Post by Phoenixchild on Dec 28, 2009 11:31:57 GMT 11
So new to role play? check this out and hopefully it will help you! I am hoping to help people new and old to rping with this guide, questions, comments and suggestions would be appreciated.
Part 1: What is role playing? This is a valid question. What is Role Playing? Roleplaying: Participants adopt and act out the role of character, or parts, that may have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. As defined by Wikipedia. In other words: You create a character, or use an existing character. You act as that character in a scenario or story and you decide what happens, it's like sort of writing a novel with multiple people.
Part 2: Four common beginning mistakes when roleplaying.
1.)One Liners This is when a player types only one line which does not move the story or plot. Or it is a response to a large post in which another member spent a lot of time crafting. Too much of this can cause annoyance in other RPers. It also means you run the risk of people not wanting to role play with you.
2.) Power-PlayingThis is when a player controls another player's character into doing something without their permission (i.e. You controlling another person's character that isn't your own without their permission). This is almost always frowned upon and can quite often create problems and result in disciplinary actions taken by the staff.
3.)Misconception When a beginning roleplayer believes that the story revolves around their character.
Also that there character is automatically more important then another one belonging to another player.
4.)God-Modding Making your character so powerful that there are no weaknesses (i.e. immortality, unable to bleed, super-fast, super-strong, extra pretty or beautiful like a nymph, etc.). In other words, making your character god-like. No one but you will like this if your character is anything like this.
Part three: Labels and Terms.
There are many different labels for people at different skill levels, they aren’t really meant to put them down but they generally distinguish different kind of roleplayers so that people with higher standards can get more out of what they want to roleplay.
Illiterate: Usually beginners, illiterates are known to use very generic list descriptions like such—
Name: mister so and so
Gender: male
Eyes: Green
Clothes: jeans and a green day shirt
Etc.
There are usually no depth or substance to these characters and the remainder of the roleplay is played out in one-liners. Usually illiterates have no regards for capitalization or ooc or grammar or spelling or basic roleplaying rules.
Semi-literate: Usually have longer and more descriptive lists that really get into the character, sometimes a semi-literate might type out a paragraph or two about their character but it’s usually not very intriguing or well written information about their character. Grammar is more sharpened.
Literate: Longer introductions and posts that have depth and description and are more like writing than basic information. Literates create more relatable and in-depth characters that a reader is interested in reading about, not just interacting with. The writing is more developed and the grammar is intact.
Advanced: This is when someone writes a long, interesting, in-depth, creative introduction. The grammar is nearly perfect and the writing is well thought out and descriptive. The quality of the writing is just more developed.
There are different terms known to roleplayers, these are some of the more common ones:
BIC: back in character, or in character. When the writer is writing in his or her persona, and interacting with other characters.
OOC: out of character, when you are talking to other players as yourself not your character.
Mary / Gary Sue: perfect characters. These are generally not permitted because it’s boring and doesn’t make for an interesting roleplay. Flaws and personalities are what make a better roleplaying and Mary / Gary’s are more common in illiterate and semi literate roleplays.
Powerplay: controlling someone else’s character. This is not permitted—you are only allowed to control the actions of your own character
Godmode: creating unrealistic situations, or characters that can do anything. Example: a character that is a lightening fast super intelligent elf that can defeat anyone in combat.
Despie: an illiterate that is desperate for romance.
Slash: romantic relationships in a fanfictional roleplay between to already made characters that is not of norm. I.E. dracoxharry
MxM or FxF: homosexual relationship between two characters
MxF: heterosexual relationship between two characters
Prommie: A well known roleplayer that has earned the respect of the other roleplayers by their example of literacy.
N00b: Someone who is considered illiterate and generally new to Roleplaying without a mentor.
Newbie: Someone who is new to roleplaying, but is well on their way to becoming literate but still needs practice. They are often found in semi- literate roleplays.
Section 4:Standard rules for Roleplay
These change from board to board, depending on what the creator of the board wishes to institute into his or her roleplay, but these are the standard rules.
1. Spell check—no one wants to read your typos, it puts them off. Typos are fine, of course, but make an effort to spell check your posts.
2. This is related but, no chatspeak in IC. Everyone hates it. You can’t read it. Please don’t do if the creator of the board doesn’t want you too.
3. Post length—quality over quantity obviously, but you should describe your character at length so people get a feeling of who your character is. Not only current appearance but things like personality, history, flaws, the stuff that makes a human interesting.
4. Use proper grammar in IC—that means capitalization, quotation marks, etc.
5. Make your best effort to write intriguing and interesting posts—everyone gets better at writing and roleplaying and until then ask questions so you can learn.
6. Please be original, not only does it get boring to see the same characters over and over again, but there are so many of the same genre RP circling around. If you see an RP of a genre you like, don't start a thread with the same thing, join the original one. Also, try to be creative with what you RP, make up some new ideas about what to roleplay. TRY NOT TO BE REDUNDANT IN THE THREADS THAT ALREADY HAVE BEEN POSTED.
OTHER POINTERS
1. Don't use '*', you should use formal writing to a certain extent while roleplaying.
2. Structure the sentences so they all flow together
3. Do not use words repeatedly. For example: He got up and got dressed. He walked into the washroom. He picked up a brush and he brushed his teeth. He walked into his room once again. He pushed open his door. He left his house. See? it gets annoying. 4. Make sure you have more than just a sentence. A truely gifted roleplayer can stretch one sentance into atleast three paragraphs.
5. Pay attention and read about what is going on around you. Try and effectively jump into situations where you would otherwise be left out of the general flow. Not that that is a bad thing alot of people enjoy just roleplaying on their own. Doing thier own nuts.
Section 5: Introducing your character to a roleplay
Start off with describing the character then have them walk in, talk, and if there's another character there that's related to the character (like a sibling or long-time friend), they can introduce your character to the rest of the RPers. Make sure that when describing the character, you know the setting that they're walking in.
Point 4a: Describing the characterWhen describing your character, it is vital, for the sanity of your audience, that you show, not tell.
Telling: Cindy entered the room, she walked over to the table and picked up the purse she had left behind. She had long brown hair and brown eyes to match, she wore a white t-shirt and jeans.
Showing Cindy slowly opened the door to the class room, it was empty and the desks were in an erratic pattern, evidence that the class had rushed out after the bell had rung. Quickly she walked over to the table she had set her purse down on earlier and sighed as her long brown hair bounced with each step. There was a small mirror set up next to her purse and she could see her soft murky brown eyes, which she hated so much because she thought they were plain. Opening the purse she sighed softly with relief as her money which she intended to use to purchase new clothes to replace her current boring plain white T-shirt and faded torn jeans was there where she had left it. She turned to leave the room, but not before looking to the mirror again to make sure her face was alright, she had a small nose and a petite smile, her pale skin made her look sort of ghostly but despite her dislike of her own looks she nodded to her self and turned to leave the room, the clicking of her high heel shoes the only evidence that she had been there at all. As Cindy opened the door to leave she sighed softly and shut off the lights that someone must have forgotten to turn off when they left for the day. With that the young lady was gone.
Can you tell the difference besides in length? One tells you what the person does and what she looks like, the other elaborates on things that she did and trying to subtly show what the character was like without telling you "She is worried about her appearance". Learning to do this does take time and experience and can often be like writing a novel.
Point 4b: Making your character move. When moving your character, you don't want to just move them, you want to have them move.
Again, let's use our dear Cindy:
Just move them
"Cindy went into the shop and bought a new outfit"
Have them move
"Cindy took a quick walk to the local JcPenny, she had her hand in her purse and she was counting the number of ten dollar bills she had. She had her outfit already picked up and on lay away, she just needed to make the final payment and this time she would make sure she had enough unlike last time. Smirking to herself when she pictured how jealous the girls at school would be over her new outfit she couldn't help but laugh out loud, which caused a passing mother with a small five year old son to stare at her. Cindy entered the store and navigated her way to the back, where she quickly handed over the money to the waiting store clerk. Cindy then turned around on one foot and began to make her way home..
That's right folks, it's time for me to finish this guide, now bear with me because it has been a long time since I did a guide but we will see how it goes!
0.)Starting point Honestly it doesn't matter where you start when it comes to writing an actual application, maybe write the history first, perhaps the physical appearance? Really this is all about preference so I'm just gonna move on.
1.)Concept THIS does matter, a concept is the first initial idea, that thing that sparks a character, this will be the base for building your character. So what is a concept? it's an abstract idea or a general notion. Lets use a quick example, maybe your initial idea is that you picture a character wearing a leather jacket with a jagged scar, or maybe your idea is that you want your character to be a breeder or a ranger. Either way no matter what it is, the concept is the basic idea that you start with, it can be anything as long as you have concept, an idea you can begin building your character
2.)Building on your concept Okay so you have an idea, now it is time to expand. So start asking the questions, who, what, why, when, where and how. People don't just crawl out of the ground with backgrounds and personalities characters should be much the same. If you keep asking these questions it will take a concept from an idea to many ideas that come together to make a character. Lets use some examples.
Who? Who has influenced your character, or who was responsible for their traits, example time! Who was it that inspired your character to become a trainer? or who gave your trainer their scar? There are infinite examples of who, but what I am trying to say is when you think of your concept try to think of who, the people who helped bring your character to where they are.
What? What does your character want to do in the future? What means to ask for information specifying something. What happened? what is your goal? What are your fears? Keep asking what and you will dig up some information.
Why? Why did this happen? Why did your character become a trainer? Why does she want to be a breeder? Maybe she comes from a long line of pokemon breeders. Why Does your character treasure that necklace? was it a gift from someone? a lucky charm? Why do they prefer one type of pokemon over another? to ask why is to ask the reasoning for it, children ask this question about a million times a day because to them everything is new and a mystery and you should consider treating your new character this way. Keep asking why and you will find a ton of interesting details.
When? When did it happen? was it their youth? When is a very important questions because we tend to react differently to situations depending on how old we are. Younger children are both more easily frightened and yet more open to the world since they have no preconceptions. Children are also far easier to influence than adults which means when is a very important question, when it comes to determining their motivations and responses.
Where? Where did they grow up? a person who grew up near the ocean is far more likely to love water pokemon compared to rock types. Where also influences they type of skills we have, a city kid is going to have a hard time surviving in the forest, while a kid who grew up on a farm will probably get hopelessly lost in a city. Our environment plays a really big part of who we are and what we do.
How? How did it happen? How did your character get that scar? how did they get a fear of fire type pokemon? was it a traumatic encounter? Did they witness someone get burned? The word how can be defined as 'by what means' So by what means did your character arrive in jhoto? maybe there were born there, maybe they came from far away.
3.) Putting it into practice Okay so it's easy to talk about lets give some solid examples. I'll start with a concept of a timid young man. Count the number of times I ask one of the five.
What made him timid? I'll say there was a person that was very dominant and that this character was constantly being not 'quite' bullied but he was definitely picked on and teased even if it was a playful fashion it left him hesitant to voice his opinion even when he grew up. Who? Who was it? it was his older brother I'll say that picked on him, that's what brothers do usually and even if he didn't mean to make our character timid it happened. Why? why is this character going to be a pokemon trainer? because he wants to boost his confidence and change his life. Where is he from? I'll say Hoenn why? because it's mostly a water based region and I think his preferred type will be water. How did he arrive in Jhoto? He saved up his money on his own not asking for help. Why not ask for help? because he had to do it on his own, why Jhoto? Because he had been there once as a kid on vacation, and because its easier to start over where no one knows you. When? When did he make that choice? well when he was on the vacation I just mentioned. What happened? Well on vacation he witnessed a trainer younger than him best an adult in battle. Where? where does he want to end up? Whether or not he wins the pokemon league isn't important to him it's about the adventure.
That was just a quick and if I am being honest a bit of a half ass'ed effort but i think it shows the point, if you keep asking questions you will get more information and it will build up with more and more detail and soon you will have well thought out character.
4.)The app Okay so it's time to do your app, I'll give you some tips to adding length and details.
Just gonna skip until we get to appearance.
A lot of people use pictures and that's alright but you still need to write a description. I'm gonna write this assuming you don't. I find the best way to start an appearance is height, then start from the head down. Specify hair color, and length, skin tone, eye color, do they have a large nose? or a small one, how big are their eyes? trying not to use singular words for colors and descriptions for example:
Ein has blue eyes
compared to
Ein's eyes are a dark piercing blue and have a slight steel color around the center when up close.
Big difference for describing the same thing, it will help with your word count. Do they have long arms or legs? What about body type tall and thin? short and well built? scars and clothing are also something you should include. Don't feel limited to describing just one outfit, people do not wear the same clothes for years at a time (despite what the anime will have you believe)
Personality This can fill a very broad spectrum. What sort of person is your character? is he a meek, kind young man? or is she a sadistic controlling lady? Try to come up with a short personality for your character and then expand on it. Characters have strengths and weaknesses, they are supposed to be real people and real people have weaknesses, often people like to use their characters as a self insert and find it hard to give them a weakness but this really makes the character flat and dull. Also try to come up with some likes and dislikes, as well as fears, but make them relevant and don't try to use them as space wasters, I've seen people post all sorts of things that just doesn't add to their character. Straight up listing is another no no try and work them to flow into a sentence. Think about an overview, Here's an example of what I mean.
Alyssa is a cruel person, she delights when others fail and will actively try to cause others to fail. She loves being in control and quickly loses her temper when things don't go her way or someone show's a bit of resistance. Always appearing to be confident even when she isn't the woman hides behind a wall of bluster, in truth she is incredibly insecure and constantly pushes her agenda and opinions on others to validate her self and make her feel secure. Alyssa was raised in a rich household,her mother was constantly belittling the girl, since a young age she was taught to be elegant and upper class, she knows high society and she was raised to be better than everyone and it shows like her mother Alyssa's tongue is sharp and cruel. The flip side to this Alyssa has a very hard time relating to normal people, social trends can often frustrate her and leave her feeling stupid which will then in turn cause her to get angry. When people go along with her though Alyssa will shower them with gifts and treats trying to use her money and influence to keep people around her. Always afraid of disappointing a mother that will never approve, she lashes out at people quickly and this causes her to be alone most of the time. Alyssa has two other major fears the first is that she will end up alone with no one and also has a fear of dark confined spaces, when she would fail to meet her mothers expectations somehow, she would be punished by being locked in a small closet.
Alyssa is skilled at smooth talking when her temper is at ease, and she could talk you into kissing her feet if you stick around too long. Being raised in high society she knows how to speak with authority and how to make you feel stupid all the while showing that she knows her manners, and somehow still insulting you. As with most children of high class descent no expense was spared for her studies and so she has a very strong set of skills for the academics. Her one guilty pleasure that she kept hidden from the world was her fascination of the occult, ever since she learned to read the mysterious arts have held her interest, they have always been a form of escapism away from the rigid inflexible structures of the high life and now the young lady has a vast collection of knowledge on the subject, not that she will admit it.
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I could go on but I think you get the point, here we get a peek into the window of a persons mind, strengths and weaknesses you get the sense of a very real person with flaws. Fears that make sense. Other things to consider would be favorite places, maybe their favorite season and why, if you take a bit of time it should be easy to write for hours about a character you really are interested in.
History. Some people struggle with this some don't, just take it at your own pace and you will be fine. Make sure to give sufficient detail to key events and the motivations for your character in your characters past, after all the past defines who we are today for better or for worse everything that happens as we grow will shape the person who we will be tomorrow.
Now I like to break my history into sections, first I start off with the family, who were her parents? did they have an older sibling? Where were they born? were they a happy child? I try to make this last about a paragraph, describe the parents reaction to having a child, how the sibling responded, try to give hints to any twists in the story from here, maybe a foreboding omen or a stroke of luck that saved someones life try to be creative.
Next I go to early childhood, did they make friends easily? were they introverts? did they like socializing? Was your character eager to start school? did they start school at all? maybe home schooled? try to remember what happens in the early childhood often has a far reaching effect on people as they grow into adults. Take as much space as you need to describe this, a lot of key events can happen as you grow.
Early teens can be another critical phase, first crush, first rejection, first kiss sometimes these are very important no matter how trivial they may seem. Perhaps that first rejection was a public humiliation? if so how did your character react? did it make or break them? Just try to think of events that happened to your character as they grew, try and take a moment and think about their life.
Take history paragraph by paragraph, provide lots of details and before you know it you will have an interesting backstory!
Goals I feel I already covered under concepts.
5.)Closing In the end, if there is anything you should take away from this, it would be this. Pick a starting point and build on it, keep asking questions and you will keep learning new things about your character. Give them strengths and weaknesses, give them flaws that make sense, give them strengths that make sense and you will end up with a great character I'm sure! Thanks for bearing with me, if you have any suggestions, questions or requests for future guides please send them to me! This guide may be a little long winded, It has been a few years since the first half was created and if I am being honest my computer deleted a large section of the character creation stuff by accident so the second time going through might be a little more rough. I will try to tighten it up and edit it in the coming days...but right now f- that I'm going to bed.
Thanks for reading!
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Credits and sources to various places all over the internet .
Introduction To Role Play
Part 1: What is role playing? This is a valid question. What is Role Playing? Roleplaying: Participants adopt and act out the role of character, or parts, that may have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. As defined by Wikipedia. In other words: You create a character, or use an existing character. You act as that character in a scenario or story and you decide what happens, it's like sort of writing a novel with multiple people.
Part 2: Four common beginning mistakes when roleplaying.
1.)One Liners This is when a player types only one line which does not move the story or plot. Or it is a response to a large post in which another member spent a lot of time crafting. Too much of this can cause annoyance in other RPers. It also means you run the risk of people not wanting to role play with you.
2.) Power-PlayingThis is when a player controls another player's character into doing something without their permission (i.e. You controlling another person's character that isn't your own without their permission). This is almost always frowned upon and can quite often create problems and result in disciplinary actions taken by the staff.
3.)Misconception When a beginning roleplayer believes that the story revolves around their character.
Also that there character is automatically more important then another one belonging to another player.
4.)God-Modding Making your character so powerful that there are no weaknesses (i.e. immortality, unable to bleed, super-fast, super-strong, extra pretty or beautiful like a nymph, etc.). In other words, making your character god-like. No one but you will like this if your character is anything like this.
Part three: Labels and Terms.
There are many different labels for people at different skill levels, they aren’t really meant to put them down but they generally distinguish different kind of roleplayers so that people with higher standards can get more out of what they want to roleplay.
Illiterate: Usually beginners, illiterates are known to use very generic list descriptions like such—
Name: mister so and so
Gender: male
Eyes: Green
Clothes: jeans and a green day shirt
Etc.
There are usually no depth or substance to these characters and the remainder of the roleplay is played out in one-liners. Usually illiterates have no regards for capitalization or ooc or grammar or spelling or basic roleplaying rules.
Semi-literate: Usually have longer and more descriptive lists that really get into the character, sometimes a semi-literate might type out a paragraph or two about their character but it’s usually not very intriguing or well written information about their character. Grammar is more sharpened.
Literate: Longer introductions and posts that have depth and description and are more like writing than basic information. Literates create more relatable and in-depth characters that a reader is interested in reading about, not just interacting with. The writing is more developed and the grammar is intact.
Advanced: This is when someone writes a long, interesting, in-depth, creative introduction. The grammar is nearly perfect and the writing is well thought out and descriptive. The quality of the writing is just more developed.
There are different terms known to roleplayers, these are some of the more common ones:
BIC: back in character, or in character. When the writer is writing in his or her persona, and interacting with other characters.
OOC: out of character, when you are talking to other players as yourself not your character.
Mary / Gary Sue: perfect characters. These are generally not permitted because it’s boring and doesn’t make for an interesting roleplay. Flaws and personalities are what make a better roleplaying and Mary / Gary’s are more common in illiterate and semi literate roleplays.
Powerplay: controlling someone else’s character. This is not permitted—you are only allowed to control the actions of your own character
Godmode: creating unrealistic situations, or characters that can do anything. Example: a character that is a lightening fast super intelligent elf that can defeat anyone in combat.
Despie: an illiterate that is desperate for romance.
Slash: romantic relationships in a fanfictional roleplay between to already made characters that is not of norm. I.E. dracoxharry
MxM or FxF: homosexual relationship between two characters
MxF: heterosexual relationship between two characters
Prommie: A well known roleplayer that has earned the respect of the other roleplayers by their example of literacy.
N00b: Someone who is considered illiterate and generally new to Roleplaying without a mentor.
Newbie: Someone who is new to roleplaying, but is well on their way to becoming literate but still needs practice. They are often found in semi- literate roleplays.
Section 4:Standard rules for Roleplay
These change from board to board, depending on what the creator of the board wishes to institute into his or her roleplay, but these are the standard rules.
1. Spell check—no one wants to read your typos, it puts them off. Typos are fine, of course, but make an effort to spell check your posts.
2. This is related but, no chatspeak in IC. Everyone hates it. You can’t read it. Please don’t do if the creator of the board doesn’t want you too.
3. Post length—quality over quantity obviously, but you should describe your character at length so people get a feeling of who your character is. Not only current appearance but things like personality, history, flaws, the stuff that makes a human interesting.
4. Use proper grammar in IC—that means capitalization, quotation marks, etc.
5. Make your best effort to write intriguing and interesting posts—everyone gets better at writing and roleplaying and until then ask questions so you can learn.
6. Please be original, not only does it get boring to see the same characters over and over again, but there are so many of the same genre RP circling around. If you see an RP of a genre you like, don't start a thread with the same thing, join the original one. Also, try to be creative with what you RP, make up some new ideas about what to roleplay. TRY NOT TO BE REDUNDANT IN THE THREADS THAT ALREADY HAVE BEEN POSTED.
OTHER POINTERS
1. Don't use '*', you should use formal writing to a certain extent while roleplaying.
2. Structure the sentences so they all flow together
3. Do not use words repeatedly. For example: He got up and got dressed. He walked into the washroom. He picked up a brush and he brushed his teeth. He walked into his room once again. He pushed open his door. He left his house. See? it gets annoying. 4. Make sure you have more than just a sentence. A truely gifted roleplayer can stretch one sentance into atleast three paragraphs.
5. Pay attention and read about what is going on around you. Try and effectively jump into situations where you would otherwise be left out of the general flow. Not that that is a bad thing alot of people enjoy just roleplaying on their own. Doing thier own nuts.
Section 5: Introducing your character to a roleplay
Start off with describing the character then have them walk in, talk, and if there's another character there that's related to the character (like a sibling or long-time friend), they can introduce your character to the rest of the RPers. Make sure that when describing the character, you know the setting that they're walking in.
Point 4a: Describing the characterWhen describing your character, it is vital, for the sanity of your audience, that you show, not tell.
Telling: Cindy entered the room, she walked over to the table and picked up the purse she had left behind. She had long brown hair and brown eyes to match, she wore a white t-shirt and jeans.
Showing Cindy slowly opened the door to the class room, it was empty and the desks were in an erratic pattern, evidence that the class had rushed out after the bell had rung. Quickly she walked over to the table she had set her purse down on earlier and sighed as her long brown hair bounced with each step. There was a small mirror set up next to her purse and she could see her soft murky brown eyes, which she hated so much because she thought they were plain. Opening the purse she sighed softly with relief as her money which she intended to use to purchase new clothes to replace her current boring plain white T-shirt and faded torn jeans was there where she had left it. She turned to leave the room, but not before looking to the mirror again to make sure her face was alright, she had a small nose and a petite smile, her pale skin made her look sort of ghostly but despite her dislike of her own looks she nodded to her self and turned to leave the room, the clicking of her high heel shoes the only evidence that she had been there at all. As Cindy opened the door to leave she sighed softly and shut off the lights that someone must have forgotten to turn off when they left for the day. With that the young lady was gone.
Can you tell the difference besides in length? One tells you what the person does and what she looks like, the other elaborates on things that she did and trying to subtly show what the character was like without telling you "She is worried about her appearance". Learning to do this does take time and experience and can often be like writing a novel.
Point 4b: Making your character move. When moving your character, you don't want to just move them, you want to have them move.
Again, let's use our dear Cindy:
Just move them
"Cindy went into the shop and bought a new outfit"
Have them move
"Cindy took a quick walk to the local JcPenny, she had her hand in her purse and she was counting the number of ten dollar bills she had. She had her outfit already picked up and on lay away, she just needed to make the final payment and this time she would make sure she had enough unlike last time. Smirking to herself when she pictured how jealous the girls at school would be over her new outfit she couldn't help but laugh out loud, which caused a passing mother with a small five year old son to stare at her. Cindy entered the store and navigated her way to the back, where she quickly handed over the money to the waiting store clerk. Cindy then turned around on one foot and began to make her way home..
Update! How to make a character
That's right folks, it's time for me to finish this guide, now bear with me because it has been a long time since I did a guide but we will see how it goes!
0.)Starting point Honestly it doesn't matter where you start when it comes to writing an actual application, maybe write the history first, perhaps the physical appearance? Really this is all about preference so I'm just gonna move on.
1.)Concept THIS does matter, a concept is the first initial idea, that thing that sparks a character, this will be the base for building your character. So what is a concept? it's an abstract idea or a general notion. Lets use a quick example, maybe your initial idea is that you picture a character wearing a leather jacket with a jagged scar, or maybe your idea is that you want your character to be a breeder or a ranger. Either way no matter what it is, the concept is the basic idea that you start with, it can be anything as long as you have concept, an idea you can begin building your character
2.)Building on your concept Okay so you have an idea, now it is time to expand. So start asking the questions, who, what, why, when, where and how. People don't just crawl out of the ground with backgrounds and personalities characters should be much the same. If you keep asking these questions it will take a concept from an idea to many ideas that come together to make a character. Lets use some examples.
Who? Who has influenced your character, or who was responsible for their traits, example time! Who was it that inspired your character to become a trainer? or who gave your trainer their scar? There are infinite examples of who, but what I am trying to say is when you think of your concept try to think of who, the people who helped bring your character to where they are.
What? What does your character want to do in the future? What means to ask for information specifying something. What happened? what is your goal? What are your fears? Keep asking what and you will dig up some information.
Why? Why did this happen? Why did your character become a trainer? Why does she want to be a breeder? Maybe she comes from a long line of pokemon breeders. Why Does your character treasure that necklace? was it a gift from someone? a lucky charm? Why do they prefer one type of pokemon over another? to ask why is to ask the reasoning for it, children ask this question about a million times a day because to them everything is new and a mystery and you should consider treating your new character this way. Keep asking why and you will find a ton of interesting details.
When? When did it happen? was it their youth? When is a very important questions because we tend to react differently to situations depending on how old we are. Younger children are both more easily frightened and yet more open to the world since they have no preconceptions. Children are also far easier to influence than adults which means when is a very important question, when it comes to determining their motivations and responses.
Where? Where did they grow up? a person who grew up near the ocean is far more likely to love water pokemon compared to rock types. Where also influences they type of skills we have, a city kid is going to have a hard time surviving in the forest, while a kid who grew up on a farm will probably get hopelessly lost in a city. Our environment plays a really big part of who we are and what we do.
How? How did it happen? How did your character get that scar? how did they get a fear of fire type pokemon? was it a traumatic encounter? Did they witness someone get burned? The word how can be defined as 'by what means' So by what means did your character arrive in jhoto? maybe there were born there, maybe they came from far away.
3.) Putting it into practice Okay so it's easy to talk about lets give some solid examples. I'll start with a concept of a timid young man. Count the number of times I ask one of the five.
What made him timid? I'll say there was a person that was very dominant and that this character was constantly being not 'quite' bullied but he was definitely picked on and teased even if it was a playful fashion it left him hesitant to voice his opinion even when he grew up. Who? Who was it? it was his older brother I'll say that picked on him, that's what brothers do usually and even if he didn't mean to make our character timid it happened. Why? why is this character going to be a pokemon trainer? because he wants to boost his confidence and change his life. Where is he from? I'll say Hoenn why? because it's mostly a water based region and I think his preferred type will be water. How did he arrive in Jhoto? He saved up his money on his own not asking for help. Why not ask for help? because he had to do it on his own, why Jhoto? Because he had been there once as a kid on vacation, and because its easier to start over where no one knows you. When? When did he make that choice? well when he was on the vacation I just mentioned. What happened? Well on vacation he witnessed a trainer younger than him best an adult in battle. Where? where does he want to end up? Whether or not he wins the pokemon league isn't important to him it's about the adventure.
That was just a quick and if I am being honest a bit of a half ass'ed effort but i think it shows the point, if you keep asking questions you will get more information and it will build up with more and more detail and soon you will have well thought out character.
4.)The app Okay so it's time to do your app, I'll give you some tips to adding length and details.
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Trainer Type:
Hometown:
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
Goals:
Other Info:
How did you find us?:
Application completed: [YES] [NO]
Age:
Gender:
Trainer Type:
Hometown:
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
Goals:
Other Info:
How did you find us?:
Application completed: [YES] [NO]
Just gonna skip until we get to appearance.
A lot of people use pictures and that's alright but you still need to write a description. I'm gonna write this assuming you don't. I find the best way to start an appearance is height, then start from the head down. Specify hair color, and length, skin tone, eye color, do they have a large nose? or a small one, how big are their eyes? trying not to use singular words for colors and descriptions for example:
Ein has blue eyes
compared to
Ein's eyes are a dark piercing blue and have a slight steel color around the center when up close.
Big difference for describing the same thing, it will help with your word count. Do they have long arms or legs? What about body type tall and thin? short and well built? scars and clothing are also something you should include. Don't feel limited to describing just one outfit, people do not wear the same clothes for years at a time (despite what the anime will have you believe)
Personality This can fill a very broad spectrum. What sort of person is your character? is he a meek, kind young man? or is she a sadistic controlling lady? Try to come up with a short personality for your character and then expand on it. Characters have strengths and weaknesses, they are supposed to be real people and real people have weaknesses, often people like to use their characters as a self insert and find it hard to give them a weakness but this really makes the character flat and dull. Also try to come up with some likes and dislikes, as well as fears, but make them relevant and don't try to use them as space wasters, I've seen people post all sorts of things that just doesn't add to their character. Straight up listing is another no no try and work them to flow into a sentence. Think about an overview, Here's an example of what I mean.
Alyssa is a cruel person, she delights when others fail and will actively try to cause others to fail. She loves being in control and quickly loses her temper when things don't go her way or someone show's a bit of resistance. Always appearing to be confident even when she isn't the woman hides behind a wall of bluster, in truth she is incredibly insecure and constantly pushes her agenda and opinions on others to validate her self and make her feel secure. Alyssa was raised in a rich household,her mother was constantly belittling the girl, since a young age she was taught to be elegant and upper class, she knows high society and she was raised to be better than everyone and it shows like her mother Alyssa's tongue is sharp and cruel. The flip side to this Alyssa has a very hard time relating to normal people, social trends can often frustrate her and leave her feeling stupid which will then in turn cause her to get angry. When people go along with her though Alyssa will shower them with gifts and treats trying to use her money and influence to keep people around her. Always afraid of disappointing a mother that will never approve, she lashes out at people quickly and this causes her to be alone most of the time. Alyssa has two other major fears the first is that she will end up alone with no one and also has a fear of dark confined spaces, when she would fail to meet her mothers expectations somehow, she would be punished by being locked in a small closet.
Alyssa is skilled at smooth talking when her temper is at ease, and she could talk you into kissing her feet if you stick around too long. Being raised in high society she knows how to speak with authority and how to make you feel stupid all the while showing that she knows her manners, and somehow still insulting you. As with most children of high class descent no expense was spared for her studies and so she has a very strong set of skills for the academics. Her one guilty pleasure that she kept hidden from the world was her fascination of the occult, ever since she learned to read the mysterious arts have held her interest, they have always been a form of escapism away from the rigid inflexible structures of the high life and now the young lady has a vast collection of knowledge on the subject, not that she will admit it.
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I could go on but I think you get the point, here we get a peek into the window of a persons mind, strengths and weaknesses you get the sense of a very real person with flaws. Fears that make sense. Other things to consider would be favorite places, maybe their favorite season and why, if you take a bit of time it should be easy to write for hours about a character you really are interested in.
History. Some people struggle with this some don't, just take it at your own pace and you will be fine. Make sure to give sufficient detail to key events and the motivations for your character in your characters past, after all the past defines who we are today for better or for worse everything that happens as we grow will shape the person who we will be tomorrow.
Now I like to break my history into sections, first I start off with the family, who were her parents? did they have an older sibling? Where were they born? were they a happy child? I try to make this last about a paragraph, describe the parents reaction to having a child, how the sibling responded, try to give hints to any twists in the story from here, maybe a foreboding omen or a stroke of luck that saved someones life try to be creative.
Next I go to early childhood, did they make friends easily? were they introverts? did they like socializing? Was your character eager to start school? did they start school at all? maybe home schooled? try to remember what happens in the early childhood often has a far reaching effect on people as they grow into adults. Take as much space as you need to describe this, a lot of key events can happen as you grow.
Early teens can be another critical phase, first crush, first rejection, first kiss sometimes these are very important no matter how trivial they may seem. Perhaps that first rejection was a public humiliation? if so how did your character react? did it make or break them? Just try to think of events that happened to your character as they grew, try and take a moment and think about their life.
Take history paragraph by paragraph, provide lots of details and before you know it you will have an interesting backstory!
Goals I feel I already covered under concepts.
5.)Closing In the end, if there is anything you should take away from this, it would be this. Pick a starting point and build on it, keep asking questions and you will keep learning new things about your character. Give them strengths and weaknesses, give them flaws that make sense, give them strengths that make sense and you will end up with a great character I'm sure! Thanks for bearing with me, if you have any suggestions, questions or requests for future guides please send them to me! This guide may be a little long winded, It has been a few years since the first half was created and if I am being honest my computer deleted a large section of the character creation stuff by accident so the second time going through might be a little more rough. I will try to tighten it up and edit it in the coming days...but right now f- that I'm going to bed.
Thanks for reading!
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Credits and sources to various places all over the internet .
