Keeping track of characters

Now, where did he go to school? How old is she? When did Joe's brother die? These are just a few of the questions you might ask yourself as you write your story. Because lets face it, no matter how good your outline is, it will not provide all the back story on your characters. And worse yet, the back story is changing as you write the main story.

Therefore spending a little time tracking this character information is time well spent. I started with a character sketch page for each character. I did this at the outline stage of writing. I may not know much about some characters, but what I know is on the page.

Then as the story unfolds, I add to these character sheets any additional info that came up in the new chapter. By doing this, you have immediate access to key info without flipping through your story to find what you have already written on the subject.

It may seem simplistic but it works for me. Hope it helps someone else.

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