Outlining, development...

[Phantom Rose]

How do you guys organize/develop/outline your stories/characters/etc. before working on them? Or do you just go freestyle and hope it works out?

I'm the sort of person who always forgets things, so I do chapter outlines and fill out character profiles, that I always keep with me...

To see how insane I am, here's an example of the profile format I use for characters:

(Basic)
- Name; Nickname(s)
- Age
- Gender
(Physical Description)
- Skin hue
- Height
- Build (slender, muscular, etc.)
- Eyes (color, shape/size, unusual - slit pupils? glowing? etc.)
- Clothing
- Other (piercings, tattoos, unusual markings, etc.)
(Personality)
- Values (what do they care about?)
- Goals
- Likes/dislikes
- Strengths/weaknesses
- Fears
- Habits
- Other
(Past)
- Birth (anything unusual?) and childhood
- Family Life (relationships, siblings, etc.)
- Education
- Social Status (of family)
- Important Events
(Current Life)
- Friends
- Enemies
- Love life
- Social Status
- Occupation
- Home (if any)
(Role in Story)
- Relation to Plot
- Importance Level (Major, minor, etc.)
- Story "role" (protagonist? antagonist? etc.)
- Fate (death, change, etc.)

And sometimes I need to add in other things; magical powers or what species they are for some fantasy stories... For the Chaos character profiles, I put in weapons preference and nationality... Uh... Yeah.

[Shades]

WOW you are really organized! All i just do is write, I think i write best when I haven't even thought about it, and i have an awesome memory so I never forget. Well you must take alot of time to develope your characters and story line before actually writing it lol.

-Shades, Admin.

[Psychotic Relapse]

I wouldn't be able to do something like that when I write. I don't have the patience I just like jumping right into the story and letting it write itself.

[Phantom Rose]

lol, I usually write out a prologue to get an idea of a plot, and then do the character profiles... Of course, I don't do all that for the extremely minor characters, but... xD It helps me not have too many characters in the story, which I used to have sooo many problems with. I'd have about 15 characters (barely) planned out before I even started to write...

[Shades]

Same bra I just write and let it flow.

-Sahdes, Admin.

[Eolith]

I never really organize my characters either... but recently I've been going back and further developing them.

[Psychotic Relapse]

I keep it all in my head.

[Shades]

same that way none of thsoe russian spies can get at it.

-Shades, Admin.

[Eolith]

Russian Spies?... Okay... that works.

[Psychotic Relapse]

Yeah, you have to watch out for those Russian spies.. they are everywhere.

[Shades]

Except in my head.

-Shades, Admin.

[Eolith]

You never know. Maybe they abducted you and read your mind with some secret government machine then drugged you so you wouldn't remember anything... You know them, they'd kill to get thier hands on our brilliant young author's ideas... Maybe that's why I had a headache this morning. LOL

[Shades]

Trust me I have security, I stay absent minded except when I wanna write, so if they ubduct me all they would get with the mind reader is "Jesus I'm thirsty!" "Buttons are a wierd Idea" "Stubby is a awesome word, same with Nipple."

-Shades, Admin.