I wanna give my two cents on something.
So like, I've started to come across a lot of posts on Pinterest about creating entire lists on your characters from their name to their favorite plants and the way they count on their hands. And while there's nothing wrong with making lists for your characters, you don't need to know the favorite snack of every character you create. If you ask me, the most important things you need to know about your character are quite simple:
Their full name (including second, third, however many names they have)
Their age (you can do this approximately, if you don't know an exact number)
Their basic appearance (color of hair, eyes, are they tall/short/broad/slim). Do note the word 'basic', no details are necessary (though if a character has a trinket of some kind they always wear for whatever reason, this is included in the list)
Their personality, or what defines them. This helps you give them a correct voice (hotheads react and act differently than those with a level head) and can help you figure out how they'd interact with other characters. Now do note that this shouldn't be an entire essay or even a long list, as you should be able to see what's up with a quick glance.
Background. This includes family, friends, how they grew up... This one will be the longest, but shouldn't be too detailed either. Just enough to help you see where the character came from and what defines them, what goals they might have and what morals they gained overtime. These can tie back into their personality (and usually do, if I'm honest. We're a complex being filled with mannerisms that come from our history and culture we grew up in, so of course your character's personality is linked with their background)
Other things. Now this one is very, very vague, but here is where I usually put things that define my character but don't fit any of the previously mentioned things. Their favorite plant, if it's relevant to the story in some way (or you just got inspiration and wanted to put it in).
Do keep in mind that this is how I do character creation, and what works for me. If you're more inclined to fill in the essays and long lists of questions for each and every character go ahead, don't let me stop you. I just think that it's quite time-consuming, and I'd rather spend that time either writing the story or being busy with the world-building. Besides, characters change all the time, as we all do. Hotheads can learn to be calmer, level headed characters can learn to let lose and explode, naïve characters grow up and learn to be skeptical... The possibilities are endless, which is why I do my character creation this way. I also usually start with the most important characters (the protagonists, the antagonists) and add others when the plot demands me to. And I spend a long time plotting, so some characters get scrapped or rewritten so many times I've lost count, and I'm not going to spend every time that happens on the '50 questions I need to know about your characters' when I can be writing and rewriting the plot for the umpteenth time.
Anyways, that's my two cents on the topic. Have fun creating!
