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

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—doctorlit can't help the way ideas show up

Because if this is intended to be poorly written, I am unironically enjoying this *way* too much.

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.

One of the things I've always struggled with in writing is figuring out how to craft characters who are actually different from each other, and keep them that way. All of my characters have a tendency to drift towards the same snarky baseline, which is fairly undesirable.

Recently, I've tried out a number of different ways of fixing this problem, and I thought it might be interesting to throw them out here. Perhaps they'll help anyone else who's having the same issue. Perhaps there are Boarders who've come up with their own ways of solving the problem, and would like to share them (hint, hint). Perhaps they'll just spark a bit of discussion. Let's find out!

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#1: Modelling on People/Characters

This method grows directly out of being a fanfic writer. If you can write Legolas in-character as Legolas, then why not use the same technique to keep your own creation 'in-character' as a canon? Write what the canon would do, if they were in your character's situation.

This approach has the advantage that, if you watch/read enough of the source canon, it's pretty easy to form a good idea of what they would do. This is a fundamental skill for a fanfic writer, so it can be extended easily across to OCs. The downside is that it might end up being obvious (if your character keeps getting angry and smashing things with a lightsaber, people are going to look at Kylo Ren), and that the further you get from the character's baseline, the harder it can be to reliably predict their reactions.

The ultimate extension of this is self-inserts: you try and write them doing what you would do in the same situation. But we all know how badly self-inserts can go wrong…

#2: Keywords

Agent Kaitlyn is 'bouncy wannabe hobbit'. Agent Huinesoron is (or was, originally) 'racist snob'. If you can describe your character in two or three words, they can be pretty easy to keep to that characterisation.

This works very well for secondary and background characters; if they're only showing up occasionally, having a quick handle to latch your writing onto is ideal. It's less useful for protagonist types: it locks them out of progressing as characters, and can render them kind of flat. Agent Huinesoron has been breaking out of this (deliberately); Agent Kaitlyn has mostly stayed there (again, deliberately), because she's fun the way she is.

#3: Key Phrase

"I like guns, and I don't do scared… and apparently I'm a maudlin drunk." That's Agent Morgan, and that sentence let Lily Winterwood characterise her perfectly in the Blackout epic 'Generic Surface'. If your character can be tied to a phrase like this - not necessarily a catchphrase, though it can be - it can be a good way to share them with other people.

It gives more than the plain keywords, too. Morgan's 'don't do scared' shows off how she talks, and hints that she's not so much without fear as unwilling to admit to it. I think this method comes out of my fondness for acting - you can slip into an accent or a performance much easier if you have a key phrase to get started.

The downsides are much the same as for keywords, but in spades: they end up sticking as the character who would say the phrase, regardless of what it is. Luckily for me, that works pretty well for Time Lords.

#4: Twin Elements

There are 118 four elements - Earth, Air, Fire, and Water - and each of them can be used to describe a character. If I tell you someone is fiery, you imagine them as feisty, hotheaded, maybe angry; you can immediately tell they're not going to be calm and water-like.

So far, so shallow. The trick with this technique is to layer the elements. I phrase this as 'X, with hidden Y'. One character I've used this for is described as 'Water with hidden Air'. He's mysterious, magical, 'deep' - but underneath it all, kind of flighty (and actually a huge geek).

This is a great way to construct characters with multiple layers, and since it's about basic characterisation rather than specific traits, it can carry through character development. It does run into the problem that two Earth characters are likely to look much the same, even if one has hidden Water and the other Fire. Use it in small groups to set up differences; don't try and spread it too far.

#5: Animals

Almost a callback to #1 - rather than starting with another character, begin with an animal. If I tell you a character is owlish, or hedgehog-like, you conjure up an immediate idea of how they'll act, and maybe even how they'll look. That idea may be completely different from what I imagine - but that doesn't really matter so long as I, as the writer, can keep it consistent.

This is also another 'layered' characterisation tool. The ideas we have about animals tend to be multifaceted. A cat is prideful, but also lazy, and can be prone to fits of rage. A hedgehog is both adorable and prickly, and can be extremely defensive. Of course, this can be prone to drift… I'm pretty sure the character I pinned 'owl' to isn't a silent hunter type, but the animal might end up pointing her in that direction…

---

In our messy reality, most of the time you're going to use a mix of different ways to keep your characters IC, and probably even change it up over time. But I feel like having something to latch onto makes it easier - not only to get them started (and to stop them all consisting entirely of snarky one-liners), but to keep them going once they're made.

But what do you think?

hS

No-one ever sees them move. They're just there - in the corner of the room, on the shelf, under the table (right where you need to put your legs), any random place.

And most of the time, they are silent. Only the occasional flickering of lights tells you they're still active. Still watching you. And then, randomly, without any warni[BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!]

... yeah, that.

(Well, Zing didn't like 'cute', so instead I give you 'psychological horror'.)

hS

AAAAAAAAA Dafydd AAAAAAAA JayBird, it's awesome.

I should point out that Dafydd remembers when the badfics broke through into HQ, before FFL's creativity shield went up.

And JayBird probably insists she's Jay and Acacia's daughter, despite that being sheer gibberish.

Anyway, you've got them both down perfectly, and AAAAAAAAA.

hS

Here is a waterproof paperboat, just for you. I'm glad you returned!

((Well, he didn’t write any badfic recently (i. e. this year), but if you want to drag him in anyway, go ahead.

HG))

... I went through the archives to see if there were any patterns in the use of -bie words. Here's what I found:



['2008' runs from 18th June; '2017' ends on 19th July; '(Posts)' has been divided by 500,000, with actual values running from 6093 (2017) to 22873 (2015).]

I think those spikes this year all come from one particular thread, so they can probably be ignored. What can't be ignored is the rise in the use of 'Returnbie'. It's been wandering steadily upwards since first appearing in '13, and I have no idea why. I guess that's when someone coined it, and it's just been picked up by more and more people ever since?

('Middlebie' also includes 'Midbie', by the way; the two terms enjoy roughly similar currency, except for in this year.)

For the record, the highest actual count of 'Newbie' uses is 578, in 2013; it only showed up 130 times in the whole of 2009, by comparison. 'Oldbie' is much lower, ranging from 16 (2009) to 76 (2012).

Anyway... graphs!

hS

... here are the things I said in these three posts which are actually true:

-'Bie' is a real Albanian word with the approximate meaning I gave, pronounced the way I said.
-Albania was Soviet during the Cold War.
-Flash animations were fun.
-There was a PPC Bravenet chat, which petered out somewhere around 2006.
-It was, I'm told, a fairly risque place.
-Newmoon was a PPCer (and I may even have talked to her via MSN Instant Messenger!).
-So were all the people I named in the third post!
-I don't remember Doc Filth and Dor from the Board.
-Araeph and I did indeed start the PPC Manual, and July started the Wiki.

So, really, there's a lot of truth in there! ... which was the point. A flagrant and ridiculous lie is far more believable when you construct it on true (or at least truthful-sounding) foundations.

-bie doesn't mean anything. And there is no conspiracy.

hS

A/n: So this is the second chapter! I'm sooooo sorry for the delay :( Anyway, lightfairy406 and I both wanted to do the challenge, so we thought we'd make it into a...a...I think it's called a 'round robin'? Weird.

Anyway! Chapter two ahoy! Obviously my style's a little different, but that's what makes it fun!!

Chapter 2

While Jessaminthe sighed over the 'oh so dreamy' agents, up on the stage there was some grumbling going on.

"I still don't know how you got me to agree to this," Trojanhorse--better known as Trojie--muttered. She aimed this at her partner, a tall redheaded woman named Paddlebrains (or, frequently, Pads).

"My stunning beauty?"

Trojie snorted.

"The way I hounded--ha--you until you gave in," Pads corrected. "It'll be a nice change, at least--didn't you say you wanted a break?"

Trojie stared grimly out over the colorful crowd. "This isn't a break. This is a punishment."

"At least you're both doing it," an Elf chimed in. He was Dafydd Illian, of the dark hair and (currently) grumpy expression. "Connie laughed in my face when I suggested it. She wouldn't even come closer than New Cal!"

"Tough luck," said Agent Suicide. He was giving the audience a stern look; it didn't seem to be turning anyone off. "Welcome to hell."

"Hell is empty and the devils are all here," Jay paraphrased cheerfully. "I think it'll be fun."

"I came out of retirement for this," Dafydd said to no one in particular. He looked gingerly out at the crowd. A small (but growing) contingent waved at him and giggled; he grimaced. "I regret it already."

*

In another part of the crowd, several small clumps of students had formed. One spoke in an overblown French accent, while a second was having increasingly more difficulty holding back laughter as he responded in an equally overblown (if rather more affected) German accent. Neither was paying much attention to the SO anymore. Someone wearing a nametag with a screenname possessed of too many Xes, the name of an Egyptian god, and some numbers was listening to them with great interest.

There were others, of course, but three stood out. One of these was a woman who might have been in her twenties but might also have been a teenager: it was rather hard to tell. She was bouncing up and down with her hands clasped together like an anime character, all but squeeing. Her name tag sparkled with glitter gel pen hearts and carried a surprisingly well-known name in the PPC fandom: JayBird.

Next to JayBird stood another woman, who looked to be roughly the same age--whatever that age was. She shifted from foot to foot, and sometimes looked around nervously, but for the most part her gaze stayed fixed on JayBird. She seemed almost...awed, if a little unsure. Her tag read 'brandywinebaby89.'

The third of their group--if it could be termed that--was yet another woman. This one looked as though, like Narcissa Malfoy, she had smelled something nasty. She looked down her nose at everyone around her, particularly the group with the accents. The only one to escape her disdain, apart from the Flowers and agents, was the fellow whose pronounced German accent was now slipping away in a tide of laughter. *Him* she looked at with approval.

Now, you will of course be attending classes beginning at... the Sunflower Official told them all. The telepathic voice reached everyone in the room, even if not everyone listened to what it said. It continued.

Up on the stage, Supernumerary pursed his lips and held back a loud sigh. This is going to be a very long year, he thought. We'd better get something out of it.







A/n: So!! I figured Lemony Eggnog was right, and the authors should go in too! Maybe we'll even see some subplots with them ;) Anyway, I've tried to leave it kind of open so that both lightfairy and I have something to work with before something really takes shape; hope y'all like it!! I had fun :) :) :)

Next chapter...well, I don't know what's happening next chapter, but I'm sure it's gonna be awesome! Take it away, lightfairy406!

((Hope everyone liked their cameos! If you didn't show up and you'd like to in future, just mention it in a comment.

Minis I've left for another chapter, once someone decides what they really ought to be. I vote against mini-minis--they don't seem quite as funny as, say, mini-consoles, and they'd probably get lost or stepped on a lot due to size. Also, they'd be more cute than anything else, wouldn't they? Except possibly the mini-Aragogs, who'd basically just be talking spiders of slightly above average size?

Also, EPL--I did consider treating it as an unplanned addition/takeover, but then thought maybe avoiding an IC fight would be good so the writing would go faster. Feel free to go "well, actually, I don't think you really understood when I said we should each write *our own version*, but...might as well now that it's happening..." or something if you want, though; Avlates can have problems with jumping to conclusions if you'd like.

And...that's about it. I don't know why I feel like I took a while to sit down and write this chapter when it's only been two days, but there we go: time stretches when you're exhausted.

Unbetaed, of course, because *come on*. I haven't even looked it over, though, which... /pumps fist/ Badfic GAAAAAAAMES

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed; please like and leave us a comment, or click below to subscr--

/static/))

They're pocket-sized versions of regular minis, specificially the most appropriate version for the character in question.

hS

This was the old days, when we were mostly fine with the Board and Chat being virtually separate manifestations of the idea of 'PPC community', rather than two parts of the same community. Some people I met on Gatherings - Doc Filth in '04, Dor in Philly - I'd never even seen on the Board, and that was fine. It's only the people who were in both communities that really saw it as a problem.

The shift, by the way, can be seen through the growth of other community spaces, and how they were presented. Check out the profile for the LJ comm - it's very clear that it's ancillary to the Board. FlamingoFeathers' backup Board, Araeph's and my Manual, July's Wiki - they were all tied to the /Board/, not the general concept of PPCishness.

It kind of ties into the rise in power of the Permission Givers, too. Why do you think we started electing them on the Board? Right - so that they'd be a feature of the Board, not someone you could just hit up in the Chat.

I wouldn't call it a conspiracy - that would imply active collusion - but Bodldops, FF, Newmoon, Araeph, the PGs pre-me... make no mistake, they all had the same goal in mind.

hS

I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories.

I mean, to this day, the Board and the Chat have different cultures. They're similar, but they remain noticeably different.

...Also, your post seems to imply that there was more to the story of IRC's death than merely the stated fall into disuse. Which is also interesting.

I have a very important question: What are PPC minis? O.o

Mini-consoles? Mini-Sues? Mini-SOs?

Help, these are all horrible ideas. {X D

~Neshomeh

"Because I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to help you to have standards. I'm trying to make you know that the world isn't pleased to see you. You aren't needed, or included, or loved; you are ugly, and superfluous, and ignorant, and you should be frightened, and meek, and grateful."
-- David Mitchell, That Mitchell And Webb Look.

((Of course, I don't really think that. I'm just doing this because it's funny.))

French accent in the writing, bad SpaG, tendance to write SIs overpowered, 'distant' relationship with canon when it interferes with the former... go wild.

"Pardon? Mai vriting iz peurfect. Ai don't want tou..."

*Clicks*

"Ai min, Ai'm olwayz hapi tou leurne more eubaout vriting."