For a ChoiceScript game: 40,000-45,000 words per chapter is my average.
I generally do bullet points in a Word doc, outlining both the main plot summary first, then a breakdown of chapter by chapter. These threads here have good links for planning stories/giving them structure:
- Organizational Tools/Programs and Strategies
- Planning/Mapping Software
- What do you use for your writing?
A lot of my characters, I meet or talk to in dreams. (Which is weird, I know.) I also draw inspiration from other fictional characters I encounter in other novels or shows, and tend to incorporate tiny bits and pieces and traits from them into my own characters.
Generally speaking, if you write anything as a pastime, you are a writer and can call yourself a writer. Even people who journal or write blog posts are writers. Anyone who expresses their ideas in written words is a writer.
From my understanding, “author” is generally the title you earn when you publish something and other people other than yourself have seen your work. In other definitions, “author” is the originator and executor of the idea, while “writer” can also be used to describe someone who’s setting something down in words, even if they’re taking direction from someone else.
Gross plug, but I wrote a post here about finding your character’s voice and here about creating characters, the latter of which includes lots of character questionnaires and resources you can use to help develop your characters. The only reason why I link is because they’re both too long to fit here.
I hope that helps in some way!