The Art of Character Creation

No Oldman, this one isn't a science.

So, everyone has different ways of coming up with a character. Some ways are more versatile and varied than others.
it's still a process and a process has steps. Obviously, the more steps in character creation the better, but too many and it may come convoluted.


So this thread is about character creation, how you did you come up with the base concept? What was the starting point? Was it a personality, a temperament, a power, a role, a background, an ability or disability?
I think that the starting point of a character creation process has a large impact on the resulting character. However the longer the process the less of an impact it may have.
My own character, Thane's starting point was: some guy who travels worlds looking for something.
(My own method takes far too long and nobody should use it, ever.)

Once you've got the base concept you can add on secondary things.
For Thane I ended up adding Mercenary, then others.
As with the base concept, I believe the second thing you add greatly effects what can be added later. For example, once I ahd decided Thane was a mercenary, I couldn't give him a pacifist personality. However if you added personality before role/job then that would change.


And so on and so forth...


The point of this thread is so people can share their own ways of making a character and in turn learn from others some steps to add to their own development process so that their characters end up deeper, richer and overall better.


On a side note, I highly suggest looking at personality type research articles, it's really interesting and can greatly help working out the temperament (and therefore personality) of your characters.
Examples: Myers-Briggs Types,
"Big Five" factors

I like the idea of this thread heh...I'll be happy to contribute to it as well!

For my character Ciel it began more of a concept/role point I wanted to explore some. Her first starting point- a dridder who embraced their traditions and warrior dridder culture while still trying not to be just defined by that entirely. Beyond that next steps were going along personality to accept and work with this- I actually went and made her fairly cautious and calculating as a result of this in addition to brave. All the stories of such danger and heroics made her envious of such exploits but she also recognizes just how dangerous they are, so she's careful about it. It goes on further, but pretty much just kept building on top of each part all the way up to what species she was and abilities to work with it.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

No Oldman, this one isn't a science.

Art's simply another word for science. Just another way of looking at it.

I'll admit that Zion is heavily based on myself. I've often had to thread the needle to avoid being accused of self-inserting (bow chicka bow wow), but many personality aspects are either toned-down, or exaggerated.

Physical flaws are important. Like me, Zion is a fervent transhumanist, though he comes from a world where it isn't unheard of, and has the resources to aggressively wage war on his body's inadequacies. However, unlike me, he is also somewhat social, and so preserves his human appearance by shunning purely-mechanical augmentations in favor of biological alternatives (which are also much more easily maintained and are superior in a few cases). This was to avoid having a crudely-cyborg character that wouldn't fit in Felarya. However, these augmentations have resulted in him being unnaturally handsome, and physically superior to a natural human, which is borderline Mary Sue stuff.

So, because I have a character who consciously tries to eradicate his physical flaws, I play up the personality ones. Zion is intelligent, yes, but he is also arrogant and self-absorbed. Stabs once said he got the impression that Zion rambled on just to hear himself talk, which is the effect I was going for. Zion is also aggressive, unsympathetic, distrusting, and paranoid.

However, flaws are only one portion of a character. A good character has redeeming qualities, too. Zion is a heroic character, in that even though he can be an ass, he genuinely believes in doing the right thing, no matter the cost. He rarely loses his temper, and can be inhumanly cool-headed. He's also the type to use his knowledge and skills to help someone just as quickly as he would use them to crush an opponent, although he'd probably be a little smug about it.

There's also fighting style, if the character is the warrior type. On Geha, Zion preferred to use weaponry, but once I bring him into Felarya when I re-do my Felarya Saga for the third time, he'll have to rely more on his skills as ammunition is scarce and maintenance is difficult (at least until I have Zion and Co. reach Negav, which will take a while from Deeper Felarya). Zion is technically a mage, but he doesn't like the term. As a "genius", he prefers to rationalize the arcane workings of arts commonly thought to act outside the borders of science. This means Zion is able to use these arts creatively, and implement them into profound strategies that mate precision with explosive power. Zion possesses a very broad range of skills, aided by his augmentations. He is a technopath, meaning that he can receive and transmit wireless signals, allowing him to manipulate or hack into any computer that is open to a wireless network (much more useful on his homeworld than in Felarya), or act as a radio with just his mind. He can control energies, such as electricity or fire, as well as telekinetic force. Basically, Zion is well-versed in the manipulation of matter and energy. He is, however, limited by concentration and complexity: altering complex molecular structures or controlling huge amounts of energy require a lot of concentration. Basically, Zion prefers to dabble in everything, though he lacks specialization. He's not too shabby at physical combat, either, though that's not his forte.

Now, all of this comes with its share of weaknesses, of course. Zion's body is a metabolic monster, requiring massive amounts of carbohydrates for a human his size. He's also very dependent on being able to process and compute information quickly, and lacks the reflexive skills of a more traditional caster.

TL;DR Version:
My steps are:
-Personality is dependent upon abilities and attributes, and also background.
-Use personality to influence style, and resulting consequences.
-Combine all of this, whittle it down, test out character in a myriad of scenarios, and edit as necessary.

For another, quicker example, take another character of mine, Kenson. He's much more impulsive than Zion, and waaaaay more hot-headed. This sounds like a cliche "two opposites being friends", and it is to an extent. However, Kenson influences Zion, and vice-versa. Kenson keeps the arrogant Zion down-to-earth, and Zion helps Kenson to control himself, so there is a reason for it.

His impulsiveness means that Kenson's style is much less complicated than Zion's. In fact, it's quite simple: beat the shit out of the target. He lacks the refined skills of Zion or Leif (the third member of the Gehan trio), though he finds ways around that (long story) to become an effective member of the team. Kenson is a physical combatant, and prefers to mate raw ferocity with trained skill. He's not an idiot, but he leaves the thinking to the other two.

Now, that's all about my main ones (who I have yet to use in my non-deleted stories). As for my one-shot story characters, I use different processes depending on how I feel at the time.

I'm not sure if I have an established method for creating characters. What I do know for sure is that I have the inexplicable desire to make them suffer. I give them reasons to feel insecure, bitter, rejected, and inadequate. Like Rhea for example, she suffers from low-self esteem and tries to overcome it with anger. To the outside observer, she's an arrogant and violent hot-head. Behind closed doors, she's a cry baby. I don't know why I like to do these things with my characters. I suppose making them hurt is how I relate to them.

I'd agree that character creation starts with a concept and then a whole lot of detail poured onto that base.

The concept of my first characters was actually the relationship between them. Grip is highly neurotic, easily susceptible to doubt and guilt, cynical and anti-social. Fenja is his physical protector, when it comes to fighting. But more importantly, I think, is she is his emotional protector. But, in a strange way, Fenja also counts on him. The interaction between the two characters came first and their other traits evolved around that.

In short, good character creation means putting lots of detail onto a solid base. Detail can come from alot of sources, background being a good example.

I think that you should know your characters so well that you should be able to know how they will react in any situation. This is why I, like gt500x, make suffering often come into play. Times of hardship are when real character shows through.

Pretty much what people said. I just start with a basic mold, like for Sean, Elemental powers, then pour in the dough, which is the extent of his personality and backstory. It took me a while to find the correct mold and ingredients, and even then, I keep finding issues.

While I am at it, there is something that I need to address. There are some characters who are created for one purpose and have no personality beyond that, yet are still acclaimed to be three-dimensional by their creator. I refer to them as Gimmick Characters. I've already ranted on them on my journal, but to give an abridged version, it's a character whose entire existence is reliant on one quirk, and if you remove it, the character becomes completely void. I don't mind it for extras or minor characters, since the level of detail should be proportional to their importance in the story, but for a support or main character, there is no excuse.

My personal remedy for this contrived illness is to think of secondary traits that you think define the character as you experiment with it. For Sean, his secondary quirk are his massive endurance, his no-nonsense attitude, and on occasion, his cynicism.

I start off with a character as a base, then put them into an Earthly perspective. IE what they would do in normal situations and how they'd react. Based on my assumptions, this would be the foundation of their personality. Then, I slowly alter the world they're in until I have the desired state of fantasy I plan to use them in. Other characters, like robot ones, I literally make a blue print of them and figure out what purpose they were built for. If they have no purpose, I let them figure it out through the course of a story or roleplay, which usually gives them sapience. At the end of the day, it bears the fruit of OC's.

However, I will admit some of my characters are based on others, which is why they may seem familiar at first.

My character creation methodology is the figurative equivalent of train 777 in Unstoppable. The ideas that spurn them come to me violently and once they've begun it's time to write-write-write it all down or shit's getting left behind.


Unlike what others have said, I have not used myself as a character in stories, and I always prefer to think of them in a detached way - I have to get into each character and live the story through their eyes with the knowledge and traits that they have - that I tend to change several times over during the creation process. That said, I love each of my characters and I definitely start tearing up at certain points in my own story because I don't like hurting them, but it has to be done.


Reya is actually a really good example of this. In Autumnology's commission of Reya, she went through several draft reviews prior to the finished product - Lyiba's commission has gone through 3 such drafts as well. Constantly honing in more and more on the final product that I see belonging to that character.


For those that remember, Cecaeda actually had a complete 180 done to her. Her bio did not fit her character at all - she was supposed to be something completely different. She was going to be my fun, vorish character. Yet, when I initially drafted the Cecaeda character, I didn't think about how she would tie into Reya's story, and as a result the redefining of that character was a requirement, perhaps even a commandment of the story. Truthfully, Liari and Kaede have stepped up to the plate and evolved into my 'fun' characters.


And if you don't think Kaede is a 'fun' character just wait to see the trouble her and Hath get into. That poor lad has no freaken' idea. I have this feeling that if my characters ever wound up watching Excel Saga I'd probably become a missing writer.


Usually, before I even introduce a character they've been through at least two months of thought by myself on how to implement them and the way it should be done, but even that isn't enough to really hammer them down. Even with the 'easy' characters like Triela and Liari, I have issues sometimes with 'nailing' their characters down. More complex ones, such as Reya or Nyselyn, and I often find myself asking 'did I do this right' or 'would she really have thought/done/acted in such a manner?' And it's those questions that typically result in many do-overs following initial writeups of the story.

This is going to sound pretty boring, but when i first created Grendel my first idea was to make a character that simply hadn't been done before. I wanted to make something that truly stood out and didn't feel uninspired. So from a dozen or so pretty, happy-go-lucky females with a thing for vore and with life being mostly easy on them, I got an ugly, brutish unlucky male from an unused species that rips things to shreds. I've always been a big animal-zoology nut, and when thinking on his personality i wanted to convey the feel of something very animalistic, that would view and act on the world more or less like a real wild animal would. More than anything, too, i wanted to make someone that didn't feel special like in so many stories and character bios, just this one normal guy

And funnily enough he became more interesting on his own. Rather than follow the bio i gave him strictly I just let the character develop on its own, take hints from what others would comment, and ultimately he became Felarya's resident hardened grumpypants. Grendel had evolved beyond what i planned to....and it was fun.

Don't think this feels overall like good advice, so I'll just say: don't try to plan every detail of your character from the start. Just let things develop on their own as you go, and you'll be pleasantly surprised in the best cases

Slimetoad wrote:

And funnily enough he became more interesting on his own. Rather than follow the bio i gave him strictly I just let the character develop on its own, take hints from what others would comment, and ultimately he became Felarya's resident hardened grumpypants. Grendel had evolved beyond what i planned to....and it was fun.

Don't think this feels overall like good advice, so I'll just say: don't try to plan every detail of your character from the start. Just let things develop on their own as you go, and you'll be pleasantly surprised in the best cases

Amen to that, I know a large part of my characters have changed over time as I've been writing them- the original bios are kind of out of date now heh. It's fun seeing just how these characters can take on their own life the more you use them and write them. It adds a whole new dimension to writing them having them grow as they react to what happens and shaping them further.

Intersting intro...

I'm not sure I have a method, because a character will pop up just about anywhere in my case, wether its somebody I know in person or just something I find in the media.
I can only truly describe them in a story form, describing a character in detail without a story isnt my strong suit

Looks:
For me my characters looks are like a puzzle, one persons hair, another persons clothes, ecetera, ecetera. when I find the look that suits them, I put it all together and form that image in my mind.... or the look just comes to me with no searching whatsoever.

Personality:
I have no idea how to describe it their personality except on how I feel about them. I act out how they react to others and in different scenarios. most times it comes to me while Im listening to one of my shows, the way a person sounds or what I see on the video inspires how my character will behave.

Abilities:
this is the number one factor in all of my characters, what kind of powers/skills they have depends on something i see somewhere (a game, a movie, a picture)

I guess I can dum it up by saying, my method is like taking a bunch of different puzzle pieces and putting them together...

That's kind of true of most methods Axel.
What "piece" do you normally begin with? What's your starting point?
Do you fit personality to abilities or abilities to personality? (Whichever comes first determines the other I find).

Anime-Junkie wrote:

That's kind of true of most methods Axel.
What "piece" do you normally begin with? What's your starting point?
Do you fit personality to abilities or abilities to personality? (Whichever comes first determines the other I find).

Thats a tough one, seeing as the starting point can be any of those... but its mostly the look that started most of my characters (especially my primary characters)

I dont exactly "fit" either personality or ability. for example, my neko Mizomi has a seductive nature, yet she can control fire (which would suggest an aggresive nature instead)

Aggressiveness does not exclude a seductive nature.
Haven't you heard of the phrase "fiery passion?"

Anime-Junkie wrote:

Aggressiveness does not exclude a seductive nature.
Haven't you heard of the phrase "fiery passion?"

yeah, I have... you have a point there

but as I mentioned before in one of our discussoions, personality is the thing im bad at describing in a bio & thats what I need help on.

Ahh... let's see.

Most of my characters start out as jokes. Marcel was a teacher the size of a bouncer the first time around, then I decided from there to model him after some of my teachers. Maybe it wasn't appropriate for an instructor, who's different from a teacher, but I liked what I had, so I didn't go back on it.

Faulkner and Elsie started out as jokes too, but if I told them I'd spoil you surprises that I'm keeping until the very end.


Afterwards, I either add the powers or personality on top. The powers are easier, but without the personality, they're not going to hold a lot of interest- then again, they're the most fun for me.

Marcel was a Norwegian leatherhead with a gun and a lot of talent for survival.
Faulkner was an expert in fairies with the ability to see where others can't.
Elsie was a sedentary farmer capable of growing fruits the size of buildings.



The personality, on the other hand, is a little of a challenge at first, but I just start with the basics, and then salt and pepper as seems appropriate.

Marcel, at first I made him understanding and caring. Then I decided, during "What We Fight For", to show Marcel before he became an instructor. There, he was mercurial, very nice- until he was not. But even then he was a person who wanted to do the right thing, who didn't want to act always out of fear. Somebody with a better nature, someone who was understanding and caring, someone who wanted to be a better person. Lawful good, so to speak.

If you think Faulkner is a hateful psycho, that's because you read The Joy of Hunting. Faulkner himself is a twisted mess of a mind, even worse than Elsie- and if you've read All Fun and Games, you'll know that's a lot. I wanted him to be cute, and as I couldn't make him cheery, I went for cute in a messed up, hurt sort of way. Now, since I figured people in Felarya were all supposed to be kind, I made Faulkner the kind that doesn't want help: he barely talks, but you can feel the turmoil just beneath the surface, nearly snapping all the time, but keeping him civil enough to be harmless to his pals. The rest... is spoilers.

Elsie on the other hand, well, she was a joke at first... so I went with the "sexy pred" mold. And from there, I added some of that messed up charm, then I remembered this was a joke and went full deranged. From there, I added guilt, regret and vulnerability to make her someone we could relate to, while keeping her out of control just because she's so deranged. She's sick, lonely, vulnerable, needs help, but she's a sadistic bitch too and nothing can take that away from her. The guilt... it does nothing.

So in general, I first think of what I'll need them doing, and then I think of what made them that way, and what is it that way makes of them.


Looks aren't a problem, I just doodle until things come together. The colors are, though.

I don't have a special formula for creating characters, but I always try to find something unique to them. And usually, this comes more in the personality department more than in the abilities one.

For example, I'll take my beloved - and also feared - Kyria. Let's see... what makes her special? The fact that she's a mute fairy in the Forest of Whispers. This isn't an ability - not being able to speak isn't... at least as I understand it - and has a direct effect on her personality: she uses her own natural charm, her deceiving cute looks as her way to lure fools, and somehow turns her a good listener. This can also be played in the way she expresses herself, since she has to use other ways that aren't her voice - as she lacks of one - to communicate her feelings. No special abilities, but special traits of her personality are what make her unique.

So for me, personality comes first, as the character needs to have... a character, after all. I think that abilities can also help in designing such personality, but I always go for how the act and later see what special abilities can fit such character, what background story has caused this character to be who currently is... There are many factors out there to define a character in terms of personality and abilities.

Physical appearance is also a point to take on account. After all, even if some of us prefer the inside beauty - or ugliness -, we have to think of how characters look like. Sometimes, playing with the looks of the character can be good for the purpose of the story, not just for giving them a face and a body. Back to the Kyria example, as mentioned, she's a cute individual with long brown-red hair, big golden eyes, a bit short... and she uses that for deceiving people. So looks can play an important part of the character if you decide so.

But to sum up: first personality, then abilities and story, then looks.

Hmmm...whenever I make a character, I look at what I want to do with them first. After that, I think on their personality. "How would (blank) react to these kinds of situations? Why would they act in such a way?" I personally enjoy making characters who aren't exactly all there as it often helps when you finally come to more serious or dark situations. That way, you're able to bring the mood around again when it's all passed.

After that, I begin to work on their background. Once all that is said and done, I focus on their abilities/skills. "Can they do this? Why is that? Is this maybe a little much? Does this make sense?" And finally, I give them their appearance. I'm not gonna lie, I have a thing for characters with imperfect bodies, as anyone who's seen Kaiten could tell ya. XD I dunno, I kind of feel that when a character doesn't look utterly perfect, it helps the reader identify with them a bit more.