Yeah you can try logging into a character first then swap to the character selection to make it. See if it helps.
I have the same problem.
The game always crashed 3-5 min into character creation. Strangely this doesn't occur (yet) in-gameplay and when I switched into the character creation mode after logging in onto an existing character-- the game crashed after 15 mins (longer compared to straight jumping into character creation after login).
I suspect the algorithm considers me AFK during customization menu--and yeet me out of the client.
So yeah, the best option at the moment is to log into a character--switch to creation menu--becoming the speed itself while customizing--and save every 2 minutes or so til it is done.