How I do it (IV): The librarian phase

Once the plot of the story is defined, the next thing I do is to document all the previous part of the story that is relevant.

Here it is very useful to describe the main characters, situations that explain why they are the way they are. In the case of The Factory of Gods, I started out for fun writing about Adam Cooper's youth, and soon realized that more than a description of a character, I was writing actually a prequel.

That's usually too much, a couple of paragraphs is enough, but it will always give the character more consistency. If you're clear about why it's the way it is, it will guide you through different scenes, it will make everything sound more authentic.