so, *sits down in chair* you want to write a harry potter fanfic. but you need a character, well just sit your little booties down cause I'm about to help y'all out.

step one; come up with the character!

now I know what you're all thinking. "wow really mae? I had no idea. stop being freaking annoying and go do something productive with your life." And I will reply, "I know, I know. But it's just the start. Also, don't be rude."

But really, coming up with a character is the key step. (duh)

And you can come up with characters anywhere. I literally created Tori Silvers after reading a taken plot from a plot shop!

Now, here's a quick note! being inspired by something is WAY different than completely coping something. I was inspired to write a Fred Weasley fanfic from the plot shop, but the characters and the plot are entirely different. There is no connection in any way shape or form that those between Tori and whatever the character's name was.

Creating a character is a little hard, but use yourself as a base. What would you do? Your character, whenever you realize it or not, is based on a part of you. You are your character so think like them!

Start with the basics, and I'll take you through them!

Name?
Age/year?
Birthday?
Death day?
Gender?
Siblings?
Looks?
Faceclaim?
House?

For names, don't use popular names today like "Ava" or "Tiffany." Basically don't use American names unless your characters from America, (a rant for another day). Look up some 1990's British names, or even look up some super different names for your characters. (Ex. Tori's sisters name is Dove, while her brother's name is Avalon)

Age and year is all depending when your story takes place. Also look up what was happening at Hogwarts during the time. The website "Fandom Wiki" is fantastic for that kind of stuff.

Birthday and Death day are something you can kind of add later, but it depends on your initial plans.

Gender is pretty self explanatory, and so is siblings.

Looks/faceclaims, use some unused faceclaims. There are loads of wattpad books with people who are never used. But depending in the year or love interest, make sure your not using a 50 year old to date Ron Weasley in their third year.

You can right away decide your character's house or think as your character and take the test online. I did this with one of my characters Andy, (a Charlie Weasley story for another day)

Now that you have that done, start thinking more about your character. What do they like? What do they hate? This will help form your character to someone you can truly understand.

Likes?
Dislikes?
Interests?
Background?
Relationships?

I'm just going to talk about relationships really quick. Make sure they work. Seriously, I don't think Voldemort's daughter, who's dedicated her entire life to hating muggle borns is going to be besties with Hermione. Or a Hufflepuff who's terrified of everything is going to date Tom Riddle. (A RANT FOR ANOTHER DAY CAUSE OH BOY-)

It can be as simple as that, With more thinking, you can really connect your character to yourself. Take pieces of yourself that maybe you haven't even explored and flesh them out. That's one of the most important parts of creating characters.

EXAMPLE!
Now, I'm not saying my story Friendless is great. Cause it's not. But I like to reflect Tori off of me sometimes.

She goes through a lot. Her family turning their backs on her, her classmates even not getting along with her. These are things that seem fine at first, but as the story goes on you see how they really affect Tori. It isn't till Tori's second year that she processes it and has a hard cry about it.

These are also going to affect the relationships she builds and how she interacts with others as well.

Your character can't be perfect, you don't want them to end up overshadowing anyone else. So yes, Tori's smart but definitely not as smart as Hermione. Hermione uses her wits to save Harry and Ron, while Tori uses them to blow up toilets with the twins.

Cause they like "Study? Nah fam."
(But it was said in the beginning they actually got pretty good marks)

Make your character different!! No one is going to find your story interesting if your character is just like everyone else's.

Make them have loads of friends, make them hate the golden trio, make them dislike the Weasley twins (unfortunately I could never), make them like Draco, make them hate Cedric Diggory, MAKE THEM NOT CARE AT ALL ABOUT THE GOLDEN TRIO AND DO THOSE BACKGROUND CHARACTER THINGS.
Make. them. different!

Make the believable!

Make the readers be able to imagine your character sitting in a Hogwarts class behind Harry. Make them seem like they would be sitting in their common room relaxing cause, that's what everyone does.

TIP #1: MAKE GOOD CHARACTERS

mae says~
That's all for now!
Hope this gave you guys a good start!