Too Unique?

I feel I must say something. Everyone wants their character to be unique, he/she is memorable right? Well I've been thinking that goal is making all the other characters seem exactly the same. If everyone tries to be unique, it becomes the norm.

What is your opinion on this?

My opinion is that I think I'm on crack or something because you can't be serious.

So you want us to make characters with big tits, nice blonde hair, a naga tail, and for them to swallow smaller races in a sexualized way?


It's a bad idea. But go ahead and do it, make manufactured Crisis clones like others do.

the thing is, people don't because everyone emphasizes against it. Everyone is so focused on making their characters unique they keep adding onto the list of tragedies their characters go through. That makes them all the same.

Everyone's life has tragedies, so it's not unrealistic too much... I mean, it all depends on how much detail you put into the characters. The more detail, the more tragedy.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

the thing is, people don't because everyone emphasizes against it. Everyone is so focused on making their characters unique they keep adding onto the list of tragedies their characters go through. That makes them all the same.

Not all characters have OMGSSAAAAD pasts, you're overgeneralizing.

well anime and manga (which is the style that this universe has it's drawings based off of) all have similar characters, a lot are like naruto, bleach, DBZ, yu-yu hakusho, they all have similar characters. Sad pasts, and lots of fighting. Even FMA has similar characters. Ed and Al both have had sad pasts. what made those characters great was the character development, and the plot. What I'm trying to say is that even if your character is similar to others what makes them great are their stories. When you over-dramaticize a character to where they have piercing eyes, a missing limb, or any other feature of the like, it sheilds the person's writing ability, and people pay attention to those characters more even if their writing sucks.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

well anime and manga (which is the style that this universe has it's drawings based off of) all have similar characters, a lot are like naruto, bleach, DBZ, yu-yu hakusho, they all have similar characters. Sad pasts, and lots of fighting. Even FMA has similar characters. Ed and Al both have had sad pasts. what made those characters great was the character development, and the plot. What I'm trying to say is that even if your character is similar to others what makes them great are their stories. When you over-dramaticize a character to where they have piercing eyes, a missing limb, or any other feature of the like, it sheilds the person's writing ability, and people pay attention to those characters more even if their writing sucks.

This isn't an anime though. Where did you even get that from?

Archmage_Bael wrote:

well anime and manga (which is the style that this universe has it's drawings based off of) all have similar characters,

Tell me with a straight face Spike has the same background as Kamina. Or Bobobo Bo Bobobo (sp?) is similar to Gatts.

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a lot are like naruto, bleach, DBZ, yu-yu hakusho, they all have similar characters.

Now compare them to Bobobo's Bizarre Adventure, Gunsmith Cats, and Black Lagoon. There's more than coincidence that those are all popular animes and they're both similar in character feats / examples.

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Sad pasts, and lots of fighting.

Melancholy of Haruhi, point out the shit-ton of fighting there. Or the mass of fighting in Lucky Star.

Again, look at how popular the above animes are, and which group they're popular with.

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What I'm trying to say is that even if your character is similar to others what makes them great are their stories.

What you're doing is using only animes / mangas for your character development. Where are poetic / literary characters such as from the Canterbury Tales?

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When you over-dramaticize a character to where they have piercing eyes, a missing limb, or any other feature of the like, it sheilds the person's writing ability, and people pay attention to those characters more even if their writing sucks.

Wait, so your complaint is not about the personalities and the like but the fashion-plate characters that - if disabled - suffer no penalties? Oh, in that case I agree completely - your characters shouldn't look like part of a freak show. Appearance-wise it's fine to have people who meet the norm. I thought you were going crazy about people with cookie-cutter backgrounds, abilities, personalities, etc.

Regardless to all else, I strive for uniqueness! All characters being unique does not make them all the same. You can use the word 'unique' to describe them all, but they will be different. It's a good thing, plain and simple.

Personally, I don't make a character without at least one gimmick.

Wait, what? Not every character here has a SAD PAST, people seem to try hard to get them to stand out.

yaaah i know unique is good, but sometimes i just like to see average people take on the interesting challenges. thats where you see a writer's talent, is making an average character seem unique.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

yaaah i know unique is good, but sometimes i just like to see average people take on the interesting challenges. thats where you see a writer's talent, is making an average character seem unique.

You mean people who aren't friends with Predators, don't have the ability to fight 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 and win, can't defeat Spine Beetle hordes, etc? Ruins the fun for some people, as sad as that is.

well thanks. and malahite thank you for not flaming at me. You really know how to argue
I know this must have seemed like a rediculous post, but I'm just trying to make suggestions that I deem helpful. As much of a failure as they may be...

Archmage_Bael wrote:

I feel I must say something. Everyone wants their character to be unique, he/she is memorable right? Well I've been thinking that goal is making all the other characters seem exactly the same. If everyone tries to be unique, it becomes the norm.

What is your opinion on this?

I personally see nothing wrong with it, but theres a point where it becomes a little ridiculous, in general, it's best to come up with some kind of character that fits into the setting no matter how unique. obviously this can cause huge problems with communities with a less rigid setting, but generally, as long as you aren't swamped with people, its easy just to get a group of people you know make interesting and enjoyable characters together.

Things to take on account:

- Not every character has to be a Crisis rip-off. You can have an interesting character without copyiing a certain blonde naga. There are more species, more habits, more attitudes, more to explore in general.
- Not every character has a sad past. Some may have been a bit of an outcast but quickly fought for changing it and their past may have had some sad parts, but isn't a living drama. Some characters don't even need to have little sad moments and might have had a good life all the time.
- Not every character has to be based on manga/anime stereotypes. Literature, Western comics and cartoons, movies... there are so many sources to lookf for inspiration... and also, add some of your own thoughts and ideas.

Not all of us can get unique characters at first. We need to develop them further in stories and the like. Then you'll get the uniqueness you might be looking for. But being unique doesn't mean being a Mary Sue/Gary Stu or the likes...

Every average person, does have their own unique parts, however. To really develop a unique character while not stereotyping them, you have to include them in stories and develop them bit by bit until their personality fleshes out.

Feadraug wrote:

Things to take on account:

- Not every character has to be a Crisis rip-off. You can have an interesting character without copyiing a certain blonde naga. There are more species, more habits, more attitudes, more to explore in general.
- Not every character has a sad past. Some may have been a bit of an outcast but quickly fought for changing it and their past may have had some sad parts, but isn't a living drama. Some characters don't even need to have little sad moments and might have had a good life all the time.
- Not every character has to be based on manga/anime stereotypes. Literature, Western comics and cartoons, movies... there are so many sources to lookf for inspiration... and also, add some of your own thoughts and ideas.

Not all of us can get unique characters at first. We need to develop them further in stories and the like. Then you'll get the uniqueness you might be looking for. But being unique doesn't mean being a Mary Sue/Gary Stu or the likes...

LISTEN TO THIS MAN, PEOPLE. Simply put, your character shouldn't be a clone, it shouldn't be a godmodder, and it won't get called a Mary-Sue. Sure, it's possible to try so hard to make a character unique so much you come full-circle and create an angsty bitch, but that isn't common. I've hardly seen it at all here.

I personally try to find a balance between the two. I don't try to be too unique, but I try to deviate from the norm.

I try to avoid the sad past thing since I can't really shell out anything good from it. And I treat many of the other methods of character development the same.

To quote Mrl. Sulu: It is grammatically incorrect to place a modifier before "unique".


These are my thoughts on the subject at hand.

I agree.

It appears (to me) that you are saying that you don't want the traits that make a character unique to become a cliché or too common. For example: A tragic past; parents in a car accident/murdered/etc and/or ostracized by peers or society for differing views or having some "disfigurement"/strange mark. Discovers previously unknown powers (hey, I can outrun a 60ft naga!) etc, etc.

But those are no longer unique.

Making a unique character is only one way to try to have that character become memorable. The problem is the extremes to which people go in order to achieve that uniqueness. Felarya is not new to this - a great many fanfic groups go through exactly the same problem. People want their character to stand out from the crowd. However, if everyone is an exception, none of them are. It becomes the defining trait and thus they all end up being lumped together despite trying to avoid that very fate.

Unique is overrated; it'll become cliché eventually and then the old cliché will be unique.

In the meantime, let's keep making decent characters that aren't clones of each other.