to be honest i love to write about lots of different characters after all variety is the spice of life.
I, too, am a sucker for ensemble dramas, ragtag crews, misfits, and rogues' galleries. I often struggle to decide who my main character is, because I surround him/her with so many interesting characters that any one is worthy of the spotlight. There are quite a few archetypes I keep coming back to, but one I can't seem to get enough of is the almost Mary-Sue. This is a character, almost always female, who has wealth, power, influence, intelligence, attractiveness, virtually anything you could want… but you just can't trust her. (And that's the one thing holding her back from being a Mary Sue; the other characters don't endorse or smile at her behavior, they merely tolerate her, often out of necessity.) She's better than everyone else and knows she's better and will not hesitate to tell you so. She's often witty and even a little charming, but deep down, the protags know her laughter comes at their expense. She's a hair's breadth away from being a villain (and probably was a villain at some point,) and, even though she may help the protagonists, you know she's not "one of them." She's usually helping them to help herself or because they've made a deal with the devil, entwining her fate with theirs, or maybe out of a flimsy noblesse oblige. Usually this character has done awful things in the past and would prefer not to be reminded of them; we never see her true self until the final act, if ever. She is always an anti-hero, but without the underdog overtones often associated with that word. She is a powerful ally, who gets the protagonists into places they otherwise could not, but, despite meaning well, tempts them to the dark side. Powerful, but vulnerable in the deepest ways; beautiful, but unloved; wealthy, but morally bankrupt. She is conflict incarnate.
I like writing the quiet ones who hover in the background, only to have a detailed plan all along. Many antagonists fit this, so it's even better when the protagonist shows this trait. Characters that hide personal skills or advantages by playing the fool are exciting when they reveal themselves to others in the story. I don't like encountering this "archtype" in everything I read or write. Restricting the character to this frame can also pose problems. Carefully constructed and placed ones work the best.
I usually just write the characters that pop into my head - I don't have one particular type or other that I prefer. Right now, though, I'm working on two stories with characters I'm really enjoying. One is an elderly man who's a war veteran - the kind of man who has probably seen more badness in his life than anyone really should. It's left him a bit weakened and frayed around the edges. He's kind of like a paper clip you've bent back and forth a few times, weakening the metal, and you know only one or two more bends will snap it in two. In a way, he's a little like Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men, except he hasn't really given up yet - he's still looking for a last shot at redemption. I'm finding him really interesting. The other is a kid in his late teens who is very famous because of the circumstances of his birth. He hasn't earned his fame through talent; rather, he had it thrust upon him. Members of the Royal Family are like that, but this kid isn't royalty. His fame has gone to his head, and he's all ego, bluster, and bravado, but he's hiding a core of cold fear because he knows he doesn't deserve what he's getting. He behaves badly because his position lets him get away with it. I'm thinking a combination of, say, Justin Bieber and Prince Harry. He's finally facing a situation that requires him to put up or shut up, and he's having a really hard time dealing with it, and he has to deal with it in public. He's a lot of fun to write. I find I don't write very many female characters. I don't feel like I'm qualified to, because I don't hang around women very much (I'm gay, after all) so I've convinced myself I don't understand them. When I do write females, however, they tend to be older women, all strength and wisdom, the kind of woman who's the pillar supporting a large family (my grandmother was like this). I like writing women like that.
Characters; as the plot grows they are birthed, then develop their own identity. My first character may be a bad guy. The plot will, sooner or later need a good guy. Just how visible their traits become is dependent on their roles.
People who are struggling with internal issues (mental illness, alcoholism, etc.) The comic relief friend
I like writing characters who fail. And try. And fail again. I also love letting them start to fall into a pit of self-loathing/pity, then be smacked up side the head and told they're not special, and that many have had it far worse. I like letting them be stupid about some things, but still competent enough to try, and lead if necessary. My best ever character, Statutor Farou (his 'friends' call him Stat, because he's fast), will have a decade to wait before seeing the light of day, because I simply don't have the skill to write him. He's a spoiled, post-bio-apocalypse kid who stole his father's horse and accidentally ran over a girl, killing her. He runs off (without saying goodbye) and becomes a privateer for one of two warring factions in what used to be British Columbia, and becomes addicted to looting. His past creeps and creeps up to him, making his actions more erratic until his squad comes across a strange girl, and a talking loaf of bread that has human skin. At that point he's confronted with a choice that will involve him either finally forgiving his past self and finding a new purpose or banishing the final tie to the young Stat forever.
^ Write him anyway, he sounds really interesting! As for the topic, it depends, really. I have a soft spot for cynical characters who used to be optimistic, but years and years of hardship and reality beat that down. Despite that, there's this one steadfast thing in their life that keeps them going. Keeps them from giving up all together.
My other favorite characters are the snarky smart-alecks who like to ruin everyone else's fun. They're great toys for my anti-heroes to kick around and use to do their biddings.
Way to stare a joke in the mouth, Link. Guess what. Netflix is making live action Zelda series just for you (no joke). Also I'm glad I'm your favorite character.
I can't read jokes and sarcasms on-line. I've heard about that, here's hoping it doesn't completely suck this time. And you're a human being, not a fictional character. *flees before you can catch me*
I tend to like the ones that are highly intelligent and capable in their roles, but have personal demons steering them in weird directions. In a lot of cases they're really good at controlling a lot of elements outside themselves, but not good at controlling themselves (which makes them even more fun when the flawed aspects of their character start using the high-competence skills for their own amusement rather than the greater good). That and I love the ones with hyper-specific identities that set them off as a "minority of one" who never quite fits in to any constructed group. Of my three main characters - one is a Greek-American from a restauranteur family North Wisconsin where there are few Greeks (she's too Greek to fit in among her home town and too Wisconsin to fit in with the more urbanized Greek-American community). The second is an Indian-American Jain whose family came from Assam and Nagaland (She's isolated from most Americans by her Indian ethnicity, from other Indian-Americans by her Jainism, and from most other Jains by the fact that her underlying culture is Assamese/Naga when most Jains are Rajasthani or Gujarati). And the third is a full-blooded Australian Indigenous woman with blonde hair who ends up living in the U.S. through circumstances beyond her control, where there is almost no-one with her cultural background - in her case also segwaying into the idea of what it does or doesn't mean socially to have black skin in modern America (where does our race-obsessed society place someone who is "black" but cannot possibly be labelled "African-American"?).
I especially like writing villains. It ups the tension. I also like writing dialogue for two opposite characters. Endless opportunity for humor and discovery.
Oh yes, villains are also a pleasure to write. Some of them even lampshade traditional villain clichés by saying things like, "Now here's the part where I tie you up, tell you everything I'm going to do. Seriously, why do they do that?"
There isn't one type I prefer to write. But I have enjoyed writing one particular very damaged character, a cold, methodical sociopath who kills without a second thought if someone is in his way. He only kills when it is "necessary", though, because leaving a trail of corpses attracts an inconvenient amount of attention. He was created for an RPG on the site, but he also appears in "The Killing Jar" in my member blog.
