The process is easy.
Wooden characters mean that there is often something missing (unless wooden is what you're going for) from a character's personality. Â If it's popping up a lot, it is probably something that comes up a lot in RP. Â Look back and see what is working, what isn't, and at what point it goes off the rails. Â For instance, if you haven't worked out a character's reaction to confrontation, and confrontation appears, you may get sucked out to sea and set adrift. Â See if there is a simple piece of personality that's missing that would fix it.
Wooden characters can also mean that you're experiencing "Dragonball Z" syndrome, in that you're constantly repeating the same RP and it's not going somewhere. Â This happens if you're in a sort of small RP group and there is no variety. Â In that case, a lot of people will act woodenly because this has all happened before and it feels like it's not going anywhere. Â Check and see if it's that.
Finally, wooden characters might indicate forced scenarios. Â This is actually one of the most common issues people get into in RP. Â You have RPed with someone, and want to hook up your character to one of theirs. Â Thus you force the issue, starting a romance, for instance. Â But if that's not natural for the characters, you're constantly going to have to mute your character's traits. Â That's going to come off as very wooden.
If it's not that, it is likely a fundamental issue and you'll need to wipe it out and start from scratch. Â That means you're not working with enough information or there's simply too much conflicting information. Â If it's that basic that you can't fix it with a simple tweak of personality or change of scene, you've got a fundamental problem that probably can't be fixed. Â Go tabula rasa on the character and start again in a more measured way.
Wooden characters mean that there is often something missing (unless wooden is what you're going for) from a character's personality. Â If it's popping up a lot, it is probably something that comes up a lot in RP. Â Look back and see what is working, what isn't, and at what point it goes off the rails. Â For instance, if you haven't worked out a character's reaction to confrontation, and confrontation appears, you may get sucked out to sea and set adrift. Â See if there is a simple piece of personality that's missing that would fix it.
Wooden characters can also mean that you're experiencing "Dragonball Z" syndrome, in that you're constantly repeating the same RP and it's not going somewhere. Â This happens if you're in a sort of small RP group and there is no variety. Â In that case, a lot of people will act woodenly because this has all happened before and it feels like it's not going anywhere. Â Check and see if it's that.
Finally, wooden characters might indicate forced scenarios. Â This is actually one of the most common issues people get into in RP. Â You have RPed with someone, and want to hook up your character to one of theirs. Â Thus you force the issue, starting a romance, for instance. Â But if that's not natural for the characters, you're constantly going to have to mute your character's traits. Â That's going to come off as very wooden.
If it's not that, it is likely a fundamental issue and you'll need to wipe it out and start from scratch. Â That means you're not working with enough information or there's simply too much conflicting information. Â If it's that basic that you can't fix it with a simple tweak of personality or change of scene, you've got a fundamental problem that probably can't be fixed. Â Go tabula rasa on the character and start again in a more measured way.
