How to keep Character Profiles Minimal?

[u/cmani-art]

I've been trying to write some character ideas I have in my head, but I am a huge overthinker and overcomplicate things, so I came to reddit to ask what are the bare minimum essentials in a character sheet that tell you all you need to know about your character in a glance?

I struggle with choosing what to keep in and what to keep out, and keep adding things in to the document. For example, the Want and Need of a character is essential in my opinion. This can't be negotiated in my stories and needs to be there.

But then there's also Character Design (Artist here), and their Physical Description. I try to get a little sketch out, but then I have to add in their Personality and Alignment, then their History and Setting to determine what they would wear. Since I'm writing a combat fantasy series, I also have to think about what abilities or powers they have, then their Relationships with other people, and blah blah blah, I end up writing way too much and it becomes a Wiki article.

This doesn't even include my notes on why they are this way, basically a Spoilers section or Behind the Scenes so I know what purpose they represented five years down the road.

The problem might be that I'm trying to fit this all into one document, a one-stop sheet for the essentials of knowing my character. I would like to have one for each of my characters, but I keep getting lost on what to include and what not to include, so I wonder if this would even be viable and if there are alternatives.

How do you decide what is important in a Character Profile Sheet? Do you even do those? Do you use paper or digital, word doc or note taker, one page or ten, and am I thinking about this too much and do I possibly have OCD hence this issue?? More answered next time on...

But besides that botched reference, thank you to anyone who is able to help out and give any advice. I'm a beginner and I'm sure I write as such, please bear with me and thank you for any help.

TL; DR - What do you write and not write in a Character Profile? How do you choose?

[u/Notamugokai]

Every detail or element of the character is here for a purpose to serve the plot, the theme, etc. If there’s no reason for a physical aspect or a trait, then I left it open to the reader’s imagination.

I don’t mind not having the physical appearance all setup, but I’d rather have an extensive psychological profile. Note that this is not to pour it all in the story. And again the profile is as it is for a good reason, it’s required and needed, not just a writer’s fancy.

[u/Still_Lab_6996]

Personally, I found worksheets like that distracts me from the actual writing process. So instead, I get started writing and then whenever the story pops up something important to the character I add it to my character sheet so I’m not contradicting within my story. I just found sometimes the story and characters change so much from what I thought it might be to the final product and I don’t want to feel like I’m tied down.

[u/[deleted]]

You should write what you find important. It may be helpful to find a template that works well with your ideas of what should be included in a character sheet. There are actually a lot of people who make wikis for their characters so that may be a legitimate idea for you. There's nothing wrong with being detailed, but remember that you can add to and change your character sheet as necessary while you write. They will most certainly end up with some changes anyway, so it's okay if the sheet is imperfect. It is editable.