Character Creation (part 2)

Humans

So for human creation, as in realistic fiction or humans in fantasy or normal fiction, you really want to have a specific defining trait. Humans are complicated. We know that. But for characters, we want them to have dimensions, but also a way we can classify them. For instance; the mousy-brunnette with glasses: quiet artsy type who maybe likes unicorns; the flamboyant gay who likes singing, theatre and skydiving. Your characters can be original, but they also have to have the few eggagerated traits that helps us define them. You can have the jock type be totally into fairies, but you have to make it so that it somehow defines his character (he has a fairy collection, loved looking up pictures of them, wants to be able to wear a tee to school with his favorite types on it).

Fantasy Creatures

These you can have a lot of liberties with. You can go the norm and have a short tempered small dwarf, or a small fairy who loves nature. With this, you really have to make them somehow stand out a bit, maybe not too much in the appearance, but you can also make their personality a little less cut and dry. It may even be more beneifcial to go the exact opposite. What about the super many unicorn who hates sparkles and is allergic to rainbows? Or a tomboy fairy with pink wings who hates animals? The nice thing about creatures is that they can be whatever you want them to be. You cna make them however the heck you want to!

Animals/Pets/Cute Creatures

These can be quite similar to the fantasy creatures, although these I classify as mroe of pets or non-verbal beasts or slightly sentient beings. Most of the time these can be whatever because people have these types of characters from loyal-as-dogs to flaky-as-Townhouse-crakers. If you really want this type of being to be original and/or special, I would pay the most attention to physical appearance and then to personality. The physical appearance can be what attracts people to him/her/it so it really matters. Ex: a ferocious dragon, a cute squid monster with big eyes, a bun-thing with an adorable expression. All these are interesting things that attract a person to think/look at it. Then you can make it have an interesting personality. Ex: dragon who loves pink, squid monster that glomps people, the bun-thing that kills people with cuteness, etc.

All in all, pay attention to your characters. Listen to what they tell you, don't just make stuff up, think of what THEY would do. Make them original. Make them entertaining. Make them classifiable. Make them interesting.

Happy Creating! :)

Character Creation (part 1)

How do I create an original character? (part 1)

Well, one thing you could try is thinking of, traits, personality, physical looks, or jobs, and then make a character based on this. There are numerous ways to practice trying to create characters by playing games utilizing the things above. But I think we should start with the basics.

THE BASICS OF CHARACTER CREATION

Characters are THE MOST IMPORTANT part of a story. Interaction between characters, how they handle situation, environmental stimulus, all deals with characters. You always want your character to do SOMETHING or else your reader will get bored and not read/watch your story or clip or cartoon. They don't necessarily have to talk (silent shorts with just music are still entertaining and awesome), but there has to be some sort of dynamic interaction be it between people, animals, or the environment.

So first thing to do to think of a character-think of a trait, job, personality, or feature. Then make up a background for them, a life, a name, what they look like, anything! After you have a least a little something in mind, you can follow some of these guidelines. You want to have at least a visual in your mind of the character, and maybe some basics on their background before you do the next step.

The next thing to do is work on your character's personality. To do this you can make up questions and then answer them based on what your character would say/do. You can also look on personality quizzes and do them based on your character (try blogthings.com). Really try to think in depth about your character. Never make your character perfect! This is a huge no-no in the creative world. A perfect character is not entertaining or fun. Let your character have flaws, or maybe quirks that make them weird. This will make you character more dynamic and interesting.