But from a writing viewpoint, what reports could you write, for whom, and how could they help you?
1. Character Reports
I use Scrivener and in their story template they have outlines for characters (and settings) which you can fill in with as much or little detail as you want. You can of course create your own, but I have found these enormously useful in working out what my characters are really made of and, therefore, I write them with more conviction. I hope they come across that way too! So writing a report on your characters can help you discover things about them, help you give depth to how you portray them and so on.
2. Report on your Story
I find it useful as part of the editing process to look at the story as if I hadn't written it and was discovering it for the first time as a reader would. I look at what my overall impressions are, what I think worked well and, as importantly, what didn't! The crucial thing is to be totally honest here, otherwise this idea won't do anything for you.
Sometimes my "report" here is just a series of notes such as Character A comes across well, they've got great humour, but where do their flaws come in? Is Character A too perfect? Once you've made notes like this, put the story and the notes aside for a while. Re-read the story after a week. Look at your notes and see if you still think the same.
If you have trusted beta readers available, this is where they could be invaluable but total honesty about what works and what doesn't is key here. Keep in mind you want to produce a story that is as good as you can make it. If several people tell you something doesn't work, take this seriously. If one says that, then it could just be opinion and you will then need to decide if it has weight or not.
So reports then are useful to a writer but honesty is key. I can't stress that enough.
Image Credit: As ever, the wonderful Pixabay. (Thank you, folks). Captions on CFT post.