Post by Captain John Hart on Mar 5, 2011 0:50:46 GMT -5
- THINKING UP A CHARACTER
Let's make believe that you have found an amazing site. Oh, the joys! The wonderful skin! The beautiful characters, and the friendly members! Now we hit the major roadblock to joining every site: a character. While there are perhaps canons (no worries, we'll get there! Just hold on tight...), you may want to consider your own original character. To do so, however, you must cover every aspect you can about them to avoid hitting major bumps along the way after your character has been released into their new world.
1. Female or male? It is important to pick a sex you are comfortable with. At the same time, consider what the site needs more. If they are blatantly asking for males, do not run off to make a female, as it is simply rude. Challenge yourself! You may find you like it.
2.Think of three major personality traits. Try to make two good, and one a flaw. Put them in degrees, preferably. One really great trait (happy all the time, spice up a party, loyal friend), one okay trait that could go either way (impulsive, spontaneous, little miss sunshine), and a trait that flaws your character (temper, worrisome, ignorant, cocky). Also consider if you want to make your character a complete bother and subtly good at heart, or over-the-top with cupcakes and butterflies. Or maybe you prefer a balance?
3.Think of a motive to their history. Rate it on a scale of one to ten. One being the worst kind of history they can have (their whole family was murdered by a gang of angry Slovakians) and ten being the perfect life. Do they hate this? Do they love it? Endless possibilities here. If you'd like, make one major event that happened (death of a family member, abduction by aliens). The most important thing is to try and think of something interesting. Being cliché gets old after a while, and it is very easy to slip into a one-sided character if you are!
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- WRITING YOUR CHARACTER
1.Name – You may want to skip this step until you get to know your character a little better. When you consider a name, you have to consider how long you will be using it! Hopefully a long time, am I right? So be careful when you go all out and name your character something odd, or perhaps a name that could easily be worn out. Don't be too classic, but try to be generally classic.
2.Personality – the first thing I usually think of when imagining a character. Picture their actions in your mind, how they would go about their daily life. (* Try imagining their everyday morning, afternoon, and nighttime routine! Do they even have one?)
Likes – what are they fond of? Think of things outside the box. Sure, they may love dogs and cats, but what kinds of dogs and cats? Are there certain dogs and cats that they can't stand? What kind of scents do they like? The smell after rain? Choking dirt, overcoming the senses and giving them a place in limbo for a little while? What is their preferable hair color? Do they like the Stargate but hate the Jaffa? This is a chance to be creative! You can write these random facts out later in posts. See? Chain reaction.
Dislikes – what are they not so fond of? Again, think outside the box! Not everything they dislike has to be opposite to what they like. Mix it up a little bit! Make it interesting and worth reading. Be humorous or totally morbid! Endless possibilities.
Goals – long-term and short-term. Have at least one of each, and make them good. If you were your character, would you like the goals you have picked out for yourself? Is the point that your character doesn't like your goals? Elaborate!
Quirks – what are some habits? Does your character twirl their hair while they talk? When they're on the phone, do they doodle on random objects? Do they babble when they're nervous? Be fun here, it'll be a great way to think of actions and thoughts to write into a thorough post later on!
Most importantly, try to stay away from this (click there and you will be guided through a list of what-not-to-dos by the amazing SPARKS. My philosophy is this: to every up, there is a down. Characters are much more interesting when they have flaws to deal with as well. Imagine a world without imperfection – no individuality whatsoever. Sounds boring, doesn't it?
3.History – The next major chunk to your creation. Some things to keep in mind are how their history will effect their personality, and how the biggie: how it will effect their present-day life and future! Hitting some “God, I don't want to do this...” emotions? Try writing the history in first person, or perhaps with some new twist. Add color, make chapters, go by age. You can be creative here too!
4.The most important thing to remember through this whole process is take your time. Work at a steady pace, concentrate, and find your strengths. I find it easier if you start off with an outline for the History and Personality. Grab a blank piece of paper or even open a blank wordpad doc and then just start typing/writing something fun that your character likes or doesn't like. Then think about how does that affect or a result of their personality/histroy. Like, They hate the dark could that be the result of their past? Or they see someone and start hitting on them, what does that say about who they are?
This will possibly let your imagination take the reigns, and result in a more creative way of writing.
5.Canons – If you happen to create a canon, keep three general subjects in mind: the sub-plot involved, how that sub-plot would effect the way they are as a person (personality) and how it will effect their future. Have somewhat of a plan for them, or rather, a general idea of what you want to happen.
Let's make believe that you have found an amazing site. Oh, the joys! The wonderful skin! The beautiful characters, and the friendly members! Now we hit the major roadblock to joining every site: a character. While there are perhaps canons (no worries, we'll get there! Just hold on tight...), you may want to consider your own original character. To do so, however, you must cover every aspect you can about them to avoid hitting major bumps along the way after your character has been released into their new world.
1. Female or male? It is important to pick a sex you are comfortable with. At the same time, consider what the site needs more. If they are blatantly asking for males, do not run off to make a female, as it is simply rude. Challenge yourself! You may find you like it.
2.Think of three major personality traits. Try to make two good, and one a flaw. Put them in degrees, preferably. One really great trait (happy all the time, spice up a party, loyal friend), one okay trait that could go either way (impulsive, spontaneous, little miss sunshine), and a trait that flaws your character (temper, worrisome, ignorant, cocky). Also consider if you want to make your character a complete bother and subtly good at heart, or over-the-top with cupcakes and butterflies. Or maybe you prefer a balance?
3.Think of a motive to their history. Rate it on a scale of one to ten. One being the worst kind of history they can have (their whole family was murdered by a gang of angry Slovakians) and ten being the perfect life. Do they hate this? Do they love it? Endless possibilities here. If you'd like, make one major event that happened (death of a family member, abduction by aliens). The most important thing is to try and think of something interesting. Being cliché gets old after a while, and it is very easy to slip into a one-sided character if you are!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- WRITING YOUR CHARACTER
1.Name – You may want to skip this step until you get to know your character a little better. When you consider a name, you have to consider how long you will be using it! Hopefully a long time, am I right? So be careful when you go all out and name your character something odd, or perhaps a name that could easily be worn out. Don't be too classic, but try to be generally classic.
2.Personality – the first thing I usually think of when imagining a character. Picture their actions in your mind, how they would go about their daily life. (* Try imagining their everyday morning, afternoon, and nighttime routine! Do they even have one?)
Likes – what are they fond of? Think of things outside the box. Sure, they may love dogs and cats, but what kinds of dogs and cats? Are there certain dogs and cats that they can't stand? What kind of scents do they like? The smell after rain? Choking dirt, overcoming the senses and giving them a place in limbo for a little while? What is their preferable hair color? Do they like the Stargate but hate the Jaffa? This is a chance to be creative! You can write these random facts out later in posts. See? Chain reaction.
Dislikes – what are they not so fond of? Again, think outside the box! Not everything they dislike has to be opposite to what they like. Mix it up a little bit! Make it interesting and worth reading. Be humorous or totally morbid! Endless possibilities.
Goals – long-term and short-term. Have at least one of each, and make them good. If you were your character, would you like the goals you have picked out for yourself? Is the point that your character doesn't like your goals? Elaborate!
Quirks – what are some habits? Does your character twirl their hair while they talk? When they're on the phone, do they doodle on random objects? Do they babble when they're nervous? Be fun here, it'll be a great way to think of actions and thoughts to write into a thorough post later on!
Most importantly, try to stay away from this (click there and you will be guided through a list of what-not-to-dos by the amazing SPARKS. My philosophy is this: to every up, there is a down. Characters are much more interesting when they have flaws to deal with as well. Imagine a world without imperfection – no individuality whatsoever. Sounds boring, doesn't it?
3.History – The next major chunk to your creation. Some things to keep in mind are how their history will effect their personality, and how the biggie: how it will effect their present-day life and future! Hitting some “God, I don't want to do this...” emotions? Try writing the history in first person, or perhaps with some new twist. Add color, make chapters, go by age. You can be creative here too!
4.The most important thing to remember through this whole process is take your time. Work at a steady pace, concentrate, and find your strengths. I find it easier if you start off with an outline for the History and Personality. Grab a blank piece of paper or even open a blank wordpad doc and then just start typing/writing something fun that your character likes or doesn't like. Then think about how does that affect or a result of their personality/histroy. Like, They hate the dark could that be the result of their past? Or they see someone and start hitting on them, what does that say about who they are?
This will possibly let your imagination take the reigns, and result in a more creative way of writing.
5.Canons – If you happen to create a canon, keep three general subjects in mind: the sub-plot involved, how that sub-plot would effect the way they are as a person (personality) and how it will effect their future. Have somewhat of a plan for them, or rather, a general idea of what you want to happen.
