I always start with an opsession with a name. And things start to develop from there. How about you? Do you have some kinda of list of qualities you pick or do they just start to come as time goes by? Do you remember where you were or what happened when your favorite MC popped in your head?
The ane is the last thing I think of for my charectors actually, I hate picking them as they seem forced. I just pick a name as I like it, but as luck happens, the name Grace, which I am using in my corrent peice, fits in well. I usually get an idea for a novel first, something that is going to happen, and the charector is already ready made there; I don't have to give it any thought, unless I need to develop something of them, but I will already have the idea of that formed.
Most of my characters seem to emerge gradually; I usually don't remember the exact moment of their creation. Once in a great while I'll remember where the spark for one came from, but after that, just as I said, their personalities gradually come to be in my head. Even when I decide straight out to just create a character, BAM, like that, I find that their new personalities sit and gestate in my head for a good long while. This tends to happen with bit characters in my stories. They're meant to appear for only a few chapters and never return again, but after I've created them, the cycle is started and they're in my head, developing. And I usually grow to like and know them so much that I have to have them return at some later point! It just seems to be a really organic process for me. I don't choose most characters, they just arrive. And even when I do, they don't stop developing and growing when I stop writing them. They keep on living somewhere.
I usually make my characters up on the spot when I have an idea for a story, and then I proceed to write a list of their favorite things, hair color, etc.
I usually add a charactar when I need to. The character becomes who he/she is (qualities and etc) through the circumstances it faces. Normally, I pick a name and then start writing. I don't make the name-picking process a big deal, because as the charactar's qualities start forming- I could always change the name of the charactar to match the qualities. I don't if that's the best way to do it, but it's how I've always done it and it's always worked. Every once in a while, I come up with a brilliant idea of some different qualities a charactar can have, then I find a name to match it, and add it to my story.
picking up names is not my strong point. Specially lastnames. So I have two list on my wall; one with male names and one with female names that I like. I picj something from those and try to live with those.
Mine usually wander around in my head for a while...sometimes they tell me their name, sometimes they don't. Or I'll see them a certain way, and wonder "How did they end up like this?" and sometimes I find out. I used to need to write everything down about a character, but lately I've found myself not needing to...I'll just jot down their name and one or two facts about them and move on. Everything else comes in as I go.
Most often, the needs of the story drive the creation of a character. There are often certain traits I wish to begin with, and the rest of the character grows from there. Although I may select a name fairly early, names are always subject to change for me, up to the point that I'm applying finishing touches. Occasionally, main or pericentral characters in my stories don't even have names, or only have a partial one.
