Writers and creators, how detailed do you get when creating your fictional characters?

Depends on the character.

What I sometimes do is create a pinterest board and collect stuff that I think is relevant to them. It’s very fun and insightful into the character!

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Oh, yes. I’ve had great fun with my secret Pinterest boards for certain characters. It helps that I keep them private, because I can go as hog wild as I like. I pin things that could never appear in the story, or aren’t accurate to the character, just because they have the right “vibe” or give a good symbolic representation. And then the more routine things like food and clothes that help me pin down sensory details, and that makes the descriptions of the characters both more precise and richer.

Pinterest is a great resource, if somewhat time-consuming and addictive. Good for an associative thinker like me.

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Huh! Why didn’t I think of that? I’ve had a Pinterest account sitting idle for ages. I’m off to give it a try. Thanks for the idea :wink:

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depends on what im writing, if im aiming for something thats supposed to be taken seriously for the most part, starting with flaws, getting the general gist of what this character is. what they can do, basically setting the foundations for the character. then i work on how they fit into this particular story, villain, rouge, adventurer, neo noir detective. whatever it is, then give them a backstory to suit. obviously these are going to change a few times until the storys ‘finished’. but yeah thats probably a bog standard creation method really.

(edit) i should probably mention that these are how i create the base for my characters, to start with a strong enough base, they can get fleshed out more, given anchors, the kind of steadfast for them, what they grip too in their reality. with the smaller details, like favourite colour, licence plate, ect, not really coming into play unless its somehow does, and is used to progress the story or is actually just needed.