So You're Writing a Novel Forum Character Development

Hey guys, as I've mentioned, I am in the character develpment stage of my book writing. Specifically the protagonist, antagonist and a couple ther main characters.. If anyone could give me a few pointers in character develpment that would be immensly helpful. In my head I have a picture of each character and I can play them out in my head fairly well, the problem is transferring that head knowledge to something I can put on paper and use.

I like to write scenes of backstory in the voice of the character.  For instance, one of my characters, Apollo, has a pretty dark past, but it's fun to use that and make it into a short story.  It really helps my characters find their voices, especially when they're not the main characters.   For instance, write about your antagonist's rise to power?  What led them there?  Think of Magneto, from X-men.  It might not be super important to know that he survived the holocaust in an internment camp, but it adds something to the character.  When you write in everyone's voice, you get to know them a bit more.   Does that help?  =D

I always make a list of things like: age, physical description, sex, likes, dislikes, common gestures (things they have a habit of doing like playing with their hair or laughing at things that aren't funny), and other things like that. Just little details to help you get to know the character better so that you can portray them in a way that makes them feel real and easy to relate to.