Creating characters can be a lot of fun, provided you avoid developing a Mary Sue character you’re overly attached to. Heavily-idealized and pet characters are hard to kill when they need to be and can be burdensome on the reader. The side effect to creating a Mary Sue character is your reaction to the situation when someone doesn’t like your work. I’ve seen many writers get more defensive because that character means something to them that goes above and beyond the call of: “Well, I love my work.”
The book I’ve listed in this post is called, The Element Encyclopedia of Birthdays. When I’m stuck developing a character, I turn to this resource and sift through the pages.
Last weekend at my writer’s group, we were discussing how necessary it is to develop an emotional connection with the reader through your work. In fact, a strong emotional connection between the reader and the character can translate to a best-selling book that many of us might not think is all that “good.” It can also translate to the proverbial nerd rage when someone doesn’t like the same book, character, movie, game or comic that someone else love with all their heart.