My Writing Process - Part 2 - The Creation of Characters

Ahhh yes the creation of characters, the ability to set out a cast of people who all need to be unique not only in looks, but also in personality and such.  People alone are very complex to try and create, I mean do we really know everything about the people around us in real life?  Now try coming up with an array of characters where me, the author, has to know them, their ins and outs, their flaws, what makes them tick, even down to their sexual orientation.
Now this would be easier if all my characters were just from one planet, but instead they are from many, so now I have to create entire planets and where I have, I don't always go into detail, but with respect to Acronia, yes that culture is well developed, while Dubrilla, not much is ever mentioned at this point.  Hell I haven't covered much of the history of Veloxora, but a lot of these things will be dealt with through the novels as needed.
Naming is another thing, I have been criticized for using so-called comic book names in many places, but this is explained, and I don't give a flying fuck what people want to discuss concerning names.  I have evolved some of the names, for instance, Preacher's real name is revealed, as is Remi's.  And for that matter, Jeb Dogonabar was once known only as Hunter, while Roloxus Dranlox (introduced in Triumvirate) was for a long time just known as Bounty.  Canes got a real name as well, but one has to get to the heart of the cultures in which these characters grew up, and keep in mind, some of the characters in Desperation are 110 000 years old and grew up in a much different galaxy, as well as different purposes.
But all in all, this entry does link into the one on First Draft and such, as honestly, I don't always develop the cultures until somewhere around the 7th or 8th draft (yes that is how much I spend on editing).
Now so far I have only been talking about the humans.  Yes my world has aliens in it, many species in fact, but it will be quite some time before I reveal what truly happened to them and why they seem to be absent in Desperation and Triumvirate.  So now, add in all of the shit I did for humans, but on top of that I have to come up with alien cultures, aliens that look like aliens, how ancient are they, and what weird physiology do they have (I still remember an argument I had with my buddy Trevor Patrick over whether or not to make some critter that is not marsupial here on Earth, but making it marsupial-like and writing it into the culture.  The tack I took in that argument was that Pruchovia was not Earth and therefore our rules don't strictly apply).  I really have a lot of respect for the writers who developed the Klingon language.
So at the end of the day, it takes a damned lot of work to set up characters, and often I do base some of my characters on people I know as it makes it easier.  But for the most part, most of mine are from scratch, especially Lons and Skardo, as the only real criminal I ever knew is likely long dead (he went away for murder when I was around 10 and he was already in his late 50s).  So I always appreciate those that can write a novel and bring on in some good characters.

Yup, it is all this and much more!!