Character Development

[Stardust]

Alright, this is something I want to try. I'm creating this thread so that people can work on developing specific characters. You can post characters from games, stories, anywhere to get feedback and suggestions on how to improve them. Hopefully, this will help people create more 3-dimensional characters.

So what should you post if you want feedback on a character? Here's a general template you can use if you don't know where to get started. Feel free to precede it with a quick bit about the story, game, etc. they're coming from.

Name:
Gender:
Age:
History/Background (try to be short):
Goal/Objective:
Purpose in the Story:
Unique Habits:
Anything Else:

You may notice that I left physical descriptions out. A character's height, weight, eye color, hair color, hair style, etc. really don't matter here. I suppose you can post a pic if you want, but that's not what makes a good character. Also, you can add pieces of a characters' dialogue or anything related to them if you want. This may not seem like much since a character is a lot more than a short summary, but it'll get you thinking.

If you want to link to the story, game, etc. where the character came from, that's fine. But I'd recommend still posting the outline because you'll end up getting a lot more feedback with something short. :wink:

 

[Stardust]

Here's one of mine to get things started:

This is for something I'm trying out. Basically, I've made a forum that I'm going to use to make a story. It's going to be in writing format and it'll follow the going-ons of the fake forum. It's more of an experiment for me than anything, but it might turn into something interesting. Other info: it's a fake creativity forum, I'm using myself as creator/management, and she enters when it's first getting set up.

Forum Name: Graceful Brush
Real Name: Carolina Veer
Gender: Female
Age: 19
History/Background (try to be short): Grew up in a very religious family, although she's slowly becoming more accepting of different ideas and lifestyles. Met Guardian in an art class when they went to school together and stayed in contact. Hopes to become a professional artist or graphic designer.
Goal(s)/Objective(s): Help Guardian with his forum and get feedback on her artwork
Purpose in the Story: Supports Guardian throughout most of the story as a member and then as a mod and then admin, but later gets into a bunch of arguments involving her religious beliefs and leaves after *the event*. (Haha like the foreshadowing there? :P)
Unique Habits: Obsessed with making her own forum smilies
Anything Else: Hesitant to post her artwork at first, toward the end posts just about everything she does. Doesn't trust forums and the openness of the internet.

 

[Daxis]

Name: Shinji
Gender: Male
Age:~17
Personality: Creates discontent, and acts like a jackass. He's actually quite perceptive and ingenious, but opts to act... like a jackass, because he'd realized long ago it's easier to be part of the group. Easily falls for the girls, and tends to hit on them, usually getting rejected but his charm usually makes friends with them. It's for this reason, easily getting jealous of guys with hot girls and acting like a jackass, that lots of people don't like him, and thus not many know who he really is. Although he doesn't like to admit it, he really is a good person at heart, and will help people in need.
Unique traits: being the hidden genius he is, he can play the piano, guitar, mastery of 4.5 languages, and has the capacity to ace pretty much any test. However, he usually skips class and hides his talents, because he doesn't like being not part of the group.

 

[blackspets]

Name:Terry Armitage
Gender:Male
Age:17
History/Background:He was born to parents who werent ready to get married let alone have a child, his dad became a soldier when he was 10 and is now in jail while is mom works whatever job she can find. He lives with constant uncertanty whether he has a reason to live.
Goal/Objective:He doesnt have any set goals other than to give people shit.
Purpose in the Story:Main characters son.
Unique Habits:He has the habit of staring for long periods of time which is thought to be broght on by the many antideppresants he is forced to take.
Anything Else:His prized possesion is a key which he found randomly while walking.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

This will be either for story or my future game, probably game since my writing skills have deteriorated over the past years. ^_^; I mainly need this for notes to myself, and if this character is any good. XD

Name: Aeri Kinniard
Gender: Female
Age: 16 (beginning), 21 (present)
History/Background (try to be short): She born to a family of nobles who loved her, but she soon grew two distinctive personalities. Thinking she was cursed, her parents locked away from the world and only let her leave to do chores or slave-like work. No one knew her existence, yet the boy next door (name pending) saw her working hard one day and approached her. Her parents steered the boy away, and her older sister Teia played with him instead.

(Spoiler!) Her other personality took control of her and burned down the house, hoping to kill everyone inside. The boys parents were killed, along with Aeri's parents. Teia survived, and took her sister to continue using her. (Almost done!) Teia still hung out with the boy (now they're teens), and Aeri's other self kills her sister in jealousy (no one knows about this, either). The boy and Aeri are finally together, but shortly afterward he is drafted into the war, promising to marry Aeri when he returns... 5 years later, the war ends and he doesn't come back. Where could he be?
Goal/Objective: To discover his whereabouts
Purpose in the Story: Main character
Unique Habits: Personalities randomly shift back and forth between each other
Anything Else: (Spoiler!) Basically, Aeri's boyfriend suffered amnesia during the war. Teia, who comes back as a demoness disguised as a human, claims him as her hubby and he regains remnants of fake memories that makes him agree with her.

I've been calling this story the "Aeri Story" since I stink with titles. Also, I'm the type who likes to plan things ahead, like story ideas before I even begin on the actual story or game.