First off, yes, I'm still here. I haven't left. I'm just kept very, very busy with tiring RL things. I'm hoping to carve out enough time and energy to get back into the community, but it's not a given thing.

Okay. Now that the explanation is out of the way, characters and character building! I love it. Probably a bit too much, which ties into why I'm never able to get anything actually done.

Of the methods that hS has mentioned here, I probably gravitate towards the first and second most of all. But only as a baseline. Once I establish the core of a character, then I start adding on characteristics and personality attributes. These can depend on what I want or need the character to do in the narrative, but sometimes they can just follow flights of fancy. Hopefully, I end up with something that is both distinct and still at least a little connected to my original vision. Or maybe not. Maybe all that editing and adding has created something totally different from what I originally intended. Which is also good.

Here's an example. For the last PPC Hunger Games, I made up a trio of scientists to provide commentary on the actions of Holo-Acacia: Dr. Daphne St. Auguste, Tess Jachowicz, and Naas'Gehlen vas Headquarters. The trio taken as a whole was modeled after the Mads from MST3K: the pushy, vaguely immoral scientist and his/her oddball flunkies. But that was just a rough sketch. I didn't want them to go full Mads; I wanted them to be actually competent, for one thing.

Let's go into more specifics. In addition to being inspired by the Mads, St. Auguste was a keyphrase character: 'the know-it-all genius.' And what good is being a know-it-all genius if nobody else knows you're such? So, I threw in her traits of rambling and always saying what was on her mind. There's still a bit of that original immorality, but I muted it to academic malfeasance rather than 'torturing people with bad movies.'

Jachowicz was meant to be the sane woman to St. Auguste's vague unhinged-ness, which unfortunately is not a position that necessarily lends itself toward making detailed characters. That being said, I was able to expand her characterization on the fly simply by reacting to events in the PPC Hunger Games: her diplomatic nature that slips a little when her boss isn't looking, her willingness to debate, and her vague affinity for parts of the Star Wars prequels. I hope to expand on her further given the opportunity.

Naas'Gehlen was meant to be the snarker. Whereas Jachowicz would respond to her boss with gentle debate or agreement, Naas was meant to be the one to crack wise. He was laid-back and easy-going, as opposed to the two more serious women. I actually patterned a bit him in my mind after a real person: NASA engineer Bobak Ferdowski, aka the mohawk guy from the Curiosity mission.

So… that went a little longer than expected. But I guess that's sort of the case with building characters: it can go on for longer than you expect, and weave you into some corners you maybe didn't expect.

Finally, let me just push this old thing back out into the spotlight one more time: my workshop on characters. Read and enjoy.

PC

There is a RPG system, FATE, wich works by creeating 'Aspects' for the character, which follow these rules. Mainly a core one, a complication, and other for importants steps of life. The game system also got playing up or compelling these aspects as a major part of gameplay.

Guidelines like that really help for creating a character.

...Characterization page on the wiki?

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When it comes to pitching fictional characters, I've really been a fan of what I've called the "Mini Story" method, and not using adjectives or subjective qualities that leave things open for guessing. Instead, I prefer to use means of describing characters that is much more concrete. Although I advise this to other people who pitch their characters to me, I also think it could be one way to expand on characters that aren't fully finished yet and figuring out the hows and why's of who this character is.

It's one thing for someone to say, for example: "My character is really proud of herself but can be modest too." This really doesn't tell me much about your character, and I think that's the best way to give people the wrong idea about your character because everyone will interpret being proud of yourself in different ways. I think a better way I could put this would be to tell what I call a "Mini Story" about your character.

"My character likes to brag about her accomplishments in sports but if she meets someone who shows more expertise than her, she'll always shut up and listen."
"My character loves to show off her acting skills in front of other people, but keeps her acting life separate from her stage life and doesn't talk about it."
"My character flaunts her swordsmanship in front of other people, but when she sees magic, immediately shuts up."

Not only does telling a "Mini Story" shed more light about your character and give some concrete examples of what they do, it also can shed a bit of light on your setting, possibly their job, and also is able to separate, reconcile, and add more depth to two contradictory terms.

When it comes to making characters and not just pitching them, I find that if I start with one "Mini Story" I can start branching off from there, and build more onto that Mini Story by asking myself questions about the character. From there I can build more onto it.

"My character loves to brag about her accomplishments in sports." -

Maybe she was in a varsity?
Did she build any friends in there?
How could some of those friendships affected her?
Friends don't last forever, why would some of them have not made it?
How could this have had an impact on her as a character? How did this affect her worldview?

Or we could take a different road and take the first.

Why would she choose to so readily shut up and listen?
It sounds like she has a competitive streak, which is tempered by respect for people that are more experienced than her. Why such reverence?
Was she humbled in the past in a way that could've left a lasting impact on her?
Why?
How does this apply to the rest of who she is as a character?

- From there things just grow, and I find that having these sorts of things written down also helps, especially if you're trying to explain the character to another person. These notes come in incredibly valuable when trying to explain who the character is to someone else without having to give them the whole infodump, and can let you explain a character in just a few bites of information, without making your audience go glass-eyed.
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Great to see you, Grundleplith, I'm new to the forum as well.

Hearing about Redwall makes me feel nostalgic, I think Redwall was one of my first forays into the fantasy genre, glad to meet more people that also like it.
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Very useful.

Question for everyone:
What are your personal tropes in terms of characters, plots, settings, etc? I'm curious to see what everyone usually does.

-Twistey

I actually, just a bit ago, spent a whole heap of time fiddling around with working in a new character, and had a similar issue. I've found that, at least for me, with what I write, how I write, et al, that a good way to differentiate a character is by considering their chemistry with other characters. What 'role' they fill amongst a cast of characters, how they interact with them, that sort of thing.

The first PPCfellows I developed - Finch and Bingle - came out as a result of that sort of thing, in fact - one being intensely caustic and paranoid and, to contrast, the other being incredibly passive and somewhat dopey, with the rest of their personalities developing around those concepts. 'Why' Finch is paranoid, 'why' Bingle is passive, et al. I recently realised that many of the other characters I had in the thingy I'm doing were very sort of accepting, passive-sorts, so I've taken to further emphasising Finch's rebelliousness, which is certainly a thing I would not have considered on first having written him. Finch was, in fact, in the style of method #1, modelled after another character - Yossarian, from Catch-22. I, initially, was focussing on the 'paranoia' aspect of his personality and, in those initial stages, would have decided Finch would have been too cowardly for such rebelliousness. And where he certainly was really quite derivative to start with, I like to think that all of these small alterations eventually led him into growing into more of his own thing.

This, of course, works a whole lot easier on an ensemble cast, and you got to look out for flat characters with that sort of thing! The character's role within their cast should serve to be as a guide for the rest of their development - not their entire character. Finch's role is that of the caustic, rebellious, cowardly straight-man, but he still has personality beyond that, other elements of his personality shaping those particular traits. The classic 'why' is he caustic, 'why' is he rebellious - 'why' does he fit within that role? While he is made to work well with certain characters, he can still be written on his own, because he still is his own character, y'know?

I think there can be a separation, then, of the concept of the character and the delivery of them. At their cores, Yossarian and Finch (at least, how I worked on it) were made of the same concept: a character that is near unreasonably afraid of dying. It was in delivery that they diverged - Yossarian is depicted as compassionate, loyal, constantly falling in love with various women. He loves life and people because he is terrified of losing them. Finch, on the other hand, is bitter, cynical, thinks everyone else is mad. He despises life because he is enraged that it would dare try and leave him.
So I guess that could be a thing to consider - look at a character, figure out what, exactly, the most basic, most general concept of them is, and then figure, in what other ways could that concept be delivered?
An angry taxi driver could be angry because he hates his job, or maybe he's angry because he likes it too much and believes nobody respects it enough. That sort of thing.

I wonder if I even answered the question.

Chemistry!

For me, characterization is build in large part upon what they sound like in my head—what kinds of words they use, are they prone to rambling or not, subtle or blunt, evasive or direct, and other dichotomies like that.

This is tied directly into their background. Agent Derik, for example, talks a certain way because he's Pernese and Harper-trained, and also based on the Phantom of the Opera. (In his case, your canon character model is useful.) But mostly he's Pernese, which tells me what kind of slang he uses and doesn't use, terms he's likely to think in, etc. He's also intelligent and educated, which matters.

Gall, on the other hand, is intelligent but uneducated. She's less likely to use big Latin-derived words, and her direct, no-nonsense personality means she's going to be blunt and cut straight to the point of whatever she's trying to say, whether anyone likes it or not. She's unlikely to ramble. She doesn't mind being crude and even offensive. But she does have a soft spot for her dragon, and doesn't mind cooing over him, either. Her home continuum has sort of a loose voice itself, with plenty of anachronisms used for humor, which means I'm not too restricted in the kinds of references she can use—one reason I wanted to write her.

Closely related to voice are the things a character cares about enough to talk (or snark) about. What do they especially like? Dislike? Fear? Hate? Want? For PPC characters, I think about this in terms of what bugs them about badfic. Everybody has their own pet peeve(s) that will always drive them up the wall. For Nume, it's medical BS and messing up the lore he knows so well. For Ilraen, it's screwing with the characters' loving relationships and cruelty, intentional or not, especially to children and animals. For Derik, it's messing with dragons and music. For Gall, she really hates fluff and also tends to notice when the story contradicts itself.

They also all have their particular favorite or well-known fandoms, which make them more invested and motivated.

Related to voice is mannerisms. Everyone has little physical tics they do subconsciously, especially when they're nervous or upset. Derik touches his hair; Nume, his neck or face; Gall paces or fidgets; Ilraen shuffles his feet or fusses with his hands. There's also how they show affection (if they show it). Nume is extremely reserved physically, but even he might give the occasional approving nod. Derik often is, too, but in his more ebullient moments he might clap someone on the shoulder or shake their hand. Gall will give a friendly slap or punch. Ilraen is tentative (comes of being around Nume all the time), but will pat someone, or hug them if the situation warrants.

I know all these little details because the characters tell me, but you could also assign them deliberately. I think the main bullet points are level of vocabulary, style of slang/cultural references (also includes whether and how they curse), key likes and dislikes, and physical mannerisms.

I hope that helps!

~Neshomeh

I view my characters as starting off like a ball of snow (dirt, wet sand, whatever) and as the story progresses, they roll around, becoming bigger. Do they roll over sticks? Do they pick them up, or do those break them? Are they getting dirtier over time? Are they getting large, and the same as they started? It's simple, but it works for me.

Since characters pop into my head fully formed, and all.

<>
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—doctorlit can't help the way ideas show up

I have always struggled with this. It's gotten better, and I've read a lot of advice on it (much of it similar to what you wrote), but it's still helpful.

I do a lot of the Keywords model. The Aviator is "cranky drunk", Zeb is "fluffy cutie".

From there I just kind of... you know. Um.

*scrambles to hide lack of notes*

I guess I just write around the character's core personality. They still grow, but that central part to them (usually) doesn't change. I know Ave and Zeb especially have been growing closer together in terms of personality—she's starting to harden him, he's starting to soften her up.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that they're starting to get more similar, because they still have very distinct voices (I think? I hope?) and different approaches to missions. It just shows they're influencing each other, which I think does make sense considering how much time they spend together.