Lets see...I've been drawing since I was 8, and writing stories since I was in...4th-5th grade? Though back then it was all about Sonic fanfics, because I had such an obsession with Sonic back then. But then a good friend of mine showed me anime and that's when things changed for me almost entirely, and I wound making more original stories since anime had more room for creativity as a pose to using both a style and setting that was already implemented.
Eventually I got more interested in making characters after I spent enough time playing the FF series along with other RPG franchises. Of course, this doesn't mean I disposed of the characters I make before then. I simply rehashed them (if that's the term to use for this description) and turned them into something more original rather than being based off of a style and world that already exists, and just went from there. I grabbed all the ideas I came up with in my fanfics and recycled them into something I could use and create on my own. Took a lot of work, but I'm glad I did it.
As I got older I found it a little hard to connect with these characters in a real genuine way, and that's when the genre of melodrama, conflict, and struggle gave me an idea. Not only did I see it fitting to provide them with ample challenges that would always keep them on their own feet, but also I felt it even more enterprising to give them their own faults and difficulties (this is when I started to hate characters like Superman), so as to make them more believable as a character you can bond or connect with.
The final step in my means to creating my characters didn't come until college, when I learned more about my favorite anime's creators and how they created THEIR characters. What I found is that in many of them, they often put a piece of themselves into the character they made, making it easier for them to create the character as well as their entire being and develop upon it as they went through the world and story they were placed in. Since discovering that, almost all of my characters, both ones that already had existed as well as ones I make, all have some small or large part of myself that allows me to have more fun with my character and really generate them down to the very core of their being. Yes, creating a character CAN get pretty complex, depending on how much work you want to put into it. However, like I said in another post, you also can't love what you create too much, because at that point one tends to go outside the limitations and rules one set for their own character, which to me just sounds so bad. Don't be afraid to kill off your characters, I think if it is done right, and done gracefully, people won't forget your character so easily, whether they're a hero, villain, or vagrant/vagabond, etc.
As far as RP goes, I have not done it as long as some people here, but it was an easy thing for me to get into because I would always act out my characters (when no one was looking, lol.) to get a feel for who they are. It was because of a friend I met in Aion who got me to come out of the closet and try out RP that I started to see storywriting and character development in a new light. RP makes you realize pretty quickly that, if you really want to go somewhere with what you make, RP is one such example of the kind of environment you may wind up in when working with a company or a group of people on creating a story, or world. It teaches you about interaction, compromise, and sacrifice. I say sacrifice for the same reason why it's okay to kill off characters. Learning about interaction allows you the luxury of personalizing your character, and really getting to know and figure out how your character responds to influences and contact with other people. Learning about compromise is being able to agree upon a certain outcome or turn of events, and preparing oneself to adapt to the changes that can occur with not just your character, but the world your character is in as well as the interactions you make. Finally, learning sacrifice, it allows you to be able to move on with a story without having to constantly depend on the characters you've had for a long time, or "become obsessed" with your character and story. It's being able to end a character's journey or life and pave the way for a new plethora, world, and future, of characters to come, be they yours, theirs, or characters created together. This is but a small breadth of what RP communities have taught me about character creation and story development.
Gosh, I always have a penchant for writing a lot in my posts. But to put it simply? A good character to me is one that tells a little bit about the creator, is faced with challenges, and can come face to face with sacrifice and compromise, or something that can potentially change and even end their life, which is the ultimate challenge of making a character, in my opinion. Also, to add to that, a character that is capable of having a lasting effect on an audience, be it good or bad, even in death. That is what my routine of characters are like. I'm not sure if I answered your question, but I hope you found this response helpful, lol.
Eventually I got more interested in making characters after I spent enough time playing the FF series along with other RPG franchises. Of course, this doesn't mean I disposed of the characters I make before then. I simply rehashed them (if that's the term to use for this description) and turned them into something more original rather than being based off of a style and world that already exists, and just went from there. I grabbed all the ideas I came up with in my fanfics and recycled them into something I could use and create on my own. Took a lot of work, but I'm glad I did it.
As I got older I found it a little hard to connect with these characters in a real genuine way, and that's when the genre of melodrama, conflict, and struggle gave me an idea. Not only did I see it fitting to provide them with ample challenges that would always keep them on their own feet, but also I felt it even more enterprising to give them their own faults and difficulties (this is when I started to hate characters like Superman), so as to make them more believable as a character you can bond or connect with.
The final step in my means to creating my characters didn't come until college, when I learned more about my favorite anime's creators and how they created THEIR characters. What I found is that in many of them, they often put a piece of themselves into the character they made, making it easier for them to create the character as well as their entire being and develop upon it as they went through the world and story they were placed in. Since discovering that, almost all of my characters, both ones that already had existed as well as ones I make, all have some small or large part of myself that allows me to have more fun with my character and really generate them down to the very core of their being. Yes, creating a character CAN get pretty complex, depending on how much work you want to put into it. However, like I said in another post, you also can't love what you create too much, because at that point one tends to go outside the limitations and rules one set for their own character, which to me just sounds so bad. Don't be afraid to kill off your characters, I think if it is done right, and done gracefully, people won't forget your character so easily, whether they're a hero, villain, or vagrant/vagabond, etc.
As far as RP goes, I have not done it as long as some people here, but it was an easy thing for me to get into because I would always act out my characters (when no one was looking, lol.) to get a feel for who they are. It was because of a friend I met in Aion who got me to come out of the closet and try out RP that I started to see storywriting and character development in a new light. RP makes you realize pretty quickly that, if you really want to go somewhere with what you make, RP is one such example of the kind of environment you may wind up in when working with a company or a group of people on creating a story, or world. It teaches you about interaction, compromise, and sacrifice. I say sacrifice for the same reason why it's okay to kill off characters. Learning about interaction allows you the luxury of personalizing your character, and really getting to know and figure out how your character responds to influences and contact with other people. Learning about compromise is being able to agree upon a certain outcome or turn of events, and preparing oneself to adapt to the changes that can occur with not just your character, but the world your character is in as well as the interactions you make. Finally, learning sacrifice, it allows you to be able to move on with a story without having to constantly depend on the characters you've had for a long time, or "become obsessed" with your character and story. It's being able to end a character's journey or life and pave the way for a new plethora, world, and future, of characters to come, be they yours, theirs, or characters created together. This is but a small breadth of what RP communities have taught me about character creation and story development.
Gosh, I always have a penchant for writing a lot in my posts. But to put it simply? A good character to me is one that tells a little bit about the creator, is faced with challenges, and can come face to face with sacrifice and compromise, or something that can potentially change and even end their life, which is the ultimate challenge of making a character, in my opinion. Also, to add to that, a character that is capable of having a lasting effect on an audience, be it good or bad, even in death. That is what my routine of characters are like. I'm not sure if I answered your question, but I hope you found this response helpful, lol.
![[Image: b2f236386880f8de20bbce61dc1c828e.png]](https://i.gyazo.com/b2f236386880f8de20bbce61dc1c828e.png)
