Hey, I've always wanted to ask this, and since it seems that Bloodborne 2 may be a bit far off I feel like now may be a good time to make an oc for it. So I wanted to ask: How did you come up with Halfsies? What inspired you to create him, what inspired his backstory? I've been struggling to muddle together any semblance of a coherent character, and wanted to ask around to see what inspired the people I look up to!
Oh man, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to answer, life is hard and my time management skills are A+. Halfsies’ backstory is kinda how I start most of my characters: It starts with a vague idea or by an ‘inception’ idea, if that makes any sense? It could be a trope you like, shit it could be as simple as there’s a faceclaim you like, or a character from an existing work that you draw inspiration from. Personally I find the idea or inspiration to be the easiest start and work from there. For Halfnut in particular it came from the notion of ‘I wanna have a character who is part beast’ because of how the beasts are treated in the bloodborne universe, and the lore surrounding them and how they came to be. It was also assisted by the fact that I love ‘human’ monsters, or monsters that inspire some form of empathy? So that was his start - the basic ‘this is what I wanna do with him’; from there on out it was filling in his details. “Part beast” could only take me so far - if you wanted to end there, that’s perfectly fine, but I find the next steps help make a neat character; and there is so much lore in the soulsborn series that there’s so much to go from - find an idea you like and run with it! For halfsies, the next step was figuring out a ‘how’ and ‘why’ he became like what he has transformed into. This step was pretty easy actually, I’ve always ADORED the idea of ‘great ones’ or gods that are so powerful they’re beyond human recognition; add in the fact that they’re one of the reasons why the beast plague was on old yharnam and I knew I wanted to go with that. I was actually super torn on having Halfsies’ true backstory rely on a cannon character so heavily - I’m always scared to make my characters “””mary sues””” or w/e (someone called my characters that once upon a time and it kinda has stuck with me?), so I struggled for a while until I said fuck it and had Halfsies get how he did via: Ebrietas. Honestly if people don’t like your character, that’s okay, you’re not gonna make everyone happy and it took me a long time to really let that sink in? I still get worked up about it though...But anyway, so we have the basic idea, the follow up idea, and then the ‘how’ covered, but now for the why? Making this part was super easy for me actually XD; Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE to torture my characters - the more strife, pain, and angst they go through the better! So it fell down to ‘why would a man seek out a great one, and how would he piss it off badly enough to make it curse him’. A father’s desperation to save his family? There’s little power in the world that could stop someone for doing what they think is right to save whom they love - and of course having his kid die in the process to really solidify the fact that he went completely bonkers enough to go seeking out an incomprehensible god. Now all of this didn’t happen right away, Halfsies is actually one of my older characters all things considered, and it took quite a while to really establish a solid background. If it takes you time, don’t stress it! AND if you don’t like how a character is turning out, don’t be afraid to scrap the idea! A professor once told me ‘Don’t be afraid to kill your babies’, and while he was talking about art at the time, it’s really applicable anywhere. If an idea is not working, don’t be afraid to try again - or edit out bits of their history or whatever. They’re your characters, do what you want with them! If you redo their story 15 times, who cares! Have fun with them. I put a lot of empathy into my characters, it’s a double edged sword at times, but I really do connect with them a lot. Halfsies is one of my closer characters because of how much time I’ve spent on him? Honestly he feels like a friend / a part of me, and I don’t think I’ll ever let him go. Halfsies was helped incredibly by the fact that I’ve also had some amazing rp partners too - both in private and here on tumblr. While I don’t really rp much on tumblr at this time, I still rp (that said I do have discord and if anyone wants to pick up something with Halfnut, just gimme a holler! He’s certainly not dead and I am around! I have this blog attached to my main so I see anything that happens here c: ). People help get a fresh set of eyes on something, they can work out things with you or throw your character into situations that you never expected. I never really ever considered his fake name to be Ebenezer, but yet it happened in play - and while it’s not his real name he answers to it in character because it stuck around in play. So having a circle really helps, but I also have had so many private thoughts about halfsies and how he’d interact with my other characters that haven’t made it onto the tumblr rp scene. I guess just love your characters, but if they’re not working, don’t be afraid to nix the idea and try again. I gave the steps to starting the character and working from there. I hope some of this helps you! Don’t be afraid to message me <3 Same goes for anyone, Halfsies is here and so am I~
