|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 1:49 pm
How does everyone here build and develop their characters?
I used role-playing and thinking about them for a long long time to get many of my characters where they are today. Most of them are so diverse in appearances, cultures and personalities, that in some ways I've amazed myself at what I can come up with. I'm sure most other creative people are as well.
Music also helps me with certain characters depending on all of the three factors above. If a character is dark and sinister, or if a character is cheerful and mischievous (along with having a very serious side), I will find the right kind of music that fits that character for the different aspects of their personality.
I think backgrounds are extremely important. If a character doesn't have a past, or doesn't have a past that has influenced them to become what they are today, then there's not really any depth to them.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:18 pm
For me Character creation almost always starts with a name. A name says a lot about a person and/or a character.
Music often influences my writing and my perception of my characters. I was joking with Hubby that if I were to ever actually have a book published it would have to be sold with a soundtrack becaue of the influence music has on my writing.
Once my characters have been created though they take on a life of their own. There have been many a time I wanted to write a character doing something and he or she has chided me "That's not something I would do!" I have a hard time with character development if my character is not willing to help me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:47 pm
As for me, my characters start out with their peronality. I imagine how some nameless person might react to situations were they in my shoes.
I'll guess depending on whether they might be quirky or grumpy or cheerful. When I find something that feels right, I add to that and keep going.
Sooner or later I use the information I have already thought about the character and choose a name that will help me figure them out more.
Once I get so far it's just as Jen said. My charcters gain minds of their own and they will not let me tell them to do something they wouldn't do. dramallama
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:42 am
Jenannen For me Character creation almost always starts with a name. A name says a lot about a person and/or a character.
Music often influences my writing and my perception of my characters. I was joking with Hubby that if I were to ever actually have a book published it would have to be sold with a soundtrack becaue of the influence music has on my writing.
Once my characters have been created though they take on a life of their own. There have been many a time I wanted to write a character doing something and he or she has chided me "That's not something I would do!" I have a hard time with character development if my character is not willing to help me. 02xXbreezyXx02 As for me, my characters start out with their peronality. I imagine how some nameless person might react to situations were they in my shoes.
I'll guess depending on whether they might be quirky or grumpy or cheerful. When I find something that feels right, I add to that and keep going.
Sooner or later I use the information I have already thought about the character and choose a name that will help me figure them out more.
Once I get so far it's just as Jen said. My charcters gain minds of their own and they will not let me tell them to do something they wouldn't do. dramallama
I can see where names have a great influence on who the characters actually are though. It's also one of those difficult things to explain, but nonetheless I think people who are so significantly into their writing understand what it means anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B-rad the Vampiric Shadow
|
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:20 am
this is the first time i acually thought bout wat i do with my characters so if it is a little confusing i am sorry.
when ever i create characters i usually start out with their looks and personality. usually, i dont think up of a name for a while. when create the world they live in, i kinda just add on to it as i go. when at a certain point, they really just develope themselves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:47 am
Developing characters starts different ways for me. For roleplaying characters such as in D&D I will start with their allignment. Knowing if someone is lawful versus chaotic or good versus evil, or neutral, gives a start to figuring out their personality. The subtle nuances develop gradually from that. I agree with Mel that background is extremely important in developing a character and determining why they do the things they do. I don't write much anymore, but when I did my characters usually were generated by a need for a certain type of character, such as a hero, or a comic sidekick. Looking back on things it may have made my characters a little flat to limit them to these classic steryotypes, but it was a learning expereince and it was fun.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:58 pm
I often start with the idea of both a male and female and then try to think of different races/species that would best fit the situation. Say for instance, an elf, a human or a mage (who may be human or just been born into a maging line) then I would take into account stereotypical personalities of the said race and of the different genders.
When I am finally happy with what I narrowed the selection down to I would start to think of a background or a history to see why the character may feel the way about the situation or want to do something about a situation and of course to help with the personality creation, for example, if a male elf was untrusting of humans, then I would have already explained why because of something in the history.
Like some have already said, at this time music might play a small part, during or after completing a little bit of character profile I will often be listening to a song and/or music and find the lyrics or mood the music (or both) set could in fact reflect the way one of the characters may be feeling and from then on I will look through my music to find songs etc much like that one that I am listening to. When I am happy with the history I will then fill in the blanks with names, ages etc.
Also visual aids are quite good. A friend of mine and myself, design and make fantasy/historical clothing, mostly I design and she makes. If I see and/or make a pattern for say a Celtic maiden themed dress it may help clear writers block or, indeed, fuel my mind with an idea to start work on.
For role-play characters I often do the same, but I normally start with the race, because in WarHammer (which I play quite a bit of) the race determines quite a bit, then I try and work a history followed by a personality, because the history helps me design the personality.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:55 pm
I usually figure out a name and work out the personality from that, and go from there. When it comes to designing clothes, I do that in my mind, yet I can never draw them as I see them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:39 pm
For me I just slowly build up starting with how they look and finally a flash back.That way not everything is crammed together but you still get it all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 12:40 pm
It takes me a while to develop a character with every little detail figured out. Usually I start with my mood. If I'm feeling dark, then I'll most likely create an "evil" character that's sarcastic and cheerful, happy that they kill or whatever. If I'm happy, then it might be a girl with a lot of luck in her life. It starts like that. No music though; I tend to write down the lyrics instead of the character's structure... xp
However I imagine them looking in my mind when I'm creating their personality is how they end up looking--my mind automatically creates a body with the different hair colours and highlights in the eyes while I'm choosing a personality. I'm not even aware of it happening; I just needed a person to decide how the different emotions would look with that personality and somehow the character manages to make itself. I never have any trouble with appearances that way. It's hard to explain, really.
Then I focus on the details--name, birthday, age, where they live, what their favorite colour/activity/TV show/word/etc, friends, lifestyle, and more and more like that. The name always comes first; it's my favorite part. I try picking out a name that matches their personality exactly, then choose an age based off of their appearance and thoughts. Then I write down all the other little details over the course of writing. They continue to develop in my writing as I unintentionally give them the habit of biting finger nails or how they squeak a little when surprised. When I read over what I've written and discover those things I write them down with the other little details. The character never stops developing as long as the author continues to write. =)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:52 pm
The original inspiration for a character can come from many places for me. There are some that I work on for months before they become who they are in a story, and there are some that jump fully-formed into my mind. For instance, one of the main girls I'm using in my current story has been with me for a long while, but certain characteristics have changed over time. However, the main character from my last fanfic has barely changed since her original conception.
The one thing that really helps me in getting a good idea for a new character, though, is a bio form, similar to the character sheets I use in D&D. There's a basic list of traits on my computer, from appearance to manner of speaking to dreams to relationships. This is then filled out for the characters I need developed in various lengths depending on how much needs to be mentioned. The main character, for example, will get paragraph-length answers for each question, while a smaller supporting character might get an abridged form, and generally smaller answers.
It's a bit strict and time-consuming, but it's a really great resource sheet when I'm writing the story, it give a very good idea of the characters, and it saves me the trouble of keeping it all in my head, like I used to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:44 am
My characters are born from necessity. They come as I need them, they usually grow from that, but most if not all of them are just a name when I start. Expessly with my assassins most of which have names that describe their charicter, origin, or method of killing. I think what makes a charicter are the strange and odd things they do, the things that make you say "why?". A couple unique characters with unique traits are, the lemony snicket (sp?) characters, he did a great job with them. Samwise Gamgee (sp?) he was a person you could see yourself being friends with no matter who you were, and he always had a way of going about things that was oddly honest. A couple examples of my own would be Spurg, the odd dwarf who loves to see things, or the Veteran who knows more than he wants to, or the Privateer gone Pirate who even though retired still loves the fight. It takes odd, or unique combinations to make characters worth reading about.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:10 am
I really don't know where my characters come from in most cases. Some are inspired by characters from films, games or books, but most just pop up and I see vaguely what they look like and give them a name. Once I've got a name for them, their personalities seem to build in my mind on their own. Sometimes if there's a character that I'm not sure about, I'll alter them in a few ways, such as: slight changes in their appearance and sometimes their occupations.
This is what I did with my young pirate captain. He was originally going to be a female mercenary's lackey, but he never got a personality and was a follower. When I decided I wanted him to be much more important, I thought about a different occupation for him and the first word that came to mind was "rogue", then my interests with tall ships and the sea set in. I then altered his appearance a bit, his personality grew into that of a flamboyant, skilled and very clever young pirate with a very difficult past. This has only happened with my characters a couple of times before, and they usually arise from many different sources.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:16 pm
Hm. How do I build up a character?
As I'm bad in names, I look for one rather later on unless I have one popping in immediatly. Usually, my first name is what tells more about the generality of my char. That's merely because I look up names defining that one word (Kiran = Litte dark one. Thyra = Goddess of Wind. Raven = Mythical messenger of Death/Bad news.)
So, I start with the age and looks of my person. Very often I take an age around mine, or a few years older as I feel pretty comfortable playing that. Ages too much under or above mine makes me unsure if I play it right.
Then comes the eventual weaponry/skill stuff. That's based on the looks and race of my character. Yet mostly I stick to the mage, rogue or archer class.
At last, I work out the history and personality of my character. The history is bounded to an eventual storyline of the thread or setting, but has no specific boundaries. The personality changes too, but always contains at least one small part of my own personality. Eh, good thing about Pisces is that they can be somewhat anything as long it's natural ^-^
And finally, after all that, I try to define my character in one single word. That word, I translate it into a foreign name and use that as first name. The last name usually adds a little more to the first name.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:56 pm
I generally get sporadic inspiration to write a story. When I do I begin to build characters and settings to fit the mood of the story. The character of course plays the biggest role in the story so they need to fit the mood well.
The first thing I do is try to create the mentality of this character in my mind so that I know exactly how they think and I don't stray fomr my origional idea. Then I decide how this person came to be this way. I plot out the events in there past which then triggers me to think about their appearence, which I actually create to fit thier personality.
Only once all this is done can I put a name to them because I think a name like an appearence must reflect their personality, unless of course if this person is insecure about themself and dresses a different way to make people think they are different.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
