If you're writing a novel that involves many characters, how do you keep track of them? What does each one look like, habits, dress, family history, etc., these are things which can slow you down, just when you get rolling on a chapter. One way to solve the problem is to maintain a character chart. Here's a link to a blog with a free downloadable chart: Character Chart.
It's quite a comprehensive one to be sure,and it's a bit too lengthy for my tastes. When I start a novel, I have a general idea of who the characters will be and their role. Then as I get into the story, I flesh them out, depending on what the story dictates. As I develop them, I write down new traits, or characteristics, idiosyncrasies, etc., and when I'm finished writing, I go into a Word document, named "Characters." I keep a bulleted list of each character, briefly describing them and their background. Whenever I need to add another dimension, I simply go to the document and add another bullet.
It works for me, but if you're having a problem with keeping your characters straight, particularly if you haven't worked on the piece for a while, reading your character chart is a quick way to refresh you memory.
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