The essence of a character

I've just started filling in the Character Profile sheet for Nancy and its killing my character. This sheet is pretty detailed, but it doesn’t bring out the essence of who she is or what she has become.

Its just a fact sheet. And facts in a story are pretty boring. Also, the age of my main character changes throughout the story. She is introduced at six and we say goodbye to her at sixty. So to describe the "Current Family and Relationships", well that’s what the books is about.

Her current family and relationships between the ages six to fifteen, fifteen to twenty one, twenty-one to twenty-eight and finally at sixty change.

As I'm reading through my notes, I feel there are details about Nancy that would better tell who she is at a particualar age than her overriding familial and social relationships and where she lives.

Although I can see the value in knowing this. It is sucking the life out of what I already know about my character by pulling it out of nowhere, or making up right know to get the task done rather than wait until it folds inself into the story through my research and writing tasks as what has happenend thus far with the information I currently have.

An example.

By twenty-five my main character, Nancy, is so bitter that to be around her is like being bathed in acid. Her bitterness has seeped into every nook and cranny of her body and every aspect of her personality. She is so caustic that even when she is alone, the muscles in her face pull at her mouth so tightly it leaves the uncensored look on her face just a twitch away from a sneer.

I feel as though I have a lot of information about my characters in my story that better shows their distinctive personalities and, thus, bring them life on the page. But this information does not translate neatly into the character outlines I have found around the place.

Solution.

Create new character sheets that capture the essence of who they are rather the facts and dry details about there life.