Creating characters

I want to add my two cents in the ideological world of creating believable characters. Now, let's take a step back from any creative thinking and let yourself think about the people around you. Your friends, family, class mates. Think about them. Think about how you know they'd react to a situation, how they would speak in a certain manner, the odd quirks they do; such as always sitting in the same seat or having to crack their knuckles at the same time of day. Little things that make them them.

Now look at your character (We'll pretend you've already got one, or many). Is there one person in your life, either that you've seen on television or that you interact with on a daily basis, that could fill one of those characters role near enough? Imagine the person saying the character's lines, acting in the same way, pulling the same face, standing the same way. Does it fit? Does it work? Does it make them seem awkward? Is it out of line with them?

Then change your character. Not completely, just tweak its personality.

Another way to approach your characters is to just throw them in the story and see where they go and what they do. Or another is to create their entire background, including what their parents are doing, how old their pet dog is and who their best friend at school was.

I prefer the earlier method; have the genders, the names, lump them in the same room and see what they do and what they say. Let me show  you with one of my characters shall I?

My Second Officer Lieutenant Evelyn Hunter.

She has a fiery personality and in Vanguard. Aries. (My NaNoWriMo story) Charlie mentioned that Hunter pushes her luck. Hunter will step over the line just enough to be noticed but not enough to be severely punished. Charlie puts up with this because Hunter is a good soldier. But Hunter also knows when to fall back into line. The woman is a born and bred American, having gone hunting with her Dad and two brothers she's a very good shot. She puts most of the men in the UNC to shame for this fact. She's worked her way up to Lieutenant with good combat skills too. But she can be hot headed at times and will let her arrogance get ahead of her at times.

This is all I know about her so far and this is through her attitudes and interactions with the rest of the crew. The part about her being a good shot because of hunting with her family? I've only just decided to add that in there. With Hunter I've made sure that although she's a damn good soldier, she has an attitude that will get into trouble more times then not. This severe flaw in her personality makes her seem like a living breathing human being. How many people do you know that let their arrogance get to their heads?

Let me show you a second character:

Corporal Patrick Nelson. The second Doctor on board the ship. 

He has a brotherly friendship with McCallister and will often call him "Cally" to rile him. He uses this playful banter to break up the too serious attitudes of other soldiers and helps to be a friendly face for the crew. He and Hunter occasionally will come to odds and ends but once the matter is resolved they partake in silly wagers. ("Whoever could hit the other first, no pads or anything, would make the other buy two rounds of drinks of their choosing." - direct quote.) His childish nature disappears when it comes down to doing his job of fixing the injured. 

This is as far as I've gotten with his character so far but the friendly banter helps to make him a likable character. The silly wagers instills the idea that even characters can have bad ideas and that a medical Doctor aboard a ship in space is no exception. 

Keep in mind that readers want your characters to appear human. Humans have flaws. Give your characters flaws to shape them into being real and you will get a lot further.