Creating and maintaining characters

One of the facts of life that all RPers eventually come to discover is that creativity is very taxing. In trying to keep up a continuous supply of ideas and storylines, you’re always going to face off against a myriad of obstacles. It is often a lonely task, trying to overcome these obstacles, and if lacking in confidence, you may find yourself wondering what’s the point. This thread primarily addresses the often difficult pursuit of nurturing and grooming your characters, so that they remain interesting and engaging to play, and fun for others to interact with.

A couple of years ago now, I wrote a post called “Getting Bored Of Characters”. It’s available on the Wiki (http://theshatareu.wikia.com/wiki/Getting_Bored_Of_Characters). Here is the intro:

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of people become dissatisfied with their characters, to such lengths where they don't even enjoy roleplaying as them anymore. Sometimes, it's a case of their current situation being incompatible to their personalities, sometimes it's because the people they normally roleplay with have moved on to various other climates, sometimes it's because they've never really been able to get a hook on the character, and sometimes, it's because they've roleplayed as them so much, that they desperately need something different.

So began a post in which I guessed at reasons for the problem, and gave some advice on how to fix it. It’s still a useful thread, but it is also a bit basic, and was in need for an overhaul. Rather than rewrite it, I’ve decided to make a separate thread/manifesto/essay/textwall/wordsplurge/brainfart entirely, and this is that.

Characters are, along with settings and plots, integral to fiction. The world of fiction is indebted to the champions of books, poems, films, and games who populate worlds and drive plots. They’re the agents of conflict, romance, drama and humour, and many have left great impressions on our minds.

Think about your favourite characters. For my part, I’m a huge fan of Discworld’s cast, especially when it comes to Rincewind, Twoflower, Arch-Chancellor Ridcully, Susan Sto Helit, Commander Vimes, the Patrician, and Fred Colon. Outside of Pratchett’s seminal series, I frequently wish I could high-five Lyra Silvertongue and Lee Scoresby from His Dark Materials, Theo, Julian and Jasper from Children of Men, Anna, Nikolai and Kirill from Eastern Promises, pretty much all the cast of Dr Strangelove (even though they collectively blew up the world), all the cast of Italian For Beginners, all the cast of Psychonauts, Zidane from Final Fantasy IX, Han Solo, Elrond, Gandalf and the rest of the Fellowship, Basil Fawlty, Blackadder, Malcolm Tucker, Rosenburg from GTA: Vice City, the dude and his friend from The Big Lebowski, High Overlord Saurfang (obv), Captain Anderson, Garrus and Tali from Mass Effect, Guybrush and Elaine from Monkey Island, Barney, Breen, Eli, Alyx and Kleiner from Half Life 2, and Atticus Finch.

That this list isn’t even exhaustive (and I leave a lot of favourite characters out because they’re too obscure or UK-centric) should give you some indication of just how profoundly characters can affect us. I’m sure that readers of this thread will have bulky, rambling lists of their own, and maybe you want to share yours, too. The point is that these characters mean something powerful to us, because they have solid identities, embark on journeys both great and small, and stay in our memories. They all started life in someone’s imagination, before taking life and embedding themselves into our own imaginations.

But that creative craftsmanship isn’t easy. The process is often hampered by self-doubt and negative opinions of oneself. Some people just don’t think they’re made for the hobby of RPing, even though they’re intrigued and entertained by it. An alarming number of people don’t have the courage to make something of their own in case it turns out crap. But it’s a common occurrence to think that your writing is sub-par, so I want to reiterate something that you may not have realised.

Everyone thinks that.

I have never, ever, ever met an RPer who didn’t at one point imply, “I need to figure out my characters. They’re going nowhere. They’re bland and uninteresting.” Often, these statements have come from entirely unexpected corners of the spectrum: RP buddies whom I greatly admired the skills of, and had previously considered to be in total, effortless control of their creations.