Exactly. Some people think they need every little minutiae worked out before they even log in for the first time. I find this stifling and overwhelming, so I start with a "seed."
For Qin, when I started playing him for the first time at the launch of WoW's Burning Crusade (oh, memories), I knew I wanted a character who had taken a name that wasn't his own for the purpose of penance, exactly like like David Qin from the fabulous graphic novel series Strangers in Paradise. That was it. That was my "seed." I created him and logged in.
Within the first week of interacting with my husband's characters as well as other friends, Qin went from benevolent to manipulative. The seed was there - he put on a facade and was penitent for a horrific crime he had committed in the past - but him being a "good guy" held up for about three seconds. Eventually Qin grew to a con-man street-corner preacher who had the Forsaken under his thrall.
The point is I never thought he would go in that direction, but as I was RPing, he developed. I couldn't have fleshed him out without RPing. It's good to start with the basics - like where your character is from, his name, et cetera - but the minutiae will come later. :dazed: