The last piece in the Character puzzle is Attitude. You may wonder why attitude is included in the Appearance section. You can see what the character looks like. You can see where the character lives and how her living space is laid out and decorated. You can’t see an attitude. Or can you?

Attitude is the character’s consistent disposition or dominant impression. Say you’ve got a friend, Robbie. And he is Mr. Bad News. No matter what happens, he can put a negative spin on it. It could be your birthday and he’d mutter, “Another year gone that you’re never getting back.” He usually has a somber expression, more frown than anything. He walks slowly, his shoulders hunched as if waiting for someone to hit him. He squints a bit with a permanent crease between his eyes.

Do you see Robbie’s attitude? Yep, it’s Negativity. He exudes it in how he stands, walks, everything he says, even how he says it.

Figuring out your character’s attitude will give you a handle on how that character moves through each scene in your story. It gives you a starting place for what a character might say or do in response to the story events.

To select an attitude for your character, take a look at the character’s personality. Is there an element there that provides a dominant impression for your character? Perhaps her analytical tendencies have become a compulsion and she analyzes everything and everyone around her.

Look at your character’s history. What life events have shaped him and how does he feel about them? Did a bad childhood leave her with a timid disposition or a chip on her shoulder? Is the world her rose garden or is today just another ho hum day?

Find the attitude that your character wears day in and day out and use it to make your character memorable.

And this brings us to the end of the Character Creation Made Easy series. I hope you enjoyed it and found some tools that will help you create your next character.

Have a suggestion for a writing series you’d like to see? Leave me a note in the comments. I love a challenge!

Along with an appearance for your character, you’ll need to determine his or her surroundings. That usually means the place where they live. But if you’re like me, you probably have limited experience in housing. All of the places I’ve lived have generally fallen into a middle-class range. Nothing very run-down or poor and certainly nothing ritzy. So what do you do if your character lives somewhere vastly different from you? Here are some options for getting the details you need.

Neighborhood
Start by looking around your own city to see if there are areas of it that are suitable to your character’s needs. While your own neighborhood may not be right (too rich, too poor, too average), you might find something that will work for your story close to home. The People or Living section of the local newspaper might have feature articles on specific neighborhoods as well. An online chamber of commerce site can provide good information as well.

Home Shows
Many communities offer tours of newly constructed homes to the public. Take along a camera and snap pictures of the latest in quality living. You can often find details on local shows through the chamber of commerce.

Apartment Buildings
Large apartment complexes often have different layouts to their units and floor plan maps showing the different choices. Or ask to have a tour of their model apartment or a vacant one, if available.

Realtor Websites
Online photos and virtual tours of houses that are currently for sale are becoming more popular. Check out the websites of your local real estate companies and see if you can find a house that suits your character. This works especially well if your character lives in a different city or state.

Hotel Websites
Is your character planning to visit Las Vegas or some other city, try checking out the hotel websites in the area. In Vegas, you can view floor plans and photos of the rooms in the MGM Grand to the Bellagio. If your character’s tastes and finances are more modest, you can also view photos for motels like Super 8 or Holiday Inn.

Furniture Stores
Once you’ve determined the housing for your character, you need to furnish it. An afternoon in a furniture store can provide some great ideas. Take a camera along to record your findings.

Home Improvement Stores
Another option is to hang out at a home improvement store. Many have displays of kitchen and bath designs that might just fit your character’s home. And maybe you’ll get an idea for that hobby project your character is working on… remodeling a bathroom, anyone?

Decorating Magazines
This is another good source for pictures of rooms where your character might spend his or her leisure time. Use the different photos to build a home for your character.

As with other aspects of character building, try to select a few key details about your character’s environment to draw a picture for your readers of who your character is.

Next up, the final piece in the character puzzle. Stay tuned!

Coming up with a physical description for your character is sometimes the easiest part of creating a character. It’s very common for a writer to visualize a character first and then be stuck with trying to come up with a personality or a good motivation for the character. But if you have trouble coming up with the “right” look for a character, here are some places to check:

Hairstyle Sites
While they usually feature the “beautiful people” these sites can have some extreme, but interesting, models for your character. I like Friseur. It appears to be a German site (which I don’t speak), and it has some great pictures of models with unique hair styles (and colors). Even if you can’t read German, click some of the links and look around. If you’re doing a fantasy or scifi type story, you’ll want to check out the 2007 Trends and 2008 Trends.

For more conventional looks try Matrix or Hairstyle Design.

Model Sites

Again, these sites often highlight the pretty people, but they can also be a treasure trove of photos of more regular-looking folks. Look for sites that allow people to upload their own photos in hopes of being chosen as a model. I like New Faces. Click on the Model tab and then scroll to the bottom of the page. There’s a search function there that lets you enter gender, age range, hair color, skin color and body type. The search results will give you a wide variety of faces to choose from.

Face Generators

Can’t find a real person that looks like your character? Make your own face. Singular Inversions have a free download available for FaceGen. (You’ll get their logo on the character’s forehead, but if it is just for you, who cares?)

The Perception Lab’s Face Transformer lets you load a digital picture and then change the age, race or sex of the facial image.

Sketch Generator lets you upload a photo and it will create a “sketch”-like abstraction of it. This can be useful if you have a model or hairstyle picture that is close, but not just right for your character. Maybe a sketch would be better for bringing the character to life.

Try using one of these methods when you need to put a face on your character.

Here’s another way to think about motivating your character.

Step One – Core Need
Start with a Core Need, preferably one that developed in childhood. For inspiration, check out the post on 16 Basic Needs or the one on Desires and Fears. They both mention things that could be used as a core need for your character.

You want a need that is of utmost importance to your character, but not necessarily one that they are aware of. In fact, it is probably better that they know nothing about it, but it still drives them on. If your character is exceedingly self-aware, he or she could be aware of the need, but helpless to break its hold over their thoughts and behaviors. Or perhaps they merely accept it as part of themselves – “This is the way I am.”

Step Two – Inner Wound
Next, create an Inner Wound for the character. This is a traumatic event that happened in your character’s past that deeply wounded him or her. And remember that traumatic does not have to mean violent. A thirteen-year-old who is ridiculed and humiliated by his classmates for his attempt at writing a story would feel just as violated as someone who had been physically attacked.

If the wound has some connection to the character’s core need, even better.

Step Three – Outer Goal
Taking these two items – the core need and the inner wound – you want to examine your story setting and determine a goal for your character. The outer goal is an intentional one that the character sets out deliberately to attain.

Step Four – Inner Goal
The last piece is the Inner Goal. It is related to the Outer Goal usually, but probably isn’t one that the character is fully aware of. It subconsciously drives the character’s thoughts and actions.

Sound complicated to put together? Let me give you an example from one of my own story ideas.

My character is a teenager in a fantasy setting. Her core need is to belong. While growing up, that need is met by her family. But as she hits her late teens, she develops a magical “gift”. The people in her village consider it to be a curse. They kill her father and banish her mother and siblings to a meager, dirt-scraping existence. This is her Inner Wound – her family was destroyed because of her very own nature.

To spare her remaining family any further harm, she leaves them and strikes out on her own. Her Outer Goal is to find others like herself, to see if there is anyone else with a “gift”.

Her Inner Goal, the one that she isn’t really aware of is to bind those others into a family, to keep them safe and whole. Her Inner Goal reflects her Core Need – to belong. Since she lost her real family, she’ll create her own family to belong to.

If you asked her what her Inner Goal was, she couldn’t tell you, but you’d see the effects of it in her actions. After she had located others like herself, she would be constantly striving to keep them together, and to find a place of safety for all.

With these four pieces of information, you can build a character that will be motivated to take immediate action.

As a bonus, you can use them to do a little plotting as well. Since you know her Outer Goal and Inner Goal, it is easy to come up with ways to thwart her efforts.

For example:

• Prevent her from finding others (they all hide their own gifts for fear of discovery)
• Once she finds some, prevent her from rescuing them from their current circumstance
• Let issues divide her new “family” – instability, power struggles, members leaving
• Make her a pariah in the new family or have her cast out of the group she formed
• Have the group/family under constant threat of attack

Each of these obstacles creates numerous possibilities for plot events. And the events that happen will give your character some realistic reasons to keep on struggling. She has to fulfill her core need, after all. Give this method a try and see how it works for your characters.

The next method for finding a motivation for your character comes from an article in the July 2006 issue of The Writer magazine. “How to Create Convincing Characters” by Corey Blake gives some great ideas for motivating your character.

Step One – Define Desire Essences
The first step is to determine the desire essences of your main character. These are the deep aspirations that drive our choices, actions and thoughts. These needs differentiate us from others. Some examples are: the desire to be intellectually brilliant, the desire to be famous, the desire to hide from the world, the desire to belong to a group, the desire to be loved, the desire to party, the desire to die.

Blake recommends that you write down 20 desire essences for your character. You don’t have to use them all, but you want a good profile to choose from when creating your character. When determine your desire essences, look to the character’s ethnicity, religious beliefs, and major life events. Address sex, drugs, music, parents, siblings, education, appearance and intelligence.

Step Two – Define Fear Essences
Step two is to write down the fear essences of your character. These are the exact opposite of the desire essences. For example, if you have a desire to be famous, you will also have a fear of being ordinary. Here are the fear essences that match the desire essences mentioned above:

desire to be intellectually brilliant = fear of being stupid
desire to be famous = fear of being ordinary
desire to hide from the world = fear of being socially exposed
desire to belong to a group = fear of being rejected by a group
desire to be loved = fear of being loathed
desire to party = fear of being boring
desire to die = fear of having to face life

Write down the fear essences that match the desire essences you already have. Then rework and refine the list down to ten desires and fears that really excite you. These are the ones to use for your character.

Step Three – Write Backstory Scenes
You can then take this exercise a step further and create backstory for your character that clearly illustrates each of these desires and fears. Come up with five moments in your character’s life when each of the ten essence pairs was tested and either the fear or the desire won out. A failure support the fear; a success supports the desire.

Your character will likely be unaware of these defining moments in his life and how each one influences his future thoughts, attitudes and actions. But as the writer, you can use these backstory scenes to make your character richer and more detailed.

Step Four – Describe Current Behaviors
Using the ten essence pairs and the backstory scenes, determine current behaviors the character might exhibit. For example, our character that desires to be famous and fears being ordinary may take every opportunity to perform and promote himself, may act depressed or sulky if he is overlooked in any way, and may dress or act in a flamboyant or eccentric manner.

By following these four steps, you will find your character easier to write by having well-thought-out desires, fears and behaviors that are consistent with your character’s past and motivations.

Finding the right motivation for a character can be difficult. It’s often easier to think of actions that you character must take than reasons why the character is doing those things. Lucky for us writers that we have shortcuts available to help us determine a character’s motivation.

Today’s tip is to use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to motivate your character. Abraham Maslow proposed a theory about a human’s needs–that each person starts with the primitive needs and as each one is satisfied, moves up the hierarchy to the top. But if an event happens that moves a person down a level, they stay there until they have satisfied that need again. Sound confusing? It’s not. Take a look.

Level 5 – Self-Actualization
morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts

Level 4 – Esteem
self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others

Level 3 – Love/Belonging
friendship, family, sexual intimacy

Level 2 – Safety
security of body, of employment, of resources, of morality, of the family, of health, of property

Level 1 – Physiological
breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, excretion

For example, let’s suppose that Jane, our main character, has a decent job, an apartment to live in and enough money to treat herself to a movie once a month. Jane has satisified the needs in Level 1 – Physiological and Level 2 – Safety. That leaves her at Level 3 – Love/Belonging and needing to satisfy those needs next. She’s probably hanging out with friends, dating on occasion, looking for Mr. Right so she can get married and start her own family. That’s her motivation at this stage in her life.

Now, imagine that Jane’s employer isn’t doing well financially and decides to lay off 100 people, Jane included. Jane’s motivation and priority now isn’t dating. It’s finding a job so she can keep her apartment and continue to eat. So she’s back at Level 2, making sure her Safety needs are met.

Next, let’s suppose that a careless neighbor in Jane’s apartment building starts a fire and Jane is trapped in her apartment, choking on smoke. Breathing is now her immediate priority. A boyfriend and a job mean nothing compared to the need for clean air to breathe. Her basic physiological needs, Level 1, are her utmost priority.

After the firemen have rescued her from the burning building (all Physiological neds met), and she’s received a large settlement from the neighbor after suing him over the mental trauma of the fire, she uses the money to buy a house (Safety needs met). And she’s begun dating the fireman who carried her out of the building, so she’s squarely back to meeting her Love and Belonging needs.

See how easy this is? To use it for a character, simply determine where your character falls on Maslow’s Hierarchy. The level that the character is at will provide the underlying motivation for your character’s actions.

For more info on Maslow’s Hierarchy, check out the entry at Wikipedia.

We’re moving on to Motivation. As part of developing your character, you need to mix in some motivation. Your character needs to have a reason to get up in the morning and a reason to go into that dark basement when there’s a serial killer on the loose and a creepy noise from downstairs.

This is also a good time to talk about motivation and goals. Your character needs both.

Motivation is the underlying reason your character does something. I go to work at my day job so that I can afford to eat food and write in my spare time. My underlying motivation is a need to eat. And my motivation for writing might be a need for social recognition.

A goal is what your character wants to achieve, like a new job so that she has more time to write. Or catching the serial killer who’s hiding in the basement. Because she’s motivated to restore order in her town.

In Steven Reiss’ book, Who Am I? The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate Our Action and Define Our Personalities, he defines the 16 basic desires that he’s identified. Any of these can function as your character’s motivation.

In no particular order, these desires or needs are:
1. Acceptance, the need for approval
2. Curiosity, the need to think
3. Eating, the need for food
4. Family, the need to raise children
5. Honour, the need to be loyal to the traditional values of one’s clan/ethnic group
6. Idealism, the need for social justice
7. Independence, the need for individuality
8. Order, the need for organized, stable, predictable environments
9. Physical Activity, the need for exercise
10. Power, the need for influence of will
11. Romance, the need for sex (or the need for beauty)
12. Saving, the need to collect
13. Social Contact, the need for friends (peer relationships)
14. Status, the need for social standing/importance
15. Tranquility, the need to be safe
16. Vengeance, the need to win and strike back

If you want to get really creative, try selecting one of the needs and keep your character unaware of it. Most people don’t spend any effort analyzing why they do things. They run through life on auto-pilot. But even if your character is unaware of his or her motivation, it will still color their actions and emotions.

Mix in a motivation with your character’s personality and see what interesting behaviors come from it.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) offers another useful set of character profiles that you can use to jumpstart a character for your novel. There are sixteen different types. Let’s look at them:

ISTJ – The Duty Fulfiller or Detective
Characteristics: Quiet, cautious, meticulous, responsible, strong and silent type
Good occupations: Administrators, inspectors, researchers
Acronym: I Save Things Judiciously
Half empty or half full? “It’s half empty now and it wouldn’t surprise me if it dried up completely.”
Motto: “I do everything right”

ESTJ – The Guardian or Overseer
Characteristics: Friendly, realistic, analytical, organized, very driven and enthusiastic
Good occupations: Executives, analysts, managers
Acronym: Execution Saves The Job
Half empty or half full? “Hey! Whose job was it to fill up this glass?”
Motto: “I am in control”

ISFJ – The Nurturer or Defender
Characteristics: Cautious, hard-working, thoughtful, careful, very dedicated to causes and relationships
Good occupations: Health care technicians, accountants, customer service representatives
Acronym: I Serve Family Joyfully
Half empty or half full? “I bet my friend would like to have some water right now…”
Motto: “Nobody can get along without me”

ESFJ – The Caregiver or Loyalist
Characteristics: Talkative, practical, empathetic, decisve, very harmonious
Good occupations: Counselors, coaches, nurses
Acronym: Extra Special Friendly Joiner
Half empty or half full? “I can’t believe someone would leave this dirty glass out here! Clean up this mess right now!”
Motto: “Everyone likes me and wants to be like me”

ISTP – The Mechanic or Artisan
Characteristics: Independent, practical, realistic, adaptable, very skillful with tools
Good occupations: Programmers, operators, pilots
Acronym: I See The Problem
Half empty or half full? “So? It’s water. Big deal!”
Motto: “I can make anything work”

ESTP – The Doer or Promoter
Characteristics: Gregarious, practical, observant, adaptable, very unpredictable
Good occupations: Stockbrokers, entrepreneurs, private investigators
Acronym: Everyone Seems Too Proper
Half empty or half full? “You call that a glass of water? Why, back where I come from…”
Motto: “I’m a stud and the world revolves around me”

ESFP – The Performer or Entertainer
Characteristics: Approachable, decisive, concerned, adaptable, very generous
Good occupations: Teachers, scientists, public relations specialists
Acronym: Extra Special Friendly Person
Half empty or half full? “There’s a glass of water! You know, it’s healthy to drink a lot of water! Why, I remember when I was growing up, we used to…”
Motto: “I am the most glamorous”

ISFP – The Artist or Composer
Characteristics: Modest, easy-going, caring, flexible, very artistic
Good occupations: Customer service representatives, nurses, counselors
Acronym: I Seek Fun and Pleasure
Half empty or half full? (Holds up glass of water, tilts it from side to side, wiggles finger in it, licks finger, grins slightly, moves on.)
Motto: “Nobody has better taste than I do”

ENTJ – The Executive or Director
Characteristics: Energetic, creative, strategic, decisive, very commandeering
Good occupations: Lawyers, marketing consultants, teachers
Acronym: Executives Need Tough Jobs
Half empty or half full? “Hey! This is a beer glass, not a water glass!”
Motto: “I am all-powerful”

INTJ – The Scientist or Wizard
Characteristics: Autonomous, imaginative, logical, organized, very independent
Good occupations: Engineers, planners, publishers
Acronym: It’s Not Thoroughly Justified
Half empty or half full? “Glass is made from silicon dioxide, heated to a temperature of…”
Motto: “I am all-knowing”

ENTP – The Visionary or Inventor
Characteristics: Energetic, expressive, decisive, easy-going, inventive
Good occupations: Talk show hosts, motivational speakers, marketing consultants
Acronym: Each New Thought Propels
Half empty or half full? “Voila! 0.157 litres of dihydrogen oxide, prepared by micro-gnomes.”
Motto: “I can come up with a solution for anything”

INTP – The Thinker or Architect
Characteristics: Reserved, creative, intellectual, adaptable, very logical
Good occupations: Mediators, musicians, strategic planners
Acronym: It’s Not Theoretically Possible
Half empty or half full? “The glass is full…half water, half air!”
Motto: “I’m brilliant and you should bow to my genius”

ENFJ – The Giver or Teacher
Characteristics: Outgoing, creative, empathetic, decisive, very persuasive
Good occupations: Therapists, educators, writers
Acronym: Everyone Needs Fulfillment and Joy
Half empty or half full? “There’s more than enough for friends to share.”
Motto: “I can teach anyone anything”

INFJ – The Protector or Mentor
Characteristics: Reserved, creative, decisive, organized, very empathetic
Good occupations: Architects, journalists, counselors
Acronym: Inner Nuances Foster Journeys
Half empty or half full? “This glass of water is a metaphor for my life.”
Motto: “I have the best intentions”

ENFP – The Inspirer or Motivator
Characteristics: Friendly, imaginative, empathetic, flexible, very optimistic
Good occupations: Acting, graphic design, psychology
Acronym: Every day, New Fantastic Possibilities
Half empty or half full? “Whooeeee! Water fight!”
Motto: “I have the most enthusiasm”

INFP – The Idealist or Actor
Characteristics: Private, creative, empathetic, flexible, very non-directive
Good occupations: Human resource associates, fashion designers, researchers
Acronym: I Never Find Perfection
Half empty or half full? “But look! A crystalline vessel, filled with shimmering, life-giving nectar!”
Motto: “I have the most sensitive conscience”

To get more in-depth info on the MBTI personality types, check out the Personality Page. To see which profile fits you, take the quick test at PersonalityType.com.

Our next method for creating a quick character is to use the signs of the Zodiac as our template. For our templates, we’ll be using the western Zodiac signs (as opposed to the Chinese Zodiac which uses animals to represent the signs).

While each of these signs are tied to a specific date range for the person’s birthday, you don’t have to limit yourself to that when creating your character. If you like the Leo’s personality, but your character was born in January, use the Leo’s personality anyway.

Capricorn – Ambitious Achiever

Primary Goal: To be proud of his/her achievements
Strengths: Practical, prudent, patient, ambitious, self-reliant, resourceful
Weaknesses: May be pessimistic, miserly, rigid, or workaholic
Motto: “I use”

Aquarius – Visionary Individual

Primary Goal: To be unique and original
Strengths: Independent, intellectual, inventive, gregarious, loyal, eccentric
Weaknesses: May be contrary, unpredictable, unemotional or detached
Motto: “I know”

Pisces – Romantic Dreamer

Primary Goal: To live their dreams and turn fantasies into realities
Strengths: Sensitive, compassionate, selfless, sympathetic, kind
Weaknesses: May be lazy, idealistic, secretive, weak-willed, easily led
Motto: “I believe”

Aries – Dynamic Pioneer

Primary Goal: To lead the way for others
Strengths: Adventurous, energetic, pioneering, enthusiastic, confident
Weaknesses: May be selfish, quick-tempered, impulsive, impatient, daredevil
Motto: “I can”

Taurus – Stable Traditionalist

Primary Goal: To have material and emotional security
Strengths: Warmhearted, reliable, persistent, security-loving, determined
Weaknesses: May be resentful, possessive, inflexible, self-indulgent or greedy
Motto: “I have”

Gemini – Inquisitive Intellectual

Primary Goal: To explore a little bit of everything
Strengths: Witty, curious, adaptable, versatile, engaging, entertaining
Weaknesses: May be superficial, inconsistent, nervous, flaky, restless
Motto: “I think”

Cancer – Emotional Nurturer

Primary Goal: To feel safe (emotionally, spiritually, romantically, and financially)
Strengths: Sentimental, cautious, protective, sympathetic, emotional, devoted
Weaknesses: May be moody, clingy, overemotional, needy, insecure
Motto: “I feel”

Leo – Regal Charmer

Primary Goal: To lead the way
Strengths: Dramatic, charismatic, generous, exuberant, proud, confident
Weaknesses: May be pompous, patronizing, bossy, intolerant, stubborn
Motto: “I will”

Virgo – Practical Planner

Primary Goal: To do the right thing
Strengths: Meticulous, reliable, practical, diligent, modest
Weaknesses: May be fussy, overcritical, harsh, perfectionistic, a worrier
Motto: “I serve”

Libra – Easy-going Diplomat

Primary Goal: To live an easy, uncomplicated life
Strengths: Diplomatic, fair-minded, peaceable, charming, sophisticated
Weaknesses: May be indecisive, gullible, passive, co-dependent or easily influenced
Motto: “I balance”

Scorpio – Mysterious Soul

Primary Goal: To survive against all opposition
Strengths: Intense, forceful, powerful, passionate, magnetic,
Weaknesses: May be compulsive, jealous, secretive, obstinate, obsessive
Motto: “I desire”

Sagittarius – Transparent Free-Spirit

Primary Goal: To live the good life
Strengths: Jovial, good-humored, honest, straightforward, freedom-loving
Weaknesses: May be irresponsible, superficial, tactless, restless, flippant
Motto: “I seek”

Next up is a review of the Myers-Briggs personality profiles for jump-starting a character.

An archetype is an original pattern or model from which others are copied.

Joseph Campbell, in The Hero With a Thousand Faces, identified both the archetype of the Hero and the quest that the hero follows, in many of the folk tales and myths of the world. Carol Pearson, in Awakening the Heroes Within, expands upon the archetypes that exist among people.

You can use one of the 12 archetypes as the basis for a character. Remember that a character needs to have more qualities than these to be well-rounded.

Innocent
Primary Goal: To be safe, loved, cherished and included
Fears: Being abandoned
Strengths: Trusting and optimistic
Weakness: May become dependent on others
Motto: Life is joy

Orphan
Primary Goal: To protect himself from being hurt, exposed or abandoned
Fears: Being used
Strengths: Empathy and realistic attitude
Weakness: May develop a victim mentality
Motto: Life is suffering

Warrior
Primary Goal: To win in whatever situation he/she encounters
Fears: Being weak or vulnerable
Strengths: Courageous and disciplined
Weakness: May see others as enemies or think in strict black/white terms
Motto: Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Caregiver
Primary Goal: To help others
Fears: Being selfish
Strengths: Compassionate, nurturing and generous
Weakness: May become co-dependent or try to take care of everyone and everything
Motto: Love your neighbor as yourself

Seeker
Primary Goal: To find his/her true purpose in life
Fears: Being the same as everyone else, conformity
Strengths: Autonomy and ambition
Weakness: May reject help from others and become isolated
Motto: To thine own self be true

Lover
Primary Goal: To gain the bliss of true love
Fears: Being alone and unloved
Strengths: Passionate and committed to his/her relationships
Weakness: May smother other people or enter/stay in bad relationships to avoid being alone
Motto: Life is love

Destroyer
Primary Goal: To effect change for the better (as they see it)
Fears: Being powerless or ineffectual
Strengths: Humility and outrageousness
Weakness: May be ruthless, careless of their own safety, may put others in danger too
Motto: Rules are made to be broken

Creator
Primary Goal: To express him/herself in an individual and unique way
Fears: Being unreal or mediocre
Strengths: Individuality and curiosity
Weakness: May overload his/her life with constant new projects
Motto: I create, therefore I am

Ruler
Primary Goal: To create order and structure
Fears: Being chaotic or being overthrown
Strengths: Responsibility and leadership
Weakness: May dominate others
Motto: Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing

Magician
Primary Goal: To transform his/her life and the world around him/her
Fears: Being the cause of unintended consequences
Strengths: Personal power and influence with others
Weakness: May become manipulative and be feared
Motto: I make things happen

Sage
Primary Goal: To find truth
Fears: Being false
Strengths: Wisdom and objective viewpoint
Weakness: May put forth his/her version of the truth as the only one
Motto: The truth will set you free

Fool
Primary Goal: To enjoy life for its own sake
Fears: Being not-alive
Strengths: Joy and freedom
Weakness: May be prone to laziness or dissipation
Motto: You only live once

Next up, using the Zodiac signs to create a character.