Writers of fiction- how do you come up with more characters

What a coincidence! I'm currently working on starting a fictional blog. I don't think it's going to work... for many reasons, but anyway... Do you write much fiction? I don't generally find coming up with other characters too difficult in 'ordinary' fiction. Just do the same as you normally would. For some, setting down a list of people that the character needs to interact with would work; several friends, a boss, a couple of 'enemies' etc. Focus on each one, give them a general personality, then create some 'quirks', something that will make them more 'real' and so more interesting. For me, developing characters happens just as I write them. I do a LOT of re-writes though, lol Can I ask; will you be informing your readers that your blog is fictional?

Just write them. If you do they will become more real. Write about the more real ones and they will become even more real. So: you person talks about meeting "x" and they talked about "so & so" or they did something together You develop chracters as you meet them, don't worry too much about them, just give them depth and they will soon be as real as your first one.

When I used to write fiction in my younger days I would base characters from people from my past, obviously I wouldn't give them the same names but I would change them about, depending on what sort of character they were, if I needed a bully in my story I would remember a name from my schooldays and base the character on them, it worked a treat, it was also therapeutic too because if something bad happened in the story then it would happen to the bully for example. I did lots of stories and found it great playing the creator as it were where you could make great things happen to some and horrid things to others. So a lot of my inspiration was from my past and that was how I come up with different characters, people who have appeared in your past make great characters for stories because you can picture them clearly in your head which makes it easy to describe them in the story!

The main character of my novel is one of my favorite names. So, I made it my "Main Character". The other characters are names of my friends or classmates. Sometimes, I invented the name especially the names of the demon and spirit characters.

If I am stuck I usually turn to the internet. Look up character generators that will, if not give you a character, will atleast give you ideas for your own!

when I am stuck with no ideas.. I take a break and free my mind for a day or two.. Then I will just refresh my memory about the main character and automatically I get new ideas regarding the other characters as if they were already present there.. just that I was blind to their presence.. This usually works for me..

It's rather easy for me, I make up my characters surrounding my plot rather than the main character. Then I do what you do in your blog, only on a worksheet. The minor characters just come into play as I write. If I do get stuck, I will look at pictures on the net to give me ideas, or look up names in the phone book. Just writing down some brainstorming ideas for about 15-20 minutes works too; as well as spending time freewriting. But building a plot around your main character is probably the best way to work in other characters, that way you know what/who you need to make the story work. Best of luck to you.

An interesting discussion and I've read the other responses with interest, having written my own novel, so far unpublished. I found that the other characters appear as needed by the plot and the background and character of each person grows as needed to support the plot. It's the plot that forms the foundation of the story and that should indicate what supporting characters are needed and how they should act. as the story progresses you will find that other characters appear and sometimes seem to take on a life of there own so that a character who you intended to only take a minor role in the story, take over and become more important, generating a sub - plot that you had not originally thought of.

Well one great way to come up with a character is from personal experience. If you've ever known/met someone with a memorable personality or something, then defeniatly use it! My dad is always talking about some of the people he meets at the hospital he works at =P lol. Some ery interesting people in real life you can look at. Another thing I do is just think of someone I would like to know, or like to be. Someone that you could really look up to. You know yourself well, right? =P What kind of person do you want to succeed....or kill off? lol And you can always use characters from other books as inspiration. If you read a book and there is a character you are particularly drawn to (a flat or round character) then use a piece of them in your own character! =) I hope I've helped you!! =)

When I write fiction, I first of all create a characters profile. I write down - date of birth (this gives an indication of what era the character was born in and can colour his view of the world). I state what school he went to and how he did there - did he go to university, or did he prove to be a drop out). What career did he choose and did it change. And what does he do now. It never failed to amaze me that as I described this character, as story seemed to automatically be born with him. :-)

I like reading books. Some of time I make me up the one in them in my mind. I think if you want to formate a vivid character, you maybe become imaginational or have experienced life.