Character Outlines

I haven't actually done a character outline (as far as answering questions about said character) in a long time. I basically created my main character from making a complete chaos of her past that influence her decisions for the future of the novel.

I used outlines for my first couple of books, but now I don't bother. I found I didn't need to.
At most I'll make note of their basic appearance, so I don't accidentally change their hair colour halfway through.

My outlines are index cards that read: name, age, hair color, favorite book, favorite food, etc. Nothing special to post about them, really.

SomethingorOther, please remember RYFW.

I just have them answer modified cosmo interview questions, you know the ones they do for celebs. It's fun, and helps me figure them out. I like imagining how they'd react in an interview situation. Heh.

What is RYFW?

I do believe it's "respect your fellow writers," if I'm not mistaken.

Tikaani, I'm sure you didn't mean any harm with your initial post (which I read earlier but didn't respond to because I had stuff to do). It just sounded a bit like a teacher addressing a class, which some people found a little condescending, and overreacted to a bit. I think your edit to the OP fixed the problem with its tone, and I hope you stick around to hear the answers to your actual question.

I'm afraid I do all my character building in my head without written notes, and so have nothing to post. But lots of people here do character interviews and I'm sure they'll have some useful ideas for you.

I do character outlines for side-characters to get their looks and other parts.

But I'm not posting my characters, even my side ones, that's like giving my cojones and planning a soccer team of my children. It just won't work anymore...

Off topic and to the OP:
The "War is ..." quote is from Georges Clemenceau (to President Woodrow Wilson in 1919), not Brother Albert Pike.

Don't use outlines. Used to in Role plays, then stopped as I got better at roleplayin. As a n00bie writer, no. My characters are typically like my associated kin and/or significant other:

"OMG I LOVE YOU!"
"Do you ever shut your damn yap?"
"... stupid Mistress."
"I love you too, impudent kitten."

I do know most others don't get that kind of relative thing. Then again, I know of people who don't get not using char sheets.

As for how I do it, quality time. Characters need a number of things to be thrust into. From the sexual to the mundane and the monotonous. Really, I spend most of my time 'working' with them while I relax listening to music. May take months, or years. But they start becoming real-er.

People change. Characters should too.
Imho, that's why I don't do char sheets/outlines anymore.

I'm in the "don't outline" camp. I used to make character outlines/bios for myself when I first started, but found myself spending valuable time on outlines that could be spent writing. Plus I found myself going back and changing the outlines every other day as I wrote the story and thought of a character trait I wanted to add or change. Now I just write, and let the characters evolve through the story and their actions.

No character outlines or sketches for me. I just toss them into the story and they happen. I'm afraid I look at an outline of questions like "What's the character's favorite color?" and am wonder why I'm wasting my time. If it's important, it'll be in the story.

I don't character outline. I name my characters to give them identity, but their personality comes through in the first draft and that's all I need to know.

I have a name and a general idea of what my character is like, like age, appearance and very general personality, but other than that I let the character grow organically in my head and with the story.

However, the "Answer as your character" threads I see popping up every so often help a bit

I start with a picture of them in my head, and a stereotype. They grow from that (thank God) during the story. I guess I learn about them much the way the reader does - one page at a time.

For my first novel I only wrote a paragraph on each character, and when I reached about halfway through the novel I added some pictures from Google image searches.

For my second novel, I've created a spreadsheet where each row is a different character and the columns focus on different aspects of the characters; e.g. 'Appearance' and 'Personality' and 'Wants' and 'Fears'. The columns after these are more of a timeline from each of the three sections of the novel (part 1, part 2 and part 3).

I think it's important that you understand your characters because they are such an integral part of the plot and of the themes you're writing against.

I couldn't imagine not planning anything about my characters. What's your story about if not about your characters?

I've tried character sheets but they always seem so irrelevant to my characters. What's their favourite movie? Uh, they don't watch movies. What's their favourite colour? Uh, I don't think they have one. At least, it never comes up in conversation. Maybe I'm just using the wrong sheets.

I find Scrivener's character templates to be to the point. And years ago they would have been engaging for me back when I was into the roleplay gig. I mean around the time I started in 2003.

Now though, when it comes to filling out something like that my mind comes to a screeching halt past 'character name.' Then of course I never look at any notes I write.

My point being, that still looks useful. I mean it has to be, to someone. Or else these things would be obsolete and tossed out the window, right?

My WIP has 6 rotating POV characters, so character outlining for me is essential. I usually start big (macro). Okay, what's the general character arc? What does my character want? What stands in the way? Etc. I find that the "Save the Cat" film one-sheet template works well for my characters on an individual level. I tweak it a bit, but it's been helpful. Others have probably found their own methods (loose or formal).

I start "bigger" because once you have those 1-2 sentences about who your character is, what they want, and what stands in the way, that will be something you can reference again when you finish and start query-letter writing.

I then flesh out from there. Get into more detail. Someone on this board suggested interviewing your character. I tried that and really liked it. I've also written mini auto-biographies for characters as well.

At the most detailed level (before writing), I outline every chapter for my POV character and write a few sentences about what happens in each chapter.

I also get nerdy and utilize excel spreadsheets. I need those to keep time and place in order and it also helps me map where each POV character "peaks" and such.

My suggestion is to try a few different methods and see what works for you. Chances are, you'll find something that hits the spot or a hybrid of two methods. Good luck!

Also, I agree about favorite color, movie type stuff unless it's relevant to the story. I tend to want to know my character's quirks, fears, deepest wishes and so forth.

I didn't do any character outlines for my last novel, and I think it suffered because of it. For this new one, I'm writing half a page or a page on each main character, just trying to get into their heads. I also have trouble "picturing" my characters in my head, so I'm trying something new there, too: I asked myself, "Who would play her in the movie?" and then I printed out pictures of particular actors and other people who seemed to fit the "type" of the character. We'll see if it helps... At least it will help me form a picture in my head of each person as I'm going along and hopefully make my characters more three-dimensional. Can't hurt!

For short stories so far I've just gotten a clear view of the character in my mind and wrote a few notes down. Things like .32 flintlock pistol, layered lens device, looks like Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow.

When I get to a novel I'll have to get more organized though. I'll probably use the Traits and Tags system Jim Butcher wrote about.

I don't make character outlines ahead of time--I also don't outline the plot--but I will take notes as I write, just so that I can keep track of little details that I've introduced that I might want to refer to later. So I might have a sheet of paper that says, "Tara: long brown hair, b. 1987, brother Oliver, afraid of snakes" and so on.