Hi everyone!
I am curious, how do y’all create your characters? What steps and processes do you follow? When are you satisfied with s character you’re creating? :3
I usually have an idea of personality first, then I start playing around to see what name and species would fit. Then the species becomes part of the character, which is a big help when visualising facial expressions, mannerisms etc. As for when I’m satisfied, I suppose when I can picture them and hear their voice when I’m writing them. I’m not the kind of person who writes down everyone’s favourite food and what happened in their childhood.
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With furry writing, I usually start with species. I’ll come up with a few background facts to act as guidelines and then kinda fill in the blanks as I go. Sometimes I’ll base a character on someone I know, but I usually do a lot of improvising even then.
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Backstories are difficult to write!
Having a reference to build your character from does help a lot 
I kind of ask myself what situation I want to see them in, and then begin backfilling from there. It’s probably not a very good way of doing it.
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I guess I usually just come up with a rough idea first (e.g., this character will be strong and confident, or this character will be sassy, or whatever), and then just riff on that given the situations they fall into in the story. Over time they start to become something more solid in my mind, and then if I need to I just go back and do some edits to make certain traits stronger or weaker, make some of their reactions to certain events more surprising to help bring out some depth, and so forth. I’m satisfied when I start to really enjoy writing the character—simple as that.
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Function is very important! I guess that is what gives a character reason to be there :3
I think that can be effective though, maybe it helps build the situation too!
I usually have to write down my characters’ details, because I tend to forget them xD
I do a lot of “pantsing”, aside from the main characters most of my characters are created on the fly the moment the tangent my story has wandered into needs them.
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Yeah, defining characters is difficult without resorting to archetypes. Sometimes I only really discover who a character is during the journey, rather than when I start out. The best way for me in doing that is by experimenting with how a character reacts to another character or situation.
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That’s good, I should practice doing the same!
Ironically I read an article that mentioned archetypes, I think they are a great tool in character creation :3