Post by Snow Fox on Jun 30, 2015 19:49:53 GMT -8
There are a thousand and one ways to build a character. Anywhere from picking up a volleyball and naming it Wilson to the galaxy's most complex time travelling healer of the universe, these are characters that were built and constructed and brought into existence by you, the writer.
So, the basics of creating any character, big or small, starts in three steps.
Personality. History. Appearance.
Yes, I placed appearance last. Contrary to popular belief, there are times where the physical traits you give your character quickly begin to define them. Though a part of appearance can be used to first spark the character's initial idea, I'd recommend saving the full description for later.
The easiest and perhaps most important place to start is with a character's personality.
The Personality
That's an incredibly broad term for something that can end up one of the most complex parts of a character. The personality is everything your character is currently, was a long time ago, and will be sometime in the future. It is, without a doubt, the most important and most difficult part of your character to make. This is why it's what we're looking at first.
This is the part of a character that you have to make both believable and playable for you, yourself, as a writer. If you're an incredibly gentle soul, chances are you aren't going to play an overly violent, malicious, downright evil at the core son of a chain gang monster easily. You can do it, but it'd require a ton of focus, insight, thought, and planning on your part.
Thought is going to be the number one aspect for this entire area. When it comes to your character and actually deciding on their personality, it requires you to think about things you never thought you'd have to. To put forum based roleplay in one of the most broad definitions of all time is to simply call it co-writing. You are writing with another writer or writers to create a story. That means these other writers can and probably will throw a curve-ball your direction that your character has to react to in some form or another. It's through these reactions that makes a character both convincing and real.
First, let's take a look at a few different aspects of personality we need to think long and hard on.
Self Image
Your character better dang well know themselves best, but the first thing we need to decipher is how they feel about themselves. Do they like themselves? Do they think they're God's gift to Earth? Do they loathe their very existence? Are they neutral? Humble? Cocky?
Then comes the even harder question of why they think this way.
The reason this element of self perception is a major key point in how your character actually acts towards other characters. If a character is snarky, chances are it's because of an internal, self perceived trait that has been an issue for years. What the reason or cause of that trait is is completely up to you. However, attempt to make it a realistic reason and give depth to it.
Simply saying that your character is emotionless because of the trauma they had in seeing their family die in an awful way when they were a kid doesn't cut it. Think deeper, think in the shoes of that character, think back to the time this happened and what did they feel then, now, and will feel later on.
Here's a deeper look at the dead parents cliché:
They appear emotionless because it's the only way they can survive. Their heart is a piece of weight in their chest and rising from sleep every night is a task in and of itself. Each breath they take is wracked with guilt that has existed for generations. They should have been among them. They question each night why their mother... father... brothers and sisters... grandparents, aunts, uncles... Why were they killed in such a brutal manner? Why was I forced to watch? Even more so why was I left to suffer until the day I die? How am I supposed to go on? How am I supposed to live while I know, deep in my heart and soul that the person who slayed them still walks the world free? Perhaps I am a shell now, but deep within, I am powerful, saving, waiting until the day I can unleash all of my rage, anger, and hatred upon that individual who destroyed the loyalties I would have had if they did not exist.
Not only does this self perception create an internal image for your character, but it also creates their wishes, hopes, dreams, fears, and purpose for existing. Even if your character doesn't know these facts yet, as their writer, you should be beyond well-versed in the answers.
Presentation and Outward Appearance
Not a physical appearance, not yet, but how their personality appears on the outside. Though it was briefly touched on in the previous section, this is a closer look at how your character wants to be perceived by their peers and why. Are they seeking approval that they never got from a parental figure? Are they stand-off-ish because of an oppressive upbringing? Are they afraid of letting someone in because someone broke their trust before?
What happened to this character that makes them both react towards other people and hold themselves in a certain way. If a character is over-confident, they might actually be hiding something else at their core. If they are jovial and always making people laugh, are they afraid of making someone cry (again)?
Some characters revel in being a complete jerk while others are appalled at the thought of ever offending anyone. Think of how your character now wants to act towards people and how they want other people to view them.
The History
Congratulations! Now that you have an idea on the kind of personality your character has and the reasons they have them, chances are you have part of the history already planned. This is the section that, for some reason or another, most roleplayers quietly like to skip over. The excuse of "They don't talk about their history" or "It's boring." or "normal life-style" is not a proper history. It's an excuse to be a lazy roleplayer. So what if they don't want to talk about their past? Your character can choose to never put that in their dialogue, however, you as a roleplayer should know damn well what your character has gone through.
Is your character's life really boring? Describe just how boring it was. What made it boring? Why wasn't this exciting to your character? I guarantee that if your character did anything beyond stare at the white corner of a wall for the first 20 years of their life, it was not boring. Describe their upbringing. Describe their studies. Describe their journey from point A to point B. Here are a few sections for you to think over when it comes to your character's history.
Relations
I phrase this section as relations instead of "family" because you aren't going to just get away with the whole yay orphan bit. Oh no, you're going to describe in wonderful glorious detain who the people where who mattered in your character's life. Everyone has someone even if it was a bad influence or non influence. Need an example? Well, I happen to have a character that fits right into that stereotype who has plenty of influences I can write about!
Meet Altor.
This is a history section that gives a statement about both the era, age, appearance, circumstance, as well as the people who were both involved and absent from his life. Altor is one of the orphans of the French revolution, giving a common-place purpose as to why his parents are dead or missing. In offering that there is a lack of information, it's possible to understand the kind of hopelessness Altor has in ever knowing the truth about either of them.. The fellow street urchins are his brothers though none are mentioned by name yet and the families that turn a blind eye to his starving self are also placed in a category of their own. They are noted, recognized, and now, there is a new level of existence to this character that makes an audience curious as to how this kid survived. Later, I mention two kids by name as well as a priest who ends up taking him in, thus creating the background for the rest of his background. This brings us to the next major thinking point!
Personality
Wait a minute, Snow, didn't we just do this? Yes, we did. However, this is a deeper delve into the idea of how the history shaped the personality of your character. You don't want a blood thirsty killer without explaining how they became the way they did. This is the section where you revisit your personality section and make sure everything is still coinciding with itself. This is completing the frame of a puzzle and filling in parts of the middle that you can recognize thus far.
So, let's turn back to Altor for a second.
Though this character is an antagonist in nature simply because he is a forced killer, I have to first begin to understand why he's the brooding vampire he is. He had a rough history, that much is obvious with him growing up as a young starved kid in 1600 France. After being taken in by a priest through recommendation of his best friend, he grows up with virtues, values, and hope finally rekindled. He is given an education, a caring, social nature, as well as some form of morality that lingers towards a neutral good alignment, what happened that he is now a lonely, brooding, spiteful vampire who attempts to remain in solitude to the end of his days?
Because of his vampiric state, I chose to redefine my definition of vampire for the reader.
There are so many different versions of the word that I was forced to recreate the parts that I used in Altor. Blood thirsty, fanged (retractable), burns in sunlight, extremely powerful senses (smell, touch, sight, hearing, taste, sixth), heightened speed and strength, compulsion through eye contact, poisoned by virgin blood, cannot cross graves, cannot enter hallowed ground, death by wood through the dead heart, cold to the touch, lack of heart beat, and unable to consume true foods. These are simply his abilities and weaknesses. It's because of his personality that he uses and fights some of these while leaving or avoiding others.
So, how did he become a vampire who wasn't all into the immortal lifestyle? Why did he care about his own humanity still? These are elements I had to think about deeply on my own character and what you need to think on yours.
Turning back to the character you're creating now, try to apply points of interest to this character's history and being. What is important to them? What kind of a fighter are they? Do they have a fight or flight instinct? What are there greatest moments of indecision? Most terrifying event of their life? Do they even have one?
And most importantly, if your character has a nonhuman aspect, describe the entire history of that species for yourself. Even if your character doesn't know it, it's important that you do so you know how your character has fit (or didn't fit at all) in the society of that species.
If they are a spellcaster of sorts, how do they harness their energy? Do they use artifacts? How do they perform magic using these things? Where did they learn to do this? Were they born with it? How was their childhood growing up with these abilities? How is there life currently with magic? How will it be in the future? Is it spontaneous? What is their focus in magic? How does it feel when they use magic?
There are a thousand and one questions you should be asking yourself about your character and, for heavens sake, if your character doesn't talk about their history, put it in the personality section. Not in your history section.
Appearance
So, now you've got the basis for your character. Chances are, you've likely come up with a base image due to your character's self image and history and personality? However, if you've just been thinking a blank, faceless, hairless shell or shadow of your character performing all these actions, that is perfectly fine. There are several ways to think about a characters appearance. You can always take the easy way and use a premade image or photograph to be the face of your character. However, it's best to have a written out description of your character so you don't make the mistake of a thousand terrors and have your character's eye color magically switch from sultry brown to bright blue (unless their eyes are hazel and DO in fact change.)
Things to think about when writing out a physical description:
Features that stray away from human (extraneous limbs, tails, ears, eyes, etc.)
Body: Male // Female
Eyeshape//Eyecolor //Eyebrow
Facial Shape: Female // Male
Haircolor // hairtype // hairlength // style
Hands: Size, texture, color, nails
Feet: Size, texture, nails, hair
Markings//Tattoos//Scars
Skin Tone (Have a fabulous guide to writing out colors beyond base words!)
Complimentary Clothing
Not so complimentary clothing
Style
Jewelry
Accessories: functional versus fashionable
Shoes: functional versus fashionable
Though these are elements that help give your character a physical portion that are necessary when it comes to bringing uniqueness to their face, however, there is more to appearance than just style and structure.
Verbalization
What does your character sound like? What is it about their voice that makes them interesting? Is their voice not interesting at all? Accents? Volume? Spacing? Whether your character is pleasant to listen to or someone who drones on in monotone, a character who speaks is one who should be given a voice description.
Here are a few helpful words to use when describing voice:
Appealing
Breathy
Booming
Compelling
Flat
Grating
Gravelly
Gruff
High-pitched
Hoarse
Husky
Honeyed
Modulated
Monotonous
Nasally
Quietly
Rough
Ringing
Shrill
Silvery
Smooth
Small
Thick
Tight
Throaty
Tremulous
Wheezing
Got a few adjectives for your character's variety of voices? Marvelous! It's time to then take a look at a few character traits that we as writers perhaps even forget we've given our characters.
Body Language
Yes, the body language. Make sure the personality you've given your character matches the body language you give them. Does a character wring their wrists when they're nervous or pressured? Do they cross their arms when they are annoyed or frightened? Here are a few quirks you can give your character or build off of. Feel free to invent your own, but make sure that they match up with what you've determined is your character's unique personality.
Twirling hair
Picking at nails
Yawning
Glancing at watch
Cracking knuckles
Squinting
Twisting Ring
Biting/Wetting Lips
Raising Eyebrows
Wringing Hands
Rubbing at Elbow
Tapping objects/fingers against a table
Putting feet on tables/chairs
twirling objects over fingers (hair, coins, pens, etc.)
Gestures/Pointing
Chewing Lip
Rubbing knuckle over lips
Rubbing at eyes
Stroking facial hair
There're thousands of ways to give your character play-ability through strange little ticks and habits. Be sure, however, that they are not defined by them.
Kick-Ass Characters
So, perhaps it was a little presumptuous to call this a guide to making a kick-ass character. The true element to creating a character that isn't just overly unique little snowflake of a story or a completely cliche stereo-type we've played with a thousand times over is that we are looking to make a character that has longevity. To rely solely on a characters Appearance and History is to assume that you'll never have to worry about restating who your character is ever again.
There needs to be a a balance between what your character finds important and what is important to the roleplay. Most of all, however, is what is important to you about this character. After all, they did come from your mind, did they not?
So, the basics of creating any character, big or small, starts in three steps.
Personality. History. Appearance.
Yes, I placed appearance last. Contrary to popular belief, there are times where the physical traits you give your character quickly begin to define them. Though a part of appearance can be used to first spark the character's initial idea, I'd recommend saving the full description for later.
The easiest and perhaps most important place to start is with a character's personality.
The Personality
That's an incredibly broad term for something that can end up one of the most complex parts of a character. The personality is everything your character is currently, was a long time ago, and will be sometime in the future. It is, without a doubt, the most important and most difficult part of your character to make. This is why it's what we're looking at first.
This is the part of a character that you have to make both believable and playable for you, yourself, as a writer. If you're an incredibly gentle soul, chances are you aren't going to play an overly violent, malicious, downright evil at the core son of a chain gang monster easily. You can do it, but it'd require a ton of focus, insight, thought, and planning on your part.
Thought is going to be the number one aspect for this entire area. When it comes to your character and actually deciding on their personality, it requires you to think about things you never thought you'd have to. To put forum based roleplay in one of the most broad definitions of all time is to simply call it co-writing. You are writing with another writer or writers to create a story. That means these other writers can and probably will throw a curve-ball your direction that your character has to react to in some form or another. It's through these reactions that makes a character both convincing and real.
First, let's take a look at a few different aspects of personality we need to think long and hard on.
Self Image
Your character better dang well know themselves best, but the first thing we need to decipher is how they feel about themselves. Do they like themselves? Do they think they're God's gift to Earth? Do they loathe their very existence? Are they neutral? Humble? Cocky?
Then comes the even harder question of why they think this way.
The reason this element of self perception is a major key point in how your character actually acts towards other characters. If a character is snarky, chances are it's because of an internal, self perceived trait that has been an issue for years. What the reason or cause of that trait is is completely up to you. However, attempt to make it a realistic reason and give depth to it.
Simply saying that your character is emotionless because of the trauma they had in seeing their family die in an awful way when they were a kid doesn't cut it. Think deeper, think in the shoes of that character, think back to the time this happened and what did they feel then, now, and will feel later on.
Here's a deeper look at the dead parents cliché:
They appear emotionless because it's the only way they can survive. Their heart is a piece of weight in their chest and rising from sleep every night is a task in and of itself. Each breath they take is wracked with guilt that has existed for generations. They should have been among them. They question each night why their mother... father... brothers and sisters... grandparents, aunts, uncles... Why were they killed in such a brutal manner? Why was I forced to watch? Even more so why was I left to suffer until the day I die? How am I supposed to go on? How am I supposed to live while I know, deep in my heart and soul that the person who slayed them still walks the world free? Perhaps I am a shell now, but deep within, I am powerful, saving, waiting until the day I can unleash all of my rage, anger, and hatred upon that individual who destroyed the loyalties I would have had if they did not exist.
Not only does this self perception create an internal image for your character, but it also creates their wishes, hopes, dreams, fears, and purpose for existing. Even if your character doesn't know these facts yet, as their writer, you should be beyond well-versed in the answers.
Presentation and Outward Appearance
Not a physical appearance, not yet, but how their personality appears on the outside. Though it was briefly touched on in the previous section, this is a closer look at how your character wants to be perceived by their peers and why. Are they seeking approval that they never got from a parental figure? Are they stand-off-ish because of an oppressive upbringing? Are they afraid of letting someone in because someone broke their trust before?
What happened to this character that makes them both react towards other people and hold themselves in a certain way. If a character is over-confident, they might actually be hiding something else at their core. If they are jovial and always making people laugh, are they afraid of making someone cry (again)?
Some characters revel in being a complete jerk while others are appalled at the thought of ever offending anyone. Think of how your character now wants to act towards people and how they want other people to view them.
The History
Congratulations! Now that you have an idea on the kind of personality your character has and the reasons they have them, chances are you have part of the history already planned. This is the section that, for some reason or another, most roleplayers quietly like to skip over. The excuse of "They don't talk about their history" or "It's boring." or "normal life-style" is not a proper history. It's an excuse to be a lazy roleplayer. So what if they don't want to talk about their past? Your character can choose to never put that in their dialogue, however, you as a roleplayer should know damn well what your character has gone through.
Is your character's life really boring? Describe just how boring it was. What made it boring? Why wasn't this exciting to your character? I guarantee that if your character did anything beyond stare at the white corner of a wall for the first 20 years of their life, it was not boring. Describe their upbringing. Describe their studies. Describe their journey from point A to point B. Here are a few sections for you to think over when it comes to your character's history.
Relations
I phrase this section as relations instead of "family" because you aren't going to just get away with the whole yay orphan bit. Oh no, you're going to describe in wonderful glorious detain who the people where who mattered in your character's life. Everyone has someone even if it was a bad influence or non influence. Need an example? Well, I happen to have a character that fits right into that stereotype who has plenty of influences I can write about!
Meet Altor.
It was the turn of the century and France was still on the verge of recovery. After all, what could you do when you were at war not only a year ago? Hunger was still a problem, but, really, when weren’t the French hungry for the last ten years? For growing young boys, they’ve known nothing beyond the solitude of a snarling stomach to answer back, and that was only if you were one of the ones to survive. Altor would not have considered himself one of the lucky ones. His street urchin brothers, the ones who had been left to the sewers when they finally had their stomachs collapse in with their bones, they were the lucky ones, he thought. They didn’t have to suffer any longer while he continued to fight on. Parents? Unknown. Home? Not likely. There wasn’t much in regards to housing after the barricades were torn down and made to shacks. The city was desolate and cold, yet, somehow, the young 8 year old boy managed to stumble his way through these unforgiving streets and survive the last winter… now the next was coming. Altor knew all too well that he’d not last. Food was too scarce, his wrists were now small enough to reach through most empty door holes, and his ribs weren’t looking too much better. His grey eyes were dull and lifeless, a lack of hope sparking up behind them. He’d embraced it at this point. No one could hire a young kid and without anyone caring for him, he’d be subject to the scraps which dwindled more and more as the nights turned bitter and heartless. He didn’t blame those who turned their eyes away he and the other lost orphans. These families were barely able to care for themselves much less lads who could eat until their stomachs would burst.
This is a history section that gives a statement about both the era, age, appearance, circumstance, as well as the people who were both involved and absent from his life. Altor is one of the orphans of the French revolution, giving a common-place purpose as to why his parents are dead or missing. In offering that there is a lack of information, it's possible to understand the kind of hopelessness Altor has in ever knowing the truth about either of them.. The fellow street urchins are his brothers though none are mentioned by name yet and the families that turn a blind eye to his starving self are also placed in a category of their own. They are noted, recognized, and now, there is a new level of existence to this character that makes an audience curious as to how this kid survived. Later, I mention two kids by name as well as a priest who ends up taking him in, thus creating the background for the rest of his background. This brings us to the next major thinking point!
Personality
Wait a minute, Snow, didn't we just do this? Yes, we did. However, this is a deeper delve into the idea of how the history shaped the personality of your character. You don't want a blood thirsty killer without explaining how they became the way they did. This is the section where you revisit your personality section and make sure everything is still coinciding with itself. This is completing the frame of a puzzle and filling in parts of the middle that you can recognize thus far.
So, let's turn back to Altor for a second.
Though this character is an antagonist in nature simply because he is a forced killer, I have to first begin to understand why he's the brooding vampire he is. He had a rough history, that much is obvious with him growing up as a young starved kid in 1600 France. After being taken in by a priest through recommendation of his best friend, he grows up with virtues, values, and hope finally rekindled. He is given an education, a caring, social nature, as well as some form of morality that lingers towards a neutral good alignment, what happened that he is now a lonely, brooding, spiteful vampire who attempts to remain in solitude to the end of his days?
Because of his vampiric state, I chose to redefine my definition of vampire for the reader.
There are so many different versions of the word that I was forced to recreate the parts that I used in Altor. Blood thirsty, fanged (retractable), burns in sunlight, extremely powerful senses (smell, touch, sight, hearing, taste, sixth), heightened speed and strength, compulsion through eye contact, poisoned by virgin blood, cannot cross graves, cannot enter hallowed ground, death by wood through the dead heart, cold to the touch, lack of heart beat, and unable to consume true foods. These are simply his abilities and weaknesses. It's because of his personality that he uses and fights some of these while leaving or avoiding others.
So, how did he become a vampire who wasn't all into the immortal lifestyle? Why did he care about his own humanity still? These are elements I had to think about deeply on my own character and what you need to think on yours.
Turning back to the character you're creating now, try to apply points of interest to this character's history and being. What is important to them? What kind of a fighter are they? Do they have a fight or flight instinct? What are there greatest moments of indecision? Most terrifying event of their life? Do they even have one?
And most importantly, if your character has a nonhuman aspect, describe the entire history of that species for yourself. Even if your character doesn't know it, it's important that you do so you know how your character has fit (or didn't fit at all) in the society of that species.
If they are a spellcaster of sorts, how do they harness their energy? Do they use artifacts? How do they perform magic using these things? Where did they learn to do this? Were they born with it? How was their childhood growing up with these abilities? How is there life currently with magic? How will it be in the future? Is it spontaneous? What is their focus in magic? How does it feel when they use magic?
There are a thousand and one questions you should be asking yourself about your character and, for heavens sake, if your character doesn't talk about their history, put it in the personality section. Not in your history section.
Appearance
So, now you've got the basis for your character. Chances are, you've likely come up with a base image due to your character's self image and history and personality? However, if you've just been thinking a blank, faceless, hairless shell or shadow of your character performing all these actions, that is perfectly fine. There are several ways to think about a characters appearance. You can always take the easy way and use a premade image or photograph to be the face of your character. However, it's best to have a written out description of your character so you don't make the mistake of a thousand terrors and have your character's eye color magically switch from sultry brown to bright blue (unless their eyes are hazel and DO in fact change.)
Things to think about when writing out a physical description:
Features that stray away from human (extraneous limbs, tails, ears, eyes, etc.)
Body: Male // Female
Eyeshape//Eyecolor //Eyebrow
Facial Shape: Female // Male
Haircolor // hairtype // hairlength // style
Hands: Size, texture, color, nails
Feet: Size, texture, nails, hair
Markings//Tattoos//Scars
Skin Tone (Have a fabulous guide to writing out colors beyond base words!)
Complimentary Clothing
Not so complimentary clothing
Style
Jewelry
Accessories: functional versus fashionable
Shoes: functional versus fashionable
Though these are elements that help give your character a physical portion that are necessary when it comes to bringing uniqueness to their face, however, there is more to appearance than just style and structure.
Verbalization
What does your character sound like? What is it about their voice that makes them interesting? Is their voice not interesting at all? Accents? Volume? Spacing? Whether your character is pleasant to listen to or someone who drones on in monotone, a character who speaks is one who should be given a voice description.
Here are a few helpful words to use when describing voice:
Appealing
Breathy
Booming
Compelling
Flat
Grating
Gravelly
Gruff
High-pitched
Hoarse
Husky
Honeyed
Modulated
Monotonous
Nasally
Quietly
Rough
Ringing
Shrill
Silvery
Smooth
Small
Thick
Tight
Throaty
Tremulous
Wheezing
Got a few adjectives for your character's variety of voices? Marvelous! It's time to then take a look at a few character traits that we as writers perhaps even forget we've given our characters.
Body Language
Yes, the body language. Make sure the personality you've given your character matches the body language you give them. Does a character wring their wrists when they're nervous or pressured? Do they cross their arms when they are annoyed or frightened? Here are a few quirks you can give your character or build off of. Feel free to invent your own, but make sure that they match up with what you've determined is your character's unique personality.
Twirling hair
Picking at nails
Yawning
Glancing at watch
Cracking knuckles
Squinting
Twisting Ring
Biting/Wetting Lips
Raising Eyebrows
Wringing Hands
Rubbing at Elbow
Tapping objects/fingers against a table
Putting feet on tables/chairs
twirling objects over fingers (hair, coins, pens, etc.)
Gestures/Pointing
Chewing Lip
Rubbing knuckle over lips
Rubbing at eyes
Stroking facial hair
There're thousands of ways to give your character play-ability through strange little ticks and habits. Be sure, however, that they are not defined by them.
Kick-Ass Characters
So, perhaps it was a little presumptuous to call this a guide to making a kick-ass character. The true element to creating a character that isn't just overly unique little snowflake of a story or a completely cliche stereo-type we've played with a thousand times over is that we are looking to make a character that has longevity. To rely solely on a characters Appearance and History is to assume that you'll never have to worry about restating who your character is ever again.
There needs to be a a balance between what your character finds important and what is important to the roleplay. Most of all, however, is what is important to you about this character. After all, they did come from your mind, did they not?