How do you write your characters?

[Katzaniel]

Sweetcherrie and I were having a discussion about the different ways we play a character in an RP, and I got curious how many different ways there are. Well, first, do you determine a character's actions differently depending on whether you're RPing or just writing them? And how do you do either?

 

I, for example, might determine a fairly inconsequential character's actions simply by guessing what a logical reaction to the situation might be. For small characters, it's usually fairly basic. For larger characters, I try to "inhabit" them. Not to make them like myself, or to assume that they're like me, but to figure out how they're different. What makes them tick? Usually I get a pretty good idea of their history and personality before I ever begin to write them, and then I try to look at whatever situation they're in, from their point of view.

 

For example, the character I'm going to play in Gwaihir's game. She's different from me primarily in that she's from a setting where royal blood matters, and she happens to be royal. She's not different from most of her culture, in that she doesn't think highly of commoners - mostly, she doesn't think about them at all. They're not as important as she is. She's similar to me in that she likes men - no surprise - but she's much more outgoing about it, and willing to have many relationships going on at once. Of course, in her society it's not a matter of sleeping with them, but she will flirt with as many men as she can, because men are fun to be with and she considers it fun to make them interested in her. It's kind of a hobby with her. Those are the eyes I try to see through when I look at her interaction with Tanny's character - her maid - or Sweetcherrie's character - an in-the-closet gay man. I put myself in her shoes, visualize everything that makes her who she is (concentrating most, I think, on the differences between herself and me) and then think, how would I act, were I her? If I do it well enough, if I can become her, then I end up with how she would act. In this example, she would talk to her maid as if her maid existed only for her own interest, and not beyond. She wouldn't consider that the maid has thoughts, or feelings, or might share her gossip with others, nor would she ask her opinion on anything, unless offered. She wouldn't be shocked that the maid has an opinion, but she would assume that anything the maid was right about was probably just luck, as clearly a noblewoman is more intelligent than a commoner. As for the gay man, she would see him as single, and try to get him interested in her, like all the other men. If he didn't appear interested, she would wonder why, be slightly insulted, and only try harder. If she found out that he liked men, she would be very confused, a little disgusted, and assume that it was possible to "convert" him, never wondering whether it's possible to "convert" herself to like women. Then, naturally, she'd proceed to try, doing everything in her power to be as womanly as possible around him, absolutely sure in her knowledge that eventually he would weaken and show his interest.

 

What I'm trying to do is explain *how* I figure all that out, not what it is I've figured out, but I'm not sure if I'm succeeding. Anyway, I hope that if enough people try to explain what their method is, it'll become easier to articulate, because then I'll have a basis to explain similarities and differences... So I'll wait for a bit and see who replies to this before trying again.

[Sweetcherrie]

Hmm...

 

Depending on the character I either try to crawl under their skin and see how I would react, or I think of people I know and describe how they would react.

 

I think that one of my favourite hobbies, watching people, helps me greatly to write out characters and to keep them life-like. I think all people are worth listening to and observing, and everybody has got their own interesting things. So I get to talk to and meet a lot of people and for different chars I take different traits from the people I meet and have met.

 

For example for Dennis, the char I will use for Gwai's game. He will be based on one of my gayfriends, who is the absolute gayest person I have ever met (that is if you take the exagerated image). He'll have the handgestures, the voice, and the comments on hair, make-up and clothing. I think that for this I also think of Jack from Will & Grace, and then mix in some other things that would make things even funnier.

 

What character I use mainly depends on what I feel like playing. Dennis will be a funny character, one that makes an idiot of himself, and doesn't see it.

 

Than there are of course the choice of words that would go with a certain char. If a char is arrogant I would probably choose for the more difficult versions of words so to speak, if the char is mentally retarded I would go towards the easiest and most-used version of that word.

 

(I have no idea how much sense that makes )

 

I do the same for their dialogue. If a character is highly intelligent I will try to use more scientific language than when he or she is an everyday Joe.

 

Normally I also do some research into what this char is doing and into the setting. For the first WWgame I played here (In the Name of the Rose, a gardener monk) I had to look into herbs and what on earth these herbs looked like and what the effects would be if you used them in cooking.

 

But enough of my babbling...lets hear some others about this subject

[Mynx]

Would you believe that I really just have that many facets to my personality?

[Gryphon]

I'd say it's situational for me - that is controlled by the medium of the game more than anything else.

 

Typically if it's live - be it person to person or IRC or whatever I tend to write as the character, where as if it's in a forum and not constantly alive and in progress etc I tend to slip into story-telling mode, writing the characters actions in third person and past tense.

 

I suppose I could mix them up a bit, in fact I probably do so and that's what causes the horrible present/past tense problems that crop up in my writing, but that's another story for another day.

[Peredhil]

I tend to write in third person, because I tend to think in third person. Which comes of forgetting myself when I concentrate on others - to include RP characters.

 

For RP, I tend to create profiles of the characters' personality traits, distance from centric (self), values, and the other normal modeling stuff used in profiling an individual. Then I just play from the profile.

[yochva]

Most if not all of my characters are anchored in me, to some extent. Some more than others.

 

What I do with my characters is take an aspect of me and blow it up. I make it the dominant characteristic, and work around it. One of my characters is very, very cynical and jaded - I'm not like that all the time, but if I'm feeling hurt or betrayed, I'll turn cold. I often feel alone and shy, reserved and lonely - one of my characters is an outcast and stranger even in her own home. Stuff like that.