JUST A REMINDER: this is a lot of my own writing process, and may not reflect the process of other writers. Art never has a manual when it comes to the way everyone does it, and so don’t let people tell you the way you’re doing something is wrong if it works for you. But, PRO TIP, at least try a few different ways. If you commit to one thing and never take on constructive criticism, your chances of learning and growing are slim—not nil, but slim.

This post is going to be a little all over the place—hence “(the surface)”—but it will take a look at what I think about in the character (apart from their appearance) when creating this. The levels of depth do vary from character to character, and so this will represent best what I do with a main character (or MC).

I have my own character profile that I’ve designed by looking at a bunch of others online and putting together what I feel works best for me. I used to put my characters into databases, but that doesn’t really work for me anymore. Characters designed in a database always came out one-dimensional because I was too focused on entering the data rather than letting a character flourish and become real in my head. They would just be a list of colours and likes and dislikes. The “hard-copy” profile also became a bit redundant, but I use it as a guide once the character is very much established … I sometimes forget eye colour and birth-date … eye colour not so much now, as it’s more important to me, but birth-date, yeah.

So, because my process has levelled up so much since I was a kid writing, we’ll just skim the surface of how I do it now, because it’s a bit more relevant. One day, I might pull apart my old processes … or I might be too embarassed to do that.

Inside or Outside First?

This is actually different from time to time. Normally, I develop a character from an idea and then they slowly gain an appearance, but sometimes, I see them first. I’ve talked about this before, where a scene will strike me and I will see them, and then I’ll write the story around them, pulling at the threads of that single moment. They managed to capture me in just a moment, and so I will figure out something that will justify the beauty of the moment—sound weird? Even to me it does, but it happens.

So, what comes first just depends on … well, what comes first.

Let’s Cover the Basics

Whether the inside or outside comes first, they’ll usually inform one another. Here’s a list of the questions I start asking—or answering really—when I’m starting to turn my character into words:

• Name
• Culture and Religion
• Energy (what’s their honest “vibe”, their personality when they’re not really doing anything)
• Gender/Sexuality
• Family
• Hobbies
• Birth-date, blood type, all of those data items that we just insert when needed
• Occupation
• Education
• What do they want?
• What do they fear?
• Where are they going?
• Mannerisms
• Speech
• Habits
• Likes
• Dislikes
• Areas of expertise or areas they struggle in

So, that’s just a few, most of the ones I can think off the top of my head. Now, let’s expand it a little to show how I dive into each one as I “just make my characters up”.

• Name
  • Full name, nicknames, aliases etc.
  • Do they like it?
  • Do they share it with anyone?
  • Where did it come from? Honouring someone? Spitefully named? Culturally?
• Culture and Religion
  • What’s their ethnicity?
  • What’s their culture?
  • How do they interact with these parts of their life?
• Energy (what’s their honest “vibe”, their personality when they’re not really doing anything)
  • Is it honest?
  • Do they switch on and off?
  • Do they struggle with mental illness?
• Gender/Sexuality
  • Do they know? Are they confused?
  • What’s their experience?
• Family
  • Is it big?
  • What’s it like?
  • How do they interact with them?
  • What are the tensions?
  • Is there borrowed/surrogate family?
• Hobbies
  • How long have they had them?
  • Do they tie into their personality?
  • Are they good at them?
  • Are they ashamed of them? Are they happy with them?
• Birth-date, blood type, all of those data items that we just insert when needed
  • Do they have anything considered “other”?
• Occupation
  • What’s their experience?
  • Do they like their job?
  • What’s the community like at their job?
  • Who do they work with?
• Education
  • Does it differ from standard?
  • Where was it?
  • Do they have any connections remaining from there?
  • Did they find something easy? Did they find something hard?
• What do they want?
  • Surface level, beneath and unknowingly?
  • Why?
• What do they fear?
  • Surface level, beneath and unknowingly?
  • Why?
• Where are they going?
  • What’s their plan for life? Right now? Are they headed somewhere?
• Mannerisms
  • Facial
  • Hands
  • Stance and posture
• Speech
  • Speech type, accent, dialect?
  • What does it tell of where they come from, or who they want to be?
  • What style do they talk in? Is it casual, formal etc.?
  • What languages can they speak/comprehend?
• Habits
  • Speaking habits
    • Is there something they say a lot or a particular sound they make or drop?
    • Do they laugh a lot when they talk?
  • Hand habits
    • Do they click a lot? Or clap?
  • Motion habits
    • Do they move around in a particular manner?
  • Path habits
    • Do they always take the same path? Do they find safety in familiarity?
  • Thought habits
    • How do they think about things? Is it erratic? Anxious? Motivated? Etc.
• Likes
  • Food, colours, tones, clothing, movies, music
• Dislikes
  • See above
  • Why?
• Areas of expertise or areas they struggle in
  • Do they excel/struggle for any particular reason?

That covers most of them, I think.

So yeah, we just make things up.