# How do you design your main characters?



## Astner (Sep 10, 2012)

Do you fill in some questionnaire or do you have an idea that you develop with plans on developing the idea further as the character develop?

How deep are your characters and what purpose does the depth served , and how do you incorporate this in his portrayal?


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## Chime85 (Sep 10, 2012)

I’m assuming you mean main characters, or characters with a lot of spotlight? I’m going to go out on a limb here and answer with that impression in mind.

Firstly, start with their background. Each person in a story got there from birth, what has happened to your characters since before the story? What kind of environment did they grow up in? What skills have they developed in their lives? 
Consider also, how has their lives shaped them as a person? If someone was from a wealthy background, has that given them cause to use that opportunity to better the world around them, or to be ungrateful and lack any appreciation regarding money value?

Consider both positive and negative influences on their lives. In tales, many characters have some kind of colourful back story. Has this back story caused them to be timid, shying away from risks and troubles, or have they grown a back bone (perhaps too much of a back bone) and face issues head on?

Consider both positive and negative influences on their lives. For example in one of my wips, one of the main characters is rubbish at sword fighting (even by beginners standard), but she is very good at researching. On a battlefield, she would be less than useless. She is definitely someone worth putting in a library. 

On the other hand, I personally believe a character should grow in a story. How would they develop as you write? Do they have any ambitions for the future, or do they make the best of the situations they find themselves in?

As for appearance, don’t worry too much about that (unless it is essential to the story in some way). For me, I consider all the personalities and wants and needs of a character, and let my imagination give shape to the person as if I’m looking at him or her. 

My best advice though, don’t fall into the trap of making your character completely awesome at everything. Give them weaknesses and faults. They could be a master swordsman, capable of many great deeds, but a disgustingly racist bigot for example. This would be a great way to create friction between characters.

As for your questionnaire method, I personally don’t use that one myself. However, after you form an idea for a character, why not fill out some questionnaires as if they were taking them? You could get some interesting results. There are plenty online (with the view to sell stuff), try a few and see what happens.

x


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## MystiqueRain (Sep 10, 2012)

I'd start thinking of a general format of this character, a broad overview of who they are and who they were. Simple personality terms will suffice (ex. optimistic, pessimistic, cynical, etc.), just something to give you a good picture of what you want in this character. Give them a history. It can be ordinary (at least, ordinary enough until whatever happens to them that's probably important to the story itself) to depressingly tragic. Having a history helps shape how a person thinks and what their attitude towards the world is. A person with a good past will most likely have a positive outlook. A person with a bad past will most likely have a negative outlook. This already can shape how they interact with other people and their motives, etc.

If you're _really_ desperate to think of a character, why not just use a roleplay character fill-out sheet? Name, age, gender, description, personality, history are just a few of the possibilities and gives you an organized way to plot your character. Of course, only use this if you don't have anything else to do.


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## Zero Angel (Sep 10, 2012)

For my epics, they develop pretty naturally, but for my short stories I made an excel file that randomly generates 12 ability scores (like strength, speed, agility, ego, motivation, etc) and also randomly generates gender and race. Then I write a quick background describing what is the first thing that comes to mind to explain some of the extreme variations in the ability scores. 

I'm working on an excel file that also randomly generates jobs/professions, but I haven't gotten that far yet.


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## Anders Ã„mting (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm a pretty visual writer, so I usually start with a mental image of the character I want. I'll typically use characters other people have created as templates for my own. Not out-right copies, just very general archetypes: "This story needs someone similar to that character. He or she should look kinda like this, and have this and that personality trait." Then I expand on their personalites and histories and motivations. A lot of it writes itself - characters is probably my strongest point a writer.

Sometimes it's enough to have something very basic to go by, like a picture. For one of my projects, I came up with most of the main cast from looking through a Tarot deck. Just looking at picture of a person lets me envision what kind of people they are and how I can use them.


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## FatCat (Sep 11, 2012)

I just try to make a character with a lot of conflict. A Priest who's losing faith, a Knight with no honor, a magician who has lost his power, so on. These small one-dimensional ideas will usually lead into further depth of the character through the question why. For some reason I've found it's easier to make a 'flaw', then build positive character traits. Also, these can be combined with plot ideas and further a characters internal/external conflict to match his/her/its surroundings.


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## Griffin (Sep 11, 2012)

I usually start with the plot. I expand on it and do some world-building. After the setting is established, I look at all the potential characters. I ask myself, "Who's the most interesting? Who can get the plot rolling? Who's the center of all this madness I created?" Then I pick a character. Name, gender, age. Family background, intelligence level. And like FatCat, I establish flaws. Flaws help making your hero more down to earth; more human. For example, in my WIP, my MC is wicked smart. She is a genius strategist. However, she's dumb when it comes to people as individuals. She greatly underestimates human emotion. Which is a definite issue.

That's how I design my main characters. Start off broad and narrow it down.


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## Chilari (Sep 11, 2012)

I don't think I have one way of doing it. It depends on how I'm writing the story, what seeded the idea, all sorts of things. But at the planning stage, or at least the point the character is created, I tend to have a very vague sense of who they are. I might have two or three traits - impatience, passion, bravery, that sort of thing - but mostly it grows from and influences the story. Often I make decisions on the fly, as I'm writing. So one of my characters is bicurious simply because I decided she has a crush on her friend. Another is a peasant who used to be a librarian but ran away to marry a woman from a socially oppressed group. So he's a romantic. But he stuck at it, so he's got a fairly flexible attitude.


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## shangrila (Sep 11, 2012)

Usually they start out as simple, likely one-dimensional characters for me. Depth is added throughout the writing process, though not just through writing. The best thing I've found is to just run your character through scenarios in your head. These don't have to be related to your story, nor do you need a specific time to do this. Bored on the train? See how you character would react to a similar situation. Going to sleep? Why not go dreaming of epic battles or gut wrenching conflict? Things like that.

Honestly, there's no set way. Sometimes you'll think of some past event that will influence the character and other times you'll work the opposite way, having a character trait and then 'realising' what made them that way.

There are questions you can answer and I can copy out the ones I've been given if you'd like, but they shouldn't be used (in my opinion) to develop a character from scratch. Rather, they're a useful resource to get your facts down on a piece of paper for easy reference, especially for side characters. I can remember my main's eye colour but I'd have no idea what the 12 sides look like.


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## Snowpoint (Sep 14, 2012)

Ashamed to admit it, but I start with costume. I draw and take notes to brainstorm, so my characters start as images. I give them an iconic appearance, and then work backwards to justify their costume choices.


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## Shockley (Sep 17, 2012)

I'll usually start with someone real in mind, then bend characteristics to fit them into my world or create more interesting stories.


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## thedarknessrising (Sep 17, 2012)

I whip out a D&D character sheet (I'm serious), and I fill in stats from there. I list equipment and magic items that they might possibly carry, plus any baackground information that I think to be important,


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## T.Allen.Smith (Sep 18, 2012)

I think of a scene or setting or series of events. Then I think of what kind of character would be most devastated  (creating the most internal & external conflict)..... That character becomes a POV.


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## DameiThiessen (Sep 18, 2012)

My characters have to have some bad traits that the plot of the story fixes. Yay character evolution.


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## ALB2012 (Sep 18, 2012)

I think mine develop as I go but I start out with a plan.
SOmething I used to do when I ran RPGs was to make the players fill in a questionnaire to come up with some background more than "I am a dwarf, witch beard who drinks to much and drinks lots of ale."

Questions like- Do you have a family? How do you get on with them? - this gives you lots of nice background to use against them later

And harder ones:- what motivates you?
Would you die for your friends
Would you kill for your friends

Things like that.  Gets a feel for the character


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## Zero Angel (Sep 18, 2012)

DameiThiessen said:


> My characters have to have some bad traits that the plot of the story fixes. Yay character evolution.


All of your characters get fixed throughout your stories? I usually end up keeping most of the "bad" traits.


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## Jabrosky (Sep 18, 2012)

Usually when designing my protagonists, I take into account what sort of personality or behavioral characteristics might suit a character with a certain upbringing or occupation. For example, a fiery temper makes sense as a character flaw for a warrior, arrogance for a monarch, introversion for someone with autism or some other condition which makes them an outcast from society, etc.


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## Jess A (Sep 19, 2012)

I start with a few basics. They change throughout the brainstorming and writing process. Some change dramatically and some mature. I look at inner conflict and flaws. I am also very visual so appearance is important to me when I am planning, though that detail may not necessarily get into the book unless it's relevant. I try to work out how they react in situations and around certain other people. I do this by writing. Sometimes the writing doesn't make it into the book. That's fine too - it might simply have been about development. 

People watching is interesting and can help with characterisation, as well as reading widely. Knowing how people react to situations in real life can be gold when it comes to stories - for me, anyway. And what would it be like to sit down and have a coffee with my character? Would they annoy me, or would we get along? Some would certainly get on my nerves.

New characters appear by accident. They were minor characters, and then I decided they would make better major characters.


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## JOATWarrior (Sep 19, 2012)

My characters typically start with a basic idea of either profession, motivation, or conflict.  Once I have this basic template I then try and name them.  This is not always the same name they will end with, but if I give them a name, then the character will start to develop, in my head, almost on their own.  Once the development starts I try and put them in different situations, to see how they react.  This is the courtship.  The way they react tells me a lot about the character.  

When I feel I know the character I drop them in the story and go from there.  I use a basic outline for my stories, but I don't let the outline strictly dictate the characters reactions.  My outlines are living documents that change as the story progresses.


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## Aravelle (Sep 29, 2012)

For me, it's almost like fishing. I enter a state of deep, clear thought and look for something distinct, not unlike a shred of consciousness and work form there. Or, I "see" them. How they look like. Usually something triggers it, whether it be a sound or a completely unrelated picture. Movies do that often... I like to think "Wow, I bet a character would like that".


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## Wolfram (Sep 29, 2012)

I start with an image in my mind, then give it a name. next the class and powers, then how the character became that class/personality. backstory and motivation next. then role in the story. why is this character important, why do we care , like or dislike?


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## Weaver (Sep 29, 2012)

Astner said:


> Do you fill in some questionnaire or do you have an idea that you develop with plans on developing the idea further as the character develop?




So glad you asked...

I strongly dislike character-creation questionaires.  As someone else said in a chat-room discussion, "I don't need to know how many moles my MC has on his butt to be able to write his story."  Also, too many typical questions are simply irrelevant to most of my characters, and I end up feeling (wrongly) as if I've invented an incomplete person because there _is_ no answer to a question like "What is your protagonist's favorite sports team?"

I did once answer several items on one of those questionaires as one of my characters would answer them, or rather, I wrote it as me interviewing him.  I had fun, but apparently he didn't.  

North of Andover: A character creation questionaire - my way

I like discovering things as I write; I'd get bored if I planned it all in advance, not to mention the fact that, precog though I am, I cannot foresee how I'll feel about a story once I'm well into writing it.  (Yes, that's a _joke_.  *shakes head*)  I start out with a general idea, maybe character and plot and setting, and maybe only one or two of the three, and I start writing.  There's no way for me to know before I start every detail of what I need my characters to be, nor who they will become through the influence of events and other characters.

As for how deep my characters are... I may not be the best person to ask.  _I_ know them well, and sometimes that makes writing certain scenes difficult, but whether who they are comes across strongly in the writing is another matter.


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## Zero Angel (Sep 30, 2012)

I think it's a good idea to ask your characters questions that you might not normally think of or ask them or might not normally come up in the everyday action of your stories. It helps your characters be more fleshed out and have depth. If you never ask the question, you might never know how your character treats something and might, if you're not perfect, cause them to do something out of character in a tangential situation that does show up in your novel.


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## Weaver (Sep 30, 2012)

Right now, even as I type this, there's a sucessful and well-known novelist sitting in his home in Ohio and struggling to write his current work-in-progress because he has already done all the planning out, and now he's slightly bored with the story that he hasn't even written yet and wants to move on to something else.  The fun part - the act of discovery - is already _over_ for him.

When I was a lot younger (this was back in the last century), I was told by one intructor that outlines are _essential_ for writing any fiction, even short stories.  "You wouldn't build a house without a blueprint, would you?" was her explanation.  My response to that was, "I don't build stories like houses; I grow them like trees."  I have an idea for where to start, I have a few things that need to happen in the middle, and I have a general idea of where it will all end up, but I don't want to know in advance how it all works out.  (I watch British television sometimes - imagine how difficult it is for me _not _to use what I watched this weekend as a metaphor to illustrate my point.)  I don't want my characters to be no more than a list of responses to frequently innane questions.  (I don't know Jason Grey's favorite color; I don't think he has one.  This in no way hinders my ability to write about him.  On the other hand, I _do_ know Carl Corey's favorite colors - his author made sure that was obvious - but that never seemed to matter one way or the other when I was reading about him.)

Might cause them to do something out of character... or might learn something new about that character when they do something that you weren't expecting.  I learn new things about Geoffrey _all the time_, even though I've been writing about him for years.  I like that.  When we write, we're forming a kind of relationship with our characters and settings.  That relationship would get stale if we knew everything about those people and places from the very start.  ([sarcasm] Yeah, my brain is wired wrong and I cannot understand nor use metaphor... [/sarcasm])

If a woman who has a close and relationship with her older sister suddenly stops talking to that sister, is she acting out of character, or is there something about her and her sister that wasn't obvious?  Real people often act in unexpected ways.  That doesn't mean it isn't realistic for them to act that way, only that the surface isn't the whole picture.  (I'm avoiding my standby metaphor about chaos theory and how not seeing the patterns doesn't mean there are none... Since, y'know, mentioning chaos after that mention of favorite colors could be taken as a veiled pun, and for once it isn't.)

Another reason why I think character questionaires are not necessarily a good thing is that fantasy/sci-fi writers are _notorious_ for their worldbuilding and their lists and all those things that they obsess over rather than get to the actual writing of the story.


Any writer should use whatever works best for _them_.  Writing is not a performance art.  No one cares (or ought to care, anyway) HOW you get the story written, only that you DO, and that the end result is what you were aiming for.  If using character lists hinders the act of creation, they're not for you.  If using them is helpful, keep using them, create lists tailored to the kinds of stories you write ("What is your character's favorite sports team?" is _not_ useful for historical fantasy set in ninth-century Norway), and keep writing.


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## It's a Squirrel...Moose? (Sep 30, 2012)

I personally feel that characters should be a natural development of the plot and idea for my story - and sometimes a plot is concerned with a character. I admit, I tend to 'over construct' my ideas which gets in the way of me actually writing most of my ideas (and my stories have an annoying habit of becoming novels - which I lack the time to write). But I find that the most natural, and therefore better, characters are those that arn't solidly defined with a list of attributes, but ones that change and react to how the plotline develops.

Not that I wouldn't stop anyone carefully constructing a characters life story - if that's how they work, all the best to them. But I find that a simple though experiment of 'what would bob do?' normally creates bob in his entirety without me having to do any expansive work on bob as a character.

The issue I have with rigid starting points like 'Bob is a swordsmen, who loves figs' is that you are creating artifical statements that will impede the story before you've even begun. What I find is that such a start means that you are twisting the story about getting bob to demonstrate his unrelenting love of figs, rather then allowing the story to grow and develop into it's own unique form.


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## Zero Angel (Sep 30, 2012)

Weaver said:


> Might cause them to do something out of character... or might learn something new about that character when they do something that you weren't expecting.  I learn new things about Geoffrey _all the time_, even though I've been writing about him for years.  I like that.
> ...
> If a woman who has a close and relationship with her older sister suddenly stops talking to that sister, is she acting out of character, or is there something about her and her sister that wasn't obvious?  Real people often act in unexpected ways.  That doesn't mean it isn't realistic for them to act that way, only that the surface isn't the whole picture.



Sounds like you are asking your characters questions in the form of your story. That's fine too. In fact, that is the best way to ask them questions. But the important point here is that your characters should react to the "question" (or situation) instead of making them do that which is convenient to you or serves an ulterior purpose. The important thing as an author is to figure out how the character would react and how that can be utilized by you for the overarching story. It's possible it would not be a convenient reaction. Sometimes this can result in something new and wondrous, and sometimes the situation needs to be changed. 

My point was not directed at you per se, but rather to anyone that would force their character down an avenue without thinking how their character would react in the situation. Sounds like you already think of your characters as living, breathing entities with a mind of their own. This is great, this is how I do it as well. For many people, characters are not living, breathing entities and they are not able to have them react naturally. 

For them, it would be good to ask them questions outside of the story to get in the mindset of their character and see how they would react. Again, you do not seem to need to do this since you did it with your earlier interview example, but this is a great writing exercise for those that struggle with thinking as their character would think. 

And I'm not saying questionnaires are the way to do this, but interviewing your character or just thinking to yourself, "What would they do in this situation? What would they do in that situation? What do they think about X or Y? What if their friend Z attacked their friend W, what would they do? Would they stop it or help one over the other?" You don't even have to ask these questions, but _being able to answer them_ is important. 

I haven't addressed the sports team example because I think it is silly. Clearly, you should not ask questions that do not apply. For instance, I wouldn't ask a male character what brand of tampons they wear (sorry to be crude), and I especially wouldn't ask this if was in a setting where tampons didn't exist. 

On the other hand, if your setting does have competitions, then it is not a silly question. Whether these are Olympic style competitions or just games that are played, then they could have favorites or at least an opinion--even if that opinion is apathy. The logical follow-up to that would be, why don't they care? Why don't they have a preference? What has influenced them this way? But you don't need to ask this question because you should already know why--for those that don't know, ask.


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## Jabrosky (Sep 30, 2012)

Weaver said:


> Right now, even as I type this, there's a sucessful and well-known novelist sitting in his home in Ohio and struggling to write his current work-in-progress because he has already done all the planning out, and now he's slightly bored with the story that he hasn't even written yet and wants to move on to something else.  The fun part - the act of discovery - is already _over_ for him.
> 
> When I was a lot younger (this was back in the last century), I was told by one intructor that outlines are _essential_ for writing any fiction, even short stories.  "You wouldn't build a house without a blueprint, would you?" was her explanation.  My response to that was, "I don't build stories like houses; I grow them like trees."  I have an idea for where to start, I have a few things that need to happen in the middle, and I have a general idea of where it will all end up, but I don't want to know in advance how it all works out.


I can relate to these sentiments, especially the part about growing bored of your story before actually writing it. While I do need a certain degree of direction whenever I write, I have found that putting too much thought into the preliminary planning does sap me of energy that could be spent on the writing. In my experience, the best method that works for me is to start writing with only the sort of vague ideas you describe in mind, but then let the plot grow in my head as I write.


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## Weaver (Sep 30, 2012)

Zero Angel said:


> For many people, characters are not living, breathing entities



I think you've identified the heart of the problem:  if the author cannot at least pretend that his/her characters are real, they won't ever feel real - not to the author, and not to the reader.  (To paraphrase Frost - the poet, not the dragon-kin - if you don't care, neither will the reader.)

I blame the anti-RPG campaigns of the 1980s, myself.  Telling adults that children with too much imagination would grow up and kill someone because they read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi and played those evil let's-pretend games with funny-looking dice and maps and stuff... So kids instead grew up fearing to play let's-pretend, even in their own heads, because someone might think they're, y'know, crazy.

I talk to my story characters all the time.  Not usually _out loud_, mind you.    But there are times when the only way to figure out what a character is up to is to _ask_ him or her.


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## Ireth (Sep 30, 2012)

Weaver said:


> I talk to my story characters all the time.  Not usually _out loud_, mind you.    But there are times when the only way to figure out what a character is up to is to _ask_ him or her.



I do that ALL THE TIME! Glad to see I'm not the only one.


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## thedarknessrising (Oct 5, 2012)

Ireth said:


> I do that ALL THE TIME! Glad to see I'm not the only one.



I have never tried that. That seems like a good idea.


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## shangrila (Oct 5, 2012)

Ireth said:


> I do that ALL THE TIME! Glad to see I'm not the only one.


I don't talk to them, per se, but I definitely play around with them in my mind.


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## Ireth (Oct 5, 2012)

shangrila said:


> I don't talk to them, per se, but I definitely play around with them in my mind.



I talk to them fairly often when I'm RPing, especially with my friend Kat, and she does the same thing. Our characters will often speak up to give their opinions on various aspects of the plot, and converse with us and each other. It gets pretty hilarious sometimes. XD


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## MurkyEarth (Oct 5, 2012)

When I create a main character I used to try and use those questionnaires or lists for main characters but I got so bogged down on the detail that I couldn't really wrap my mind around my main characters. Now, I typically go with a personality type. Before I even have a story or goal for my main character, I think of what sort of personality I want them to have and then figure out in general how they would react to certain situations. Once I figure that out, I flesh them out more.


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## hyluvian (Oct 8, 2012)

This one'll throw some of you for a loop... A lot of my characters come out of music.  I'm listening to a song or a musical arrangement on my headphones and BAM! A scene starts to take place in my head.  It's fuzzy at first, the edges aren't clear, but I know round about what I want to happen.  So, I hit replay.  The scene starts to come clearer and clearer into focus every time I listen to the music again, the actions solidify and the shapes of characters start to appear to conduct those actions.  Undoubtedly each scene focuses on a character, and it's from there that I get the mental image of them.  Afterwards, I sometimes write down a biography, sometimes I fill out a questionaire, other times I try to figure out what part of the music is theirs that way I can hunt down similar melodies and see what else they're going to do.

Odd?  Yes, but it's how I came up with some of my very best, deepest, most real characters.


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## Sheriff Woody (Oct 8, 2012)

I feel the single most important question to ask about any character is *What is this person's goal?
*
From a story perspective, this will help you find the character's place in the plot and ensure they have a purpose and reason for being in the story to begin with. But from another perspective, you can ask what is the character's goal _before_ the story began, since the world and all the characters in it had lives and were doing things before the inciting incident brought about the plot. Thinking in this context will help give the character some depth and realism, and ensure they are more than just a mouthpiece thrown in for the express purpose of getting the story from A to B. 

Giving a character a strong goal is necessary to make sure there is always forward momentum in your story. You don't want anyone sitting around for too long and not accomplishing anything. You want them working at something all the time, and the conflict that arises from the difficulty of their task is what makes their struggle (and thus, your story) interesting.

After I have their place solidified in the story, I find it easier to flesh a character out, in terms of their personality, point of view, attributes, appearance, etc. I always find it easier to build from a foundation than to begin with nothing.


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## icebladeaskante (Oct 9, 2012)

There is a questionnaire that I've seen around the internet that's fairly detailed and goes into everything you could possibly want to know about your character, from where the grew up and their family, to what they do now, as well as a list of goals and fears. 

I personally have a plot and maybe a main character or two, and I know them fairly well, so I'll fill out the questionnaire easily, but then I get to the secondary characters or even other prominent characters and it gets harder, so I get a blank page and start filling out details relating to the main characters I do know. 

How did they meet, what happened, was it an anecdote or just two similar people take solace in each other in a room filled with dissimilar people, e.g. two sports minded in room of philosophers. What did they get up to together since meeting, how do they relate to my story, why are they doing x in my story, and after a while I can eventually fill out _their_ own questionnaires.


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## WyrdMystic (Oct 9, 2012)

I tend to follow an evolutionary cycle. I start with a concept, a very brief outline and then it just grows as I write - sure it means I have to edit as I go (terrbile habit!), but it also means I don't spend hours and hours outlining characters that I have to re-write when my concept changes tack half way through the first draft. This is just my process and definitely not a recommended way to approach writing.

In short - I don't create my characters, they evolve.


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## Weaver (Oct 9, 2012)

hyluvian said:


> This one'll throw some of you for a loop... A lot of my characters come out of music.



I have no proof (although lots of circumstantial evidence), but I suspect that much of the backstory for one of my favorite characters from someone else's fiction came from the name of an early 1980s band.

Visual artists get ideas from music all the time.  I see no reason why writers should be any different.  Besides, music is known to 'synch up' the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing ideas generated in the creative half to reach over to the logical half that has to do the actual placing words on the page.


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## Amanita (Oct 14, 2012)

> So kids instead grew up fearing to play let's-pretend, even in their own heads, because someone might think they're, y'know, crazy.[/qote]
> Luckily, I've never been affected by this. Maybe, because I've never meant to share all the stuff in my own head with people who might think I'm crazy because of this.
> My whole story creation process works as some sort of mental role-playing game which I have to sort through afterwards to turn it into a proper story. Takes quite a while. My main characters have never been created but simply exist in my mind for reasons I'm not quite sure of myself. One of my two main female characters has been around for many years for example, even living in completely different settings before. My approach to writing usually is about finding a plot that suits characters and world rather then the other way round. Failing at this is probably the main reason for the many rewrites my story required but I think I'm on a hopeful path at the moment.
> 
> With minor characters, I usually tend to use a more usual way. I start with something like "I need a character Y who does X", then I'm trying to find a name. Names are a great source of inspiration for me as well. When I've found one, I'm trying to find reasons why Y does X and usually, this inspires more background for the character. Depending on his or her importance, I'm getting more or less details. Gender is usually defined before, looks depend on the way I'm imagining them in my head.


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## arroncook (Oct 27, 2012)

I diagram. I write their name, age, location and traits, and the from there just draw lines out to other things about them that emerge whilst I'm exploring who they're going to be. I find this gets my initial creative idea down, and from there, I start filling in important details that my initial concept didn't include.


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## Nbafan (Oct 27, 2012)

Personally, I don't find filling out a questionnaire very helpful. I prefer to start with a blank page (or several) and brainstorm by considering various characteristics and personality types I find interesting. These might come from friends or even myself, or I might like a certain thing about another writer's character and decide to borrow it, mixing it with different things I like or envision and creating a new character. 

As for how deep, I currently am beginning a series and I am mainly in the first stages: creating a map, brainstorming on characters, deciding where I want to go plot wise. However, I already know that I want to make my characters as complex and multifaceted as possible. I will have politics, personal feelings, personal background, etc tie in. Essentially, I hope to create characters as complex as those in GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire.


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## jconway3 (Oct 28, 2012)

Astner said:


> Do you fill in some questionnaire or do you have an idea that you develop with plans on developing the idea further as the character develop?
> 
> How deep are your characters and what purpose does the depth served , and how do you incorporate this in his portrayal?



I like to start with Jungian archetypes. This is the basis for every type of human being as well as the gods of ancient Rome and Greece. 

You may want to check a really good book 45 Master Characters.


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## SeverinR (Oct 30, 2012)

I create my main characters (hero and villain) by deciding what characteristics they need for the story, then create the background as to why they have these traits.  Then add a few quirks, maybe a phobia.
Enough heroic qualities to get the job done, but enough human qualities to make them believable.

I use a character questionaire to fill in the blanks, make sure you have more then enough information of the character then you will ever need.
I feel this helps prevent contridictions when writing.


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## Jes (Oct 30, 2012)

I take my biggest protagonist and antagonist characters and write up detailed character exploration sheets for them. I lay out their physical attributes, their strengths, their weaknesses, what drives them, what they fear, their religion - anything that may come up in a story. I don't ever want to guess or throw something random into a character because I may accidentally contradict myself by doing so. The last thing I want to do is make a reader scoff at my ineptitude.

Thus far, I've found that laying out as many character traits as possible - up front and immediately - can really go a long way toward giving your characters that "real" feeling. A character with as many weaknesses as strengths will definitely reach out to a reader far better than a perfect character or even a character who has no strengths and is just a weak little gimmick of a plot device.


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## Ghost (Oct 30, 2012)

I hate character questionaires. An author on that video Twook00 linked called the character questionaire a rap sheet, which is exactly how it feels to me. I don't make a rap sheet, a rÃ©sumÃ©, a Facebook profile, or D&D stats for my character. When I get to know people, I don't ask about their favorite colors or if they can successfully disarm traps. I ask what they do, what their family is like, where they're from and what that place is like, how they spend their spare time. It's similar for my characters.

I don't think of it as _designing_ a character since that conjures up a more visual or compartmentalized approach. I rely on hunches and assumptions to form an impression of a person. It's like reading someone's body language or interpreting the tone of their voice.

A starting point is necessary for me, but once I have that I can play a mental game where there's a chain of impressions, one thing leading to another until I've formed a fuller picture. Sometimes I get a vision of a person, sometimes I hear fragments of dialogue in my head. The mood tells me as much as what's seen or said. After that, the motivations and reactions are key to my understanding of the person. Once I get the central character, the other characters spring up naturally as a reaction to that personality, the setting, and the story.

I do have some tricks to begin a character when nothing has come to me:


Base the personality on a name. The name isn't meant to match the personality (because I hate that), but the name is a clue. I make assumptions based on it and go from there.


Use a quirk or habit to grow a character. I pick one quirk and go from there. My character might avoid the number 8. She might collect Betty Boop memorabilia. She might have an overactive imagination.


Give him an important memory. What's his most memorable success or failure? What's a small thing that had a big impact on him? His best or worst memory? Then I explore nuances of how he feels about that memory. It helps me know what kind of person he is and what's important to him. (I use this to know a character better, but I don't include it in the actual story.)


Base the character on a contradiction or a pair of unusual traits. I like mixing positive and negative traits, like someone who is both deceptive and charitable. I can have someone who is smarmy yet uses self-deprecating humor and reveal that in the dialogue.
I read a book on writing where the author recommended free-writing about a character. I think that would also be an effective way to discover or grow a character. Just free-write everything you can about a person until you uncover who they are.



Astner said:


> How deep are your characters and what purpose does the depth served , and how do you incorporate this in his portrayal?



This is very interesting. I didn't see many people touch on it.

I have a good handle and the whys of what my characters do. I know at least twice as much as what goes into the story. There are a few reasons for that. It makes putting their personalities on paper easier, and it makes their actions consistent. I believe it makes the characters more real to hint that they existed outside the story. I'm sure I'd know more about the characters if I wrote novels. Because I write short stories, I only need to know characters well enough to say, with authority, what brought them to this point and what they'll do during the span of a few thousand words.

For the how, I'd say dialogue is a great way to clue readers in because it naturally has layers and nuances. You can also have the character act in ways that show his trait(s) when it's relevant to the story and moves the story forward.

Mostly, the character's depth is a foundation for his personality and motivations. If the character is solid, the depth comes through in the choices he makes and his reasons for making them. It comes through in his interactions. I wouldn't forcibly incorporate things into the portrayal because the reader doesn't need to know as much as you do.


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## A. E. Lowan (Oct 31, 2012)

One thing my writing partner and I do with our characters to flesh them out a bit is to do a LOT of role-play with them.  Random conversations, observations, and interactions - it must make listening to us in the grocery store entertaining!  But we find it helps us to find that character's voice much more easily.  I also tend to keep character sheets in Microsoft OneNote, so I have details about physical description and littel quirks and foibles within easy reach, so that I don't have my character have blue eyes in Chapter 2 and brown in Chapter 33.


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## MadMadys (Oct 31, 2012)

I never knew people used such mechanical methods for creating some characters.  In a way, it makes sense as I've read stories where each characters reads like they were cobbled together from Mad-Libs.

The characters I write about- not saying it is a right way or a wrong way, just a way- tend to evolve from the story.  Take a base character and then, working them through the plot and situations in my head, I start to think how the character will react.  Through their actions, their personality starts to come through.  In that way, the story begets the character rather than the other way around.

For some stories I've read, you feel like the characters you're reading are basically setup on the first page they're introduced.  Strong, confident but noble male character or meek but truly powerful female character.  You know, after that, how they'll act in every situation that comes up because they'll do what best fits their given attributes.  In that way, the character merely goes through the story fulfilling their already set description instead of letting the plot reveal them in a far more natural way.  So you get to know the character instead of just reaffirming what you were told.

To put it another way, similar to something someone said earlier in the thread, when you interview someone fora job and you glance over their resume they'll call themselves 'smart, motivated, courteous' but then after you have them on the job for a few weeks you realize a more honest header would have been 'paste-eater, late, gives off bad odor'.  Let the story set your characters up rather than the other way around.

Those are just my two cents on the matter.


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## Targon (Nov 25, 2012)

What happens to me a lot is ill think of a voice, just a simple voice. Ill then create an image of a person who would posses that kind of voice. Ill then do a very rough sketch. Ill then have my little brother have a look at the sketch and then flesh it out, he is a way better artist. Withen a day or two he will give me his drawing. 

I will lay on my bed for a long time staring at the picture, jotting down quick notes in my noyebook about the personality of the person I'm looking at. I will continue to tweak the personality until I think it fits. I go as deep as I possably can with all my creations. Depth brings realism I believe.


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## Wanara009 (Nov 26, 2012)

When I design a character, first and foremost, I pick a name. Not just any name, but a meaningful ones and work it out from there with the help of my world-building data. For example, lets start with my story main character Arya Seta (born Brajantali Buana):

>  "Brajantali Buana" roughly translate to "Champion Farmer of Earth". This gives me a background: His parents comes from an agricultural background and hoped that their son would be the same.

>  From the background, I get some personality: Coming from an farmer family, Arya is a simple man who values pragmatism with no patience for the cryptic and the unpractical.

>  Also from the name, I get where's he's from and how he looked: He's Matramanian--who is on average a shortish (~169 cm)--and his skin is dark brown (from all the working outside). He wear the clothes appropriate to his social class, which I referenced to look this minus the head gear and the belt with slightly shorter trousers and sleeves.

>  "Arya Seta" is his second name and the name of a great weapon master in the past. According to my world-building, a man from his particular cultural background can gain a second name once he finished a martial art training. Then I part part of his appearance: he must have some scars on his body and hands from his training.

>  From these background, I got another part of his appearance: His hair is short, since he don't want it to be grabbed in a fight.

With these, I got all the basic down and can fill in the blanks by writing a few short "Experimental" stories to really simulate how he will react/interact with his surrounding and other character with certain personality. I also draw how he would actually look like and various facial expressions just to solidify his image in my head.


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## Jabrosky (Nov 26, 2012)

MadMadys said:


> For some stories I've read, you feel like the characters you're reading are basically setup on the first page they're introduced.  Strong, confident but noble male character or meek but truly powerful female character.  You know, after that, how they'll act in every situation that comes up because they'll do what best fits their given attributes.


I suspect whatever writers do this suffer from an excessive tell-to-show ratio. Are they showing those characters' attributes through actions and dialogue or simply describing them?

Right now I'm experimenting with a similar method to the one you described. I let the characterization evolve from the story's twists and turns as I outline or write.


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## Jess A (Nov 26, 2012)

Lately I've been fleshing out my characters by writing short stories about their past. It helps me to plot and work out the time line, and it also helps define some motives. I then develop the character further as I write the actual book and as they go through the conflicts I toss at them. 

It does help to have some basic information - a paragraph or two on their traits, histories, motives, connections to other characters (such and such's daughter, relation to the King, what land they own, who they serve). Sometimes a list of traits helps, because I might forget certain things like age or the name of a family member (if it goes into the book). 

Too much defining and I lose interest.  Sometimes my characters seem to choose their actions rather than me - it's a strange thing.


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## Ireth (Nov 26, 2012)

Little Storm Cloud said:


> Sometimes my characters seem to choose their actions rather than me - it's a strange thing.



I LOVE when that happens. Except when the actions they choose make things needlessly complex. XD


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## Leif Notae (Nov 26, 2012)

One word: Neimology

The science of names, the letters mean things and dictate how a character acts and thinks. This applies from the pet you have to the deities you create. 

I paid $24.95 for my print edition and another $10 for the ebook version because it is far too important. Whenever a character tells me a name, I can create an entire world around them just by their letters.


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