Designed a character based on a piece of music. It took a while for me to actually produce any work for this. I spent several days thinking about what piece of music I wanted to use, considering music from disparate genres such as rock, classical and obscure electronica. I eventuially settled on an instrumental cover of a Pixies song, Caribou, performed by the Vitamin String Quartet.
The piece in in ¾ time which lends it a woozy, boozy feel. My initial thoughts were of a cowboy or a hellfire and brimstone type preacher. The latter seemed to be far more interesting, especially given that it seemed clear that whoever the character was he would be an alcoholic. The lyrics to the original song have a somewhat Catholic flavour so it seemed fitting that the character be religious.
The requirement to avoid stereotypes led me, somehow, to conceive of a transhumanist (h+) priest. This immediately clarified several things: the genre would be sci-fi; the character lives on a dusty planet; he has extensive body modifications.
I gave some thought to the character’s motivations, particularly with regards to what a h+ religion might believe.