When I write and a character introduces themself to me I only get the briefest of outlines and glimpses into their character and personality. Over time I discover more and more about them as they show me just who they are. Their backgrounds, beliefs and motivations come into view as I go.
Many writers will say that you need to outline the whole story and draw up brief bios about your characters and a whole lot of other extra work. That certainly doesn’t sound like a lot of fun now does it?
What I like to do is learn about the character along the way. I don’t write bios or anything. When they get put into a sticky situation I like to see how they react on their own. Sometimes I’m rather surprised.
For example, Guggenheim is a far worse person than I first thought. A very, very bad person indeed.
What I really like is the fact that I didn’t know just how bad he was, but I’m rapidly getting the full picture based on his actions.
At the same time some of the other characters’ personalities are becoming clearer as well and while I’m not exactly sure of their motivations yet, I do have some pretty hot plot twists coming up.
Plus I’ve got some conflict developing on multiple levels due to these character personalities.
Flaws are also important. No one is perfect and so characters must have flaws. These flaws might make them react illogically, i.e. realistically, just like you or I might react illogically given a certain set of circumstances. This is important because it makes the reader think “oh what the hell are you doing? Don’t go into that dark basement alone in your tight white tank top and panties with a flashlight…you KNOW the killer is down there.” And that means the reader is emotionally invested in the well-being of the character which is what I want as a writer.