How to create a good RP character?

[Miguel]

<p>


That's one of my issues. I mostly end up making a character like me. How I can start?


</p>

 

[Mishka]

Usually when I make a character I start with the history. It answers 2 critical questions when you do it this way: who is my character, and how did they become who they are now. Starting with the history allows you to easily flesh out the other aspects of your character. Knowing where they came from means you can decide how different experiences have shaped your character into who they are now.

 

[Dark Half]

If you are having difficulty in creating a character that is not meant to be like you, it is possible to see what other fictional characters (or even multiple) that you can get an inspiration out of. Then you'll want to start with their background/biography to get a feel of the person you are creating.


Inspiration is key.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

This is a huge question!


I think there may be some tutorials that could help you out with character creation.


I would start by realizing that creating a character like you isn't necessarily bad! Plenty of fantastic characters in fiction are self-inserts. The question you should be asking, rather than is this character too much like me?, is: is this character interesting?





In order to make a character interesting, they need a strong motivation. What is it that they want, and how are they going to get it? What sort of obstacles are in their way, and how will the character overcome them?


In addition, there needs to be a reason why your character is in the story. What purpose do they serve? How does their presence affect the direction of the plot? Do they mesh well with other characters in play? Do they act as an obstacle for other characters, or vice versa? Will they help other characters achieve their personal goals? Will other characters help them?

 

[Ammokkx]

What even is this question.


"Good" is all down to the skill of the writer. You could end up making the most mary sue-type deal in the world and still play it well, or the most well thought out character and be utter trash at sticking to it.


If the question is "How can I make them not like me?" then the answer is: Nigh on impossible. Characters are inspired by both the self and it's experiences, so making or playing someone completely different from you is more of a fantasy than anything else. If you're the original author of that character, at least one of your traits is going to shine in them even if it's not obvious. What you can do is try to make them as distinct from you as possible, but that would require you knowing yourself well enough to realize how someone that's your opposite would react.


So, I'd say don't worry about it. Just write what you want and let your writing improve over time. "Good" characters come down to how well you play them, as the most memorable ones are the well-written ones. Having a character that's like you doesn't mean it can't be well-written, in fact, since you have real experiences, in a way you could make them more human.

 

[winter nights yuu]

I think one aspect of good character creation is that he/she has a concrete backstory/past, and acts and/or makes decisions based on the things that had happened. Usually they're not so nice things.

 

[Birdsie]

A common issue is that people tend to make characters of age around their own, or make characters that are really young. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 etc. Of course, depending on the RP it's more, or less required to have such an age. If you are in an open RP, where there are no limitations to your character, and want to make an original one: Go nuts. Don't limit yourself to being a young human with an ambitious future. Go ahead and be that badass grandpa, or that orc that busts down doors with his chest. Anyway, a lot of people tend not to be able to do that (Including me) as we are humans, and we tend to like what IS human, and we are prideful of our appearance and culture in general. Letting loose of what you're used to doing is crucial to making a good character. And taking inspiration from other work, but never too much. You should be original. Your ideas should be made manifest through writing and will. That's how to make a good character.

 

[Windows95Toaster]

When I'm stuck, I dig deep. I find a song I want to emulate a personality through. What their playlist would be. Ultimately, every character is honestly going to be a part of yourself. People are lying when they say they aren't. You have to really relate in some way, dig into your own psychology, or do massive amounts of research if you want to be so distant from your character. That's not what makes them 'good' though. I've seen plenty of characters so totally different from their writer that they are not even enjoyable to read--no iota of themselves within it.


It helps I can relate to multiple genders and sexual orientations, have both a violent and yet kind nature, and know enough about myself to know the myriad of shades I can relate to characters through.


Maybe the problem isn't; i don't want to make mary sues or gary stus.


Maybe the problem is; what part of yourself can you bring to the table that is engaging to you and not one you often bring forth in waking life?


You don't even need a concrete backstory. I am vague at times just because I like words and make the words more interesting than the lore. You don't even need everything planned out--just put some crap on a page and work from it, maybe change it later, listen to some music, watch some cool tv programs.


Your characters are always going to be you in some way. Try to embrace all sides of yourself in your multitudes of self identities and you'll find you may have experienced most things, even if only in your mind and heart, and so your character may be more you than yourself--and then that's when it gets interesting.

 

[Idea]

As someone else did before, I will divide my answer into my advise on making a good character and my advise in making a character that is not like yourself. Do note that all characters will have some part of you in them, because ultimately there is your influence in how they are written and in the image you have of them. I myself purposely put parts of me in my characters , be it one of my names, favorite colors, hobbies, age, whatever... And I do so to make them more relatable to my own experience so I can Roleplay them better.


Now, a good character. Firstly, how does one establish what makes a good or a bad character? The conclusion I have arrived to is that good and bad characters are based on is how much effort and skill it takes to be able to Roleplay it well. A good character promotes interaction, development and cohesion of plot, characters and setting within the Roleplay that it is in. It also creates a connection with the readers while simultaneously standing out as an individual. The more difficult a character makes achieving any of that, the worse it is.


However, make no mistakes. Worse characters are still possible to execute well. Any character is, and character variety is a good thing in any RP. Ultimately, your choice of character should be based on what can keep you interested and invested, coupled with what you can handle, so that you stay dedicated to the Roleplay, while at the same time remaining immersed and properly fitting the role of the character.


As for making more individual character separated from who you are, my method of character creation is to build around a mold, a core of the character. Look at whatever the RP is about and think what kind of character would be the most interesting in taht kind of setting or plot. You'll probably only get a very vague idea, so take that and strip it down, removing the things that you can remove without destroying the character's appeal. Once you find that thing that if you remove, the character ceases to appeal to you, you found your mold: from there, create the character in a manner in which you can maximize the impact of that core, build your character around it.


Anyway, those were my two cents for this.

 

[call me rae]

Well firstly I would get away from the idea there are good or bad characters. I think it tends to place unnecessary pressure on yourself when you try to compare your characters to others. At the end of the day as long as you are happy and contributing to the story to the best of your ability that's all that really matters.


For that matter there is nothing wrong with playing a character like yourself - again as long as it fits the roleplay and helps the plot. I have seen people do this to amazing effect in the past and quite enjoyed roleplaying with them.


So now if you are looking to expand your character creation I recommend starting with observing the people around you. Your family, co-workers, etc. How do they act? Why do they act that way? What fun quirks do they have? What kind of stories can you see them being a part of?


Another thing to try is looking at your favorite characters from movies or other popular media. Why do you like these characters? What makes them interesting or fun to you? And try to recreate that in your own words.

 

[Hatter]

I think that an objectively good RP character would, as others have mentioned, have strong motivations and traits.


They should be active participants and make decisions that affect the direction of the story.


People tend to get bored if a character is really passive and constantly molded to fit a given situation (which can definitely be hard sometimes).


I wouldn't say they have to be completely unlike you, though. I put a lot of my own traits into different characters, or take some of my own traits and magnify/exaggerate them. Writing from your own experience is a good thing, and no one can avoid putting at least a bit of themselves into a character.


Since you'd like to make them less like yourself, though, drawing inspiration from people you know and characters you like in books/movies/tv/etc. always helps. You could also try giving characters traits or beliefs that are basically opposite to yours (as well as traits you do share, if you'd like).


Random generators for personalities, character concepts, and backgrounds are a good way to get a starting idea (I really like Springhole's generators. They have a lot of really good articles about writing, too).


To keep a character consistent with what you initially imagine, maybe try to develop the character past your normal level before writing with them.


In my own experience, loosely developed, flat starting characters can be really easily changeable. A lot of times, I can't purely develop characters while writing without falling back on some specific character type. It's also maybe harder to dig in and feel okay about them acting in a way you'd ordinarily disagree with.


I think it varies based on the occasion and the writer, though, so it's mostly just trial and error and seeing what works for you.

 

[Coward]

This may be cheat-like advice but useful when you're starting out:


Take another fictional character or person that you know well and steal their personality. This lets you think when you're writing not 'oh what would this ambiguous person I made do?" but, "oh, what would Catwoman do? What would Gandhi do? What would Julius Caesar do?" and it's much less confusing.


You might think 'but I want to be original (:'()'. Don't worry about it. First: your character's actions will be altered beyond recognition by their new environment and backstory. They'll acquire unique quirks and traits as you use them, too. You've just skipped the 'stab-in-the-dark' stage of finding a personality. Second, it's RP and no-one cares. In fact, your character will be more compelling this way, so if anything your partner will be happier.


This is temporary, as well. Once you've worked through the block of just writing yourself over and over you can move on to spawning personalities from scratch, and it'll be much easier.

 

[ZerRu575]

I usually focus on how the rp affects the character so background/history is pushed to the side, personality is what makes to story so its better to use personality to shape the history of the character. Im an easy going rper but love the little details that create drama and fun. Best i can do to explain is show you.


? - *sits down across from your character sipping a drink* exactly what is the problem with you? The real fun of RP is the freeflow of ideas and actions without being tied down to rules and regulations, ive loved to rp for a long time and personally love breaking the fourth wall, so very much enjoy deadpool and what he means as a character. The act of me speaking to you for the rper is one such moment of breaking the fourth wall, even if your character is exactly like you, simply know aslong as your having fun and not ruining the fun for others then you are doing exactly as you are suppose to. It is simply to enjoy the company of those around you, they have there ideas on how to rp and they are correct for they have fun.


Take kashmir here for example.


Kashmir - *enters from the right standing at the table double bladed sword sheathed on his back simple clothing, simple hair.* i am a swordsman as you can tell but what this mystery man seems to miss is the fact that characters need history-


? - ah but how does one find that history or background? It develops as the story moves forward, take this moment for instance, theres no need for it but breaking the wall and becoming aware of the rp is part of the fun.


This is my style of rp i usually use character tags to denote when i am speaking OOC vs when im in character helps keep my rp in order character is who you make. So tell me whos your character?

 

[ZerRu575]

[QUOTE="winter nights yuu]

Hello im new here and wanted more thoughts on character history creation. I just posted on this thread but do enjoy feedback. so thoughts?


And i will proofread my work more thats one downside to my writing. Again any thoughts/ feedback is appreciated

[/QUOTE]

 

[CoyoteGhost]

I find that it's the little details that make a character interesting. Their habits and quirks. And also if they have a concrete core. Like a key motivation or personality trait.

 

[Sandertp]

This may be cheat-like advice but useful when you're starting out:
Take another fictional character or person that you know well and steal their personality. This lets you think when you're writing not 'oh what would this ambiguous person I made do?" but, "oh, what would Catwoman do? What would Gandhi do? What would Julius Caesar do?" and it's much less confusing.

This makes me want to rp a Gandhi after he achieves his goals in Civ

 

[Thorudon]

A helpful exercise I often use is 'mock interviews'


Write up 20 or so questions you would want to ask someone you wish to know everything about. Ask yourself those questions, and see what answers pop up first.


The real trick is making sure you yourself aren't answering, but rather, how you think your character would. It'll get more fluid and tangible as you go further down the list.


As for the character actually being interesting... /shrug


I believe the events the character is involved in, and how they respond is what makes them interesting, not necessarily just interesting right off the bat.

 

[kibou]

I've only skimmed this thread so apologies if I end up just repeating advice someone's already given.


Although first I'd also like to reaffirm the idea that you shouldn't think about your characters being "good" or "bad." Instead I think it's a lot more useful for you to compare your current characters to older ones- often with things like writing and art, or anything that takes a long time to learn, it's very hard to notice your own progress. It happens slowly, so you might not even notice the ways you've improved if you never look back at your old writing and characters. Comparing current to old stuff might also help you understand why your current stuff is better and give you new ideas.


As for making characters that are different from you and having them stay that way, first you gotta make them. Honestly, I don't see using yourself as a basis or inspiration as a bad thing. To get some variance, I think taking one or two of your own traits and exaggerating them, and then taking one or two and lessening them in your character's personality can end up making them pretty different. For example, someone who's really pessimistic and outspoken but a little bit embarrassed about themselves will act a lot differently, have really different motivations, and come off way differently than someone who's really embarrassed and rarely outspoken, with less emphasis on the pessimism. The first person might complain a lot and bring down other people's mood, but their complaints would mainly be outwardly-focused. Or they could be good at finding the holes in a plan, and help strategize in a rp with combat. The second person might be really shy, but unable to communicate it. They might even hate themselves and get attached to nice people really easily. Their complaints would be focused inwards.


That's kind of a bad example, but I hope you get what I mean. Different parts of yourself in different levels can make a large array of personalities and might be easier to relate to and therefore write for. Figure out what drives them and a few main emotions or characteristics that should be relatively stable throughout the rp.


Consistency is the next key. You gotta keep your characters consistent, or they might end up being very different without the plot developments to support it. if you default on thinking "what would I do in this situation" vs "what would my character do" that could end up making them inconsistent and like you.


Like I said, keep their core features in mind. Refer to their CS a lot. Maybe even made a word document or thread in your private workshop to make a summary of their actions and feelings throughout the rp to refer back to. Try to think things through logically.


"If person 2 was in a situation where someone was reading through their phone, and their main features are low-self esteem, embarrassment, and the fact that they are not outspoken, how would they react? Would they care?"


One logical reaction could possibly by suffering quietly and holding a grudge against the person, since having their personal items looked through could be embarrassing, but they wouldn't be able to speak out against it and assert themselves.


I don't want to go on more since this is already long, but it's something to consider I think and I hope at least one suggestion is helpful!

 

[Adrenalvapor]

Here's some cherry-picked (by me) advice from Emma Coats (director and Pixar storyboard artist):


1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.


2. You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.


3. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?


4. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it's poison to the audience.


(These next two are especially relevant to your proposition)


5. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honestly lends credibility to unbelievable situations.


6. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can't just write 'cool'. What would make YOU act that way?

 

[MISTER UN. 0W3N]

Welp... for "good characters," I decided to pop in and what not to put my two cents in. I think "good characters" is subjective at best. A good character can be interpreted in so many ways that can lead to disagreements or secluding groups in terms of their preference. But, the bottom line with characters in general... is if they help tell a story or not. OP. Mary Su/Gary Stu. Meta as fuck. Putting aside the expectations of what's been pounded into our brains over and over and over again, why not see it the other way around? Even if they are using something ridiculous, generic, a trope, or you don't get it, does the character put forth the effort in adding/creating a story in your thread? Are they getting other characters in involved? ... do these characters actually cause you to have fun reading their posts? Do you want to hop in and join in the nonsense? Then, by means... I believe that is a good character in my book:


They have a point in the thread.


... and that's about it. xD I just wanted to say something since I have opened up a thread recently that is embracing the generic. The Mary Sus and Gary Stus. I want to try and push out asinine and insane thoughts into a thread. Make it creative. Fun. Ridiculous. Sure, a lot of the backgrounds ARE fucking crazy and makes no sense, but that is the point of the thread: to let yourself go without being held back by what has been driven into us over and over again: a "set standard of what has to be good and what has to be bad with characters."


Boom. Two cents down. xD

 

[Killthestory]

Well, think of a character as you would a person. Your character should have realistic feelings and emotions. I see a lot of people just doing the stereotypical badass with no emotions that has a sword, and it doesn't improve RP. In my most recent roleplay, I made my guy an accountant. He just got beat up heavily. I made it that way, so that my RP is unique and original. If I had a super ninja that could kill everyone, it takes the fun and originality out of roleplaying.


I mean, if you want to do that, go for it. It can definitely be fun when you're super powerful, but if you can craft a character that expresses realistic emotion and encounters problem, I guarantee you'll enjoy your roleplay. It'll also improve your writing capabilities a lot because you can convincingly write a protagonist (or a decent villain if you can give them the correct emotion) if you're interested in that type of stuff.


I like to start out my character, back on the original topic, by thinking of what I want his appearance to be. I generally take a celebrity, describe them, and use their picture. Then, I think of what I want this character to be. Who is he? What's his defining traits? Why is this character flawed?


Then, I create a history based on their person that describes them having to face some sort of troubles in life, but nothing too apparent in the fact that they've had a terrible life. Something that makes them relatable in having to face struggle but no be someone who has had the worst life possible.


Then I fill in the blanks.


Hope this helps.