I was trying to make that question sound like an innocent child asking, "Where do babies come from?" Having failed that, let me get to the topic without trying to be cute.
In a very popular debate thread, I began to think that the only reason there was a debate was that we all create differently. My character-creation process is this:
The most hilarious character from a dream is Hanna the Barbarian. She has a look that is similar to this character, Tara from Herculoids:
And yes, that's me saying that a character I never thought of came in a dream, looked similar to a Hanna Barbera character, and was named Hanna the Barbarian. The dream totally knew what it was doing. The narrator—there was a narrator—referred to the enemy lackeys as "badly drawn men in unimaginative space suits." The evil mastermind was the Dark Amazon Queen. Her evil plan was convoluted, doomed to fail, and… well, her life was spared as was the standard procedure when dealing with a cartoon villain.
Ah, that's the detail I forgot to mention. The dream was a cartoon.
Anyway, that's my process, plus one story of how a character came to be. How do you create a character? Feel free to share the process, and even the birth of a character, if you'd like.
In a very popular debate thread, I began to think that the only reason there was a debate was that we all create differently. My character-creation process is this:
I visualize a character in an instant, not just looks, but personality, skills and/or superpowers, societal status, and sometimes a group of friends and/or a complex history. It may start with an image, then I learn more. My best characters are the ones that told me about themselves, not the ones I went through an effort to create. Some appeared in dreams.
The most hilarious character from a dream is Hanna the Barbarian. She has a look that is similar to this character, Tara from Herculoids:
And yes, that's me saying that a character I never thought of came in a dream, looked similar to a Hanna Barbera character, and was named Hanna the Barbarian. The dream totally knew what it was doing. The narrator—there was a narrator—referred to the enemy lackeys as "badly drawn men in unimaginative space suits." The evil mastermind was the Dark Amazon Queen. Her evil plan was convoluted, doomed to fail, and… well, her life was spared as was the standard procedure when dealing with a cartoon villain.
Ah, that's the detail I forgot to mention. The dream was a cartoon.
Anyway, that's my process, plus one story of how a character came to be. How do you create a character? Feel free to share the process, and even the birth of a character, if you'd like.