I found this on imnotokay.net
Suggestions For Creating Characters:
Name your characters. Names and nicknames ofter suggest the character's personality.
"Vital Status". If your characters are going to come alive on the page, they must first come alive in your mind. You've got to start envisioning them- their faces, quirks, fears, passions, hobbies- in order for them to become real. Make a quick list about your character.
Give Physical Descriptions of your characters. Tall? Short? Curly hair? Big smile? Use specific details to create your character.
Start with what you know. Build your character from the familiar people you encounter in your life. You can get good ideas for characters by being aware ofyour surroundings and the people around you.
Get your characters moving. As a writer, you must be sure to tell not just what's happening to a character but what's happening inside that character. If you describe a person's actions and gestures, you give the reader a real window into that character's emotional state.
Get your characters talking. We reveal ourselves by what comes out of our mouths- not just what we say but how we say it.
Ways To Develop A Character:
Reflection:
Whether the narrative voice is first (I) or third (he or she), tell often and everywhere what your character is thinking and feeling: the best, most essential way to create a life is to start and end with an inner life.
Dialogue:
Get your character talking as a way to reveal himself or herself. ("I don't have a very clear idea of who the characters are until they start talking." - Joan Didion)
Letters, E-mail Exchanges, or Diary Entries:
Illustrate what's on your character's mind through pieces of his or her writing.
Action:
Get your character up and moving around, doing things both little and big that show what he or she is like.
Flashbacks:
Recall events from the past that show why your character is behaving as he or she does today.
Reaction:
Show how your character responds to the actions, wordsm and ideas of another character.
Other Characters:
Compare and contrast your character's actions, reactions, beliefs, or values with those of friends, family members, classmates, etc. How is he or she like the others? Shaped by the others? Different from the others?
Quirks:
I made the habits, interests, skills, hobbies, goals, fears, tastes and preferences, daydreams, and nightmares that will flesh out your character as a living, breathing person.
Intimate Setting:
Create your character's bedroom, or surroundings and fill it with the stuff of his or her life that reveals parts of their past and present.
Beloved Object, Pet or Person:
Give your character something to love that reveals his or her private self or previous history.
Main Character Questionnaire [Just a basic sketch to make your main character more vivid in your mind]
1) What's your name?
2) How old are you?
3) What's the problem you're facing?
4) What's your family backround?
5) Where do you live?
6) What do you like to do?
7) What's different about you?
8 ) What do your care about?
9) What do you fear?
10) What re your dreams?
11) Who are the important people in your life?
12) What are the important things in your life?
13) How will you change through confronting your problem? Possibilities:
14) What will you understand about yourself and your world at the end of the story? Possibilities:
I hope it helps us all with our fan fics
Subject: Character Development 
10/9/2007, 7:03 am
