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Using anecdotes
I tend to vary how I develop my characters, depending on the character. Some come to me nearly fully blown - maybe they are based on someone I know, for example. Others take lots of work in the ways described in this thread.
One other technique I use that I don't think anyone mentioned is to write very short (maybe one or two line) anecdotes about how they might behave in their everyday reality, starting a sentence with:
"He(She) is the kind of person that would..."
"... complain in a restaraunt if the wine was corked."
"... take a found wallet to the police station, but only after removing the money."
"...make friends with people as a way of social climbing."
Or whatever.
I find this useful because I can use my observation of the people around me to map things I see on to characters I'm writing, and because it helps with the old "show don't tell" adage - revealing the characters through their actions rather than direct description.
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