#characters development

[uhmmmsweetie]

Which of your characters is most open with their private life? Do they ever clash with anyone over whether they're sharing "too much"?

[tsukikoayanosuke]

Captain Talks About Some Writing Things - Mary Sue or Strong Female Character?

If you feel offended while reading this, I apologize. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but this is just something I notice and maybe even do. This is only my opinion and I'll be looking at this through the lens of storytelling.

So, if you make OC for fun, that's fine. However, once you make a product and publish it, like a fanfiction or art (even if it's non-profitable), you have to accept that not all people will like your OC. The only reason why I emphasized 'female OCs' is because I've seen a lot of them more often than male OCs, but these can be applied to any gender OCs.

That's the disclaimer. Now, bring on the torch and pitchfork.

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There's no denying that when we enter a fandom, we will see so many OCs. And even with a brief glance, there will be a lot of female OCs, especially when the media has more male characters we can simp on, because most of the creators are females as well. So, it's inevitable that we will see some OC getting paired with some canon characters.

Now, there's nothing wrong with making female OCs for fun, but that begs the question: Why do they get a bad reputation?

Before we go to answer this question, let's talk about Mary Sue.

Now, before we light up the fire, I know this is a pretty sensitive topic, but hear me out for a second. I know we usually throw this word to any female characters that we don't like, but let's look a little bit at this.

Let's ask a question: What's a Mary Sue?

Taking this from Overly Sarcastic Production, a Mary Sue is someone who takes all the spotlight from other characters and makes the universe's law bend to her favor, making the story boring. She can do no wrong, is very badass, and everyone adores her. And this is where the problem starts in stories with an OC that has the Mary Sue-feels. The story feels boring because we know that the OC will win in the end, get out unharmed, and everyone will still adore her. And that can be annoying.

But there's another problem: "I'm not making a Mary Sue! She's just a Strong Female Character!"

Now, I'm not saying that "Strong Female Character = Mary Sue", but there's a line between those two.

Let's ask another question: What's a Strong Female Character?

According to Wikipedia, a Strong Female Character is a stock character, the opposite of a damsel in distress. This character is often seen on our mainstream media. However, as we see, there's a lot of criticism about these characters. They're known to be strong physically, able to stand on their own, but often lacking in weakness. One thing we also often see is that they're better at doing most things than the men in their peers as if they're superior to them.

And I think this is the problem. The reason why both Mary Sue and Strong Female Characters are hated is because of how their character bend the male characters surrounding them. And what I mean in bend is reducing the male characters from their initial role. In both scenarios, the male characters either become the ones who are simping for the female OCs, reducing them into a one-dimensional cardboard box of a love interest, or making them into a butt-monkey to make the female OCs look more badass. Or to other female characters who are not their OCs. They're often turned into a mean girl who is always jealous of all the attention that the OCs get and always lose. In both scenarios, the female OCs are always being adored. If you don't adore them, you're a bad guy.

Another problem is, going back to the universe's law bend to the female OCs' favor, how the female OCs never seem to have a problem or weakness. This is not a simple reason as bullying, but more of a character flaw. many OCs are bullied as their background story, but they still have a strong face. And that's good. The only problem is that they never seem to have some sort of trouble or fear of talking with others. Like, do they ever be guarded and worry that they might get bullied again in a new environment? Like there are no consequences with anything in their life. Heck, sometimes their trauma doesn't even play an important factor in the relationship growth.

These are what I often found in fanfiction and look me in the eyes and tell me this is not annoying.

As I said earlier, it's okay to write for fun, but don't get mad when people don't like your OCs. When you publish something on the internet, people will see and people will have opinions. And some people are not very kind with their opinion.

So, how do we lessen that harsh opinion?

Well, so far, we have two problems. Let's try to work around these problems.

1. Don't lessen the other characters' role

You know who women often criticize how they don't like how women are portrayed as simple-minded, wealth-chasing harlots? Yeah, it feels like that when writers reduce all the characters into chums to make their OCs look better. Don't do that. If you want to make your OC earn the attention, you have to work for that. Speaking of...

2. The Struggles are Real

Many OCs never seems to get into trouble, even when they were the one who caused it in the first place. Giving your OCs some problems and allowing us reader to see how they struggle and solve said problems is fun, engaging, and give us more in-depth to the characters. But, don't make them solve it too quickly without any feelings. This also includes character flaws. I already said some things about the whole "they are shy at first but once you get to know them, they are more talkative" and "they're nice but very scary when angry". OCs, especially in a fanfiction, can be more than these two traits. I believe you can make more complex characters than these. You can have all these badass skills, but you have to earn them. Even the most expert still fails one day. Show them emotions, not just the one stoic looks.

Some Examples from What I've Watched:

Usually, I'll provide two examples, a male and female. However, since we're focusing on mostly female OCs, I'll be giving some females examples.

Bad Example: Rey 'Skywalker' - Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Here's the thing: I used to like Rey and I still have a soft spot for her. I don't loath her, but I don't love her. 

Many had been said about Rey. She came from a lonely desert planet, scavenging for money and waiting for her parents. Throughout the trilogy, we found that her parents are nobody, not like Luke and Leia who are children of Anakin and Padme. But it also turns out that she's the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine. 

Now, when I first saw The Rise of Skywalker, I was really disappointed. This reveal ruins Rey's character for me. Now, we see the only reason why she was so strong with the Force, with being able to fight with a saber when before she attacked Finn with a staff (implying that's her fighting style), mind control, destroy a big ass rock, was because she was Palpatine's granddaughter. She never had proper training like Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Ezra Bridger, Ashoka Tano (who is also a woman), Kanan Jarrus, and many other Jedis before her, and yet she's the most powerful of them all. Even her little training with Luke was just a fun field trip and serve more as a reflective moment for Luke. She can fly the Millenium Falcon better than Han Solo. She never really have a dream of leaving Jakku and yet she joins the Resistance for...reason? Even her bonds with Finn and Poe have fewer emotions compared to The Force Awaken and both male characters’ role get reduces in the sequel. Everything seems to turns to make Rey the most badass jedi in the universe.

Good Example: Hera Syndulla - Star Wars Rebels

Another example from the Star Wars universe, Hera Syndulla is one of the protagonists of Star Wars Rebels. She's the Team Mom of the small group and later became a general of the rebellion. Compare to the other member of the team, Hera is the least combative, focusing more on being the pilot of their ship and communicating to the growing rebellion. She has dreamt of flying ever since she was little and she train for her skills. I admire Hera, mostly because I adore mother figures. She's the heart and brain that keep her Ghost Crew, but that doesn't stop her from prioritizing the rebellion first. Her bad relationship with her father doesn't stop her from succeeding her mission. When Kanan was captured, despite wanting to save him, she doesn't want to risk the Empire to notice their early rebellion. This doesn't mean that she's heartless, but she's thinking about the future of the galaxy. She doesn't depend on Kanan, but can stand on her own. She and Kanan are also a great duo and are clearly in love with each other and would often worry about each other.

Good Example: Gwen Stacy - The Amazing Spider-Man duology

Even though she's doomed to die, Gwen Stacy left a very large impact on these movies. Gwen is brilliant, smarter than Peter Parker, and is an intern at Oscorp even before graduating high school. She's kind, brave, and can be a little bit stubborn. 

What makes her so good is that, even though she doesn't have any superpower like her partner, that doesn't stop her from helping Peter in defeating the bad guys, making the two of them a great duo. Not only that, even with her status as a love interest, she has a life outside of Peter. She doesn't give up her study abroad in England, saying that her education is more important. I also want to mention how good the chemistry between Gwen and Peter (to an extent the dynamic between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield) is. You can tell that they are in love. This makes Gwen the best girl in the whole Spider-Man live-action movie, at least in my opinion.

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Hopefully, this might help all of us. I don’t hate female characters, however, I often see myself in various male characters instead. In the era of mainstream feminism, I often find myself not enjoying it. I can’t enjoy reading fan-fictions with female ocs who only appear and suddenly all the boys are droolling over them.

To close this off, I want to share a video that I found that talks about the strong women in Zac Snyder movies. I never watch any of his movie, but I love how it was explained who he’s a director who respect women and always put them in an important role in his movie, from mothers to survivors.

[inkberryrp]

Creación de personajes: Básicos de motivación.

Quizá para muchos la pregunta de cómo crear un personaje les parezca un poco tonta pero tenemos muchas cosas que pensar antes de crearnos un personaje nuevo, para poder darle profundidad y que evolucione, por eso les hemos preparado un par de sencillas cuestiones a tener en cuenta.

Esperamos que las disfruten ;)

Preguntas antes

¿Qué quiero con mi personaje?

Esta es una pregunta muy importante, nos ayudará a definir el camino de nuestro personaje, o al menos la base principal. Es importante, sin embargo, tener en cuenta que como es un personaje de rol estará sujeto también a las circunstancias que se le presenten.

¿Qué motivará al personaje?

¿Tiene un objetivo qué cumplir? Dependiendo de la ambientación del foro pueden ser diferentes objetivos, desde el más sencillo al más imposible de cumplir. Si es un estudiante de Hogwarts quizá quiera graduarse con buenas notas para ser un auror o si es un soldado de una tierra de fantasía puede que quiera vengarse de su tío que le ha impuesto ese violento destino.

Es importante que el personaje tenga un objetivo que cumplir, de otra manera puede ser difícil desenvolverse con fluidez en el foro, no sabrás con qué tipo de personajes puede llevarse o apoyarse y quizá sea complicado salir del "Hola, mucho gusto".

¿Qué estará dispuesto (o no) a hacer el personaje?

Aquí no vale decir: todo. Hay que adentrarse en la psique del personaje para entender qué es lo que estaría dispuesto a hacer, ¿cómo es su moral y su ética? ¿Es temeroso de la autoridad? ¿Lo detiene alguna promesa?

Un ejemplo muy claro de esto es el personaje de Batman, quién se ha dispuesto no asesinar a otro ser humano aunque sea un criminal.

Así, tu personaje también tendrá algunas cosas que no esté dispuesto a hacer, quizá sea un policía que esté dispuesta a dejar de lado a su familia, o un mago tenebroso que deberá fingir carisma para ganarse la confianza de todos a su alrededor.

Es importante definir estas pautas, si bien, podrían cambiar conforme se desarrolle el personaje pero es una buena base para generar conflicto.

Si cruza sus límites, ¿qué pasaría?

Y esta pregunta complementa la anterior, digamos que tu personaje se ha visto en la necesidad de cruzar sus límites, ¿qué pasaría? Estos conflictos ayudan a tu personaje a evolucionar, si se ha visto en la encrucijada ¿qué es lo que lo llevó a hacerlo?

Quizá la tentación de poder lo sobrepasó y robó ese pergamino de poder cuando tuvo la oportunidad, o el villano le ha dado la pauta para que cuestione sus principios... Esto seguramente pondrá a tu personaje en un conflicto, no todo puede salirle bien después de todo.

Preguntas durante...

Mientras se desarrolla el juego o la historia del foro, a tu personaje seguramente le pasarán cosas que no tenías previstas, especialmente si parte de las tramas son llevadas por el staff o se utiliza un sistema de dados más complejo que un simple acierto y fallo, y como buen escritor debes estar preparado para adaptarte al cambio.

Solemos creer que nuestros personajes son invulnerables a todo, pero sin conflicto estos no evolucionarán porque nunca se pondrán a prueba sus principios, moral o sus motivaciones.

Entonces debes hacerte algunas preguntas como jugador, ¿estoy dispuesto a desarrollar mi personaje y ser fiel a él aunque cambie un poco lo que tenía pensado? Quizá te suene un poco escandaloso preguntarte eso, sin embargo, es parte del juego saber adaptarse.

Imagina que has pensado en tu personaje como el bully del colegio, el chico malo incorregible a quien no le importa la autoridad, quizá no tenías previsto que durante una trama se le pase la mano con un estudiante y la dirección del cole decide expulsarlo... Quizá para ti sea algo injusto porque querías que al final cambiara y fuera el mejor de la clase.

Sin embargo, son consecuencias lógicas ante su comportamiento y hay que adaptarse, por lo que haces que los padres de tu personaje lo pongan a trabajar y entienda lo que es el esforzarse por una meta, quizá el dependiente de la tienda lo trate mal y comprenda que no está bien lo que estuvo haciendo, al final tu personaje tendrá un desarrollo diferente al que habías pensado, no se volvió el mejor de la clase, pero definitivamente cambió su manera de pensar.

También puede ocurrir justo lo contrario, y en vez trabajar se haya vuelto un vago y se ha unido a una pandilla. Dependerá del contexto que tenga tu personaje cómo se desarrolle.

No tengas miedo de experimentar con tu personaje, estamos jugando un juego de interpretación de roles, y como tal hay que hacerlo. Lo divertido del rol es que pueden aparecer imprevistos que podrían cambiarlo todo, desde cambios pequeños a grandes, como que el héroe se vuelva villano o viceversa.

Un buen narrador (o master) pondrá desafíos en el camino de tu personaje que le ayudarán a desarrollarse, pero debes estar dispuesto a arriesgarte un poco.

¿Estarías dispuesto a correr el riesgo?

— Luna

[coco-little-rose]

Star Trek Discovery and characters development

So... I watched the last episode of Star Trek Discovery. I liked it but I think this episode show us one of the big flaw of Star Trek Discovery: the supportive characters don’t have any development.

Lieutenant Airiam’s development should have been more sooner. Her backstory was fasinating and honestly I don’t understand why they kill her. Once again, we’re robbed of an interesting female character. Last year, it was Landry, this year it’s Airiam.

Maybe Star Trek Discovery should stop killing a character in every season because I don’t see how it serve the narration. Landry and Airiam could have been interesting but they didn’t have so much screentime. Their death won’t change anything.

Because of this lack of development, I didn’t buy Tilly/Airiam friendship. They never show us Tilly with Airiam. We barely see Tilly with Detmer and Owosekun. I think back in season 1, Tilly kissed Rhys during the time loop... but that’s the only interaction I saw. Tilly is very close from Stamets, Michael and Saru.

And It’s not like we know so muck about Hugh Culber or the Starfleet officer who replaced him as a chief medical officer.

We know nothing about Keyla Detmer,  RA Bryce, Joann Owosekun and Gen Rhys. What should I expect next ? If they begin to have screentime, it’s mean they are going to die next episode ? Are they going to kill one character in each season ? For what purpose ? Even if it’s dark time because of the Klingon War, Star Trek is suppose to be an utopia.

Star Trek Discovery is a good show, the plot, the writing of the main and recurring characters like Michael, Saru, Pike, Spock, Georgiou is very good. But for now, this show doesn’t have its own soul, you know a group of main, regular and supportive characters well written, with a known background, with their own personnality.  The crew of the Discovery is use as a tool for the narration and thrown away. It’s unbalanced.

Even if I like Pike, his presence didn’t help to focus on the other members of the crew. In season 3, maybe we should have Saru as the Captain of Discovery and Pike should be a recurring character like Georgiou, Spock, Amanda and Sarek.

They manage to do it well with Sarek, Amanda, Leland and MU!Georgiou but for some reasons they can’t focus on the crew members of the Discovery.

 In DS9, a character like Michael Eddington appeared 9 times: 4 episodes in season 3, 3 episodes in season 4 and 2 episodes in season 5. It’s not a big amount of screentime. Most of those episodes weren’t focus on him except the 2 or 3 last one. This character was a crew member of the station with his own goal and his own personnality.

I know Star Trek Discovery doesn’t have so many episodes and even if this show is mostly about Michael it shouldn’t be a difficulty. I saw a lot of shows focus on a main character and never fail the development of the regular and supportive characters.

I love Discovery but they need to do it better with the crew members and I hope for the best in season 3.

[stuckinapatriarchalbullshitland]

There is a thing that caught my attention while I was searching for images of Aurora Luft on the web. The picture of Aurora before she is the blonde that we all know she is in X Company. Curiously with Delphine Cormier happens the same. The picture of the Dra Delphine Cormier before she is the blonde puppy monitor of Cosima Niehaus. Both of them have brown hair. Évelyne Brochu isn't a real blonde for what I know, she have brown hair:

(The image isn’t mine, thanks to the owners)

But is very interesting how we can see that change in her, that step between of what these characters were and what they are now.

Even when Aurora is not so blonde either...Hey 

Hey buddy @madnanc  Could  this post participate in the main post of “Evelyne’s projects that reminds us to Delphine Cormier”? Couldn’t this?

[tsukikoayanosuke]

Captain Talks About Some Writing Things - "They are shy at first but once you get to know them, they are more talkative" Character Trait

Something I notice a lot, especially in my part of creating OCs for a fandom or original stories, and I kinda want to share it.

If you feel offended while reading this, I apologize. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but this is just something I notice and sometimes do.

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I've seen this character trait so many times, however, this is harder if it's just on the character sheet because we can’t see how these ‘shy’ characters act in the actual story. In your story, the readers can track the OCs’ interactions. If your "shy character" is shy in the first chapter, but bubbly in the next, we will be questioning that trait. Even I sometimes roll my eyes when I find this trait. This trait is commonly found in female OCs rather than males.

Why is it like this? Because this trait is common for female OCs but very rare on male OCs. Male characters tend to be more likable for the fans than female. There are more female fanfic writers, in turn, there are more female OCs to romance the canon male characters, even sometimes bash the canon female characters even turning them into a bitch.

This I dislike.

Not the trait, but how the writers portray it in their stories. This trait has big potential for character development, but most writer tends to solve this in just two chapters. Also, this is the only thing the character has which makes them boring. We can talk about some tips about making and building character at another time.

Also, something's I notice. When a female OCs has this, people might see them as "cute" or "boring". When a male OCs has this trait, people might see them as "wimpy", "gay", and "weak". Let's talk about the lack of soft/gentle/'weak' male OCs at another time.

Let's try to mend this trait first.

Here are some things you can do:

Do it slowly

Back from experience as once a shy kid, I had a really hard time talking to people, especially for the first time. 

It's okay for your character to have someone else to approach them for them to talk and only talk when they asked a question, never ask back. 

It's okay if your character fidgets or play with their hair or unable to look straight in the eyes. It's okay to have your character panic in their head whether they had said something offending or not and to have them sigh in relief when their partners say "It's okay."

Struggles and development

What if your character finds themselves in a problem that they can't solve on their own? Will they sit down and wait for someone to come? Or will they go to look for some help? If they choose the latter option, will they still be shy when they ask? Will they straight up ask someone else for help, blushing madly, fidgeting nonstop, and mumbling? Or will they leave a not, hoping that someone will read it and help them? 

These are some common things you can do. For a shy character, it would be hard for them to start a conversation, let alone ask for help. The struggle, while not as life-threatening like saving the world, is a very relatable struggle that most of us experienced. 

By showing your shy character coming up first to start a conversation, it's a big step in their development. Keep showing them struggles in voicing their opinions until one day they're able to stand up for a speech without flinching.

You can revert back 

As you get comfortable with your group, they invited a new person and suddenly you think: Ah, fuck. What should I do?!" It's okay to write it like this. Every day is a struggle for them to overcome, even if it's just a simple question like saying hello.

Some Good Examples from My Favorite Characters:

Rin Natsume - Little Buster!

Rin when she was a child, many adults talk down at her, making her confused, scared, and building this shy trait, except around her childhood gang. In her debut kick one of her childhood friend's ass when he uses her cats as a weapon, but the second time we see her, she's playing with her cats and avoiding her class cleaning duties because she's not close to anyone. When the gang started to collect members for the baseball club, Rin has trouble getting along with the other girls. However, we see her spending more time with the girls, asking help, helping them, even with a light blush on her cheeks, but slowly she becomes a more confident girl.

Aichi Sendou - Cardfight!! Vanguard (2011)

Aichi Sendou was mistaken as a girl when the show first aired because to this trait. Aichi is a shy kid because he was bullied which caused him to develop this shyness. He's wimpy, yes, and the kindest thing someone did to him was giving him a very rare card of a warrior. At that moment, Aichi wanted to change into that character and build his admiration for the person who gave it to them. Through the card game, Aichi became more confident. He was still bumbling in his first tournament, but soon he can stand at an equal level with, even higher than, the top card fighter. But when he enters high school, his shyness return because none of his classmates is familiar with the card game, but when he formed his own club he became confident once again.

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Hopefully, this might help you, dear reader and writer. Mostly because I’m also a writer I tend to appreciate slow character developments onscreen than fast developments offscreen. Show us more of your characters acting shy and slowly becoming more confident.

Good luck with developing your OCs~!

[capnmarvl]

Every male OC I’ve ever made has been a himbo. They vary in degrees of stupidity and bastardness, but at their core, himbos as far as the eye can see.