Creating characters is a massive part of writing. If you don't have perfectly crafted characters, your story will suffer.
But having said that, it's a lot of fun. You get to know your characters, craft them into wonderful friends. You give them dark and twisted pasts, near impossible goals to conquer. You can make them into whoever you like, be it a protagonist determined to take over the world in attempt to avenge his murdered Mother, or the antagonist, setting out to save the world from the dark peril that the protagonist is bringing upon it.

Of course, like any other element of writing, character designing is hard. You need to make them believable. Realistic, with human flaws and qualities. You want the reader to get to know your character as you've created him - to think of your character as a friend. Cry in his pain, laugh in her joy, be disappointed to put the book down and put away their new found 'friends'.
Essentially, that is what Authors want to do when creating characters. Make them believable and realistic, worthy of being called a friend.
So how do we do it? Well I don't call myself a professional. I'm far from it, in fact I have a LOT to learn.
But just to help you out, even help myself out, I've written a list of questions to ask your characters. This will help you to get to know them better, and help them become just like real people. The thing is, even if you know facts about the character that don't make it into the book, it will make them easier to write about. If they're real in your own mind - writing them will be equally as real.
So shall we go check out those questions? They're just this way, if you'd care to follow me...

-How old are you?

-Where do you work?

-What colour skin tone/hair/eyes do you have?

-What are you best/worst at?
 
-Are you tall or short? What height would you prefer to be? Why?

-What is your worst fear? Beyond dirty floors and the odd cockroach, I mean your worst, worst fear. Something that completely terrifies you. 

-What is your main goal in life? Or main goal in the story?

-Any secrets? Again, beyond the petty secrets like your first crush in second grade, or the time you stole a pack of chewing gum - I mean your deepest secrets. (I won't tell anyone, promise ;) )

-Do you have any regrets, guilt or shame? What's the worst thing you've ever done? How does this affect you? How you you deal with your problems?

-What do you find most challenging in life?
 
-Who inspires you most? What character qualities does he/she have, and why does that inspire you?

-What character qualities do you have? What do you like best about yourself?

-How about flaws and weaknesses? What would you like to change about yourself? How could you do that?

-What makes you most likeable/dis likeable?

-What do you believe in?

-What annoys you most?

-What does your Mother think of you? What do you think of your Mother? How do you relate to her?

-Give me five adjectives to describe yourself

The questions could go on and on! It's not that hard to come up with them yourself - just sit down with a notebook and pen, maybe go into the yard, climb a tree even, sit down and just write. This goes for any type of writing, but for character making specifically, just sit and write down all the questions that you can think of to ask them. Use yourself as inspiration. What makes you unique? What do you like most about life? Is there anything you'd like to change about yourself? About the world?
Use your own examples to help get your character talking.
I hope this helps you out a bit - good luck!

Do you have any questions you always ask your characters? Tell me in the comments below so I can hear!