A Guide to Character Creation
1. Introduction
2. Character Basics
3. Using Cliches to Your Advantage
4. Never Aim For Original
Introduction
My name is Vahn Seele. I was invited sometime this morning to join the guild and thought that, with what time I have, I'd give everyone an introduction of myself, as well as a few pointers on how to create a character that people want to RP with. Now, first and foremost, this is merely an opinionated guide. It isn't meant to be the perfect guide to creating a character. So, don't quote me on any of this and say that I was wrong. To be honest, there is no one perfect way to build a character. Roleplaying isn't some cheap online game that can be won with a little effort on focusing on stats. Roleplaying is a creative art that has many ways of expressing itself. Because it is such an abstract form of art, there are many ways it can be expressed.
Character Basics
So, with that introduction out of the way, let's get started on the nitty gritty: The parameters and the rules you are following. Now, most roleplays that I've seen give you a very detailed skeleton of what they expect from you. To quote this from a friend's RP, this is what she expected when you were joining to send her.
Name::
Parents::
Heritage:: [Pureblood, mudblood, halfblood, etc.]
Age::
Gender::
House::
Wand:: [Wood type & core]
Bio::
Username::
Now, obviously, you can tell this is part of a Harry Potter RP. This would be the bare minimum that you would have to fulfill to create your character. Something that I used to do when I first was joining an RP was I was overthinking beyond the required fields. I was thinking of everything other than what was required to get into that RP. Granted, it helped to build a deeper character, but it wasn't getting me the required information I needed to join. So, first rule of creating a character is to fill in the requirements and add the filler later.
Having reviewed several profiles PMed to me, I can say that there are certain fields that actually do require a certain length to be acceptable. Things like Name or Age, those fields don't require more than a word. That's obvious. But, when you get to certain fields, such as Biography or Personality, you actually are expected to give a bit more detail. Now, when I say detail, I don't mean a massive five paragraphs of text. I mean a good medium of text that gets the basics across and doesn't take up the entire profile section. When a person is reviewing a profile, they don't care for length and they don't care for long details. They care to see what the character is and to see if the character would fit into the roleplay well. They also want to see how well the character has been created. So, second rule of character basics is: Don't overfill small sections and don't underfill large sections.
This last tip needs no more than a few sentences to explain: Don't change your character just because the creator gives you a small response that states, for no clear reason, "I don't like your character." While you can choose to re-do your character to join that RP, I would honestly tell you that you are better off doing something else with your time. If a creator of an RP can't even give you a legitimate reason that they don't like your character, it isn't worth your time or patience to re-create it. Keep the character in a word document and use the character at a later time. Chances are, you will use them and you wouldn't have fit well into that RP anyways.
Using Cliches to Your Advantage
Now, everyone is always saying "Don't be a mary-sue/gary-stu." Now, while I can half-agree with that, I can also half-disagree. Every character I have ever created has been built looking exactly like a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, cliched to the max. There is no such thing as a character that wasn't built that way. If you have found a way to build a character without a stereotype or a cliche built in, then great. You've managed to do something that I haven't been able to do and I'd gladly add you to this guide with your name bolded above your contribution.
I have a specific character I'll quote on this one for examples of how he was created. I first created this character about 8 years ago (Been a long time) when I was roleplaying with an ex-girlfriend of mine. His name was Vahn. Had no last name, and I only had one thing that I wanted to make sure was in his background: He was a half-demon/half-angel. That was the cliche I built him on. Now, this was before I did much serious roleplaying, so I didn't realize I had created a cliched character. Had I of realized it, though, I wouldn't have cared. It was a personal roleplay, 1 x 1, so as long as she was alright with the character, it didn't matter.
Now, what I mean by use the cliches to your advantage is a bit harder to explain. In creating a character and using a character, you follow your own style and your own paths. No one can tell you that you are wrong to do so. But, to give you as best of an explanation as I can, we'll continue talking about Vahn. Vahn was, and still is to this day, built on cliches and built on things that would easily make him seem like a weak character. But, its how you roleplay that character that determines how interesting he/she is. Being the typical half-angel/half-demon, Vahn was always in conflict with himself. Both halves seemed to always express themselves in each of my posts. As time went by, you actually began to see more of an allure to being around him. Because of his different backgrounds, he actually was an interesting person to be around. Now, from judging him from a distance, you'd say he wasn't interesting just because of that single cliche. But, as time went on, he seemed to evolve into something of interest. That's where your style and your skill are required. Upon character creation and character acceptance, you have a certain responsibility to make that character interesting. A profile/biography can only state the basics of your character, not give the dynamics to his life that would make him interesting. That is why you can't over-fill a profile with information in hoping to get your character's personality or attitudes across. It takes away the surprise that your character has and it creates too lengthy of a profile. So, to sum up this paragraph, "Don't let a cliche define your character. Build on that cliche and catch people off-guard with an interesting character to roleplay with."
Never Aim For Original
This section and the previous section are similar and tie well together, but deserve their own sets of explanation. Originality is something that I used to strive for when I made a character. I eventually found, though, that I was mistaken to do so. With the digital age in a full uproar, its almost impossible to take and create an original concept anymore. It can be done, I will not say that it is impossible, but it isn't worth your time. In the time it would take you to do something original, it will have been done by someone before. You can see this from authors who have written professionally and created masterpieces. Examples:
Anne Rice took the concept of vampires and brought a new light to it, her own twist on the vampire realm and making them into an interesting breed to read about. You could've read about vampires many times before and you would have loved to read about these because of how she wrote about them, because of how she described them.
Stephenie Meyer (most should know her name and will probably argue this with me later) did the same thing with her series of books. She took the vampire stories, the legends behind them and molded them into a concept with her own twists. Was it original? No, because she used the name Vampire, or she used something similar to someone else. But, it was executed in such a way that she managed to catch many a reader's eyes.
Its in this same way you have to sort of create a character that you find interesting and that others will find interesting. Unless you actually can feel an attachment to your character, or can actually find interest in your character, how can you expect others to do the same?
--------------------
Now, I'm no expert on roleplaying. I'd be ashamed of myself to say so. But, I have a good amount of experience at doing it and I feel that, while I'm not perfect, I do have good insight. If anyone has questions they'd like me to answer, you are welcome to post in this thread and I will start a Q&A. Or, you can PM me. I'll gladly review a character and give you my opinion. Or, I can answer a question in private. I want to help others as I've been helped in the past.
I know this guide isn't long and I know that its not as detailed as I could've been with it. I had intended to do far more with it, but when I started to write it, I realized that there is no one way to explain this topic to someone. It takes personal experience with it and critiquing to really give helpful advice other than what I've stated. With that, I leave you this guide to do with as you see fit.
1. Introduction
2. Character Basics
3. Using Cliches to Your Advantage
4. Never Aim For Original
Introduction
My name is Vahn Seele. I was invited sometime this morning to join the guild and thought that, with what time I have, I'd give everyone an introduction of myself, as well as a few pointers on how to create a character that people want to RP with. Now, first and foremost, this is merely an opinionated guide. It isn't meant to be the perfect guide to creating a character. So, don't quote me on any of this and say that I was wrong. To be honest, there is no one perfect way to build a character. Roleplaying isn't some cheap online game that can be won with a little effort on focusing on stats. Roleplaying is a creative art that has many ways of expressing itself. Because it is such an abstract form of art, there are many ways it can be expressed.
Character Basics
So, with that introduction out of the way, let's get started on the nitty gritty: The parameters and the rules you are following. Now, most roleplays that I've seen give you a very detailed skeleton of what they expect from you. To quote this from a friend's RP, this is what she expected when you were joining to send her.
Quote:
Name::
Parents::
Heritage:: [Pureblood, mudblood, halfblood, etc.]
Age::
Gender::
House::
Wand:: [Wood type & core]
Bio::
Username::
Now, obviously, you can tell this is part of a Harry Potter RP. This would be the bare minimum that you would have to fulfill to create your character. Something that I used to do when I first was joining an RP was I was overthinking beyond the required fields. I was thinking of everything other than what was required to get into that RP. Granted, it helped to build a deeper character, but it wasn't getting me the required information I needed to join. So, first rule of creating a character is to fill in the requirements and add the filler later.
Having reviewed several profiles PMed to me, I can say that there are certain fields that actually do require a certain length to be acceptable. Things like Name or Age, those fields don't require more than a word. That's obvious. But, when you get to certain fields, such as Biography or Personality, you actually are expected to give a bit more detail. Now, when I say detail, I don't mean a massive five paragraphs of text. I mean a good medium of text that gets the basics across and doesn't take up the entire profile section. When a person is reviewing a profile, they don't care for length and they don't care for long details. They care to see what the character is and to see if the character would fit into the roleplay well. They also want to see how well the character has been created. So, second rule of character basics is: Don't overfill small sections and don't underfill large sections.
This last tip needs no more than a few sentences to explain: Don't change your character just because the creator gives you a small response that states, for no clear reason, "I don't like your character." While you can choose to re-do your character to join that RP, I would honestly tell you that you are better off doing something else with your time. If a creator of an RP can't even give you a legitimate reason that they don't like your character, it isn't worth your time or patience to re-create it. Keep the character in a word document and use the character at a later time. Chances are, you will use them and you wouldn't have fit well into that RP anyways.
Using Cliches to Your Advantage
Now, everyone is always saying "Don't be a mary-sue/gary-stu." Now, while I can half-agree with that, I can also half-disagree. Every character I have ever created has been built looking exactly like a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, cliched to the max. There is no such thing as a character that wasn't built that way. If you have found a way to build a character without a stereotype or a cliche built in, then great. You've managed to do something that I haven't been able to do and I'd gladly add you to this guide with your name bolded above your contribution.
I have a specific character I'll quote on this one for examples of how he was created. I first created this character about 8 years ago (Been a long time) when I was roleplaying with an ex-girlfriend of mine. His name was Vahn. Had no last name, and I only had one thing that I wanted to make sure was in his background: He was a half-demon/half-angel. That was the cliche I built him on. Now, this was before I did much serious roleplaying, so I didn't realize I had created a cliched character. Had I of realized it, though, I wouldn't have cared. It was a personal roleplay, 1 x 1, so as long as she was alright with the character, it didn't matter.
Now, what I mean by use the cliches to your advantage is a bit harder to explain. In creating a character and using a character, you follow your own style and your own paths. No one can tell you that you are wrong to do so. But, to give you as best of an explanation as I can, we'll continue talking about Vahn. Vahn was, and still is to this day, built on cliches and built on things that would easily make him seem like a weak character. But, its how you roleplay that character that determines how interesting he/she is. Being the typical half-angel/half-demon, Vahn was always in conflict with himself. Both halves seemed to always express themselves in each of my posts. As time went by, you actually began to see more of an allure to being around him. Because of his different backgrounds, he actually was an interesting person to be around. Now, from judging him from a distance, you'd say he wasn't interesting just because of that single cliche. But, as time went on, he seemed to evolve into something of interest. That's where your style and your skill are required. Upon character creation and character acceptance, you have a certain responsibility to make that character interesting. A profile/biography can only state the basics of your character, not give the dynamics to his life that would make him interesting. That is why you can't over-fill a profile with information in hoping to get your character's personality or attitudes across. It takes away the surprise that your character has and it creates too lengthy of a profile. So, to sum up this paragraph, "Don't let a cliche define your character. Build on that cliche and catch people off-guard with an interesting character to roleplay with."
Never Aim For Original
This section and the previous section are similar and tie well together, but deserve their own sets of explanation. Originality is something that I used to strive for when I made a character. I eventually found, though, that I was mistaken to do so. With the digital age in a full uproar, its almost impossible to take and create an original concept anymore. It can be done, I will not say that it is impossible, but it isn't worth your time. In the time it would take you to do something original, it will have been done by someone before. You can see this from authors who have written professionally and created masterpieces. Examples:
Anne Rice took the concept of vampires and brought a new light to it, her own twist on the vampire realm and making them into an interesting breed to read about. You could've read about vampires many times before and you would have loved to read about these because of how she wrote about them, because of how she described them.
Stephenie Meyer (most should know her name and will probably argue this with me later) did the same thing with her series of books. She took the vampire stories, the legends behind them and molded them into a concept with her own twists. Was it original? No, because she used the name Vampire, or she used something similar to someone else. But, it was executed in such a way that she managed to catch many a reader's eyes.
Its in this same way you have to sort of create a character that you find interesting and that others will find interesting. Unless you actually can feel an attachment to your character, or can actually find interest in your character, how can you expect others to do the same?
--------------------
Now, I'm no expert on roleplaying. I'd be ashamed of myself to say so. But, I have a good amount of experience at doing it and I feel that, while I'm not perfect, I do have good insight. If anyone has questions they'd like me to answer, you are welcome to post in this thread and I will start a Q&A. Or, you can PM me. I'll gladly review a character and give you my opinion. Or, I can answer a question in private. I want to help others as I've been helped in the past.
I know this guide isn't long and I know that its not as detailed as I could've been with it. I had intended to do far more with it, but when I started to write it, I realized that there is no one way to explain this topic to someone. It takes personal experience with it and critiquing to really give helpful advice other than what I've stated. With that, I leave you this guide to do with as you see fit.
