Subject: You've got things backwards.
Author:
Posted on: 2015-04-25 03:47:00 UTC
With a character, you want to have their personality first. Everything else can come later. That means that, if you have an origin story to an extent, you start thinking how it affects the character's personality; you also have to fill in the blanks you don't get from the story.
If this is unclear, I can provide examples, eheh.
Let's just say he wouldn't get along well with Salvo.
As Iximaz said, more details about this agent would be good. Is this character from Minecraft or something else? What are they like in terms of appearance, personality, etc.?
Good to know that you've read some of my past work, though! That really shows that you're studying all about the PPC for when you get Permission. :)
Sí señor, he is from the Minceraft. Specifically, he is my minecraft character. Hurray for blatant self insertion. Basically, he has blue pants, a red shirt with a yellow circle on the front and a random space helmet. Even HE has no clue why he has it. Also, he knows if the TV Tropes, and annoys his partner with them constantly. As for a name? *shrugs*
THAT will be interesting... I bet he'll have trouble understanding why nothing is blocky and why he can't just break things with a few punches. Might start panicking over that as he frantically slaps something to make it break. That would make for a funny intro.
That is full of YES.
Apparantly, there used to be a very slim chance, like 1 in a million, that the game would start up saying "Minceraft" instead of "Minecraft." But he's all yours if you want him!
Valon and Kala already have a mini-creeper, knockback. He was rescued by Rayner and E.V.L. in their Minecraft mission, the one where they recruited Salvo.
Minceraft can go to RC 512, I guess. Give Gabby and Chakkik a new little friend to hang around with. Speaking of Gabby, I'm told she's a very boring character with little personality. I actually considered killing her off, but Scapegrace and Desdendelle talked me into just figuring out more about her.
Unfortunately, that's not the important part. What we want when looking at future agents is character. What's his personality like? How did he join the PPC? What motivates him to stay? What are his hopes and dreams? What makes him a character and not just a description of his looks?
But I like to think he got to HQ through a nether portal. You know how they tend to spit you out hundreds of blocks away. Preferably, it spawns in a wall somewhere.
With a character, you want to have their personality first. Everything else can come later. That means that, if you have an origin story to an extent, you start thinking how it affects the character's personality; you also have to fill in the blanks you don't get from the story.
If this is unclear, I can provide examples, eheh.
He usually at least tries not to shout, but starts using the Capslock of Rage ™ when he sees his favorite fandoms being messed with. He gets along well with his partner, except when having outbursts of randomness, which happens quite often. He messes about with Bleeproducts in his spare time, trying to make "some other way to take Bleeprin" because he hates alcohol, and hates pills. Usually, it blows up, or sends him to Medical. He was from modded MC, and as such finds Vanilla Minecraft boring. Really, he finds nearly everything boring, and needs to be doing something all the time.
... yes, I did just copypaste in a block of text, why are you staring at me like that?
First off, please don't introduce character ideas with vague, teaser-y statements like "Let's just say that he something something." It's a waste of your time and ours. If you want our feedback, the actual description straightaway.
As for the details you've presented, I'm not particularly enthused so far. "Random" is a questionable character trait at best; whenever I've seen it used in the past, it's been in an attempt to justify "LOL so wacky" actions that are less comedic and more annoying. "Easily bored" and "gets mad when fandoms are messed with" are better, but could be used to describe a plethora of currently active agents.
I'm also confused about his being from "modded Minecraft." I'm not sure where exactly mods fit into the mythos of the PPC (a phrase which I'm sure some people will groan at). Is every mod for every game supposed to be its own little sub-universe? Are mods supposed to be treated like fics? There's also the issue that Minecraft doesn't really have any characters besides the player (Steve?/Alex?). Where did this person come from? Were they something that occurred in the world (like a villager or an Enderman - we have one of those already) or explicitly from a badfic/goodfic, I would have an easier time buying the premise. But a mod? I don't know.
To sum up, nothing about this character is really leaving much of an impression on me. I'd recommend putting some more work into him. Come up with another version.
We have several helpful wiki articles for new arrivals to the Board, if that's what you mean.
If you're looking for stories about new agents arriving in HQ, try browsing through some spin-offs. Many of them start with at least one agent's recruitment story, and reading spin-offs is the best way to get acquainted with the workings of the PPC anyway.
~Neshomeh
I believe I was hijacked by the gods of Buffy-Speak.
I do not think you need to exactly start that way, it obviously makes it easier starting with a personality, but in my opinion even a name is a sufficient place to start. Every writer's process is a little bit different, if the writer wants to start with just a physical description and a vague backstory, that is their right to do so. Now it is hard to give an opinion on a character if that is all you have.
Lemme disagree with both what I've said earlier and what you say.
It's OK not to start with the personality, but the personality is the make-or-break part of the character. Let's take Agent Navare for an example: he's a bit military officer rescued from a bleepfic. That means he had a couple of things already set in stone, so to speak, before I came around and decided to expand the character - he's an officer, he's a Nanohaverse mage, he can hold his own in battle (but not more than that). However, the thing that will decide whether he's an interesting character, a good character, or a cardboard-flat Gary Stu (and with people with power sets like his - the Nanohaverse is up there on the block-destroying power levels end of the scale - it's very easy) is his personality, not his powers, or his status as a mage, or whatnot.
(I hope this is clear because it looks a bit ramble-y to me.)
Personality, though I think you might be a bit broad in your definition of it, is what ultimately fills out a character. All I was saying is one need not start with it, but every character needs to develop a personality or else they just aren't worth reading. But in my opinion, when creating/drafting a character that is not the only way to begin a character.
It's a bit hard to give feedback on a character when you know nothing about them.
Not to mention I haven't the foggiest who this Salvo is. I assume you're not talking about this fun guy?
The creeper recruited from a bardic into the Department of... Intelligence? I think? Also, I know nothing about Yugioh, so yeah.
He was originally the main antagonist of the badfic sporked in this mission.