"We can be heroes ... just for one day."

Who's your hero?

Is it your father?  Your mother?  Is it a guy you knew in school who could have had a promising career in sports, science or the arts and instead, he enlisted in the military?  Is it someone who did something that made this world a better place, if only for a few minutes?  Is it someone who wrote or said a line that makes the midnight in your soul pass just that much quicker?  Do you even know them personally?

When you create a character, whether it's for the printed page or the stage, what positive qualities would that hero possess?  What do you find admirable?  Determination?  Loyalty?  Kindness towards the disadvantaged?

Now let's add some other qualities.  What qualities do you not find attractive?  Chronic lying?  Co-dependence?  Self-destructive tendencies?  Shy around women?  Claustrophobic?  Isn't a hero without flaws kinda dull?

Indiana Jones is courageous and curious, yet his devotion to preserving antiquities prevented him from dispatching his greatest enemy.

The first Doctor (from Doctor Who) once endangered his granddaughter and her teachers simply because he was curious.  In fact, he disabled his TARDIS to ensure they stayed around long enough for him to investigate the era they'd landed in.

Clark Kent might get more accomplished if he didn't feel the overwhelming need to preserve the secret of his dual identity.

Building a character might often be as easy as -- to quote the old saying -- picking from Column A, then something from Column B.

Make two lists of personality traits.  One column should be all positive traits (courageous, polite, benevolent, heroic, etc.) and the other with personality flaws.  Close your eyes and let your finger fall on one column, then the other, and see what you come up with.

Then construct a history for the character.  How did they become the person you made?  What events reinforced their positive values?  Their limitations?  You can hit the high notes without having to scribble out the entire symphony, but work out enough to justify the hero's traits.  After all, most people know what happened to Bruce Wayne when he and his parents exited The Mark of Zorro.  On the other hand, knowing what position Bruce played on the Bill Finger High School sophomore basketball team might not be that vital or all that interesting.

So far, I've kept the protagonist as a male in the current day in America.  Now change the era, the gender, and the setting.  How did a man with firm religious convictions and a fear of the number six become that way before he began exploring the Antares System?  Emily's curiosity suited her desire to become a nurse, but could she overcome her shyness while living in the District of Columbia during the final days of the War of 1812?

Now do the same thing for your villain.  Here's where you can have some real fun!  Make two lists of positive traits.  Work up two lists of character flaws.  Create a list with a positive and a negative column.  Change the gender.  Change the time period.  Change the setting.

Then give your protagonist a goal.  Provide a motivation for your villain to not allow him/her to succeed.  Now you have a story!

How do you create YOUR characters?  What settings fascinate you the most?  How have your most thoroughly-composed characters influenced your plots?  Have they changed them at all?  Discuss, s'il vous plait!