I have learned recently this is the absolute best way for me to plow into the story universe I want to do, start writing drabbles and oneshots about the characters, and the decisions I need to make I make much better than if I try to do it in writer's notes.

I suppose it does come down to what you're comfortable with, as the writer. Some people are confident enough to share their characterization experiments with the world, while some of us feel like that's pulling teeth :P

I will say that I do feel I grow with each new piece and each new story I write. I still maintain Fragments wouldn't be as good as it is, if I hadn't started working on Fleeting first. Even though I was working with two very different sets of characters, some of the things I learned were able to be carried over, which is always a good thing =)

I guess I have to make friends with them this way, so I can "own" my characterizations!

*nods* Same. I tend to really play cautiously until I try something and it works, and then I kinda build on it from there. But I always carry this fear of writing something terribly OOC because I didn't take the time to do my due diligence with research. Even now, I rewatch and reread constantly, and really try to think/justify whatever I'm having my characters do. For me, its more important that *I* think my characters are behaving logically than if my readers do...if that makes any sense.