They Write Themselves

[LogicfromLogic]

Some characters we pre-make and spend hours developing. We do endless research, and sometimes that character isn't finished until at least a week. We spend a lot of time and put some serious effort into these characters, ensuring that they are perfect for the tale we want to tell.

However, sometimes our characters just create themselves. We stand there at the drawing block or writing prompt and realize that we know who this person is already without even having imagined them. These kinds of characters speak to you, tell you what to put down. Sometimes they tell us exactly who they are quickly, sometimes we just learn as we type. Sometimes they aren't as good as the fleshed out by hand characters, sometimes they are better. Even sometimes on a rare occasion they make us alter the setting or some part of the story to fit them in they are that good. Sometimes they are so horribly obnoxious that we find clever ways to off them. Either way, what are some of your favourite characters that you didn't have to put as much effort into making? Like the inspiration hit you and this character was born from it? Did you have to alter your story at all to make them?



My Answers:

What are some of your favourite characters that you didn't have to put as much effort into making? Like the inspiration hit you and this character was born from it? Did you have to alter your story at all to make them?

Clint Ramsden

He is one of my favourite characters that managed not only to fully create themselves but make me change the location of the story because I wanted to fit him into the story so badly. And why does he make me so happy? Because he's the first really strong character that has ever came to mind for me. He's dealt with cruel deeds and basically said 'Fuck you, life, I'm doing me.' When he spoke to me, he reminded me so much of my friend's grandfather that I had to fit him in.

 

[Minibit]

Simon, Linus, and Miria

/will fill in more when not thumb typing

 

[Kagayours]

Any character of mine that I really enjoyed playing and that I enjoy looking back on is one that "wrote themselves". Honestly, virtually all of my character ideas just come from plain daydreaming. And with each character I make -- for every detail I came up with by sitting down and trying to come up with stuff, I came up with ten more just from my mind wandering at other times, which is where that sense of them "writing themselves" comes from, as I don't need to be actively thinking about them for ideas to come to me. The only time a character of mine doesn't write themselves, at least to some degree, is when I'm feeling completely uninspired for that character and had no ideas to begin with. o_o

So, it's hard to come up with a list, really. It's just... all of them. All the ones that were any good and lasted more than a short time, that is.

 

[chaosheart13]

All my characters I usually get to know the more I imagine them, but I remember one character writing, or at least drawing, themselves. I was doing an application for this group that had to deal with multiple worlds and them coming together to defeat a threat. I was going to name the character something else, but then the name "Ziph" came to mind and wouldn't let go, so that stuck. While drawing him, I imagine him to be in a badass kind of pose where he's staring menacingly at whatever was in front of him. Instead I get a"Draw me like one of your French girls" pose instead. XD

 

[Sidhe]

My character Julien. I took inspiration from American McGee's Alice and my own ways of coping with trauma and mashed them together and out he came. I really enjoy writing for him.

 

[Hana]

Selene, from my onexone roleplay with @Sen. She started off as a bit of a shoutout to my previous character who had similarities to her, but she ended up quite different inwardly herself.

 

[Sir Basil]

In forum RP, the best characters I make tend to by the ones that have the aforementioned agonizing over backstory and what not.

However , when I play D&D, my best two characters had no backstory. Quinn, my first max level character was a product of our DM asking me what my backstory was, me forgetting that I needed a backstory, and then saying the first stupid thing that came into my head; "his parents were trying to become liches, turned themselves into zombies, and ate each other." Sure, he developed a lot afterwards, but the five second backstory gave me a lot of freedom to explore his character in actual RP -- without sticking to a template.

Jorah, a paladin I played in a Pathfinder RPG, was much the same way. I joined a pre-existing group with a paladin (because they needed a healer and a tank) and his backstory consisted of "he was trying to get to a crusade, got lost, showed up at the party's door with a pamphlet asking if he could interest them in Abadar the Lawgiver. He eventually became an established meme we of the group, fell from grace, became an AntiPaladin, and basically lied and manipulated the entire party. Eventually, he became the big bad for the whole campaign. Nobody saw it coming.

 

[Greenie]

It's kind of funny, to be honest, but the characters that I may have thought of putting down here... once I actually thought about it, I realized they aren't the ones that 'wrote themselves down'.

For me, it has to be my wolf shifter, Nevin Nakamura, a Canadian from the Rockies, friendly,a little pervy, deals badly with depression (ie drinks too much) but honourable in his own way. He was created as a second thought for a story of mine, and I converted him into an RP character. He's a character who I can't completely relate to, but I can sympathize with him, he's someone I'd want to be friends with, someone who I know would have my back. He feels really real to me.

Another character like that for me is one I recently made, a kitsune named Hinata. I created her in a somewhat rebellious mood. I was getting sick and tired of seeing OP characters that had something fancy or unique about them. I decided to make Hinata very plain and normal, with a happy and normal background. Heck, even her looks and clothes, her fox form, all of it is so plain and normal.

But as I started to actually RP with her, I found that she was way more complex than I first thought. She had dreams and goals, she had insecurities, she had friends and crushes. It came to me as a surprise how wonderful it was to write her, and how easy it was. The words just keep flowing, like they do with Nevin.