I haven't RPed for that long, and Laura is still my first Character. So, when I was making her up, I didn't think much. I just chose her name, and apparence, and therefore Celebrity, and then mad it up as I went along.

However, I find that Laura is very much like myself. At the beginning of my RPing stages, I realised that I was throwing more of myself into her, and athough this may seem simplest for new RPers, being a kinda sorta professional actress, it just got boring for me. Also, with her being so much like myself, I'd actually already thought her out before I'd hardly started, so I decided that after this term I'm changing her, and I'm currently working on my next Charrie.

First, I chose their past. Where did they grow up, what type of background? Muggleborn, or Pureblood? This helped me develope their personality, for example, if the Charrie had grown up being raised to hate Muggleborns, was he snobbish and rude? But I left most of their personality to figure out as I RP, only making the 'skeleton', as some would say.

From there on I would think of their looks. There personality would help me think of this, eg. if my Charrie was a 'neat-freak' it is doubted that he'd have scruffy hair and an untucked shirt.

Last, and I know it may seem seem strange, I choose the name. First name could be anything, any name I like. Surname is actually quite difficult, I find. For Laura, I decided that I wanted some sort of relation to a Cannon Character, but at the same time I wanted to be different and original. Nicholas Flamel has always seemed an amazing Cannon Charrie to me, and as the books didn't say much about his family, I chose that surname.

For my next character, I wanted a different one, totally and completely RANDOM. So I chose the surname of a person who FaceBook suggested to me. I don't know this person, but something sounded right about their surname with the first name I'd chosen.