I remember several times when I got very annoyed because I wanted to know how to create a character and all the internet was giving me was a ton of exercises about how to develop characters that already exist, which is totally useless to someone without a good foundation. So this is a list of some cool ways I found to create characters.

Inspiration From Real People
This is a pretty well-known way of getting inspiration for characters: taking personality traits, physical appearances, and other such information from your friends, family, and other people you meet in your real life, but, I don’t think many people think to go further; you know, you don’t just have to do people you know. It can be celebrities, characters from other stories, and even historical figures! In my current work, The Legend of the City (working title), my main character, Chandler’s, obsession with men’s fashion came from learning how Mozart enjoyed fancy, expensive clothes. And I even named one of Chandler’s relatives Wolfgang, after Mozart.

Name Meanings, Numerology, Astrological Signs, etc
If your characters already have names and/or birthdays, you can use these things to get a pretty solid foundation for a personality. I recommend doing this for side characters and extras because it’s a quick and easy way to get a personality into them so they aren’t extremely cardboardy, even in the earlier drafts. I use this one myself a lot, my book has a pretty full cast so it’s pretty helpful.

Non-People Personalities
Humans aren’t the only things with personalities that you can draw inspiration from. Animals, nature, technology, inanimate objects, and pretty much everything else has personality. I’m sure you’ve seen humanized artwork on the internet. I’ve seen artwork of human versions of things like the Firefox and Chrome logos, why couldn’t you do that with writing? Wouldn’t it be cool to say that your characters were all based on different friends’ houses or potted plants?

Trait Lists
If you have a character in your head but you’re having a hard time getting them out onto paper, going through personality trait lists online are a good way to find the right words to describe them. You can also use them to get ideas for things to add to their personality, but be sure you’re not leaving out all the bad or weird ones. You don’t want a Mary Sue or Stu.

Go Ahead and Write
If you already have a foundation and your looking to build on your character, the best way to do that – in my opinion – is to go ahead and start writing your story. The way you get to know people in real life is to spend time with them, and writing your character’s story is you spending time with them. Even if you don’t want to get going with your main project yet you can write some short stories about their life before the events of the book. That would help you get to know them and get you some backstory.

These are some of my favorite ways of creating characters. If you have some good ways of your own be sure to tell me about it in the comments (I need all the help I can get.)

Bye, RRRRAWWWWWRRRRR.