How I create my characters
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@bluebxlle_writer on Instagram
I’ve been getting questions on how to create characters recently, because apparently lots of y’all don’t know where and how to start creating a new character. I don’t think this post will help everybody, since everyone has different methods on creating characters (eg. some come up with names first, others come up with appearance first), but in this post I’ll be sharing my character creation process. I hope it will help! <3
This is a less well-known method to start creating a character, but for some reason it's always how I do (and it always works lmao). It's hard to create a character from scratch, so instead, I think about an iconic line that the character could say, which is usually related to my wip's theme or mood. I came up with this line for an oc :
"I've been trying so damn hard to make everyone smile, but I get it now. The world would be happier without me, wouldn't it?"
Just from this single line, I already know lots of things about this character :
• They always put the happiness of others before their own.
• They've probably been told that they need to have a positive effect on others in order to have the right to live.
• They've been trying to please others, but end up worsening things.
• They're determined and desperate.
• ...They probably had a corruption arc and won't get a happy ending :"D
• The moment when they say this line is their breaking point
See? Just from two sentences, I already have an idea of their personality and backstory. Sometimes, I even get an idea for their appearance too. This is way easier than not knowing what to do first to create a character from scratch.
Lots of people come up with character names before their appearance, but I always need to generate their appearance first, because otherwise, I can't visualize or imagine them. I usually play around with picrew.me (an avatar generator website) to generate their potential appearance. I don't spend too much time on this stage tho, because I'll end up changing their appearance again after figuring out more details about my wip (that's why I said potential appearance).
3. Personality & backstory
After having a rough idea of how they look like, I'll imagine them in various scenes in my wip and come up with their personality. If there are already other existing ocs in the wip, I always be careful to not repeat too much aspects from the other characters, so each character will be unique.
Then, asking why the character has a specific personality will create their backstory. For instance, if a character has trust issues, ask why. Maybe they've been betrayed by a loved one before? Or they live in a dangerous world where everyone double crosses people to survive?
After I know their appearance, personality, and depth, that's when I decide a name for the character which fit their vibes or has symbolism. For example, my character Bayu's name is symbolic because it means "wind", reflecting how he's a thief who moves as fast as the wind.
Sometimes, I don't immediately search for a permanent name if I'm out of ideas. I'll just choose a random placeholder name that fits their vibes, and remember to come up with their real name later.
After knowing all the general information about the character, I'll begin plotting out their character arc - their development throughout the book/series and whether it's a positive or negative character arc. This stage is the hardest for me, because I need to figure out its starting, breaking, and ending point, and also the factors and people involved in the arc. I have a post series about both redemption and corruption arcs, you can check my masterlist to find them!
