How Do You?

[Nein]

It's come up recently, that with most of my characters I have no idea in which direction I'm taking them or why. I've never really written down where I'm going with them or what each specific drive and function is, but I'm at a complete loss as to what to do know.

It might be a reflection on my own life, as our characters tend to be.

Regardless, I pose a question!

How do you determine your character's direction, take, and drive in and on life?

[Elrundir]

I don't. For years, since before Althanas has even been open, I've adopted a very laissez-faire approach to RP. The characters will do what they will and they'll evolve that way. I don't plan out every minute detail of their lives. I may get glimpses of quests I'd like them to do at some point in the future, or abilities I'd like them to learn, and things like that, but otherwise I let come what may. The only planning comes when I have had a vision of something I'd like them to do, at which point I just need to make it work.

As for their take on life, that's just something that evolves as you write with them. You start off with your initial idea of what their personality and philosophy are like, and eventually things sprout out that weren't there before, and the characters evolve that way. No planning involved in that part, either, not for me.

Of course, I'm sure it's different for other people. As I said, I tend to let them do as they will. The characters are much more than just bits of data, character sheets, and nifty avatars that I can do with as I please to me.

[Rajani Aishwara]

What I like to do is imagine my character registration at the next level, and that makes it easy to figure out how to get him there.

[The Mime]

I do the same as Raj,but theres also starting off with a large range of motivations,good idea is to just write out some basic notions for motivation (only used this about twice and those were for filler characters but it can be fun when looking for a new direction) stuff like Searching, Challenging, Revenge for, Revenge on and other such mabobbers,then do up subjects for those, like Himself, Lost relative, Legendary beast, flick them about,swap em until you start to think that one of these does suit your character or would present a fun temporary venture in order to get a good grasp of your character.

[Bleater]

Well, with this character, it was actually made with direction in mind: The war is a unique opportunity for storyline interactions. Given that most of the conflicts are internal, though, i went with the obvious one with two "enemy" sides.

I want to (not just in my first arc) as the war continues keep a very Behind Enemy Lines/Anne Franke kind of approach to things. I think good solid situational suspense is a great writing theme, but something that gets rarely used, so why not grab the reins when the opportunity is there? As much as conflict can be fun, pot-boiler inner struggles and emotional battles are what really pull me in.

Plus, it gives me a chance to do something espianoge-based that isn't the direct "I'm spyinz on yo house, keelin yo peoplez" approach that most espionage takes.

Basically, I'm trying to think: What kind of work do I want to write? What do we not see much of? And how can I make it happen?

I generally try to make the style and storyline dictate the character, not the other way around. I'll still mold it to fit the character, but the character is more flexible to me than the purpose.

[Ataraxis]

It's always nice to have a vague goal in mind, and find out what possible storylines you may branch out to. You can pretty much set a long term goal and a few short term goals, and wing it from then on.

Personality wise, though, I plan out a start and an end result. All I can say is that whiney is not how I see my character in the future! ;P When I encounter other people's characters, I try to have them rub off a bit on mine, so that some sort of general philosophy can come into existence. So, it pretty much depends on how much importance you give to outside influences on your character.

But yes, I tend to try things the way Elrundir does, that is to say, meaning to let them have control over what they do, rather than steer them in a linear direction.

[Darkness Impulse]

I realize I am not the first person to say this, but I am anyway:

My characters are practically living to me, my love for the characters I create and their personalities creates a situation where I pretty much have no control over them anymore. It sounds weird, and like it can't happen, but it can. I know that I am the writer, but when I get to writing the emotions and actions of my characters, it's like they're controlling my hands to type what thy want.

The point I am getting at is, I don't have a plan, agenda, schedule or whatever you want to call it for my characters. They develop on their own. All I do is create the base for them to build on, and with the help of other characters my characters like Lialmont will grow to be their own mind. I don't say "how will he act if he meets this type of person?" or things like that, it just happens.

Take my solo, for example(the first one), I finished that within TWO days of starting it. Some people may think that it'd get a terrible score for rushing it, but I really didn't. I got a good score, because when I started it I just couldn't stop. I never stopped to think about what was going to happen next, all I do is think of how it's going to end, what will Lialmont have by the end. How he gets there is unknown to me. I never knew, not even a clue, that it was going to turn out like that. It just did.

I don't know if this helps at all, but that's my take. It's my favorite style of role playing and i've stuck with it for years. That's why I have so much fun, because I myself want to see how my characters will end up physically and emotionally, I don't even know.

[Fenris]

For me, I like to base my stories and characters on some kind of basic emotional or incidental premise.

I.e., Fihrinn's premise is 'A creature who wants to die, but is afraid of death.'

From there I build history, personality, behavior, and plot and whatnot. At that point, it kinda gets into method acting. I take on the character's premise, I experience it, I let it mold my feelings and thoughts (writing Thirty-Six Moons left me heavily depressed for a day and a half). The fun part of it is that I, personally, can't tell you based on personal experience what the above premise would feel like. But as I write it, as I experience it and mold it through myself, placing my own material and emotional experience in the context of the premise, I'm able to discover.

All that to say, I can't really tell you where Fihrinn's going, because I don't know. I'm along for the ride as much as he is. But in terms of drive, reconciling the premise and following it to its end is what will get us there.

[Atzar]

Bleh. Atzar's had so many goals that it's not even funny, and each one is wilder than the last.

At first, he was going to be a hardcore mage. Kinda like Luc, but no spells and a few more elements. Then, I decided that he was going to go crazy and be something of a mad scientist, not unlike Molotov. Now, however, I've got a new direction in mind. I recently acquired Zirkan the pygmy dragon as a sidekick of sorts, and now I want more pygmy dragons. From there, I don't know what I'm going to do - I have a couple choices. I could imbue only a few dragons with elements (earth, air, fire and water) and keep the more exotic elements for Atzar; or I could just have a freaking horde of dragons with nothing but teeth and claws as weapons. I haven't decided yet.

I'm leaning towards the first one. While having an unruly mob of teeth and claws would undoubtedly be amazing, it would get too hard to keep track of their names and personalities and all that stuff.



As for Khariss, he's a character that I've RPed with in the past. He was an assassin back then. When the possibility to lead the IE came up, however, I noticed that his personality was a perfect fit for the job - I just had to change the history. That was easy.

He's the character that I go laissez faire with, as Elrundir put it. He's compatible with nearly anything, and he's mainly my character to raise hell with on Althanas. I don't care so much for his story for my sake; I just let it shape with the mold that Althanas chooses for him.



I've got a third character in the making. He's going to be based on Aztec culture, and I've got every intention of sticking him in Istraloth - half because he fits better there than everywhere else, and half to try to get some people writing there. I've got a very vague story outlined for him, and it revolves around having other people assist me in its development. Should all go well, I'll have a well-developed character in the midst of a flourishing region.

We'll see... on all three accounts.