- What do they want? Everyone wants something, and even if that's just what your character wants, a whole lot of nothing, that's still something to keep in mind.
- Who/what is important to them? Whether it's a person, an item or a pet, there's always something you'll find people always want to have around.
- Are they a changing character? This might seem weird at first, but it actually makes sense. Basically, there are two or three kinds of characters; those that learn something and are changed by the end of the story, those that learn something but still aren't changed by the end of the story, and those that don't learn and don't change throughout the story. It's a nice building block to start a character from; it's convenient to know where each character is going.
- Type A or Type B? Okay, have you ever seen OwlTurd comics? There's a few comic about Type A and Type B characters, and the Type A is very domineering, to say the least, and is determined to win. Type B, however, is easygoing and peaceful, and gets kind of scared by Type A's aggressive enthusiasm. It can help to ask yourself (and your character) if your character is full of energy or if they're more relaxed. This could also probably be summed up as “Introvert or Extrovert”.
- What is their family like? Even if they don't have a family, it's good to figure out how they grew up. What's their heritage? Do they have their paternal aunt's eyes and their maternal grandpa's ears? Where did they live the first half of their life? Were they raised with lots of siblings and pets?
- Stress situations. How does your character react to stress? Some people really thrive under pressure, or with a certain amount of stress, but other people completely crumble. If you have a gentle kind of character who hates confrontations fighting as the superhero, they probably wouldn't be a very happy hero. Likewise, if you have a stress-eating character working at a slow little company doing a desk job and little or no action in their life, they won't be very happy either. Sometimes this creates the story for you, if you do decide to put a character into a situation that goes against everything they want and/or are not comfortable with.
- Identify the smile. I find character appearance to be pretty low on my list of priorities when I'm trying to build them, but sometimes, depending on what kind of culture or society they live in, beauty and the lack of beauty is important to how the character develops. In a society or culture where beauty is revered, an average looking person, or someone with common “ugly” features could be an outcast. Back on the smile part though, I like to imagine my characters smiling, and if I don't draw them, I use that mental image to find a picture that looks like that online.
This is just a quick list of some things, but if you have any questions, I love talking about characters and their motivations. :D
Maria #2