Creating Characters (Guest Post by B.R. Tracey)

Hi, I'm B R Tracey, self published author of It's A Ruff Life, which is the first book in a series of children's spy dog, secret agent, action & adventure novels. Volumes 2-5 are to be released very soon and books 6 to 8 are in various stages of production.
The most important thing about forming children's characters is to make them real. 
They have to become real to you. You have to know them so well that you know how they will react in any given situation. The more you know every facet of your character, the more they will jump off the page for your reader.
The way I developed Bella and Max, my two anamorphic principal characters of all my books, was by creating in depth profiles for them as well as using observations from animal and human behavior.
I am constantly researching through watching current children's TV shows and reading children's books to keep ahead of the trends in language, fashion and other merchandise; so that my characters can always relate to my readership.
Some of the profile questions I asked myself about each of them was :
Age:
Physical description -
Animal attributes
Human actions
Address:
Interest:
Ambition:
Likes:
Favourite Food:
Dislikes:
Special Talents:
Additional information ie: their background
This is by no means a comprehensive list of questions, but it gives you a starting point to get you going. As you fill in these questions you will find that tons of things pop into your mind and eventually you will get to the point where your characters feel as real to you as your friends and family.
In my house Bella & Max are often included in topics of conversation. Remarks like "Bella would do this," or "Max would think that," is quite a common occurrence. This is exactly what you want because when others start talking about your characters in such a natural way you know that they will be a great hit because they have taken on a life of their own.
If you enjoyed this post you can find out more about B.R. Tracey and "It's A Ruff Life" at the following links:
It's A Ruff Life on Amazon
It's A Ruff Life Blog
It's A Ruff Life Facebook Page