Knowing who is going to be in your story can be an important part of your preparation for NaNoWriMo. After all, it's the characters who populate the world you create. And the more you know about them, the more real they will seem to the reader.
I'm a big fan of using Robert Atkinson's life story interview from A Gift of Stories, which I've mentioned before. This interview template has been incredibly valuable to me as I'm doing background work for the collection, but may be a bit too in-depth for some people to use in preparation for NaNoWriMo.
Whether you use an in-depth biography or just a few bullet points about who the character is and his or her physical appearance, knowing something about the characters before you start writing will give you a starting place for the characters' personalities, as well as help you keep things consistent as you write and develop your story.
Do you have a method for creating your characters? If so, what is it? If not, why don't you use anything?
One thing I've done before is write character sketches; I write about the characters' hobbies, fears, work, etc. It helps me figure out who they are, and it also helps me come up with possible ideas for the plot.
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