Coming up with characters can be a very fun part of writing your story and can sometimes even shape how your plot progresses. Characters are a very important part of a story because that is something the audience gets themselves connected to. The main character is the most important because the audience is seeing the story through their eyes so it's important to make the audience connect with this character. The problem is how do you start creating a character that has that much importance to the plot.
A great way to start with the character is to write the plot first. This helps because you can base your character around the plot in turn this makes the character a lot more connected to the story. This can help tie the character within the plot. From here you can think about how the character will affect the plot and how involved they are in your story. For example, if the character is based in a fantasy world how is the character going to interact with that world? What is their purpose within the story? Are they a hero or antihero? These are very important things that should be thought about when making your protagonist.
If you have done the character first and are stuck on any part of that character it's good to move on to doing the plot. By doing the plot you can see how those traits of the character tie into the plot and see what you need to add to the character to enhance their involvement within the story. Ask yourself how would your character interact with other characters? how would your character react to certain situations? Asking these questions can give you an idea of what is missing in the character and what you need to add in to give them more agency.
A motive for the character needs to be given or else the audience doesn't have much to root for. It can be as simple as the character having to defeat an enemy, to them having to fall in love, or maybe it's a complicated heist. These motives can help drive the character towards the goal because if that character doesn't have a goal then there's no character development for them to go through. This is one of the most important things a character has to have to help them progress through the story.
If you have an idea about your antagonist you can think about what is the opposite of your antagonist. How is that going to tie within the story to cause the most conflict? Having opposite characters that clash helps the audience relate to both sides and it makes the characters a lot more relatable. Having an interesting antagonist can help drive the protagonist's motives and can make the hero a lot more of a realistic character. Think about the differences between the protagonist and antagonist, how that can make the conflict between them a lot more exciting, and how this can push character development for the protagonist.
A good example of a good protagonist and antagonist dynamic is in Star Wars and Batman. Using the example of Star Wars the protagonist has a close connection with the antagonist even though he doesn't know that until later in the series. This adds conflict between both sides building up the anticipation within the plot. Within Batman, The Joker takes joy in misery in hurting others whereas Batman fights for justice in Gotham city. IANBATMAN99 on rampages mentions that "With Batman and the Joker, you have to consider both characters individually before you can see how their characters play off of each other in their world of Gotham City." This dynamic between the two is what makes both characters so iconic. Finding what you're antagonist's strengths are can help especially when working on the weaknesses of your main protagonist.
Written work before? Maybe think of characters that you haven't worked on before. That could push you out of your comfort zone and challenge you to write a new and compelling character. For example, if the main characters that you usually write are female then maybe try writing a male character. This can help broaden your horizon on the types of characters you write. It can also give you a new twist on your story depending on the type of character you're writing. This can sometimes affect how the character interacts with other characters making the story more interesting to the audience.
The most important point when it comes to character creation is to consider how the audience is going to connect to this character. Doing research can really help make the character feel realistic and understandable. If you want to go more in-depth with your character try looking into other characters that you love and analyzing them. This can give you an idea of what you like about those characters so that you can incorporate those traits within your characters. Analyzing characters that audiences love can help with finding out how an audience can connect to a character and you can then use that within your own work to improve your character.
In conclusion, there are many ways that you can come up with characters. It's always a good idea to pay close attention to what role you want your character to play within the story. All these tips discuss how your character affects the plot around them and how the audience can connect to it which is one of the most important things to think about when it comes to making a character. Finding out how that audience can connect to your character is also very important because they will be seeing the plot through your character's eyes.