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04:12 AM

Characters

A truly great character is more than a person with a personality and a look. Even a writer who's lived with their character for years can find something new about them, and that's the joy. The most interesting writing is built on characters that are both interesting, unique, and identifiable. And most of all, you must be in love with your character in order to make others love them!
Here are a few ways to help you create a character like that who will make all the rpers here want to write with you!

Human Psychology: It might seem simple to understand people, but sometimes you need to really analyze real people to write a fake one. First off...
√People are strange. They are confusing and complicated. They do not always do what they say and say what they do. Parts of them contradict other parts. Even if they are uptight, they might be playful. So which instinct wins out? Real people have habits, likes, and dislikes that make no sense for them, or no sense at all.
√People have pasts, presents, and futures. These impact who the character is and how they look at the world, how they talk, what they expect out of other people, and what goals they have for the future. A person is always influenced by their past.
√Motivations! This is actually the most basic. In script-writing, you are taught that the barest structure of a story is a character who wants something and an obstacle that is in the way. What is really motivating your character? We are all driven by something whether it is a need to get a job or a desperate want to be loved.
√Characters are not static. They must change for them to feel real or interesting. They get over fears, develop new ones, and are continually influenced by their world and those in it.

Tools to help you fully develop a character:
√I was once told to write 100 things about a character in one of my classes. Physical, personality, past, everything. It's a real challenge, but it's a different thing from just writing a profile. I learned new things about my character in the process as well.
√Memes. No joke. Search for character memes or personality tests. Some of them are silly, some serious. Both are useful. They often allow for you to answer from your character's pov which gives you both answers to questions and insight into your character's head. It's entertaining at the least! I have fun putting my characters up to the Briggs-Myers test to see just how close the test can get to their personality. But if it's close, you know you have a human like character. And maybe the detailed description of that person type will give you ideas on how to fill in your character holes.
√Seriously, just write them. The more you do, the more developed they get.