building characters

[oshi]

I love to write; I live to write--and a huge part of writing involves creating characters that you like enough to be able to write. To me, a character needs to be well-rounded and personal, with quirks, specialties, and unique traits, but also a believable being. They need likes and dislikes, habits, and other little, mundane things that help to make them who they are.
When I looked at it, I realized that I actually have a process that I go through to create the inhabitants to my internal worlds.
First, I acknowledge the purpose for forming another character: are they supposed to be the protagonist, or a minor character's wife?
Then I pick out a name. I have to like the name, because it will become the embodiment of that character. I don't usually like to pick common names, just because Tom or Frank doesn't sound very interesting to me. (I like Peter, though, for some reason. :))
Then a birthday, and I use astrology to help me with the rest of it. This is really the most important part. There's a plethora of traits to run through, and depending on what fits and what doesn't (though it usually all does), I can sculpt a character out of a name and a date. Like magic!
Then I like to draw them. I'm not yet very good at descriptions, so this gives me a way to identify them and illustrate what exactly it is that's going on in my head when I picture them. Drawing them in different poses gives me an idea of their posture, movement, and disposition, too; as well as improving my drawing skills.
Actually writing them into the story comes in at any point between these little checkpoints, I guess. But I usually follow this pattern with all of my main characters.

How do all of you make up the people who become your best friends? *grin* I know battlers and RPGers can relate; you've got to love to write to commit to a word-based game.
oshi