Made a few characters and started a new game just to see all the work I've done erased. What purpose is the editor supposed to serve if one cannot use the edits?

I think I read somewhere that we have to beat the game to use the editor. If we have to beat the game for it to work right then maybe locking the option until the game is beaten would have been a good idea, instead of tricking people into dabbling with the editor just for it not to do anything. It's really annoying to have to make the same character over and over again, and even more annoying to play with one of the default options.

Is there a cheat or workaround so that I can keep custom characters without having to beat the game first or am I doomed to make a new character each time I die?