Writers: where do your characters come from?

[Omeg]

My characters, like everything else I write, come from me mashing random traits and concepts together until I get something that contributes to the story and/or seems vaguely cool.

“Okay, I want a sapphic love interest, another enemy to fight during the intro sequence, someone to offer a window into a larger setting, and maybe some more POC representation. Time to introduce an Indonesian lesbian from Uranus who will literally just kill the player character. And I’ll make her half-bird because why not.”

[izzily]

It truly catches me off guard how many writers seem to know a ton of minutae about their characters. If a character’s favourite colour becomes relevant, I might define it, and perhaps new details will strike as inspiration, but I’m not picking ahead of time.

My writing characters emerge as they go onto the page. I learn about them as I commit more details, and they grow more fleshed out and real the more I put into them. The origins just depend on the story, I guess? Hey I’d like a hero. It’d be neat if they contrast to the happy-go-lucky hero and cocky hero already in the scene. Okay that makes me think serious and gritty. They’re introduced in a fight scene and ah, the first context they get is reacting to hand-to-hand moves, and I’d like to explicitly mention the specific martial art. I guess they know a few things about fighting. Oh hm, since they’re gritty and have this knowledge, wouldn’t it be interesting if they have a degree of appreciation for what they’re seeing?

And so on and so on. I haven’t actually written much more of this character than that scene, and I imagine she’d only continue to grow with time.

Often I find the reason a character isn’t popping is because I haven’t spent enough time with them. It’s substantially harder for me to plan a character ahead of time. They wind up being a name attached to a story beat or plot point, or an amorphous blob of nothing.

Then I commit some words to paper and oh! That’s where you were hiding! (genuinely, two characters in my current project, one went from a name-and-role to someone I’m deeply intrigued to write more about. The other was kinda bland and by the numbers and is now rent-free in my head due to being annoyingly hot).

I don’t think I put elements of myself into my characters, not really. However, I have a roleplaying background, so I think I naturally lean into climbing into the characters’ heads. I’ve certainly mimed out scenes or spoken dialogue, but often it manifests in the words just flowing. That’s, I guess, the character ‘telling’ me what they say or what they feel. My best writing comes in tune with the characters.

tl;dr I guess I get to know my characters by writing them.

[OscarKane]

It might be a bit of a stretch to call me a writer but I’ve made my fair share of characters so I’ll answer anyway. I’m the type of person that essentially incorporates character traits from their favorite characters in media into themselves. In terms of my actual personality these traits come and go fairly fast, but to an extent I still feel like they’re part of me somewhere deep inside, and I draw from these constantly accumulating traits to form characters, for obvious reasons these often end up resembling archetypes, but sometimes they end up quite unique as well. So to put it in a shorter way I suppose I draw from characters I like, filter their personalities through my own mind and form them anew. This allows for a diverse cast with my own touches on all of them. In a sense they are all to a degree “Me”. But they also take on their own life and get to guide the story onwards.

[BrachydiosX]

When it comes to creating characters I usually rely on one of two (in some cases even both together) methods.

The first method is based on picking some very superficial and simple character traits as a foundation (like shy, energetic, aloof) and slowly but surely combining more and traits and ideas until I’ve got a fully fledged character at hand.

The second concept on the other hand is based on using already existing characters from various media as an inspiration for my characters. This is probably my favourite method since I can use characters I really as a foundation while giving them a twist of my own with some additional and unique traits. Thanks to this method I get quite a few unique and interesting characters like for example: a deadly assassin with a supringly naive and gullible streak like Yor from Spy x Family, a brave and serious knight with a hidden softer side like Eula from Genshin Impact or a foulmouthed hotheaded tsundere like Jeanne Alter from Fate GO. I know this may not be the best method for creating characters, but honestly I still prefer this way since it gives me the opportunity to create stories with characters where I can actually have fun while writing their scenes.

[hustlertwo]

I carefully, gingerly extract them from deep within my rectal cavity.

[Isi_Talks]

Hm🤔, for me it really depends.

Sometimes I create scenes and characters when I lay awake and they just never leave me and sometimes I write about people I miss in my life? Or maybe more people I want to interact with and then I throw them into my mindscape and hope they survive.

Also what is really important for me is that a character that is born out of just one scene may change to then fit more into the world I plant them in.

@izzily

tl;dr I guess I get to know my characters by writing them.

That was actually one of the reasons for trying out Tumblr (but since I don’t know what I am doing it kinda never got to be my story Frankenstein’s monster as I had hoped). To maybe get some character asks that let me think about the characters outside of the story. External interest sometimes helps with new perspectives

[EvilChani]

My answers are for writing, in general, since I don’t have a game written! I’m a very character-driven writer, which sometimes causes problems…

@HannahPS

when you are making NPCs for your game, do you use aspects of yourself for them?

There is always a piece of myself in my characters, even if it’s a very tiny piece that’s blown out of proportion or more prominent in them than in myself. For me to be able to write a character, I need to understand them and, once that happens, they take over and write themselves.

@HannahPS

Do they feel like fleshed-out people to you

Not at first. At first, I have to feel my way around them to determine “who” they are. I’ll often take a character trait or two and have that set, then start writing them, sticking them in different situations that may or may not have to do with the setting for which I intend them, and see where it goes.

That’s when I start coming up with a background for them, which often alters their personality somewhat. The two traits I thought would be their foundation can get “twisted” by the things that happened to them, forming who they are “now”. By the time I get to that point, they’re fleshed out and as pretty much “real” to me. They’ll keep forming after that, of course–sometimes changing further because of what’s happening to them or who they’re with–but they’re solid, and any changes just solidify them further.

@HannahPS

and do you feel you have control over them, or that they “guide” the story sometimes)?

Once a character is fleshed out, I lose control of them. What I said above about causing problems? That’s what I mean. I will have a certain plot in mind, thinking they will “behave” a certain way, but when I get to a scene I was sure would work, my characters will be like, “I’m not doing that, what the hell are you thinking?” and then I have to rework things. I’ve learned to try to work around it–after all, I’m their “god” and can throw various obstacles in their path to try to force them the way I want them to go–but it doesn’t always work because my characters are a pain in my ass. Then, I have to find other ways to handle it. Introduce NPC #795.

@HannahPS

Do you get initial sparks of ideas that grow into a character, or does a whole character form at once for you?

Both. Sometimes I get an idea when writing one character that ends up forming another one that is pretty much a “fully grown” character from that point on. I still have to go through the process of feeling my way through them, but it’s a lot easier with characters who start more solidly in my mind.

@HannahPS

Do you get inspired from particular places when deciding which characters to start writing or develop further?

Places? No. Unless you count the shower as a place–I get the best ideas in the shower and when I’m falling asleep. I really need a voice recorder to use all the time so I don’t forget stuff.

[MoonlightBomber]

On my end, characters start out as mish-mashes of traits from different sources, yours truly included. They have likes, dislikes, or maybe even a catchphrase/one-liner or two; and I can put a spin on certain traits that are deemed to be cliched. And as the story goes on, character development is certain.

[void_mermaid]

I usually write them as one or a mixture of many of the following things:

• Tropes I enjoy (very self-indulgent. Ex: the ride or die childhood friend)
• Representations of themes I want to explore (ambition, solitude, revenge)
• Appearances or ideas I find aesthetic or beautiful for one reason or another (people that belong to a circus, librarians, etc)
• As opposites or mirrors for other characters (snob/humble, someone who has everything/someone who has nothing)

In doing so, I think I’m showing myself through them, so they are me and I’m them. I tend to use the time at work – while doing repetitive tasks – to imagine (and disassociate lol) and I can hear them speaking in my mind and that’s how their voices grow and their personalities get more defined. That only applies to the main cast though, because I’m inside their minds. For the supporting cast, those characters less developed or the very minor ones, I just create them for function mostly

[Graceful-Not]

Most of my shorter story concepts stem from “hey there’s this interesting plot avenue/ character dynamic that [insert media] never explored but could have” and thus, most of my characters stem from dynamics that could have happened but never did. I typically smash two of these unexplored things together from different pieces of media (it’s not too difficult to find something else to connect dots with) and then BAM! Entirely new plot and characters with new motivations!

I’ve never found it particularly difficult to “put myself in another’s shoes”, so to speak, and it feels less like the characters are me and more like I’m psychoanalyzing someone else to figure out why they are the way they are. Because they’re almost always based off of a few different characters from other media, they come out fully formed almost immediately, so it’s less like I’m creating them from the ground up, and more like I’m analyzing someone else’s character as I write, despite how they end up being absolutely nothing like any of the source media. Sometimes I’ll write in a line that Source Media Character might have said, feel an unshakeable feeling of wrongness in my bones, and have to go back and reread what I’ve written to figure out the character’s motivations in the current scene/why it wouldn’t make sense for them to be this angry/see if they would hesitate in the act they’re about to do, when Source Media Character wouldn’t have. That’s always a fun process, haha. Makes me feel like things are coming together.

When it comes to purposefully adding myself into characters (because, of course, they will all always have a degree of MeTM in them,) It’s usually small traits or habits I have, recontextualized with this character’s life and motivations. For example, I always keep a pack of water bottles around because I can’t be half-arsed to go down to the kitchen sink and get myself a glass of water, and water bottles are just easier. I take the surface level of that (always keeping around a pack of water bottles to drink from,) and recontextualize it with the character. THEY might do it because they’re used to living in places where the tap water isn’t safe to drink, so it’s to avoid getting sick, or MAYBE because they’re prone to spilling things, so having screw on caps is easier, and maybe they refill the same one to avoid having to buy new ones! And sometimes it’ll run away from me like that, and become a different habit, but that’s all the better because it fits the character more! :3

[S_Missions]

Friends, other books I’ve read.

[lacey707]

I just use tropes on my characters but there are also sources like what i watch/see/myself/friends

[E_RedMark]

Good Question, I don’t think there is a simple answer to this. After all, we are dealing with the creative process and imagination. And every individual is different, and how we do things is infinite. The why is also infinite but important.

I can answer this question as someone who wrote novels. But not as someone who write games, because I haven’t yet. And the process has been very different and Alien at best.

@HannahPS

do you use aspects of yourself for them?

Nope. At least in the games I imagined to making? nope. I created them from scratch and it was odd. Because I know they don’t belong to me. So the process has been a weird one.

See, when I was writing novel? As someone who self-insert when she play games? I self-insert when I write as well.

But when it comes to games, for some reason I detached myself from these NPC since I know they aren’t…was gonna say mine lol but they aren’t for me to play with.

@HannahPS

Do they feel like fleshed-out people to you

Of course. They feel like strangers. Strangers sitting before you, and you know they have stories of their own. And you want to know them! You want to hear them and watch them move.

But until you get to the part of ‘Writing’, they are just sitting there in a chair waiting for you to begin.

@HannahPS

do you feel you have control over them, or that they “guide” the story sometimes

Some do. Some don’t.

Some are your normal characters. They behave like you expect. But some don’t. Some come back and talk your ears off because they aren’t done just yet.

Some will not follow your pacing, instead, they are running away from you and ahead of you… and you have to rush and write the world around them before they get lost, or fade away. (They don’t, but you don’t know that, thats why you spazze lol).

@HannahPS

Do you get initial sparks of ideas that grow into a character, or does a whole character form at once for you?

It grows. I never had a character come out fully from the wood. The world, interaction, their personality unfold as they come into contact with everything you give them and put them through…

It is a fascinating thing to see how your character starts…as nothing, and later no matter how long it takes, here they are leading a story and they have grown so much…you wonder if it was you who wrote them. Did you? Just how? When did you have that capacity hm?

@HannahPS

Do you get inspired from particular places when deciding which characters to start writing or develop further?

The story comes first, and the character comes second.

There are characters that just float about, without a world. Those are characters I wish I could write but no story has been born for them…as of yet.

Some are very very old. Like that. Like the Flaming Fist mercenary character, I wanted to create a mod about her for BG1 ages ago. But can’t code lol

Getting inspired from elsewhere would beat the concept of ‘Trying to be truly unique’ when you write. Which is what I do, try as unique as possible. Write something new.

Besides I have a creative mind (Alas), so don’t need to go far to get the juice going lol

One thing I can share and I think it is interesting for everyone to chew on but when I was writing my stories (Not games), a lot of my characters were born from frustration. Either frustration to something I read, or saw.

Emotions are a guiding force when you write. So never let anything get in the way. As long as you are writing and creating…does it matter where it came from?

I also have questions, and the characters I created were seekers of said answers.

Like for exemple, let’s take something simple: A red Dragon and a Golden Dragon. One is young and the other is old.

Who would win in a fight? Who is right? Who started the fight? Will humans interefere if they had something at stake here? What if the Golden Dragon was friendly with them? Doesn’t that make the Red Dragon by default the Vilain?

So you write the damn story. The whole time you are trying to answer these questions. And your two dragons will change. All of sudden, your Golden Dragon can become wise and a guardian of a small village. And your red Dragon get out of the cliché of them being a hoarder of loot and cruel, instead…it’s a young girl who ends up getting karma served to her when someone casts a spell on her and changes her into a red dragon. Now the longer she stays in that form, the more she becomes the beast.

You add a couple of factions, a tyrant king or Queen (Hey you need a villain).

Also, here is something important: But your character? It will change. Do not be afraid of that. Its normal.

I can’t say I already know how my character will turn out in the end. So yes, they changed. They grew, they spoke and lived through everything I tossed at them. And guess what? They turned out into something I’m proud of.

Don’t resist the change, sometimes they will show you something you didn’t even consider…and you will only see the final result when you get there.

Sometimes you just have to trust them. So do that. You can always erase and change them if you are unhappy with the result.

But don’t refuse it, you will learn something that is a guarantee, be it good or bad…you will learn something. Either about your character, the story, the world…or yourself.

[postalspring]

Thanks for creating this thread!

As a completely new and non-professional writer who hasn’t even opened a WIP yet, I’ll try to add to this thread from the perspective of an inexperienced beginner

@HannahPS

when you are making NPCs for your game, do you use aspects of yourself for them?

No for the majority, yes for some! For NPC’s that I do try to use aspects of myself in them, I find that most of the time, the aspects of these characters that were originally supposed to be from me change and morph to serve the story, themes, and other characters, until they become much better (better as in, a lot more interesting/motivated/defined) versions of my own aspects to the point that I don’t really see myself in them at all anymore.

@HannahPS

Do they feel like fleshed-out people to you (and do you feel you have control over them, or that they “guide” the story sometimes)?

My writing is definitely not good enough yet at this point that my characters will feel fleshed-out to anyone except myself But to me as the writer, my characters do feel like they live separate lives outside the confines of my character spreadsheet, currently written words, and my own head.

For any character, I know that I control the information on their character sheet, such as their names, appearance, basic personality traits, and role in the story. But as I write my story, an idea for the character’s development, motivation, and actions might occur to me that will add to the spreadsheet.

I like to think of it as that character telepathically sending me the idea, annoyed that I didn’t even know [insert trait/motivation/any other tidbit] about them ( )

@HannahPS

Do you get initial sparks of ideas that grow into a character, or does a whole character form at once for you?

No, I can’t get a whole character to form at once for me, although that would be nice!

I only create a character when I need a character to serve a certain role in my story. So, I often first have a lot of placeholder characters all across my outline, and of course I make note of which roles could be filled by one character and which ones can’t be combined. Then, I create an initial idea for a new, actual character with a basic set of personality traits and motivations that I find interesting, and then go through the placeholder character roles and consider which roles this new character would be suited for.

It’s essentially a process of combining NPC’s with smaller roles into one with a larger role in the story. This way, I don’t create any characters that don’t do anything to serve my story’s plot and themes, and I feel that each of my main NPC’s will be sufficiently important through serving multiple roles.

Of course, I use this method just because it works for me and my story, and I know that this method definitely has its drawbacks. It’s not very organic, and sometimes a character might feel like they were forced into a role (which, I mean, is literally what’s happening ). But as an inexperienced writer who already has character development as a weakness, I’ve found that this works for me, so far.

@HannahPS

Do you get inspired from particular places when deciding which characters to start writing or develop further?

Yes !

I get inspiration from my favourite fictional books, games, TV shows, movies, as well as real-life historical figures and sometimes even modern-day celebrities (from my own culture, so not many who read Choicescript IF’s would be familiar with them haha )

Sometimes the inspiration is a certain aesthetic, sometimes it is a specific mannerism – but most of the time, the inspiration is the overarching role and character transformation that a character/figure undergoes in their own world/life. I look at a character development arc that really moved me, and I think, how could I maybe create something similar for my own story?

[The_Lady_Luck]

I’m currently re-purposing a pair of characters, who started existence as tabletop miniatures I made from Warhammer bits and green stuff. Which is a hobby of mine.

I’ve also had characters in the past start as a random drawing I made.

[Clear]

I like to model my characters around me, the writer. usually, my characters are built from my different models of personal and egotistical tendencies. So, some will be over confident, others might be less than confident, some may have trauma, another may hold an addiction, so on.

Usually if I can’t branch something from my ego or myself, I’ll just brainstorm what I want a character to be, or a character that I want to create that I don’t see often in other forms of writing. Sometimes when I’m really blocked, I’ll just use AI like google bard to brainstorm ideas for me.

I suppose you could classify this as self insertion