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Post by Leroy on Feb 1, 2009 0:19:13 GMT -5
The purpose of this thread is for people to share tips they have for creating better characters. Feel free to post any tips you may have, whether they are very general or site specific. Keep in mind that these are NOT rules and you should not feel obligated to follow any of this advice.
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Post by Leroy on Feb 4, 2009 0:29:37 GMT -5
Here are some of my suggestions:
1. When choosing a job for your character, keep the area in mind. Some jobs may not be compatible with your location. Also, think about how your character would handle the job that they are given. Would they love it? Hate it? Be neutral towards it? None are a wrong answer.
2. Think twice about choosing 'generic' morphs. It seems that the natural reaction when choosing a first morph is to either go with a cat or dog. Or for birds a pigeon or seagull, and a fly or cockroach for bugs. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those morphs so don't be afraid to choose them. I just wanted you to think twice about them.
3. Try not to let your character read people's minds. It is one thing to pick up on someone's emotions or mood based on the way they talk or move, but unless you morphed a leeran, you should not be able to know exactly what they are thinking.
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Post by zero on May 29, 2009 17:56:20 GMT -5
Another thing that I've always found useful is to ask your character questions. It may seem kind of silly at first, but it really helps you write in character. Ask how your character would respond in this situation or to this type of person-- chances are that it's different than how you would. This should help you write in character and not have your character just be an incarnation of yourself-- they're their own person.
(Taken from "The Writer's Block" by Jason Rekulak)
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Post by embergryphon on May 29, 2009 23:48:38 GMT -5
^ Ooh, I love those questionaire/meme things that float around the internet... those are fun, and really helpful for getting into your character's mindset.
Personally, when I'm creating a character, I like to come up with one big, central personality trait that's neutral- like maybe your character's ambitious. Ambitious isn't a good thing, necessarily, or a bad thing- it just is.
And then I like to think of all the ways that trait helps him- maybe it makes him determined and energetic; he knows how to get from point A to point Z, he can improvise well, he can always come up with a plan to get what he wants- and how it hampers him- he's somewhat self-absorbed, he's focused on the endgame and doesn't enjoy life as much as the next guy might, he's willing to justify whatever means it takes to get what he needs, he's not very thoughtful or imaginative, he's not empathetic or good with people, he tends to alienate others. Of course, he'll have other personality traits, too, but building a character around one striking detail makes for an effective character in my opinion.
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Allie
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
"It's an Allie cat."
Posts: 74
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Post by Allie on May 30, 2009 0:20:21 GMT -5
You know, I'm glad I read these. I had to go back into Allie's profile to be sure she wasn't out of character. Actually, I'm doing fairly well aside from that she seems to be lacking her her lack of knowing who she really is. I need to have her start trying to define herself.
Anyways, what I want to add kind of goes along with that.
My suggestion is, try to make your character unique. There's nothing wrong with a generic personality description like "tom boy", but I know several girls who are tom boys and are very different in their preferences and actions. Being specific helps define the character as unique as does throwing in something to their personality or background that others didn't do.
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Mar 10, 2010 15:39:28 GMT -5
Another helpful thing, is that each character has strengths and weaknesses. Ie they may be distractable, competitive, dominating, etc. From personal experience, I have seen some who have disabilities that conquered what many others would have allowed to possess them. So some of their strengths can become weaknesses in certain situations... and weaknesses that in other situations become strengths. Nothing is more interesting than a realistic character
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