What processes do you use when making characters?

That last could actually make a great story IF the plot development contains a few surprises and the characters are really interesting. A lot of action isn't necessarily going to guarantee an interesting story. Conflict can be inherent in any situation where two characters or forces oppose each other. Maybe they'll end up using dialogue to resolve their differences, but that doesn't need to be boring if the conflict is real and the resolution takes a lot of work and compromise ...or one person simply has to give in to the other. Or maybe there will be negative consequences to refusing to compromise or reach an agreement.

 

I'm closer to @Naomasa298 in my character creation method. Once a character begins to emerge I will do research: read or watch stories with featuring similar characters, or non-fiction featuring real life people who are similar to my character.
For example, my MC is a poet and dancer. I'm neither of those. So, I've been reading biographies on poets and dancers who have a background ...roughly...similar to my MC.

 

My favorite general principles come from a Great Course on fiction writing:

Observation or Imagination: Do you base your characters on other people – real or fictional – that you've been exposed to, or do you make them up from scratch?

I'm about 95% Imagination-driven, 5% Observation-driven myself. I've tried basing characters on other people before, and it's almost never worked.​

My father, on the other hand, says that he's about 70% Observation-driven, 30% Imagination-driven.​

Individual or Circumstantial: Do you focus on what makes your characters psychologically unique, or do you focus on them as sociological reflections of the world around them?

I tend to aim as close to 50/50 on this one as possible, focusing on how the combination of a person's Nature and their Nurture is more important than just one or the other.​

Outside-in or Inside-out: Do you start with a character's behavior/appearance and use this to figure out their values/motivations, or do you start with their values/motivations and use this to discover their behavior/appearance?

Technically, over the course of my entire process, I work Outside-In – my initial outline focuses on what my characters are doing, but my finished draft focuses more on why they're doing it – but at any given point, this is the axis where I'm jumping back-and-forth the most from one extreme to the next: sometimes, a new idea for my characters' actions forces me to rethink their motivations, but other times, a new idea for their motivations forces me to rethink their actions.​

Where do you think you would work best on each of these?

That depends on how many cookies you're using

Spoiler: Chart of my Urban Fantasy WIP's main cast

(You may notice that the character closest to being an Author Avatar is the antagonist )

 

I don't think that I've writen enough longer character development to know for sure. But I try to create a story-focused core for the character around which less story-focused elements can be added.

 

For my current WIP, I didnt have a process for creating the characters. I had one and then threw that out the window when I got so bent on holding them to the predetermined package directions. Once I released the kraken so to speak, then they came easier.

Like some others here, the names come first and then the characters just build on that. My next project, though, is kind of the opposite. I had the storyline down first and then the characters came in.

 

They just kinda wander in when the feel they need a story about them.
Sometimes their is some small influence from some outside source, but
other than that they kinda just form on their own with a bit of contemplation
on my part.

 

I always start with the core themes of the story and work backwards. I make sure each character's history or upbringing is tied to one of those themes, which gives me inspiration for designing their personality and mannerisms. That way every character makes sense in the story, as well as has their own colorful life.