For the creation of a character, there are a series of questions you may want to ask yourself.
First Question:
How should the character look?
While it may seem like a primitive and shallow question, it is quite important. A character's outwards appearance can explain a great deal. I'll make up a character named Lie. She has a short bob of hair in the back of her head with two waist-length locks on either side near the front, narrowed eyes and a carefree style of dress.
Let's start with the hair. The short and long parts show a contradiction. Why is her hair this way?
1. She was born that way
2. She cut it
3. It was just designed that way by her creator >=3
Now, what could the reasons be for why she cut it?
1. Her hair was initially too long and she wanted a change
2. She got into an accident that resulted in her long tresses to be ensnared, needing to be ripped or cut free and disdainfully decided to cut it the way it looks presently, to hide the damage.
4. Cutting her hair was a way to seal off a part of the past she'd rather not remember.
5. More compliments to that darn creator
Think of already existing characters that have hair specific traits, like Aerith Gainsburough of Final Fantasy fame and Raven from the animated Teen Titans. What plot-related facts are linked to how their hair was portrayed? Aerith preferred to keep her hair tied back in a ponytail while Raven chose to always cut hers short. What did these characters protect/try to hide because of this?
The next trait to look at are the eyes. In accordance to Lie, what stories do the eyes tell? Why are they shaped the way that they are? Could these eyes hide some type of pain? Perhaps they appear threatening as a defense mechanism, to protect her from emotional harm. Or maybe she just had them sown that way.
Or the randomly chosen whim of her creator.
Take her clothes into account.
Why does she dress so sloppily? Maybe she wants to trick people into thinking she's something she isn't so they don't bother her. Or maybe she really doesn't care much for what she wears as long as she isn't streaking.
See how much goes into such simple traits?! Other questions dealing with appearance, such as body language and mannerisms/personality will arise.
Everything about a character concept should go hand in hand with their other traits. Unless you're making a bare bones character with just a face and name, period. Obviously, I like going into the depth of a character!!
After all, the best ideas and concepts indirectly come from the real life around us. I believe every character is based off of a person or persons that already exist within the real world.
Second question:
What is the character's background? Where did they originate from? How does it tie in with the story's setting? Does it clash or flow with the plot/setting? What is their personality?
An example of clashing would be, let's say Lie is an extremeist and loves going sky diving on a board while giving herself a nose peircing at the same time, exploiting this attitude every chance she gets throughout the setting of living in a town where everyone is quiet, mousy and sees such things as abominations. Does she find a way to live with it and make friends or will she be forced to succumb her wild attitude to their conformity?
An existing character example would be Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
Her personality was strongly clear towards wanting advenutre, something outrageously more than her quiet small town could offer her.
Character plot clashes aren't bad and shouldn't be avoided; instead they can add an element of depth to your story and encourage fuller character development; how the character changes/grows overtime.
Character names can play a part as well. Your character can have a simple name like everyone else ( Tyler, Ashley, Cindy, ...), a made up name (Lescyrie, Ocealana, Erana, Shaquallaqueeta, ...), a synonym name (Lumina-light, Ubiquitous- ever-present...), an acronym name ( Xemnas-Ansem, Roxas- Sora x, Ashan-Shana, ...), a backwards name ( Susan-Nasus, Lem-Mel, ...), even an 'opposites' name. An existing character example of that would be Light Yagami from Death Note.
His first name has a sense of purity and gloriousness to it since when you think of the word light, you think of things that are bright and positive. However, his character traits exhibit a rather corrupted and deluted "soul'. His true nature and behavior are clearly the opposite of what his name represents.
As for Lie, what does her name fortell? Can she be trusted, or does she really live what her name portrays?
That's basically it for part 1!!
Mel Meiko Mei Ling
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