Two helpful posts in one day? You know what that means; I have writer's block. And I'm too pantsless to go for a walk right now.
Here's an outline that I use for my characters that I actually find useful. I find a lot of "character profile forms" out there on the webbernets give you the MOST useless facts about your character. You spend three hours filling out fields that don't even apply to your story such as "favorite color." It's very rare that that's useful to the story. Also, why do you need to enter the sex of the character? If you don't know that offhand, you probably aren't writing very well. So here's what I think are the most important things to know about your own character.
Appearance
Hair:
Eyes:
Height: short/average/tall
Visible marks/scars:
Tattoos/piercings:
Brief clothing description:
Personal
Full name:
Family (seen on a regular basis):
Significant other:
Job:
Favorite hobby:
Story
Goal:
Why (one sentence):
Goal accomplished?:
Lessons learned:
Marital status change:
Job change:
Location change:
What else do you need to know? You can add it in yourself. Here's an example of mine (with important info redacted):
Appearance
Hair: Black
Eyes: Grey
Height: short/average/(tall)
Visible marks/scars: N/A
Tattoos/piercings: Ribcage tattoo, black-colored hawk
Brief clothing description: Standard issue military uniform.
Personal
Full name: Charles [middle name] [last name]
Family (seen on a regular basis): Sister ([name])
Significant other: Anita [last name]
Job: Soldier
Favorite hobby: Carving
Story
Goal: You don't get to know my story. But it would be like "to win against _______."
Why (one sentence): "Because they're trying to kill him." (example)
Goal accomplished?: Yes
Lessons learned: "meaningful lesson taught to my MC. Example. Learning to work with others. Yes. It can be that simple."
Marital status change: Yes. (relationship - married)
Job change: No
Location change: Yes ([city name redacted] - [city #2 name redacted])
Boom. Nice solid structure to follow.
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