New to roleplaying? Well fear not! Inside this book, you will find tips, tricks, and helpful guidelines that will fill you in on all things roleplay. Enjoy!
Includes a second half on how to own and maintain a roleplay! [coming soon]
♕433 Non-Fiction...
In this chapter I will be explaining in depth how to create a believable and realistic original character.
Naming The first stage is naming, because one to the most important things to consider is a character's name. Be careful when choosing names, and pay attention to the fandom or use of roleplay your character will be a part of. Also when you think about what name you have chosen, decide what the reasoning behind the name is, which can help develop other parts of their identity. For example, you probably won't want to have someone have a very sunny optimistic name if their personality is the opposite, unless it's for irony or their parent named them because of something specific. It's all up to you.
Development The second stage is development of the character which can be divided into two parts: physical and mental.
• The physical part is their appearance: - (for humans) eye color, hair color, clothing, height, weight, build, etc. - (for animals) eye color, fur color, markings, build, etc.
• The mental part is who they are: - (personality) likes, dislikes - (identity) fears, dreams, ambitions, aspirations, strengths, weaknesses
Both parts are essential to building your character, and they go hand in hand. Your character's style in clothing should reflect their personal identity, and so should the way they do their hair, etc. Their build will also affect who they are. If they're skinny and small, maybe they're timid. Or maybe they're short but fiery, or tall and weak. It's up to you.
For animal characters clothing won't affect personality much, but the way they carry themselves will. Gestures and speech are very important for an animal character.
Something I do especially for this section is look up on Google or Pinterest for character flaws or traits. Here are a few examples (feel free to use!)
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Backstories An additional stage in character development is backstories. Many roleplays will require or have an optional place in the form for backstories, and even when it's optional it's still good to have an idea of what kind of environment your character comes from. But please, try not not make all your backstories pitiful and heart-wrenching unless it's absolutely necessary for the roleplay. Not everyone grows up on the streets.
Original Character Do's and Don'ts: ✷ Do make your character interesting, no one likes a boring character ✷ Do make your character have flaws, no character is perfect ✷ Do make your character realistic, it's not fun when everything is unrealistic. ✷ Do make your character different, not everyone is the same - ✷ Don't make your character a Gary/Mary Sue, which means a perfect character. NO ONE IS PERFECT. ✷ Don't make your character's personality common such as: "Smart, kind, loyal." I'm not saying that being smart or kind or loyal is bad, but that's basically Mary Sue. Put some "originality" in such as a hot temper, ambition, scatter brained, nervousness, shy, awkward; the possibilities are limitless.
The next chapter will be about how to submit a form. Comment any questions!
