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So what do you normally put in a character sketch anyway? I have been noticing that weak character differentiation is a problem for me.

Any minute I expect to wake up and get some work done.

I do kind of a before and after thing with the key plot events as steps in between. Who is the character at the beginning of the story? What are his opinions, inclinations, habits, motivations, and attitudes at the beginning? How does he respond to the events and other characters at each of the major plot points? What does he learn about himself and others? How does he change over the course of the story?

Today I was working on backstory of one of the minor characters. Where did he come from, what world events formed him, who did he love, who did he lose? How did he end up where he is today?

This character is dying, having decided to cease further medical treatment for an ailment-to-be-named later, and is going through the process of reconciling himself to his end. One of the things people do at that time of their life is to give their belongings to people they hold dear. The dying character gives the main female character a knife that he had with him when he fought in WWII. So I was working on the adventures that knife had in Germany, all the little ways that knife would be special to him, and how the MC would respond to receiving it.