I am very tentatively brainstorming on a new project, and I’m currently going through the process of trying to find the right protagonist for a premise I love.

I usually start by making a list of characteristics that the premise demands, if any. Then, I start auditioning a list of general archetypes that could meet those qualifications.

In the beginning, this process is very logical and orderly. But when I go from general archetypes (or combinations of archetypes) to a specific character, that is when I start to get a lot more immersed creatively.

A big part of my process at this point is exploring different possibilities for what the protagonist’s childhood might have been like.

Right now, I know three or four things about my character’s childhood that were probably formative.

I also know one trait that the character has always had, and I’m working my way through how that trait might have interacted with her childhood environment.

I also like to know at least one or two really big turning points in the character’s life prior to the start of the book, so I can work through the way those influenced development, too.

I have a lot of pieces, but it hasn’t quite gelled yet. There’s a lot of back and forth, changing things up in the character’s early childhood, then flashing forward to try the new variation out with the premise.