So how do you come up with your character? Do you plan every little detail before you start? Like using the Perk Calculator and planning quests? Do you plan a rough outline of the character? Or is everything you do totally spontaneous?

I like to plan my characters as I heavily RP, so the details are important to me. I give my characters a goal and a path but how they get there is up to them. I have also found writing a diary of my characters events have opened up my playing experience (interested? look here http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1356267-the-ertius-colollius-story/ ). The perk calculator has focused my leveling and made my character exactly how I want him to be.

I straight up make up a character in my head. Pick a race, choose a "class", etc. I'll sift through some build on the perk caculator sometimes but those are rough estimates. I try to create a backstory and RP that character. I have some trouble RP'n but all in all, I create my characters before Skyrim ever gets to make them.

I like to start with a backstory for a character and a reason why they are in Skyrim. From that I get an Idea of their personality and their morality. That gives me a rough idea of what their playstyle will be and what skills they will employ to achieve their goal. I just use as few words as possible to describe them so I know little about them. Then playing the game I learn more about them as they do quests for some and refuse quest for others.

It's like a story of which I am not the author.

I liked the way you put this and I like doing it that way as well.

I do a fair amount of research - using the game guide to show me the best character/faction/race to use for what I have planned.

My current permanent level one character was going to be an archer/2H weapon/light and/or heavy armor assassin, so I used a wood elf because of the +25 in archery, and +20 in sneak and lockpicking.

A lot depends on the game. In WoW, which I played for 5 years, I easily spent 5-6 hours researching the "best build," on each character I played. I lived on elitistjerks.com and other websites like it - not because I was one, but because their builds always were excellent.

My first character in TES is always a scout of sorts, with the goal of finishing the main quest. Whether other quest(line)s will be done is something I decide on the way with this one, as the character evolves. Based on this first taste of the game, I already start thinking of new characters, and what their goals and how their behaviour will be. Most details will get filled up as I play with them 'though. Also, I do look up what race fits best with what skills etc., and it needs to fit the lore as much as possible.

Right now I'm still playing with my first character, a Nord nature-minded Dragonborn who's mostly into surviving the wilds (kinda like a ranger actually) and puts the undead to rest as she has a history of respectfully making ancient Nordic tombs her home, and thinks the dead should stay dead.Two other characters I have in mind by now are
1. an Altmer illusion/conjuration mage and cleanfreak, on a mission as a spy and secret skirmish instigator for the Thalmor under the veil of being a traveling merchant (will marry Taarie as part of his cover ). he can't get any bounty at all as this could blow his cover, so he'll sweat a lot. ^^ Especially during the Forsworn Conspiracy.
2. a Khajiit hand-to-hand fighter and flower selling girl who's a modern hippie alchemist. She'll marry a nice guy who'll get 'somehow' killed by Stormcloaks, causing her to venture on a vengeful journey against the Stormcloaks by joining the Imperials. She'll also wear mourning clothes when in town, and wedding clothes when on official business (and perhaps also when fighting Ulfric). Wedding ring will always be worn.

Me and my buddy usually do some theorycrafting before we dive in to a new game. We ask questions like - what would make the best archer, can the game be completed without defensive perks, can the game be completed using only skills from one group (only magic for a Mage, only thief skills for a rogue only warrior skills for a warrior). By starting from a challenge, we usually have more longevity with a given character.

I also find that I keep my interest longer if I RP the character as well. The idea of a diary is a good one!

I usually plan out what I want a new character to do, then build a backstory, then decide which race they should be. But that character will sometimes get sidetracked.

My thief character was built to do TG,DB and the Deadric quests, but somewhere along the line I decided to try and get all the way through TG w/o killing anyone. ( with one exception cause you don't have much of a choice their) And it strikes me as odd that a person would go out of their way not to kill anyone then become an assassin.

So I will just start thinking of a new character and backstory to do the DB and the less moral Deadric quest's.

I usually have some ideas as to what kind of character I want to play, but it often changes in the process.

I second this.
Usually I just think of the race and some hints to the class, I make everything else within the game itself.

I usually start thinking about a new character while an old one is starting to wind down or feel "finished." I don't write anything down except maybe to look up names on the name generator. I like to have a bit of RP story and a feel for the character's class and background, and let the rest of it evolve with actual play.

I plan the race and playstyle, I check out the perks as I go along I just take the standing stone that seems best for me at the moment.

I know that I want an ugly orc with a shield and an axe, and then I just go from there, or I know that I want a dark elf assassin, and then I just go from there, I don't plan every single detail.

I will think it out and right it down so I will follow the blue print(if you will), and I always do the " Discerning the transmundane" quest, and then I will complete the main quest to the point where you Then after that I tend to bugger off and do my own thing.

Wow, for most characters I do the exact same thing. I know some people don't like dragons but to me it's just another random encounter.

I do something similar, though I don't alway's do the "discerning the Transmundane", I like the random dragon's. My newest char will be the exception, no dragon's for her, but she will also not be doing any of the questline's.

Before I booted up Skyrim for the first time I made up my mind that I was going to play an Argonian. That's as far as my planning went. I didn't even know what they looked like beforehand.

I don't like how every char. feels the same at the start and until you reach Lv.20ish, by "cheating" I start off as my class I don't have to work into my class, just like Oblivion( I just don't get to work on the skills for that build) and TO ME it feels more like I am the archer, not the average joe who grinds his skills to the point that the class/build is noticeable.

So wait..... You plan to be an archer type but play with spells and weapons until your character "finds out" he likes the bow most?

I guess you can say that's why I choose my newest char to not be "The Dragonborn" If she lvl's up very slowly it really doesn't make a difference. As Long as I don't get mobbed by frost troll's, She will get "owned" by sabrecat's for a while, but so would I ( only if I knew they were around I'd have a shotgun)

I've never been one to "grind" skill's, the closest I come to "spamming" anything is chopping wood, as I will often do that talking on the phone with my husband.

Amber will be a "regular" person...errr Bosmer.

I did a spur of the moment this time around (however, I am currently reinstalling, so my new build will be a continuation of that).

I've normally played a quite dark character, but this time round, I've decided to be an honest, hard working Hunter. At the beginning, when I'm carted off to Helgen, I had been caught trying to cross the border, although, I was unaware of this, as I was tracking a bear that had eluded me for the past couple of days.

As soon as I escaped Helgen with Hadvar, I headed to my house (mod) in Riverwood. This bit was planned as I decided that a small hamlet/village would be the most ideal place for a hunter to live and Riverwood was just the easiest to get to, I might move him on later in the game.

After 6 hours of my last game, I hadn't even found Whiterun, which I had nearly always done, as I had been hunting and exploring to the South so much!

I spend too much time trying to decide which character I want to make/play. I want to finish my Assassin characters guild quests, I want to create a new Light Armoured, Sword and Shield character as I haven't experience melee combat, and I also want to create another destruction mage as that's my favourite playstyle.

When I finally decide on a character style I want to play I spend forever deciding on what perks/attributes I want to use. I try different perks on the skill tree builders but can never decide completely. So I play the game and add perks to what I find will help me the most. Sometimes I don't level up because I can't decide and when I start to struggle in the game from not using perks I force myself to choose what to put my points into and then it makes my character a little stronger and I can perform very hard tasks a little easier.

I'm extremely indecisive which is annoying because even if I make a mistake it wouldn't break the game and I could always start again since this isn't real life, but I still feel indecisive. I'm sort of a perfectionist as well as I like my character to be perfect but not as in an ultimate character but in a perfect way to myself and how I'd role-play haha.

I like to role-play my characters, so instead of picking perks that are generally great perks for a certain character or to make me powerful, I'll pick perks that fit the playstyle. I like to separate my characters, so my Warriors don't touch any magic or stealth, my Archers don't touch heavy armour or most melee weapons (unless I use daggers for an assassin or something), my Mages are pure and don't touch anything other than the 5 magic trees. I generally like to separate my characters though, like an MMO or other class based game. So Warrior/Mage/Thief ect.

If I was making a certain character that mixes classes I would do so. If I was to make a Paladin I would add Restoration from the magic tree ect. I also make my classes separated because it can make them too powerful. I find that if I was to have a sneak character that dabbled in magic I could use Illusion for invisibility and Restoration to heal, not only would it not fit my playstyle but it would make my characters too powerful. I think an assassin/sneak character should use their own raw talent (being able to sneak and get behind an enemy) to kill instead of using extra assistance from magic. It's just how I play though.

I always have a backstory planned out, thats as far as that goes. If you use a perk calculater or plan the orders of quest to get the best rewards it completly ruins the fun of the game