I'm just gonna say some quick words, you don't have to take them if you don't want to, but here's my two cents. I haven't been writing books for very long, and I haven't published anything. However, in my writing, I've found it easier to edit if you build each character one at a time. Now, this may sound time consuming, and really it kind of is. But, it's totally worth it.
Answer these questions about each character:
1. What are they afraid of, and why? Who can hurt my character and who can help them? What is attractive to them in life? (Now, for this question, I'm not talking about romance. I'm talking about lifestyle.) What is their best memory, and why? Someone that has influence on their life? Attitude towards death and new life, also marriage and divorce? Greatest accomplishment?
2. Goals, Goals, Goals. 38
and I cannot stress this one enough. What are some life goals for each of your characters? Why do they want these goals, and how will they go about achieving those goals? What tactics will they use and how will they execute their plan? What is your characters goal for the scene? (I use this term loosely because a scene could go on for pages.) What drives your character to do what they do? Why does it drive them? What are the aspects of their life that nobody will ever know about them? What is something that they are willing to die for? why? what are their morals? why do they have such morals?
these questions will help you so much while you're writing. The purpose is for these questions to create more questions as you're asking them. Once you know your character inside and out, it will be easier to write for them. And the fact that they will have some sort of personality when you're done, it will be easier to make that dictate their every move, and will carry the plot. every choice they make must have some purpose, some reason behind it. Once you have every character figured out, your plot will hopefully become clearer. How your characters will change throughout the story is up to you.
alright I've said my piece, thanks for listening. 38