A Guide to Making a Hunger Games Character

We'll Kill Your Children

 "Well, I knew that goat would be a little gold mine," I say.
Yes, of course I was referring to that, not the lasting joy you gave your sister you love so much you took her place in the reaping," says Peeta drily.

Yet another one of Peeta's fabulous one-liners, callously removed from the movie. Curse you, Gary Ross!
But on the note of sisters, in this chapter I'll be discussing the dos and don'ts of creating your tribute's family (and probably a bit of their backstory, since the two overlap nicely).

Too often I've seen stories where the main character has a family conveniently similar to Katniss', in which she (no, I'm not being sexist, it's usually a girl) has lost her father/mother (but most likely her father) and has a younger sister whom she loves so much she would die for her, and does so when said sister is reaped.
I mean, I don't know about anyone else, but I don't care about seeming like a dick. If my older sister was picked for the Games, sure, I'd be upset, but I wouldn't sacrifice myself so she could live. Sorry, Big Sister! As Katniss herself says, family devotion only goes so far when it comes to the Reaping. It's super unlikely that a teenager (cause, let's face it, we're all selfish twats) would sacrifice themselves just so their sibling could survive. That's what makes Katniss' sacrifice so powerful. She knows she's probably going to die, but she chooses to do the radical thing anyway.
It also comes across as cheap and nasty, and slowly starts to chip away at my love for that scene, when I see hundreds of fanfictions in which a character volunteers for their friend/sibling. (Okay, I'll admit, I'm guilty of both of them in Snowdrop. I'm not saying it's okay, though.)

I've also seen far too many stories where the main character has a super tragic backstory. Orphaned at a young age, forced to fend for themselves while battling the Capitol's cruel hand, facing the very real threat of rapists and Cookie Monsters (totally Peeta's mother in disguise) and, of course, the Games.
Dude. No.
I'm not kidding when I say I've stumbled across a fanfiction where there's a rapist, yet not once in the entirety of the trilogy is anything like that mentioned. I mean, Katniss mentions in Catching Fire that the head Peacekeeper Cray had a habit of luring young women into his home to essentially turn them into prostitutes when they were so desperate for money, but that's the closest you get. And even Cray wouldn't sleep with any woman younger than 16/18, which is why Katniss never went to him when her family was starving (also, she was only eleven so it would be wrong on so many levels, but she said if she'd been a little older, she might have been on his doorstep). But I digress.
Of course some children in Panem will have awful backstories like that. It's specifically mentioned that some children are sent to the Home, and those are the ones who constantly have bruises and stooped shoulder like they have no hope in the world.*
I'm not saying you shouldn't have a character with a bad past, especially if they're from a poorer district where healthcare sucks, jobs are more dangerous and family members are more likely to die. Just don't make their life so tragic that they should be depressed/have killed themselves a long time ago.
Again, I'm using Snowdrop as an example. I'm not acting like my story is better than anyone else's, nor am I saying this is the best way to go about things. It is purely an example of what you can do. Melia's father passed on due to illness when she was twelve. Her mother, who was already weak-willed and slightly mentally unstable, essentially became an invalid. This meant that her oldest brother and sister had to become the main breadwinners of the family whilst still trying to finish school, start careers of their own and finish up their times in the Reaping. This put quite a bit of strain on the family, especially since Melia and her closest brother Ember tried to help but were considered still children by the older two and were brushed aside.
Sad, sure, but not overly tragic. Certainly not as awful as Katniss' history, since Melia wasn't starving, nor did she have to take over as head of the family. But it could most certainly be improved because of its similarities to Katniss' backstory.

If you want to have a decent family, just look at your own family for inspiration. Have you got two parents who are still very much alive? Great! Slap 'em in your story. They don't beat you senseless every other day? Even better! Chuck it in there, cause sweet holy Cinnabuns am I sick of seeing unnecessarily brutal parents. (This, from what I've seen, really only happens in Modern Day AUs (and weirdly, it's usually Clove's father who's a giant dickwad) but it still happens). You have an annoying younger brother? So do I! Throw him in the bin! You've got an older sister who's technically too old for the Reaping? Too bad! She's still got a year to go, but she doesn't like you enough to volunteer.
It's not that hard to create a family for your tribute. Add in a few teenage-angsty squabbles here, a sprinkle of sibling-feud there, a dash of awkward huggles and Band-Aids-on-knees, and voila! You've got your tribute a somewhat loving family. Easy-peasy!

Another couple of notes:
In Career districts, a lot of emphasis is put on training for the Games. It's understandable, then, that your tribute's parents/older siblings are more likely to put a lot of pressure on your tribute to volunteer. This does not mean that they should love your tribute any less. They simply want to see their child succeed, and they have been raised to believe that the only way to succeed is to win the Games and bring honour to their District. You should not have a Career tribute whose parents are cold and heartless, unless there is an extremely good reason for it, or it is used extremely sparingly. Think of it as being the chilli of the fanfiction world. Too much, and you ruin the fandom. No pressure.
In poor districts, nine times out of ten a child's family will be horrified that they've been picked for the Games. Naturally, in a district where the only way to guarantee a decent meal is to gamble with your child's life for tesserae, families are more likely to be protective because of the higher chance the child has of being picked. Families will be more nervous on Reaping Day unless they hate the character, which is totally unnecessary. Sure, I don't like my little brother all the time, but I would start a rebellion if I had to watch him die on live television.
Unless they're some kind of weirdly sadistic psychopaths, chances are your tribute's parents will not be proud when their child's name is called. Reserve that for if/when they win the Games, or if your tribute is in a Career district (1, 2, and 4, for all you movie-watchers).
Again, in poor districts it's super unlikely that a sibling will volunteer for another sibling. As I've stated before, Katniss literally says "Family devotion only goes so far on reaping day. What I did was the radical thing." Reserve volunteers for Career districts (in which the reaped child is almost guaranteed to live because there is so much emphasis on glory and winning the Games) and extremely rare circumstances (say a disabled child, like the boy from 10 with the crippled foot, is reaped and someone hates life so much they decide to award themselves a death sentence and volunteer for said disabled child).

*Joshua Chislett created an incredible fan film Cirrus Quell, about a (SPOILER) boy who lived at the orphanage and volunteered to get away from it all. It's a tad cliche, but it's a wonderful example of how to weave a story like that into it without overpowering the narrative or making your character seem unbearably tragic.

So there we have it! Now you know (somewhat) what to do about giving your tribute a good family and an okay-ish backstory.
Next up, we'll work on personalities, because as Haymitch says, you have about as much charm as a dead slug.
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Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour!