'[i]How do you build your characters?[/i]'

There isn't any one particular way in which I go about building my characters. It varies depending on the type of RP and my state of mind at the time of creation, as well as the various influences I am under. (No, not drugs. How could you even... 'Influences' here refers to, say, a book I've recently read, a show I've watched, a piece of music I'm hooked on, a particular period in history which has suddenly and very randomly gained my fascination, etc.)

While the above varies, what I have noticed remains constant is that my characters are built around ideals - or perhaps they are idealistic. I tend to place in them certain 'virtues' (if you will) which I personally admire and aspire towards. However, being human, they must have flaws. I have recently tended towards 'heroic' flaws - wrath, obstinance, foolhardiness - in the sense that they don't detract from the 'integrity' or 'standing' of a character - as things like cowardice, greed, indolence, etc. would. Of course, in the past I have explored characters with these latter traits also and they are doubtlessly very interesting to play.

So, as a general outline, my characters tend to be built around central virtues and tragic flaws, and it has often been the case (though not always of course) that they are idealists.

When it comes to the substance of a character sheet, the history of a character, appearance etc. The influences mentioned above tend to play a greater role. However, I am not averse (as I know some RPers are) to recycling previous characters - with slight modifications - for similar RPs, particularly where I feel I was not able to fully explore and develop said characters in previous RPs. I have actually noticed that I have recently been less inclined to create new characters when there are old concepts that went largely unused or were not explored in a way that I found satisfactory. And so they are revived and sent back into the IC milieu. 

Last of all, while it is necessary to create character sheets for characters, I tend to find that the true creation process of a character happens in the IC - the character gets a life near enough its own. The CS remains relevant for a while of course, but the beauty of any character lies not in ensuring they remain as faithful as possible to the CS, but in seeing just how much they can grow and develop from that very basic starting point.