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Character Development is like my favorite part of the whole writing process. Its like the bread and butter of the entire meal called writing, I think.

For me, I have a rough idea. Like roleplaying, I have this concept of person that I think will be fun to roleplay/write about and I go with that.

Next, I drop them into the world and have them interact with others, and eventually, believe it or not, the character starts to evolve on his/her own. Giving themselves flaws, and quirks, psychological ruts and mannerisms and phrases that they like to say and its just fun to watch ...

I don't know if that will work for everybody. Some characters like to have their hand held as they walk through big scary worlds ... too afraid to be alone and whatnot, but that's just my take on it ...

ninja

I've never had a problem with development. I'd also never say that it's the funnest part. For me it's just always came. Be it a name, a concept, or a place I can find something for it. I've never forced a charicter, and I've never not had one when I needed one.

I sat one day with twenty names and gave them a face and a charicter. Each name represented an assassin from a diffrent region during the year 13000. I broke them into four factions and went from there with bios and histories.

A couple are inspired by real people some arent.

Mudgett was inspired by HH Holmes a famous serial killer.

Marcus Maximus was born because I designed pistols that shoot flame with proper minipulation so I created a pyromancer who could use them.

Lef'Drak came to me in a concept about a seventeen year old who was charged by the church for black magic.

One day I said "hay Stranger," to somebody and he became another serial killer of mine.

I have more, they all just come. I don't have to immagine what it's like to be them, or how I would do it because they're not me. I haven't the slightest idea what it's like to be an assassin, or a serial killer, or a gladiator so I'm pretty much winging it. I think we come out in our charicters not in how they act or think, but in what they are. We're not the sum of our parts and neither are our charicters.

I don't skin people alive, but I know how I'd do it if I had to and that's where I start. I've never stood before a catholic councel but I know how it'd go down. I've never held the head of an opponet high to a cheering crowd, but I now enough about triumph to get it right. These are all things I have to write about and I think it's a problem to tell people what I would do, I'd rather tell them what Skinner, Lef'Drak, and Jazeel would do.

I've never been able to Role Play a charicter because they always wind up too much like me. I can't have a book with thirty Widigo's and get anybody to read it.

I don't so much write as channel ideas. It's almost like watching a movie. Like looking at a foregn world through a telescpe and writing what you see on paper. Sometimes even I stand back and say where the heck did this all come from.

If a woman sleeps with a number of men, she's often considered a whore, but a man who sleeps with a number of women isn't really called anything. He might be called a "man whore" in some people's eyes but it's not usually thought of that way.

I only mention this because I think an awful lot of my pirate. He's my favourite male character and he's not even the protagonist. Pirates are known to be resistant to commitment, as well as any seafaring man really, because of the length of time they usually spend at sea. So, many either turn to prostitutes or girls who are just easy to get.

My character is content with travelling from place to place, and being able to "get along easily". He IS a looker after all and he's basically my age - 21. I just don't want him to be looked at negatively for not being one who commits. He might find that someone at some point, but in his eyes it's not likely so he simply lives life as it comes.

I have most of my characters worked out 100%, including this one. I just don't want people to think of him in the wrong way.

for me characters are developed mostly by my personality some of them are my mind frames some are emotions others just come to me in small parts and snippets at random times, yet all the characters i develop i try to make as real as possible.

Though right now I am still having trouble making everything sound and flow right.

I'm not sure how I do it, but somehow I end up with an initial thought like what a character looks like or I figure out a name and then build the character around them.

However, I have been told that most of my characters resemble myself in different ways.