and isn't very logical. Overall, she tries to mean well and "wouldn't hurt a fly" (on purpose), confused at times, talks a lot, doesn't like strangeness, tries to be very proper, likes people, can be somewhat rude at times, very much responsible, somewhat disorganized at rushed times but is a planner, pays much attention to details

Keep in mind that Molly was one of my more minor characters, although important. With this, I can easily change her personality, and I prefer developing characters like this, and the rest of them in my head. They flesh out as the story develops, anyway, I just write what comes to mind.

 

Personality traits are something I never, ever put into notes. You should know enough of that by writing the character, and you should always be looking for opportunities for the character to do something unexpected anyway. Like real people do all the time.

Your writing is all the record you need for character traits.

 

I used to write character biography but it gotten boring and takes up too much time. I just jot down the plot of the story and then look at the character's personality via my writing. What if you written a character bio and have someone read the first draft of the book only to discover that the reader sees your character differentlly than of the characters' bio?

 

As far as traits go, I jot down some ideas, but usually the character shapes him or herself as the writing goes on. You can see this with shows: at the beginning of a series, a character will be one way, but subtle tweaks here and there will change the character until he or she is a little different but more established. My characters end up the same way, so I'll have to go back and smooth out their beginnings.

I do write a brief history for them, though. Things to help with their motivations and characterizations. Just the major milestones and dates.