How do you create characters?

[jolteonkid]

I think, more than role-playing, I love discussing the mechanics of it. There's something really interesting about picking at the minds of people and then, through discourse, coming to, perhaps, a better understanding of things.

Or I could just be a really nosy kid.

So, the thing is, I'm really curious as to how people construct characters, but, more than that, how people evaluate characters (what makes a character "good" and what makes a character "bad?" Or, maybe, what separates a "good" character from an "excellent" character?).

I guess, to start people off - I'll throw out some generic questions that pertain to my original theme and, from there, maybe we'll get some kind of a conversation about characters and whatnot.

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?

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?

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

Those are just springboard questions - it'd be cool (if not entirely too awesome) if you gave your own opinions about things not necessarily mentioned, but still relevant to the topic.