What is your method in creating a character?

The most important thing for me is to write a paragraph or two for each character that explains their motivation and any internal and external conflicts they have to overcome to reach their goal. Even if you only end up actually writing about their motivation for one sentence in your book, they will have a fuller life that exists behind them, which will color everything they do in the story.

I generally start with characters and build a story around them. So for me, asking questions and creating a bio are key. So like I start out with something like "What if a person who didn't believe in aliens got stranded in space with no humans around?" or "What if a person found out he had a magic power that unconsciously influenced people to like him?" and then I start asking questions to flesh them out - where are they from? What class? What race? What sort of schooling? What career path? By choice? Why? Family relations? Friends? Hobbies?

It does sometimes feel like the character already exists and the answers just come, but in reality, I expect it's a mix of "What makes sense with the bits I already have?" and "what haven't I done before?"

kkbe said:

There are methods?

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i know, right!?

WriteMinded said:

I get a story idea. Characters show up. I have no method for creating them.

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It is rather like that, isn't it. The advantage of course is you can always chuck out the ones you don't like.

Or do nasty things to them.

I don't believe in profiles that go into ridiculous details such as favourite gum

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I agree. I don't like trying to force details about my characters. I do bio sheets sometimes, but if there's a question about a character that I can't give an organic answer to, I just skip it. For instance, eye color for my antagonist. It's just not important and I can't give an answer for it without just making something up on the spot.

I love it when little details about my characters pop up in the story on their own, though, like the fact that one MC chews his straws and the other obsessively counts things.

I don't really plan out my characters though. Like hikari said, I start with a story idea, and put placeholder characters into the various roles. As I go along, I get a better sense of the characters and sometimes they end up being very different than what I originally imagined. I never feel like my characters talk to me, nor do I feel comfortable trying to talk to them. I feel like an ethnographer, I'm here to observe and report on the natives, but I don't want to interfere with their lives. Changes in my characters are usually plot and theme driven. For instance, my plot will evolve, and I realize that without intending to, I've drawn major parallels between the lives of my protag and antag, so with this in mind, I subconsciously tweak their characteristics to better develop that theme.

As far as names, I don't know why, but I rarely think long or hard about character names. I name them whatever comes to mind when I think about them. The one exception is one of my MCs whose name I purposely scoured books and baby name sites for archaic french and english names.

I actually have photos of my characters. I needed quite a large cast for my story and I couldn't keep them all straight in my head, even with a character list.

I worked out the basics on my own. (Gender, age, temperment, etc.), and then used google images to find pictures of people that matched my mental image. Hair style websites are particularly useful for this purpose. It helps me keep everyone straight and if I have trouble describing them, I just describe the person in the photo.

First, I create character thumbnail and profile. Cannot write a given character without knowing anything about his(her) name, age, goal, flaws, core strenght and so on.

But when i've finished Chapter One, i'm starting to realize character arc and voice. What a character does? How does he(she) change to a mature character? Where he(she) goes all drive the plot forward? And so on.

It's a lot of fun to create a whole world with various characters inside

I don't create my characters. They spring into being fully developed.

it's a circular process

Start with a character. As the plot develops, the character evolves, changing as you think of possibilities. Now use this character development to further drive the plot.

Stupid example. In an early chapter I had my MC experience claustrophobia just because it was how I would feel in a similar situation. Later on I needed a reason for him to not do something, and his claustrophobia provided a good reason. The claustrophobia evolved until it became a part of his character right from the start.


The important thing is to be consistent. Once your character develops a trait, work it in from start to end.

When it comes to writing down, first thing I do is to develop the character a bit. If s/he is going to have a place in my story, I need to know how they’re going to fit into it or at least have a good idea of what makes them so special. This usually only takes a few minutes, maybe hours, and then I write the idea down. Although, if the idea sticks around for a couple of days and nothing happens but I still feel like I’ll like the character, I jot down a few notes and take it from there. Sometimes it’ll become a full character, other times the ideas will be torn apart to help develop or reshape other characters.

Also, while I do admit (bad thing) I keep the ideas bouncing around in my head, I like to write as much down as possible. There’s only so much I can remember, and even if I never use it, I think it’s always nice to have a character profile in case I forgot something or I end up with inconsistencies. Also, I’m not sure what everyone here means by “profile;” it’s something I make myself on a blank sheet of paper. I write down as many important characteristics as I can think of—name, age, appearance, personality, weapons and fighting style, friends/relatives, rank (if applicable), race, faction, backstory, special powers, (possibly) the clothes they usually wear, and (possibly) role in the story, etc. I don’t do questionnaires or anything else static or pre-written; I only create characters if I get inspiration or if I feel like they’re necessary. Then I flesh them out as I feel is necessary and fit the story; questionnaires are inevitably generic and aren’t tailored to your specific story. If I’m not sure about a character I ask people, mostly my writer friends, and only go to a questionnaire if I’m still worried the character needs improvement.

Mary Sue? Long list of questions to ask myself. I can post it if you guys like, otherwise I'll try and keep this short.

Developing the characters changes a lot depending on what inspired them and how much of the story has been developed. For example, if they’re supporting protagonists their beliefs will have to be compatible with that of the MC, even if only reluctantly. Other times it’s just a concept—a quote, a personality quirk, a weird power or corruption, inspiration I randomly get creates a character idea that I’ll somehow tailor to the story, etc. Or maybe it’s a role—I create a character to fill a role and slowly the character grows to become a deep, complete character. Of course, characters constantly change as the story progresses and the story becomes more complex. For example, a villain I had for a story was going to be an only child, but later I came up with ideas for siblings and it completely changed his personality. Or maybe I create a character that's has borderline morals but find that they work well in a very ruthless setting and thus they’re molded by it and become entirely ruthless themselves. Other times the setting may be based around the characters instead. Sometimes one character is all I need to shake up the entire cast, giving the villain new opportunities and creating tension with the MC (or vice versa).

Overall I like characters as developed as possible, but worst case I can throw in loosely-made characters and make notes to improve or expand on certain areas (most often appearance or name).

I turn them loose in the story and the world and watch what they do. Over time, just like with people in the Real World, I start to get an idea of who they are, and then I rewrite the parts where I was getting in their way.

It varies. In most cases the MC(s) is integral part of the initial idea so (s)he's pretty well defined from the start. However when it comes to the secondary characters, I use a recursive top-down approach. I start from "What I need from this character?" and gradually move to "How to make it believable that they act and think in the way needed for my story?"

This helps me to remove/add/replace a secondary character during the revision process without much fuss (at least in theory). Of course, it's essential to have somebody else look at your characters and their story arcs (for the characters that have one).

I start with the world view of a character. Everyone who has lived at least 20 or so years has their own philosophical ideas with years of backing in their mind.

With this in mind, I'll base one character on the idea that democracy is horrible because nothing ever gets done since the leaders don't agree on anything. This may tie in to his nature and make him very independent, not a fan of team projects. Perhaps he is cynical is nature or maybe doesn't talk often.

Than I could create a character that loves the idea of democracy and hates dictatorships because the man in power tends to grasp for and hold on to as much power as possible. Maybe this character likes to talk a lot and hear everyone's opinions on things or perhaps the opposite because he sees an innate power-hungry/selfish trait in humans.

It's hard to describe how exactly it happens. I'm really big on character profiles - even though most details don't end up in the novel I find it really handy for reference and fleshing out my characters. I like to be familiar with them, for I really do think of them as people within another universe and write with the idea that plot and character work together: the characters react to events but also shape them.

I enjoy using behaviour and mannerisms of people I know. Not directly, but more that all conversations and relationships mingle into my melting pot of human behaviour for writing. I think this might be how I avoid clichés and bland characters. I try to write my characters as people would really act and think - they have so many complexities.

Sometimes it becomes obvious which character's story is being told, but I'm a big fan of multiple perspectives and time shifts so I hardly ever have single protagonists.

My process has been changing a lot, so I'll just give a quick run-down as to what my process is right this moment.

I wish I could magically create characters without any planning, as so many other posters seem to do. But unfortunately, without any planning at all, my characters end up either like cardboard, or exactly like me.

So planning it is.

I normally go through a bio sheet and try to answer the big questions, not this itty bitty unnecessary ones. Of course, I realize motivations, loves, hates, and all will change, but I like to have some sort of a basis to start things out on.

Also, I like to keep a list (at least, mentally), as to why my MC and I are different. Because I typically write in first person, it's so easy for my thoughts to start interfering, when it should be my MC's thoughts. So having distinctions between us keeps this from happening.

But yeah, my process has been changing, and I expect it to change even more as I write more and more novels.

Similar to others here, my characters are typically an amalgamation of my experiences or observations.

However, I will say that I'm a very plot-driven writer, and so the characters are born from the story itself. I treat characters the same way I view people: as a collection of past experiences and present circumstances. I've had an interest in social sciences for a while now, and I really love applying the person-in-environment perspective to any and all characters in a story.