Characters: An Alternative Creation Story

This is yet another post in response to my Twitter survey, suggested by George Angus over at Tumblemoose Writing Services. I had actually been planning a post similar to this as part of my reality in fiction theme I’ve been running over the past week or so. George had made the request of looking at character creation in RolePlay so the focus will be shifted a little from my original intentions, but it works for ‘normal’ fiction also.

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Characters are key to any story. They’re the crutch upon which the story rides, conflict is created and the reason that people will read your work. They play an especially important part in RolePlaying: They are the tool by which you are able to write and interact. Your posts are focused on them, you must rely on their own view of the world to bring it alive. You, for all intents and purposes, become that character while playing. But, how important is the creation process of your character?

It all starts with a name

At least, for me it does. I’m among a rarity in RolePlay: My character becomes my muse and in a sense all my roleplay writing comes from the character itself. When first introducing a character, I generally know nothing about him/her beyond their name. Their appearance, personality, likes/dislikes, and abilities all come to me as I write. For me, this allows a nice progression for my characters throughout the story.

However, that doesn’t really give a true insight. So, let’s take a closer look at character creation.

Balance

It’s essential. More so than a lot of people realise. Regardless of setting, genre, race or rank of your character it needs to have balance. It’s very tempting (and even I fell in this trap when new to the RolePlay scene) to create a character without flaws, a character all powerful and all knowing. But oh, how bland such characters really are! No one is perfect. And neither should your characters.

They will surely have weaknesses, fears, personality flaws and yet they indeed will still have their own strengths. The art to character creation is finding the right balance: Someone with no strengths at all is just as bland, remember.

The Process

Creating a character can certainly be broken down into a number of steps:

1. The basics: Age, sex, race and appearance. These all are dependant on what setting you’re playing in. In a post-apocalyptic world where all adults were killed, you wouldn’t make a character over the age of 18. Sex most often is never an issue: Man, woman, both, neither - the choice is yours. Race again is an important one for maintaining reality. In a realistic setting (based in our real world) you would’t play an elf or Martian. Appearance again is all dependant on the factors already taken into account. It needs to keep with the world in which you are playing; would a European person in the 1300s really wear a ninja outfit? I doubt it. A guy wearing a skirt? Well, maybe. But a woman wearing a full suit of armour is perhaps not so likely (I’m going to get lynched by all the women readers now!). And would your dwarf really be five foot eight inches tall?
2. Skills and abilities: Here again balance is the key. Someone with muscles that dwarf even WWE wrestlers who can move with the ability of an Olympic gymnast? That just wouldn’t happen, I’m afraid. A person who is masterful with every weapon in existence? Not unless he’s been around for several eons. Masterful in one weapon? Oh, certainly. Able to shoot lightning from her knee all day without any effect? Maybe, but is that maintaining balance, or looking for an all-powerful sorceress? Making magic usage effect your characters creates a nice feel for realism: They don’t have a constant supply of energy. Just like the knight wouldn’t be able to ride his horse for three weeks non-stop.
3. Personality: I once saw a character profile where the character was “shy and talkative.” What?! Again, keep things realistic. Conflicting personality traits like that make your characters unbelievable. This will break what was discussed in an earlier blog. Something of utmost importance. Sure, have your character shy and maybe one person to whom they can approach with total ease: That’s entirely believable.
4. Background History: A lot of people like to write a full biography for their characters. While this may be useful to some people it isn’t at all necessary. If nothing more than why your character is where they are at the begining of the game/story and their current motivations and goals, you’ve provided more than enough information. And, revealing everything at once means you lose a great back-up tool when you can’t think of what to write: The Flashback.

And there you have it. A nice skeleton profile of your character, ready to leap into whatever game you’re taking a part.

Why?

Why go to all this effort though? Surely you can just write out your character as you go along like I do? Definitely. Often for new RolePlayers this gives a nice template for easily making a character, when perhaps it isn’t the most natural of things to do. Also, it can provide a quick reference tool for other players to learn about your character. The players can then have an understanding and look to implementing sub-plots with you or areas of conflict or mutual interest.

If writing for a purely literary purpose, the character profile can help you to organise your cast of characters. Though I would add in one more area: Relationships. Between main characters, other minor characters and anyone they may meet. As your novel progresses it’s a good idea to also update that section (along with all others - I know they can all change at times) to keep your information up to date so you have a quick and simple reference tool.

Your very own creations

Have you roleplayed before? Written a novel? How did you go about creating your characters? Please share with us. Everyone is different and my own methodology may not be the same as yours. Let us know how you write your own story of creation!