Why I Don't Use "Personality" Sections Anymore

I've never really gotten into writing character sheets or personality sections. Lots of people prefer them and find them very helpful, so I usually only write them on request.
 
I see where this is going, but my own personal peeve are those unrealistically long sheets that go into such minuscule detail that probably won’t ever be used.

No, it doesn’t matter if this character prefers mint over chocolate, and I have not the first clue what his opinion on Twilight is. Thank you, good day.

Something tells me this isn’t the process that Charles Dickens used.
 
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That's a really interesting take on it! Personally, I use personality sections because they help me write each character with consistency. Although I don't think I've ever felt "boxed-in" creatively by the presence of a personality section, I do come across a similar problem. Personality sections are usually just a screenshot of a character, who they are at a given moment. As a plot goes on, the character will develop, and eventually the original personality section will just be who they were and won't reflect who they are.

Characters grow and change, but personality sections mainly stay static, unless you update them pretty often, which would be a real hassle. Still, I prefer to use these personality sections and just keep tabs on the events that affect my character and how it's affected them.
 
Ah, so that's why there are so few 'personality' sections in character sheets on this website. It freaked me out at first. I've grow up (is a rp sense) on personality sections and I still employ them. Though, more recently, I've found that when planning the rp my character starts morphing in their own way. It's a bit unnerving, actually. When I had just started seriously writing, a friend of mine stated that sometimes characters just do something and you have to go along with it, because they did, and you can't change it. I thought she was crazy. Then I wrote more and a character decided to die. And I'm like, "Ohhh! That's what she meant!" and then I got frustrated, because I didn't want her to die. But she had done it, and there was no changing her mind.

Getting off topic. Whoops.

Anyway, I have started to wonder if I shouldn't include personality sections in my own CSs even though I use them to refresh myself on who they are if I'm gone for a while. Maybe I should make them optional?
 
I agree with you when you say personality sections can feel restrictive. When I see a character's "personality" written down, I feel as though it is a strict guideline that needs to be followed lest you play the character in question incorrectly.

When it comes to creative writing, there's nothing I dislike more than strict guidelines.

Instead I enjoy employing a more freeflowing method of characterization where I show my character's personality through their actions and allowing people to come to their own conclusions as to who my character is, instead of telling everyone who my character is and attempting to match the description in all of their actions.
 
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