//Some of those emojis are just squares for me so you'll get numbers. 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 15
Character Design Questions @lukegarou
3. Has creating a character ever made you realize something about yourself?
//Probably in some ways, but mostly small ones. My characters are definitely like myself in a lot of ways (often more similar than I intend – especially when creating characters I tend to forget that there are a lot of completely different ways to think about/interact with the world than I do, go figure), so developing them and writing about them always involves some amount of self reflection. For example, a lot of the Weatherman’s character development has been helping me unearth and grapple with my own unconscious biases/prejudices.
4. Any minor characters that have either taken over or branched off into their own stories?
//Hm, it’s a little hard to keep track of since most of my character creation is pretty free-form and only some of them end up with actual coherent stories, so I can’t think of one in particular. Definitely side characters will become more developed as I become more involved in thinking about a story, for example I’d love to write more about the Weatherman’s brother, Timothy, sometime.
7. Do you have characters that you know you’ll never use, but can’t bear to get rid of/recycle?
//Oh man around middle school I these ideas for a whole series of books that spanned parallel worlds that seemed really cool to me at the time but looking back the plots (and even characters) don’t make that much sense. I spent a lot of time thinking about them, though, so I’m a bit to attached to rework them at this point. Some of the main character were Vi (an angry, abandoned girl with purple hair), Pandora O’Myers (Pan for short, a young woman scientist – I’ve actually reused her character a few times and the ‘Pandora’s Box’ parable/retelling does have some interesting angles so she’s not totally ruled out of using), Narma (a middle school girl who could do Batman-like stunts with a grappling hook), and Kyri (a half human, half griffin with a giant dragon named Pipsqueak).
8. Is there a character that embodies your good traits, or traits you wish you had?
//Definitely, there’s a character than a friend and I created (his name is Jo-Jo Jordans but that’s his parent’s fault) who’s basically just a great older brother who looks out for his younger siblings and takes them on hiking trips and that’s definitely the kind of relationship I wish I could have with my younger brother.
10. Is there a character that explores your interests or fetishes (orrrr is that just all of you characters)?
//Most of my character explore something I’m interested in, whether it’s a career path or just living in a magical world or having the ability to do things that I can’t. As for fetishes, ehhhh not so much, I don’t really write/rp smut at all.
15. Which character is your guilty pleasure?
//That would definitely be ‘evil’ versions of characters (like the Strex-reeducated version of the Weatherman and also just a straight up evil one I made for some group once?). Unfortunately for some reason, while I find them very fun to imagine/play out scenarios in my head, I tend to stumble when it comes to actual interaction/writing things down (which is why those blogs have been inactive for a long time now). Also in terms of general character types I’m a sucker for the ‘was evil in the past and is now learning to be better but must face the consequences of their actions’ tropes/cliches/whatever you want to call them.
