How do YOU organise your characters?

[Katy133]

When you're writing your VN, how do you organise your characters? How do you keep track of their motivations, likes/dislikes, relationships, and other bits of information (especially if, a) A lot of that info won't even appear in the final game, and b) You're still in the early development stage where you're still trying to "figure out" your characters) in an organised, easy-to-find way?

I'd like to know how other people approach this. What program/materials do you use? What headings/tags/organising methods do you use? etc.

[guzy]

About the characters personalities
write short stories featuring your characters
that way you can have a better visualization of their motivations, way of speaking and etc...

[gamerbum]

I just copy it down in a list format and refer back to it when I forget something. I keep my character info in the same document as I keep my plot outline and rough route outlines but separate them with headings. Also, I keep all of this in a Google doc because my PC is crap and is bound to die at some point. Better safe than sorry.

Example character reference:
Name
Age
Appearance
Likes
Dislikes
Backstory
Place in the plot

[Kinjo]

Call my approach simple, but I just have a folder called "Characters" and each character gets their own text file which I edit with Notepad. Each file contains all of the information about a particular character -- their backstory, personality, relations with other characters, a particular event I want to happen to them, etc., which I write down whenever I happen to think of it. I could be working on some code or watching a movie and suddenly get an idea I'll jot down in a character's text file. Then whenever I need to remember the details about a particular character (such as when I'm writing their dialogue after a while of not having done it) I can look at a specific file and everything that is relevant will come back (and everything that is irrelevant will not).

[YossarianIII]

For longer writing projects, I like Film Crit Hulk's character trees. It's a variation on a popular format like the one gamerbum suggested. For something short like NaNoRenO or for minor characters, I may not write everything out, but I try to go through a similar checklist to "character trees" in my head. (For me, minor characters tend to evolve more through multiple rewrites than advance planning, although I've talked to other writers who feel more confident when they have very detailed plans before writing.)

I just use pencil and a notebook for characters, although for branching stories, I do like Twine plot outlines (which can also help determine key character details).

[RotGtIE]

Unless you're building a complex VN with a large number of choices and characters who are contained within a small environment, I don't see the necessity in formally organizing information about your characters. Similarly to Kinjo, I just kept a small list of major and minor characters in a notepad, each with their own short summary describing who they were and what their role in the story was. Little more than the brief descriptions I used in the project's thread here was what I worked with for the entirety of the writing.

The main goal should be to write your script. Time spent on stuff like this takes away from that, so if the juice ain't worth the squeeze, you're better off focusing on your prose.

[Northern]

For me, I write a paragraph of a general description of anything noteworthy about a character (past, aspirations, current difficulties, etc) and compile all those paragraphs into one notepad file. Pretty simple but eh. Some of the details might not be included in the actual VN itself but I always figured it'd be neat to add a codex of all that info in the extra section or something.

[sendo]

I have one file for each character and the files are organized in folders mainly Main characters and Side characters. Here's how I structure my character profile sheet. Note that I'm working with a writer so I think organizing stuff and making it more readable is important (and I also just like organizing stuff hehe).

• Name
• Bio - For the main characters, I start from birth until their appearance in the story. I think this helps form a clear idea of the character, their motivations, their goals, etc. For side/supporting characters, I usually just write bits of their bio relevant to their role in the story.
• Personality - What I perceive the character's personality should be, given the character's history. This is closely tied to the bio, sometimes I want a certain characteristic so I rework the bio to make that characteristic feasible.
• Gameplay Bio (if playable character) - type of weapon, role, etc
• Notes - anything that doesn't fall under any of the above

I use Sublime Text to manage the files and the actual game project. I also use the Markdown syntax because I like having basic text formatting. The file itself is functionally the same as a simple text file so it can be opened in any text editor, using the markdown syntax simply creates formatting in an otherwise plain text file (obviously you'll need a text editor that supports markdown to see it in action). I have the files on Dropbox, and it supports the markdown syntax so all the text formatting are preserved when viewed online. I dunno if this is fancy, but using Sublime is so ingrained to me that I use it for anything text-related (writing, programming, research, notes, todos, etc)

Here's what an actual character profile looks like with details redacted, in case this talk about markdown isn't making any sense.

[YonYonYon]

I put everything about the story into Wikidpad, a pretty nice wikia kind of program. The characters have their own sections in there and I mostly use it to keep track on stuff I wrote already to keep story consistent.

First part of the character section is for stuff that won't change like backstory, name, age, that kind of stuff.

Second part is for random ideas that come to my mind. Later I weed out silly ideas and keep the useful ones.

Third part is for the dynamic writing, where I write down plans for the scenes. Like, what does the character want overall? What does he want in this particular scene?

[Lightseer]

I dump everything into a single document in Google docs. This is the easiest thing to do for me because I can check my cross references quickly and I find it convenient to have one file open as a sort of master reference.

I have a small, basic outline that I put at the front of the document that tends to be modified as I go along to be adjusted to whatever I need it to be for that particular work. I dump the characters in one after another. Sometimes I add in split pages to make sure information is grouped together and a way that is easy to digest.

I format the character names, place holder or otherwise, into a header. The headers are automatically formatted into an outline at the side, which makes a list of character names that can be clicked on to see the specific profile.

Sometimes I do other formatting in the document, such as characters living in a certain area or belonging to a certain faction grouped under one header. Either way, I make use of the outlining tool

[Zino]

Only thing I have for my characters before I start writing, is a couple of things for their personalities. But usually they turn out to be quite different than what I intend them to be. For example, when I try to write a nice guy, he's turning more and more teasing asshole than nice as the story progress. So in the end I just let the characters write themselves and when the story is finished I see how they turned out to be and what exactly is their personality. And then maybe fix some mistakes that their character is not all over the place. :'D

[Dollysama]

I almost always make a spreadsheet in google sheets with basic information about the characters (Name, age, birthday, hair colour etc.). Once I've finished the spreadsheet, I write out more detailed summaries in google docs. I actually do this for every character, including side characters UNLESS they only have one or two lines in the script.

I find it easier to write stories if I fully plan out each character first, but that's just me.

[NialGrenville]

I have multiple layouts for character refinement and defining. Spread sheet (especially if it is fiction) it always makes it easier to track categories, names, and species/natives. For specific personality traits, I have them predefined on a sheet of paper hand written to allow a quick reference when I do the next step. Which is making a short one act play, Feat. the main character and that character I had in mind. Allowing the thoughts of what they are to seep out into their actions and dialogue. After that I am usually satiated. If I am not however,
I write another play featuring more characters with radically different personalities. Sometimes even allowing friends to give input. It usually results in the intended result. If not I then simulate the good ol' 1-2.

1)Scrap the character personality traits that rub you raw.

2)Test the play again.

After that. I usually give it a few days then I can see what her/his final form is. It takes a lot of time in fiction, otherwise. I see it a lot easier to just simulate a play or two for characters, and also that trait paper. It really helps get the feel of what they are like in given situations.

And remember, friends are useful! Get them to act a random person whilst you act like the character. Or vice versa. It has to be unscripted though. Helps the simulation.

[Parataxis]

When it's just me? In a list. Sometimes not even that I basically never have so many characters that I can't keep track of them in my head. I instinctively know how various characters would react to situations and how they feel about each other based on their place in the narrative. I have never had a problem keeping the important impressions and details of a cast of characters I made straight, because I am really just recreating them from a feeling and some details each time I write.

However, when I collaborate with people it becomes... trickier.

My current big project, for which I am collaborating with two other writers has a series bible like a TV show, which different parts dedicated to keeping details straight between the three of us. So there's a document on world building that details how the world is set up and how all the magic works and how everything is supposed to feel. There's a series outline where all the chapters are outlined including when flags are created and referenced. For Characters there are three documents: first is a basic info document which has every main/major character's full names, family situation, any magical powers, weapons, etc and a basic backstory; second is a section in the world-building document that elaborates on each of the minor or one-off characters based on their type; and finally is the relationship web which lists each of the 12 main characters, gives their MBTI type and a brief description of their personal philosophy concerning relationships followed by a 1-2 sentence description of each relevant relationship.

This document, especially the philosophy of relationships section has proved to be some of the most interesting and crystallizing work in character description that I have ever done. I highly recommend the format if you are trying to really work out your characters.

[aE2S]

I think that it really differs from person to person, you can definitely organize your characters in a different way.

As for me, I organize them by thinking about how I would describe them and give references to my artist to draw.
That way, my character will not only match the character sprite, I can also see things from views I didn't see from before.

Personality, traits, hair, hair colour, skin tone, age, looks, attitude etc.
I hope this helped! [ I must have made no sense =,='' ]