Hello adventurers one-and-all!
This is definitely well-overdue, but glad to get it out nonetheless.
To the characters!
So far, we've covered how to get ideas flowing as well as how to build a world for that story to take place in. Now it's time to bring in the characters that will inhabit said world! Our characters are the ones who really tell the story. You can't have a myth without the hero. You can't have a mystery without the culprit. You can't have a contemporary fiction at all without characters. They're the voice of the story, and show us as the readers how that story is going to be played out. They set the tone. They make us feel what we do. They help us relate to otherwise seemingly-impossible events. They are our characters.
Alright, let's get going!
We have to start somewhere, so let's begin with that common, all-encompassing question: what kinds of characters do I want to have? Will they be male or female? How will their gender play into how they behave? For example, will a character's sense of masculinity or femininity cause them to act a certain way in (blank) circumstance? What kind of personality do they possess and why? For example, did a character have a traumatic event happen to them during childhood and now they are uncomfortable in similar situations? Perhaps this trauma affected them in a positive manner and helped them to become wiser and ahead of their years. To help you come up with a starting point for a character personality, look up the basics on Carl Jung's archetypes. There's plenty of helpful information to get you started as well as tests you can take where you might act as your character would and it will tell you the kind of archetype that character would fit into. You then take that basic concept of your character and continue to flesh it out in your notes; consider what situations your character would care or not care about. What motivates your character? Why do they choose to do the things they do? This is especially important for villains. On a very rare occasion do readers enjoy a character who is evil just "because they're evil." This approach can only work in very specific and finite circumstances. For example, a purely evil character might be the result of some magical phenomenon in your story, but it would have to be detailed enough to where it is believable to your reader and not simply an excuse for a purely evil villain.
This leads into the next point, which is what good and bad qualities do your characters possess? What are their strengths and what kinds of flaws do they have as individuals? A hero with a weakness is often more interesting than a purely good hero. This is because that character is relatable to the reader, and therefore the reader becomes more invested in that character. Do you want to create a hero who starts out as a pitiful coward? How about the concept of the antihero? A great example of this is Han Solo from Star Wars. Similarly, what kinds of good qualities might your villain possess? Perhaps they are motivated to fight for a cause they inherently believe is "good." More often than not, villains do what they do because they believe they are in the right. Dive into this concept as far as you can to really come up with quality characters. Some might not even fit into a "good" or "evil" slot and may have just as many bad traits as they do good. Characters in this gray area can be very interesting, but be sure to completely understand them yourself before you begin to write them because they can be complicated to work with and you want your readers to fully understand them as well.
Should you be throwing characters into a fairly-established and involved world you have already created, there are further points to consider so as to make your characters as interesting and believable as possible. You want to structure the questions to ask yourself similar to the previous questions, but in relation to the world and/or the general plot you have in mind. How does this character fit into the world I'm telling? Why would they be where they are? Why would they do what they do? What is this character's motivation according to this world? For example, is there a custom associated with where the character comes from that they don't agree with? One I can think of includes the possibility of a maiden being led to be sacrificed because of some "ill fate," but one of the other villagers doesn't think this to be right, and so helps her escape and they both run away. Further, how does this character tie into the plot and why? Are they brought along by accident, or do they take on the journey by their own doing? Going back to good ole J.R.R. Tolkien, the character, Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit had both of these circumstances help him out his door and on the road to adventure; the wizard, Gandalf pushed him greatly to go on the adventure, but ultimately it was up to Bilbo. In the end, Bilbo chose to follow the wizard and the company of dwarves to the Lonely Mountain. Once you get into the "nitty-gritty" of your story ideas, you can begin to ask yourself more involved questions, such as, "What things according to the world and plot affect the character due to their personality?" To put this question into perspective, does your character have a certain fear or passion that gets in the way of the main goal? Returning to the example from The Hobbit, the dwarf leader, Thorin Oakenshield was greedy and did not want to give up his treasure near the end of the novel and was willing to wage war over it. Something of this caliber helps to give your story greater direction. Allowing your character's personalities to truly shine out allow you to have multiple roads with which you can choose from.
Once you have a character thought up and you've asked yourself these many questions, go ahead and place your character into situations and watch what they do. Do some writing exercises where you set up scenarios and then place your character into them. Think of what they might do because of their motivations and personality, and then ultimately see how their choice affects the world and the people around them. Make sure to continue to have this mindset when you go to actually write, since this will provide you and your readers with the most honest version of your characters as possible, (plus, it's just a blast to see your characters really come to life!)
Place your characters down and watch them explore, grow, and interact! Your story depends on them, so make them as good as you can for the story you want to tell!
Good luck and happy creating!
