I'm going to go more in depth in what I did to craft my two protagonists. In another article, I will tackle what it took to craft my antagonists. But for now, let's start with...

Crafting my Protagonists

Creating a protagonist is a process. There are a few steps that I will go through that leads me to my protagonists and I will lead you through them. It is important that your protagonists stand out and don't just blend into the framework of your narrative. The first rule is they need to be interesting to you! If they aren't interesting to you how can you expect them to be interesting to anyone else?

Giving Them Archetypes

What is an archetype?

I think of an archetype like the creamy center of a piece of candy. It is the basis for the motivations of your characters and their interactions with the world. It is a broad set of characteristics that the character has, sort of a foundation we can build upon. These are some of the common types of archetypical characters that I look at when creating my characters:

The Hero - This one is easy. Brave and true, he quests to improve the world. The hero has filled the pages of comic books since the beginning of time. He stands up for what is right and does not allow evil to fester. Examples: Sir Gawain(Arthurian legend), Superman, Optimus Prime(Transformers), Aragorn(Lord of the Rings).
The Everyperson - This is the normal person. Someone that your audience can relate and connect to throughout your story. Essential the average joe thrown into extraordinary circumstances. They tend to have an overwhelming need to belong. Examples: Terry McGuinness(Batman Beyond), Rogue(X-men), Ron Weasley(Harry Potter), Bilbo Baggins(The Hobbit).
The Caregiver - Character that is motivated by a need to assist others. They tend towards altruism and lend a hand with no expectation of repayment. Examples: Mother Theresa, Obi Wan Kenobi(Star Wars), Marry Poppins, Leigh Anne Tuohy (The Blindside)
The Innocent - This character is full of eternal optimism and boundless energy. They tackle life with the purest of intentions. They are paragons of virtue. Examples: Kaylee (Firefly), Kronk(Emperor's New Groove), Giselle(Enchanted), Forrest Gump.
The Orphan - These characters are pragmatists. They have had to grow up fast and are independant. Orphans seek safety and security but tend to have gruff exteriors. Now, most people bundle this in with the Everyman, but I think of them as two different archetypes. Examples: Peter Pan, Oliver Twist, Dean Winchester(Supernatural), Batman.
The Wizard - Someone with extraordinary abilities, not necessarily magical. But then, not necessarily unmagical. These characters are visionaries and wish to evoke change in the world around them. Examples: Gandalf(Lord of the Rings), Merlin(Arthurian legend), Darth Vader(Star Wars), Reed Richards(Fantastic 4).
The Explorer - This character is a seeker, always looking to find its true self. They are characters that will always want to do things themselves. They need no motivation to find out what is just around the bend. Examples: James T. Kirk(Star Trek), Indiana Jones, Alan Quatermain(King Solomon's Mines), Captain Nemo(20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).
The Lover - They seek true love. It is in them that we see that love is possible and even hopeful. These characters can go beyond a traditional "lover" and represent the love of life or friendship also, for example. Examples: Prince Charming(Snow White), Samwise Gamgee(Lord of the Rings) Lassie, Romeo and Juliet.
The Sage - The wise old cook, the hermit, or the sage upon the mountain. Also known as the Mentor, the Sage is a character with information to impart. Examples: Luke Skywalker(The Force Awakens), Bishop(Waiting), Professor X(X-men), Dumbledore(Harry Potter).
The Outlaw - The loveable rogue. The man who stands against the establishment for the common man. These strike a chord with the part of us that wishes to defy the world. They are known for using questionable means to achieve their goal of liberation. Examples: Billy the Kid(Young Guns), Robin Hood, Tris(Divergent), Moon Knight(Moon Knight comics).
The Jester - This archetype uses humor to highlight the hypocrisy of the world around us. Often we can take hard truths when given to us through the mouth of the Jester. Examples: Austin Powers, Dori(Finding Nemo), Random(Chronicles of Amber), Jane(Firefly).

Now you are telling yourself those aren't all the archetypes, not even all the common ones. This is absolutely true. These are the main ones I focus on while creating a protagonist. Others, like the Ruler, are better suited for either side characters or antagonists.

Understand that a character doesn't necessarily fall into only one archetype. Many of the archetypes overlap often with one another. Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire was not only a Caregiver but a Jester.

So, let's look at my character Theresa. I'm going to make her an Orphan. She will be a realist, which makes it hard for her to accept her destiny. Underlying this will be a need to belong to something greater than herself so she will be secretly excited. Her pragmatism will manifest itself in her willingness to suspend her disbelief while her life is threatened.

Ghost Dog will be different, he will combine two archetypes: The Hero and the Destroyer. I know, I didn't mention that one. It is because I feel that it is usually a villain archetype. Ghost Dog will be the Hero, straight and true, willing to risk life and limb to accomplish his goal and make the world a better place. He will also have issues with anger control. This makes him the Destroyer. His actions and words will sometimes be dictated by a rage that he cannot always control.

Defining my Characters Goals

But my characters already have a goal, it is the plot of the novel! While that may be true, characters also have goals defined by their personalities. Think of an organization like Greenpeace. Overall, they have the same goal, yet each individual will have personal goals that, while remaining within the purview of the overarching goal, will be different from person to person.

My characters are individuals and as such have their own wants and desires which effects the way they do things and go about their lives.

For Theresa, her goals will be survival and belonging. Now, I have to ask myself why does she wish those things. Survival is a bit self-explanatory. While she wishes to attain her goal, her goal is to survive this fantastic adventure. Belonging is not so self-explanatory. Part of the reason I've chosen this is because of her age. As a teenager, one of the major goals is to feel like one belongs. We never really lose that trait but it becomes less noticeable as we get older. The second reason is that she lives on the fringes of her peer social group. Not really an outsider but not really fully accepted. That makes her thirst to belong.

Ghost Dog. Oh, Ghost Dog. He is the Hero so his ultimate goal will be to complete his quest. One of his minor goals includes showing up those around him. We will discuss this more fully during the next part, but suffice it to say that he is prideful. He will also have the goal of redeeming himself. Sometime in the past, he failed and almost everything about him centers around this one goal. He is driven by it.

Character Quirks, Flaws, and Traits

We are getting to the fun stuff! Creating a character is more than crafting witty dialogue or extensive character description. I want my characters to live and breathe. To do that, I have to give them more than two dimensions.

Let's start with quirks. Quirks are something that identifies a character easily. One Firefly, Zoe was always shown cleaning her guns. Not only was this a character quirk, it showed that she was always preparing for battle. These are habits, eccentricities, etc... that are the characters. For Theresa, she has a huge online presence. She spends most of her time online thus she has accrued a list of skills and associations from that. This will show itself in her always posting things or when she is in doubt, finding an online compatriot to assist her. Ghost Dog, on the other hand, is more of a Luddite. Not entirely, but he relies on nature and his own skills more than technology. These aren't all the quirks, but in the interest of space, I'm not going to go into them. I believe that a good character has one or two quirks they can be identified with easily. Don't overdo it, or your character will go from quirky to just plain weird.

Flaws. Flaws can make a story. How many of us would read if Superman didn't have a weakness to Kryptonite? To start with, flaws should be real. Let me specify. If you are going to give a character a flaw then it should actively hinder the character in some meaningful way. Otherwise you are just tricking your audience and eventually, they will catch on. Theresa will be socially awkward and deal with a high level of anxiety. During the story, this will manifest in her having panic attacks and freezing during crucial moments. She will also sometimes say things just to get the attention off of her. Ghost Dog suffers from an ignorance of social niceties and rage. This makes it harder for him to convince others to help. His rage monster also shows up at times when he needs to react rationally to a situation.

Traits are different from quirks in that they are not something specific but a broader attribute. The reason I separate traits from quirks, I think of quirks as something identifiable while traits show character commonalities. When I say quirk, only one character will have it, when I say trait, multiple characters will show a common strain through that trait maybe. Many characters could be taciturn but only one character is mute.

For Theresa, I will make her inquisitive, a dreamer, and a skeptic. Ghost Dog will be taciturn, serious, and without humor.

To put this all together, Theresa is the Orphan. She is driven by central desires to belong to something. This manifests in a life that she has created for herself online because her anxiety makes one in the real world hard. She doesn't like to be the center of attention. Her anxiety also manifests in her choice not to overextend herself and try new things. She fears to fail, especially around other people. Because she is pragmatic, she lives her life mostly online, it is where she has the most friends but she always dreams of doing something that will make other people accept her even though she's scared to death of failing such an endeavor. From spending much of her time online, she has learned not to trust anything and is skeptically of anything that she cannot see facts about. Online has opened her eyes to some wonderful things and she loves learning new things all the time.

Ghost Dog failed sometime in the past. This is the driving characteristic of his personality. He is taciturn because he doesn't believe that much of anyone has anything worthwhile to say. The failure in his past also gave him a deep-seated rage that he finds hard to control at times. He is somewhat of a Luddite, only using the convenience of transportation in the form of a motorcycle, but otherwise loves relying on his own skills. Looks down on people and their addiction to technology. Is reckless because he failed once and that broke him, now he has vowed that he shall not repeat such a thing. He is dogged and will not stop, even on pain of death, until he has succeeded.

I think that is enough today, in the next few days there will be a second part that will deal with powers and physical descriptions. Hope you will all catch it when it comes out!