Character sheets, blah. I don't think listing my characters' interests, activities, and eye color is really helpful. I usually go for the short bio instead. This gives me more insight into a character's possible motivations and actions when the plot starts rolling.
On setting: One thing I've never really explained before is that my Nano novels have all been set on an alternate Earth. All place names have been changed. For example: In A Snake Among the Roses, the town of Elanne was modeled on Old Pasadena, California. In The Twenty-Fifth Hour, Monadnock was pretty much an amalgam of small New Hampshire towns. Monteport in The Reflecting Eye is an alternate Boston. For Beads of Horn Silver, the small town of Gavot was modeled on Ohio farming communities.
This year, the city of Amanthus (named after the chthonic deity Amanthusa) is based on the ancient city of Amathus in Cyprus. The original name sounded pretty cool so I didn't change it very much.
