#architectdreamers

I mean my first step is usually figuring out what kind of character I want. I’ll use Elena as the example, because she’s the most complex character I think so she seems like a good example to use. So for Elena I just thought ‘do you know what would be cool to have as my first Inquisitor? A Circle mage because that would be an interesting dynamic to see in the mage/templar war.’

From that it was really a decision on what kind of character I wanted her to be. I knew she was anti-Circle and I knew that she embraced her magic and was interested in pursuing more knowledge on it. However, I didn’t get her personality properly until I realised what kind of vibe I wanted her to have, which was basically ‘someone who simply exudes power and is slightly intimidating because of it.’ From that I decided that she would be guarded, that the passion and determination on the inside was guarded by a wall but its presence created this sort of feeling that she could destroy them in seconds.

Then, it was finding reasons for how she is the way she is. I feel like everything has to have a reason or a justification, or at the very least, it has to come to play in some way. So I wondered why she was so guarded, and I had played DA2 that day and recruited Anders and was like... what if she was close to someone who was made Tranquil. Then I just built this backstory around her, explaining why she is the way she is and making sure all of her experiences and reactions to things felt believable to me.

From then I really started to see the main values that Elena had. The main traits and how those would affect any relationships she had with anyone in the future and making sure they felt as organic as possible.

All the while, I kind of searched for things that inspired me for the character. Things like other characters or real people who had that same sort of vibe, looking as clothes that I felt really represented them, aesthetics and even going through songs and finding ones that just felt like they were relevant for that character. It really help sort of cement the idea of what sort of vibe and impact they have upon the world if I could get into their head and find things that they would like or that reminded me of them. They felt more real and as such finding their voice seemed easier because of it.

So... I’ll put it in bullet points to sum up because I am aware this block of writing has every tendency to not feel as if it flows due to my current exhaustion:

What kind of character did I want to explore? Basic outline, race, gender, sexual orientation, class

What sort of vibe do they give off? How do other people perceive them? How do they perceive themselves?

What are their values? What interests them? What drives them?

Background. What has happened to them to mould the person into who they are? How did it affect them? Did it change them? Reaffirm them? Produce new goals or ideals?

Are their relationships with people believable? How do they react to different kinds of people? How do they act on their own?

Inspirations that help to find the vibe, voice or inspire any extra pieces of information.