Young Writers Society

I was writing, and I suddently realised: I don't know my character!! Up until now, many of my characters were just vague ideas that were created as dummies to make the action and the story go on. How do I make more real? What are some flaws that could make my character crumble to peaces, and maybe make them get up and face those flaws and get over them? How do I actually get to really and deeply know my character? If you can think of any besides those questions to ask your character, it'd apreciated! Although if you do have some neat questions, go ahead and post them!!
Thanks

Well you're in luck because YWS has come clubs to help you develop your characters:
Character Interviews
The Character Tea Party
Role Playing for Writers (Role play as your character)

There are also some great articles in the Writing Tutorials section of the site on developing characters:
Writing Rounded Characters
Advanced Character Development
5 Tips for Realistic Characters
Character Development Workshop: The Complex Modes of Development
Character Development Workshop: The Active Modes of Development
Character Flaws
Cal's Soapbox #3 (on characters)
Round Characters and Appropriate Dialogue
Feminine Characters
Five Tips for Fantastic Characters

There are also games throughout the site (look in the Writing Activities forum) to help you get to know your characters.

Hope this helps!

You get to know your characters by breaking them.

At least, that's how many of my friends do it.

Or! You can put them in a every day situation and see how they go about their mundane tasks and what their thought processes are during those tasks. But that takes a lot of writing, a lot of time, and a lot of searching. (So does breaking them, but breaking them is a lot more fun.)

Some days, I don't feel like putting their emotions to the test, so that's when I go to character sheets.

The basics for a character sheet normally are: full name, age, gender, physical description, and occupation. That gives you a thin outline about what the character is like. However, that is not enough to actually know your character.

So then you go further down the list. I'd work on history first. What their childhood was like, what shaped them into who they are right now. It could be very detailed or just a few paragraphs -- but it has to be enough to tell you what they were like and how it affects their day to day life.

Soon then you probably have a good idea of what their hobbies are, what their interests might be, and what their home life was like. After that, I'd work on personality. Because you have enough things to shape the personality.

I'd probably Google 'key personality traits' and choose from the lists that pop up, seeing what makes the most logical sense for that character. After I have around five defining traits (you could have more or fewer if you wanted), I'd move onto lists about character flaws.

(Google is your main resource here, but double and triple check things depending on what you're searching for.)

Then the fun really begins.

I would place the newly crafted character into a very emotional situation. I'd see how they react and test what must happen to bring them to tears. I would give them news of great joys, then snatch it all away.

Maybe in little bits of flash fiction.

YWS has some really great articles on character development and character flaws! Then we also have some really neat clubs. It seems like Carlito linked most of them.

I wish you luck on your characters!