Okay so I've come up with a thought about them. A writer works too long on how they are going to present themselves in the story, their likes, their dislikes, what they drive, who they converse with, etc....A writer could end up losing sight of what's important and that's really getting the main idea of their story down. I've completed the outline for the final draft of my novel and I honestly didn't even put anything more than what the characters look like and their personalities. I'm not going into great detail of where they live, what their houses look like. I'm completely focused on what it is the story is about. So tell me...what's so important to you when outlining?
I'm not sure what you mean by outlining. Outlining tends to be roughly sketching the plot and characters. Things like what their bedroom looks like and their likes and dislikes would be character and world building.
A lot of your character depends on your story. I think going into massive detail about things don't matter isn't really necessary, but some of it is. It also depends on your purpose.
Filling out character sheets and putting in huge background detail is a dumb excersise if you're doing it just so that you've done it, but it's great in the working process for designing an initial character. I always give myself a task of speed writing a 1000 word description of a characters bedroom, because once I've gotten past the obvious stuff of it having a bed and a wardrobe then it makes me think more about the other stuff.
For example, what posters are on the wall would display interests- if your character likes sunset scenes or fancrazies over celeberaties. When speed writing there is no time to think so sometimes these details come as a surprise. Instead of just chosing a bedroom wall colour that suits your character, like a smart boy having light blue walls, I would give him bright pink walls instead. Originally that room was going to be the nursary before mum found out she was having triplets and needed the bigger room for the babies.
But he's a teenager, and his mum is still having kids? And obviously puts them at higher priority. Why? New boyfriend, or bad kid? - All these thoughts come from giving him a pink wall, and that pink wall can say more about him than a list of personality traits. So imagine how much else you could find out just by describing a bedroom, and how much more depth you could add to your character.
Also, don't forget that whether you put a little or a lot of thought into a character mostly it's about the writing. You have to portray them right. You can have a bland character who's big, carries an axe and likes to kill, and if you portray him right then the lack of other characteristics will make him the scariest thing on the planet. On the other hand you could write your character's detailed biography first and if you don't portray them right they'll appear chalky and bland.
Personally I tend to chose things that would most influence my character, go into lots of details about them and then see my character grow. Also, by doing this, I don't get bored of this mc or lose enthusiasm as too much planning can do.
In terms of physical description I don't go into great detail with characters. I give a general idea of what they look like. Height, weight, hair, skin, eyes, distinguishing features. That sounds like quite a lot of description when I write it like that but it doesn't translate to much on the page. I always think I want to give a general idea so people have a vague form in their heads but to be honest the reader's own imagination does a much better job at creating the character in detail then my own words can do. Also if you focus too much on description in can be boring to read and you end up not focusing on the more important aspects of storyline.
Emotional description of a character is much more important I think. If you don't understand or connect with the character's psyche then how can you be upset when something tragic happens or be elated when something great happens?
So to sum up - I think physical description is important but doesn't need to be focused on toooo much but I think emotional description is much more important.
A lot of it can be done in your head. I think a lot of it is really knowing about who they are and what they do. You have to understand them in order to be able to write them. It's like writing a biography for them - except you're creating the story rather than putting it on words. You have to understand them to create them. `
How much detail you want to include is entirely up to you. It's about really getting to know your characters. I once made a whole chart about my characters' relationships with each other and what they think of each other. I also wrote about things that they have in their bags and gave them theme songs and wrote about how they'd greet certain groups of people (friends, acquaintances, former teachers etc). Other times I did nothing and got to know them over the book.
It's important to remember that the characters decisions cause problems in the plot. Initially, it may be due to external circumstances that cause their problem but things have to happen - because of the characters. It can't all be coincidences - otherwise readers would get fed up of watching the characters bump into each other at the supermarket all the time.
Of course, the decisions don't have to be big ones - but they should be able to make one or two unless they're robots or want to make decisions and can't because of XYZ.
Characters are the main thing in the story and characters are what stories about. If you didn't know what the story is about... well. You can know what happens but you should also be able to know what the story surrounds to a degree.
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