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SakuraTears
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10-12-2009, 03:44 PM
Hello! I have been developing a story for a couple of years now, I haven't gotten a lot of it done, I'm concerned about making my characters mary or gary-sues. Can anyone give me a direction for me to start writing well developing characters?
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broadway_princessxo34
If you don't care, why are you a...
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10-12-2009, 07:24 PM
You should try taking a piece of paper and writing a profile type thing about them. Write everything like:
Whats their personality?
where they live?
Whats their home like?
Who do they live with?
what their view on life is?
Are they good or bad?
why?
is their anything special about them?
Who's their best friend?
Whats their best friend like?
How old are they?
What do they look like?
How do they act?
What are their hobbies?
Do they have any special talent?
Are they different then then normal kid/teen/adult?
ect.....
dont answer in one word though write like 4 sentences or so for them. Then when your writing be in their mind and think like they would
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For-Chan Cookie
A Cookie for Fun
☆☆
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10-19-2009, 12:14 PM
If you're working with Original Characters in an original work, I like to think that you have to worry less about that sort of thing. Mary Sues are often characters that fanfiction writers stick into their works to get together with main characters from whatever story the fanfiction is from. That doesn't mean you can't do it in an original, but already you've eliminated a big part of what makes Mary Sues.
The other thing you have to remember is to make your character real, human and flawed. Mary Sues tend to be perfect. Either they're beautiful and everyone loves them or maybe they have that perfect tragic back story that makes everyone feel sorry for them or they have the most awesome pink hair, blue eyes and purple unicorn that they ride around on. Just don't get carried away.
The most important thing about creating a character that isn't a Sue is to make someone your readers care about! A lot of Sues tend to be people that their creators think are totally awesome! But most other people won't think so. You have to give them some relatable qualities to make other people care about them and want to know more about their story. Otherwise, nobody is going to want to read about Ms Perfect Princess Sparkly-poo.
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Shaibelle
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10-19-2009, 03:58 PM
What I do is find a bunch of those dorky personality quizzes on the internet and then fill in details about the characters from those questions. Really any questions about the character will do.
I write full-blown three or four page descriptions of my characters' pasts and what they like, don't like, where they live(d), how they look, and so on. What makes the character is real traits. They can't just be an invincible freak show- no one is like that, so it would only make them look fake.
Here are some questions you could fill in details about. And of course they're all situational.
What species is the character? How do they react to (insert other character(s) here)?
What are their favorite foods, colors, people, etc...?
What weaknesses do they have? What strengths?
What time period do they live in?
you get the idea from other posts already, I'm sure. ^_^;
To eliminate the idiotic Mary/Gary-sues just make them, "real."
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Erailea
Lost soul
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10-21-2009, 02:46 AM
I made the character sheet quoted below for myself, a few of the questions came from a character questioner I had to fill out for a children's writing class. Disregard the change between POV's in the questions. The interview like ones where from the questioner that I copied right over. The questions were asked to us in a way that made us put ourselves into the characters shoes (which you should do even for the question isn't posed in an interview like format).
It's a bio sheet, get down into the nitty gritty of the character. Even if the details are never written about in the story, knowing them helps really shape their character because it's their background, their personality.
I also make a summery of their lives from birth to when they show up in the story (sometimes, especially for bigger characters, I go a little beyond). Though even in summery form I do go in and really break certain key events down if they are extremely important in determining the given characters personality.
Quote:
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Location
Hometown –
Where they are 1st located in story –
Physical Details Age –
Birthday –
Eye Color –
Hair style/color –
Scars/birthmarks/tattoos –
Skin tone –
Height –
Other –
Details
Blood relations –
Friends/allies made prior to the tale –
Who is your best friend and why –
Who do you least like and why –
Distinguishing personality trait –
His/her story problem -
What stands in their way –
How will he/she have changed after the ordeal –
Skills –
Love Life –
Likes –
Dislikes –
Pet Peeves –
Weaknesses –
Fatal Flaw –
Fears –
Biggest Secret –
Favorite Hiding Spot and does anyone know of it –
What he/she wants –
What do they want more than anything –
What he/she needs to learn –
Greatest ambition/passion –
Reason for choosing their allegiance –
Speech habits –
What’s in your pockets –
What do you pretend -
What’s in your dresser/closet, even the top most shelf, tucked away –
Show me your room. Describe it. Do one of your parents clean it for you, or is it your responsibility?
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Mind you, I did take out practically all the spaces. If you decided to use it make sure you add them back in between the questions. I think it total I had 5 pages by the time I put spaces in there. But they got longer when I did answer them all for some of my characters. haha. I used to write all my bio's by hand, then started doing them digitally. So, definitely if you write them out make sure you give yourself plenty of room so you don't have to write microscopically
Last edited by Erailea; 10-21-2009 at 02:59 AM..
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kuramasgirl06
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10-27-2009, 02:10 AM
Truefully my characters come from no where. I'll be thinking about a subject that I want to write about and out pops a character that just is. My friends say that they introduce themselves to me. Werid, huh?
Anyways, I try not to worry so much about how other people interprete my characters or my writing because there will alway be someone who will not like it. I think my characters are cool.
Try thinking about someone you would like to read about when you make your characters and base them on that. Dont worry about what others think.
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Erailea
Lost soul
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10-27-2009, 04:05 PM
@ kuramasgirl06 - and that is a novices's worst mistake. You should always accept criticism. You don't always have to follow what someone tells you, but you should listen to them and think over what they say. It is true there will always people who don't like what you do, but to push aside every "bad" comment is a horrible mistake. Often they will point out something that is wrong/not developed properly/goes against what you have previously set up. You want to have fresh eyes looking at your stuff because you will always be attached to your stuff and not see everything that is detrimental to your storytelling.
And with that said, you should never take criticism to heart. If's not meant to hurt you, its meant to help you get better. It's not always fun to get, but in the end, if you think out the comments you got and use the ones you find most important, your stuff will more than likely get better.
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kuramasgirl06
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10-27-2009, 10:41 PM
Thank you, Erailea. You have an excellent point. That is a mistake to make in writing. I do ask for people opinions so that i can correct mistakes that i make but i guess i don't really assotiate with development. That is a mistake i will correct in my own wrighting. Having fresh eyes to look at your work is really important. Again thanks.:)
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Nolori
Everyone's Favorite Imaginary Fr...
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10-27-2009, 11:14 PM
On top of what everyone else has said, generally I tend to find that the most mundane things are what help me develop my characters best. How do they sleep? How long are their showers? How often do they eat?
They're often useless facts that will never find a place in the story, but they help me to know my character better. The better I know my character, the easier it will be to write for them when the time comes to.
@Shaibelle's list:
The time period question is not only an excellent point, I think it's also a major problem with Mary-Sues. People who create Mary-Sues often put them in older time periods where women were meant o be quiet, tucked away, and homebodies. The Mary-Sue then proceeds to be extremely liberal without any repercussions because everyone will suddenly believe that she's right.
Political thoughts on women's rights aside, anomalies of time like this are a big problem with Mary-Sues. If your characters are in a dated period, be sure to do research on it.
There also this: The Official Mary-Sue Manual. It's informative and amusing! I think he covers most of the major points of Mary-Sues.
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portraitinblack
⊙ω⊙
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12-10-2009, 12:37 AM
Your character needs to make mistakes and have consequences for those mistakes; sometimes, serious consequences. They can't just screw up, apologize, and everyone forgives them. They can't screw up and have people just say oh that's alright, you've learned your lesson.
They need to be seen as developing into the character you want them to be. You can't start the story off having your character perfect for what you need them to be in the story as a whole. Things are much more interesting when they develop in a way to match your story's needs.
So, if your character is supposed to save the world, typically they won't be ready for this at the beginning of the story. They won't be perfect at it, they'll screw up, and someone might die or get hurt. The biggest mistake people do is present their character in their "fully developed" form at the beginning of the story. This is something you need to avoid, because the reader doesn't get to watch that character grow and develop, and so therefore it's like we're jumping into the end of the story that just keeps getting dragged on, and on, and on.
They need to question themselves, and others. They need to have varying emotions, not just happy or angry or sad. While one thing that happens might be "perfect", if everything just goes right for this character, that's boring, and that would be heading down the path of a Mary-Sue.
Having an evident "metamorphosis" is good as well; a point in the story that changes the character, whether in a good way or a bad way.
All in all, give it a break for awhile, then go back and read it. If it sounds like something you would enjoy, try letting a close friend read it. If they like it, and you like it, and nothing bothers you or your friend, you're probably fine.
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HibiscusSyriacus
(-.-)zzZ
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12-30-2009, 04:32 AM
Building up a character is one of the hardest thing to do. I was making this story lately and then suddenly, i mixed up the girl's personality in to different elements in my mind lol, so what happened? it crushed down and i wasn't able to finish the story cause i messed up the character of the protagonist.
SO what i do, is set up my mind! Before writing, i think well and how would i like the story to flow, what kind of personality must they possess and how will i be able to keep it....
I don't know if it will help, i wish you all the best! And having an inspiration will hep a lot. well, i doesn't mean inspiration will only be a person, it can also be different things, for example, a song or friend relation.
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Readera
*^_^*
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12-30-2009, 06:33 AM
Make sure you give the character srengths and weeknesses that make sense. Like if she's beautiful, have her be selfconcious or get a bad zit or something.
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Cheya
⊙ω⊙
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02-17-2010, 09:32 PM
You can make your character anything you want, but there has to be a negative to every positive. Beautiful characters don't bother me very much so long as it comes with a price.
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