This is such an interesting question because I never really thought about it in an in-depth sort of way. I guess it all starts with a single roleplay/fandom, at least in most cases. Characters, for me, come about as an addition to something that I plan to be roleplaying in rather than something I would like to stick into a roleplay.

1. When you craft a character, do you take other existing characters into consideration? I.E. Do you think about how your character can interact with others? Do you think long-term or do you prefer to let it develop based on the dynamics the role-play will, later, establish?

I do take other characters into consideration, but only in the sense that I try not to create a carbon copy by accident. There was a time actually, when I was applying for a Gaia b/c (this was like three or four years ago iirc) and because B/Cs are big it's sometimes hard to read over everyone's profiles in both the quests and accepted users so I just skimmed the people who seemed to be most active and my competition. What ended up happening is that my biography was very similar to one of the players already accepted. At that point I basically had to scramble to differentiate my character in personality because why would you want two of the same person to interact with? Well, after that I ended revamping her for something unrelated (a B/C two friends and I started) and she grew into her own person from there and eventually joined the other B/C with a totally different character.

Other than that, I prefer to let the dynamic come through just roleplaying and using that to plot with the other RPers in the OOC. The best relationships will grow organically and (to me) it doesn't make sense to force a relationship before the RP even starts unless the relationship of those two characters is integral to the plot (1x1s are excluded in this case).

2. When creating a character, do you throw random traits together or do you proceed in a logical fashion of: good trait, bad trait, good trait, bad trait, etc. Do you always have to "balance" your traits?

I don't think it's good just to go "good trait, bad trait, repeat" until you have the amount necessary for whatever you're doing because I don't think that's how people are. Yes, people have their good and their bad but it's never as simple as "Bobby has 3 good things about him and 3 bad things". Some traits stick out more and some traits come in tandem with others. It's all very gray and while it's efficient just to throw traits together for some people, I feel like it's better just to let the character flow through plain, unpartitioned writing.

3. What kind of process or system do you use to go about constructing a character?

I start with a concept that I believe fits the RP and I think about what sorts of things that concept needed to grow from in order to be what it is now. To use an analogy. If I have an image of a house I want to build, I think about what sort of paint, wood, nails, etc. is necessary to make it happen and what furniture I need to fill inside. After outlining a general direction of my concept I try to think about what exactly my character amounts to. Are they a mishmash of traits or do all these tidbits have some connection to each other? Does this character sound like a person or a cardboard cut out? How can I take this beyond just a concept and make them flesh and blood?

When I was younger I tended to throw my characters away after an RP died, but nowadays I keep them to see if I can do anything to make them exist on their own (without needing a separate universe). Plus, it's fun to buy art for them.