Creating Characters

When I took intro to fiction writing, my teacher us that writing was like playing God. I didn't know until recently that she stole that quote from a tv show. I had never really given that quote much thought, but it is true. When you write you build the world and the characters. You give them actions, personality, motives. You're the reason they succeed or fail. For me the hardest part about creating a character is forming their personality. Their motives and actions are always clearer to me than their personality. I have to think about the way they talk, dress, and act. I have to think about their reactions to things and why they feel that way. It's like looking at a real person and trying to figure out everything about them. The character has to have interests, even doing something like making them wear a band t-shirt develops them a little more. They usually wouldn't wear a band t-shirt unless they liked said band, or if there is another reason they would usually explain that in dialog. Example: I'm wearing my friend's shirt, I spilled something on mine. If they have no interests outside of the story they are not interesting, and no one will want to read about them. Although building characters is the hardest thing about writing, I also enjoy it the most. I like getting to know my characters. I usually keep a notebook and make notes for each character and just refer to it when I need to.