NOT a twink.

To begin, starting one of these blogs is something that, at least for me, feels pretty stop and go. The trick is being persistent. You may not get a lot of interaction from other people in the beginning, but if you go out of your way to interact with other people's blogs, then that exposes you to more people, and more interaction, until eventually it's more of a two-way deal than just you seeking interaction.

This blog was pretty small for a while until I managed to luck out and a "For lols" type post blew up enough that I was getting semi-regular interaction. I was enthusiastic on my end with my responses, and people reciprocated that. If you're getting asks and people see that you're answering them, it'll be more likely that you'll get more asks. Though it may feel a bit narcissistic, don't be afraid to send yourself an ask or two! Especially if you have something specific you want to happen, it can be handy.

For posts beside answering asks, I think they're fun! Although I don't do it as much now, since I get enough regular asks that I can subsist off of those, I think it's fun to sprinkle in little bits or worldbuilding or character development. Hell, a few(?) months ago I mentioned a random little thing as a sort of throw-away "It would be funny to send Raihan to Unova" and people piled on! The annual Dragon Convention wasn't something I had planned at ALL, but people enjoyed the idea, so we bounced off of that.

Although, that honestly depends on how you're trying to frame the blog. If it's meant to be more like an askblog, then in-character posts will probably be fewer, but if it's meant to be like a personal blog for the character, then go for it!! That's half the reason I occasionally reblog art on here, is I think it's the type of thing Raihan would reblog.

As for worrying about being out of character, yes and no. Personally I like to think I'm pretty good at copying speech patterns and mannerisms (Perks of autism? I guess??), so I worry a little less, but sometimes I do feel like I'm not being as accurate as I'd like to be. I went on a bit of a hiatus from Raihan for a while, and so I'm still trying to feel out the specifics of how I played him again.

Adding on to that, a lot of the canon characters in Pokemon, such as my boy here, won't have much to them in ways of backstory. Because of that, there's a bit of creative leeway with how exactly you play them. There's a lot of gray area that you can work in. In the swsh games, Raihan is the leader of the Hammerlocke gym, and has an unexplained connection to the Hammerlocke Vault. I've taken that and built it up into "Along with the position of Hammerlocke leader, he also inherited the role of vault-keeper, and is basically the security guard for the Hammerlocke castle."