None of the answers in the poll apply to me
I originally started creating characters for a wolf roleplay site that I made with my friends. After a few years it became inactive and I started writing my own story about my first Roleplay character ever, Stormy. Most of the characters I have now originated from that story, and others came from later stories and doodles.
Only three of my characters have ever been based on something besides my own imagination (they were based on different anime), but I've completely changed them so they have nothing to do with the anime they were inspired by anymore. ^-^