Tsu's Roleplaying Guide: Character Creation

When creating a character, the most difficult beginning is in choosing a character name. In my personal experience, both as a role-player and a parent, it can be hard to find a name which suits the overall plan for your character. However, as stated before, characters are subject to change. The problem I usually run into with character is finding something that suits the overall character I have in mind. This of course comes hand in hand with the story to follow, as I can base a story off of a name, no matter how vague. Is my character adventurous, and go by an alias? Are they shy and demure in public settings? Are they seductive? All these things can be found out with a name, and that is why In the all around grand scheme of things, it is best to find a name that suits your character, and your interests, and plans for the character.

Where to Begin
<sub>When creating a character, I tend to stick with the names I create, and thusly, it can be daunting to make a character, and choose and overall name. There are the options of classical well known names, and exotic self made names… A plethora of suggestions exist on the internet to ones disposal. There are lots of considerations when you're deciding on a name, such as appeasing your world and its history, the family you are joining (or are not joining) avoiding embarrassing initials or nicknames, and steering clear of monikers associated with bad memories. These are some of the main points to keep in mind:

Sound How your characters name sounds when it's said aloud is one of the most essential things to think about. Is it harmonious? callous? Does it go well with a chosen last name? Often, longer first names work better with shorter last names, and vice versa. This goes well in hand with middle names as well, multiple or otherwise. Combining a first name that ends in a vowel with a last name that starts with a vowel isn't the best choice - the names tend to run together. Avoid first names that rhyme with the last name. As you will spend a good amount of time discussing this character, find one that can be considered easy to say allowed of furthermore, be delightfully shortened into a nickname (Similar to myself, and Tsu, or Luna from Tsukiko and Lunaria)

Uniqueness An unusual name has both advantages and disadvantages, while calling oneself something with obvious exotic, unique flair can make one stand out, it can be easily forgotten, or misread, or even (and this is the worst) misspelled. I found a great difficulty in naming my children in Valtierre something unique, and yet, easily spelled. In the end, sometimes striking a balance to a familiar name to an unfamiliar last name and vice versa.

Meaning While the meaning of a name might not really mean much to those around you, a meaning to ones name can be a crucial part in their overall character, and in the end lead to a better character for you, that matches you as the writer because you chose something that really means something to you, as the writer. In choosing a meaning that is special to you, you discern yourself from all the other Tom, Dick and Harry’s because it was something chosen not only for its sound, but its importance to you in all ways.</sub>

Here are a few varying name site resources for you to use. With a varying degree of uniqueness, meanings and cultures influencing them, most of the websites offered have made a large impact in my travels, and they are of course not the only websites to offer insight on names, and middle names, for when you are truly stuck on a name that will rightfully flow.

http://nameberry.com/  : Large Resource Center
http://www.babycenter.com/baby-names : Large Resource Center
http://www.babynames.com/  : Large Resource Center
http://www.nameplayground.com/ : Enormous Resource Center
http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/generators.htm : Specialty Resource Center
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ : Medieval Name Resource Center
http://fantasynamegenerators.com/ : My Personal Favorite Name Generator
http://www.behindthename.com/ : Name Meaning Resource

Writing Female Characters

When writing a female character it is often you see two common archetypes. The Prize and the Harpy. These two kinds of woman, while dynamic in their own ways often take up the majority of characters you see. These aren’t characters, they are stand in shadows without a concrete personality or overall guide to who they are. It’s easy to say “She is a bitch because he life has been hard.’’ But the question remains, ‘why?’ If you can’t come up with a reason for her action or beliefs. There is a problem.

<sub>The Prize
When characters stand themselves as goals, not discerned by their actions, or wants, it becomes a problem. The Femme Fatalle is a one dimensional female based solely around her physical self, over anything else she could be. A perfect example of this kind of character would be Anastasia Steele from 50 Shades. She exists as an object. An end all goal, whose entire existence revolves around being a prize to her male counterpart, Christian Graye. Chances are people who play the Prize, exist to find the nearest male, and play the weak and defenseless woman. With that comes the broken down, and end all destruction of a once promising character. If given the choice to be Katniss Everdeen or Anastasia Steele, always choose to be Katniss.

The Harpy
A character type that is made bad to the bone for no reason other than being bad to the bone. This trope stands in for a true villain, and rings false because there’s no motivation behind this character. Found usually sending men into dangerous situations to get killed and playing them like puppets just ’cause. Their motivations were never clear, and when they ended up betraying the main character it was like, “well, duh. They’re not characters, they’re stereotypes.” These stereotypes ring clear in many empire roleplays in which female characters are the empresses and either have to be airheaded and Mary Antoinette-ish or cruel to a horrific degree just to get their point across. No justification, no reasoning. Just bad because they could be bad.</sub>

Well Written Female Characters:

Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) Both a harpy and a prize, Hermione eagerly takes it to the next step my being twice over what the world anticipated for her by being the ‘brightest witch of her age’ without resorting to feminine tactics or badassery.

Daenarys Stormborn (ASOIAF) Taken from her birthright, and brought into the worst of situations, Dany makes her way from the bottom to the top by wrecking vengeful havoc on the world around her not because she has no reason, but because her reasons are beyond justified. Her body is not taken into account as she rules with her mind and powers that be over her sexuality and grows distinctively dynamic in the process.

Michonne (The Walking Dead) With a dynamic back-story, and ballsy ease, Michonne appears badass in a subtle more human way than he seemingly male counterpart, Daryl Dixon. She has survived as necessary without becoming a risk taker, despite all odds set against her.

Trinity (The Matrix) She speaks for herself, Dynamic from the first scene of the first movie, you truly understand what she’s had to do to earn her own arc within the series as a whole.

How Do I Describe My Female Characters?
Put simply a female is no different to a man in my eyes, particularly in literature. I try to avoid’ beauty’ being a defining factor of her overall character. It’s not a character trait, in my opinion the physical should not sway the emotional concurrencies of a character, female or not. A character needs even one simply defining feature to themselves to make them interesting in the eyes of the reader.

Bad Description:
Lindsay is a beautiful brunette with long legs.

Good Description
Lindsay is a tireless secretary, whose job revolves a plethora of activities she keeps private and yet finds severe disdain for. She wears her hair in a no nonsense bun, with her head held high despite her likelihood of relieving the halls of body parts during her nearly endless upcoming shift.

Its easy to write a woman who is sexy, and all descriptions of physical beauty. But what meat on her physical self does she have that will equate to the character just beneath the surface of that? She is more than her physical self, and we combat that with full descriptive of who she is as an overall character.

How Do I Write Female Characters?
Why is a female character any different than a male character in her overall creation? The problems writers come up against, occur when writers rely on the stereotypes and generalizations set by Hollywood standards. If you are sloppy with character creation and development, you give up on a promising character with goals and aspirations.
Basically when it comes down to the brass tax of characters, the heart of a character isn’t based over their sex. Find an emotional connection and the character will follow in suit. There is no simple way to say a female is, as the same stands with male figureheads. All people and characters are different, and that is what makes them special. If you can peer past the hairline differences and come up to yourself in all ways possible you will find yourself face to face with a loyal, dynamic piece, that can easily be grown and touched upon if you take the time and energy to make them grow with you.

Writing Characters Appearances:

When Describing a Character

DO:
<sub>-Provide enough detail to give the reader a sense of the character’s physical appearance (When entering a new scene, or a fresh setting in RP, its important to explain your character thoroughly. Whether in T-1 or regular Roleplay its beyond important to remind those within the roleplay of your place and thusly what you as a character look like. Physicality’s like body type, eye color hair color and height are best explained in your opening post.)

-Highlight details that serve as clues to who the character is and perhaps what their life is like (Is your character an assassin? Are they a thief or a magician? What kind of purpose will their cloak serve in terms of the role you’ve discerned for them? This is why explaining, even subtly, what the character is wearing or who they are beneath the surface can lead to an all over better character in all told history. Even if it as simple as a dagger on their side, a gift from their mother, it gives quiet in depth to who this person is besides what you are showing them.)

-Describe clothing to establish character or when relevant to scene (Clothing is important in any character. Dressing for occupation, or comfort is another important part of being a role-player and deciding ones role. It wouldn’t make sense for a guard to be wearing jeans and a tee shirt in a medieval setting, like it wouldn’t be right to see a full plate in a futuristic setting. Dress for the world you’re in, unless your character is capable of explaining why they are where they are in the first play.)</sub>

DON’T:
<sub>-Go overboard with too many details or take up too much of the reader’s time describing one character. (Its all well and good to explain ones self, but no one wants to spend twenty minutes as you describe the flowing intensity of someone’s ginger locks over a potential nine paragraphs. Keep your descriptions short and sweet, and at the most, to the point, lest you seem long winded and lose the attention of your audience.

-Repetitively describe features or fixate on certain characteristics (We get it Edward Cullen, you’re a sexy beast… I know you shimmer like glistening diamonds, but there is more to you than that right? No? Well… At least you have a good personality… Or not… Long story short, we get how beautiful you are, or how buff and strong… But if you focus only on one thing for so long, you lose the attention of those around you. You can be like Gaston without a delightful following ego.)

-Describe clothing every time the character shows up unless its somehow relevant to the scene. (If you start a new scene every time you RP, its acceptable to do a brief summary of your clothing, but if every single post you go out of your way to explain the same outfit a few dozen times, you seem less like a role player and most of a designer… It’s best to explain once, and loosely breeze over the facts as necessary. As in your characters nail scratch as a loose thread on their jeans while fidgeting, or their chainmail clinks while they walk.</sub>

-Describe minor characters’ clothing in-depth unless it’s relevant. (Are you wearing striped boxers? Yes? But do we see them? Are they important to the overall plot? No. Unless you are about to do the do, or are having them yanked up your butt cheeks and over your head? Don’t bother mentioning them, as they are overall unimportant to the end all storyline and just end up taking the space which is unneeded.)

Choose a Focal Point:
It’s generally best to start from a particular piece on ones body and work your way around that part of oneself. From head to toe generally works best. Pulled between several sources of clothing, and then dropped into the vat as a secondary focus as they head downwards. Spreading out a description of ones character can add necessary overall meat to a post and leave on with a discerned personal benefit to the size of a post… Cover yourself in your first post rather than spreading it out over several posts so not to seem like you are adding as you go.

Describing Race and Ethnicity
Generally it can be a decidedly frustrating debate about what comes to and from the describing of ones race. If you prefer, you can state someone is Black, white, Hispanic, Native American, First Nations, Latino, Middle-Eastern, Asian, Pacific Islander and so on. As an important reminder, that races are made up of a variety of ethnic groups. Someone who is of a Native American descent could be of a variety tribes, or someone of Asian descent could be Korean, Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese. If you’re describing a character whose ethnicity is unknown or not important to the plot, you could just say that they were Asian or Black, for example. But, the rest of the time you need to be clear about whether they are Chinese, Chinese American, Korean, etc. Also, remember that not all Black people are African-American, such as someone born in England or Haiti, for example.

You may instead choose to describe a character’s race through the color of their hair, eyes, and skin. It’s up to you which you feel most comfortable with and is most appropriate for your story. Just remember, if you describe one character’s skin color or otherwise make an issue of their race, you should describe every character’s skin color or race. If your character is of a homebrew variety the same rule applies, and should be kept in careful check when described.

Describing Clothing
As with a physical self, sometimes it’s easier to describe someone’s body, and clothing in the same post. Think about clothing that matches your roleplays time period and overall style. From Pants, shirts and coats, to the accessories, like ones hats, jewelry and shoes. Google can be ones best friend when it comes to find period specific garb for your character. By searching the time and place of your story plus a piece of your clothing

"Clothing in Victorian England"
"Clothing in 1960s New York"
"9th century Viking clothing"

Be sure to look for web sites that aren’t providing cheap Halloween costumes. Shops providing clothes for historical re-enactors are often very accurate. Tumblr can be a grand help when it comes to the overall lookup of historical accuracies and the like.

Resources for Garments and Accessories:Shirts
Trousers
Dress
Shorts
Panties
Swimsuit
Shoes
Coats and Jackets
Hats
Jewelry
Sunglasses
Sleeves, Necklines, Collars and Dress Types
Scarves for Men

Historical Clothing Resources:
OMG That Dress!
Period Fabric
Amazon Dry Goods
Reconstructing History
Historic Threads
Historical Costume Inspiration
History of Costume: European Fashion Through the Ages
Women's Fashion Through the Years
Clothing in the Ancient World
Clothing in Ancient Rome
Clothing in Biblical TimesVintage Fashion Guild
Reproduction FabricsFabrics and Trims
Vintage Fabrics
Fur and Skins
Fashion Timeline 1800-1990
18th Reference Book List
Clothing Reference Book List
Costume Gallery

Modern Clothing Reference
Clothes on Pinterest
Polyvore
Fashion Dictionary
This is a Fashion Blog
What I Wore
Fashion is Endless

Physical Details Resources
Women's Body Shapes
Men's Body Shapes
Face Shapes
Realistic Eye Shape Chart
Facial Hair Types
How to Describe Women's Hair Lengths
The Ultimate Haircut Guide for Women
A Primer on Men's Hairstyles
Hair Color
Obsidian Bookshelf Hair Color
Obsidians Bookshelf Eye Color
Skin Color Chart
Curl and Texture Chart
Writing with Color: Guide to Skin Color, Part I and Part II

Describing a Characters Voice

When coming up with the basic ideal of sound for your RPC it can be hard to come up with something that matches the exact sound you desire in all. There are a few simple directions one is expected to take, but truthfully there are a plethora of options for character voice descriptions.

Some people find it easier to look up youtube videos to find the voice of their characters, though in text is decidedly more difficult to come up with a common description that suits you all together. Here is a descriptive list that may help you in discerning your characters unique sound from the rest.

adenoidal (adj): if someone’s voice is adenoidal, some of the sound seems to come through their nose
appealing (adj): an appealing look/voice shows that you want help, approval, or agreement
breathy (adj): with loud breathing noises
brittle (adj): if you speak in a brittle voice, you sound as if you are about to cry
croaky (adj): if someone’s voice sounds croaky, they speak in a low, rough voice that sounds as if they have a sore throat
dead (adj): if someone’s eyes or voice are dead, they feel or show no emotion
disembodied (adj): a disembodied voice comes from someone who you cannot see
flat (adj): spoken in a voice that does not go up and down; this word is often used for describing the speech of people from a particular region
fruity (adj): a fruity voice or laugh is deep and strong in a pleasant way
grating (adj): a grating voice, laugh, or sound is unpleasant and annoying
gravelly (adj): a gravelly voice sounds low and rough
gruff (adj): this voice has a rough, low sound
guttural (adj): a guttural sound is deep and made at the back of your throat
high-pitched (adj): true to its name, a high-pitched voice or sound is very high
hoarse (adj): someone who is hoarse, or has a hoarse voice, speaks in a low, rough voice, usually because their throat is sore
honeyed (adj): honeyed words or a honeyed voice sound very nice, but you cannot trust the person who is speaking
husky (adj): a husky voice is deep and sounds hoarse (as if you have a sore throat), often in an attractive way
low (adj): a low voice is quiet and difficult to hear; also used for describing a deep voice that has a long wavelength
matter-of-fact (adj): usually used if the person speaking knows what they are talking about (or absolutely think they know what they are talking about)
modulated (adj): a modulated voice is controlled and pleasant to listen to
monotonous (adj): this kind of voice is boring and unpleasant due to the fact that it does not change in loudness or become higher/lower
nasal (adj): someone with a nasal voice sounds as if they are speaking through their nose
orotund (adj): an orotund voice is loud and clear
penetrating (adj): a penetrating voice is so high or loud that it makes you slightly uncomfortable
plummy (adj): a plummy voice or way of speaking is considered to be typical of an English person of a high social class; this word shows that you dislike people who speak like this
quietly (adj): in a soft, quiet voice
raucous (adj): a raucous voice or noise is loud and sounds rough
ringing (adj): a ringing voice is very loud and clear
rough (adj): a rough voice is not soft and is unpleasant to listen to
shrill (adj): a shrill voice is very loud, high, and unpleasant
silvery (adj): this voice is clear, light, and pleasant
singsong (adj): if you speak in a singsong voice, your voice rises and falls in a musical way
small (adj): a small voice is quiet
smoky (adj): a smoky voice is sexually attractive in a slightly mysterious way
softly spoken (adj): someone who is softly spoken has a quiet, gentle voice
soft-spoken (adj): speaking or said in a quiet, gentle voice
sotto voce (adj, adv): in a very quiet voice
stentorian (adj): a stentorian voice sounds very loud and severe
strangled (adj): a strangled sound is one that someone stops before they finish making it
strident (adj): this voice is loud and unpleasant
taut (adj): used about something such as a voice that shows someone is nervous or angry
thick (adj): if your voice is thick with an emotion, it sounds less clear than usual because of the emotion
thickly (adv): with a low voice that comes mostly from your throat
thin (adj): a thin voice or sound is high and unpleasant to listen to
throaty (adj): a throaty sound is low and seems to come from deep in your throat
tight (adj): shows that you are nervous or annoyed
toneless (adj): does not express any emotion
tremulous (adj): if your voice is tremulous, it is not steady; for example, because you are afraid or excited
wheezy (adj): a wheezy noise sounds as if it is made by someone who has difficulty breathing
wobbly (adj): if your voice is wobbly, it goes up and down, usually because you are frightened, not confident, or are going to cry
booming (adj): very loud and attention-getting
quavering (adv): if your voice quavers, it is not steady because you are feeling nervous or afraid
a voice like a foghorn: very loud voice
in an undertone: using a quiet voice so that someone cannot hear you
someone’s dulcet tones: the sound of someone’s voice as they speak

Characters with Mental Illnesses
In today’s glamorized society it is not unusual to come across characters who are graced with varying mental illnesses. These mental illnesses are often falsely used, and can be used simply to employ a level of control and focus on a character, leading to sympathy rather than truly adding depth to the character as a whole. As this is a difficult overall topic and I am by no means an expect, I will be providing a list of commonly used mental illnesses and a basic explanation of what they are, and what kind of symptoms associate with them. I will also include some secondary links with better explanations.

I should add that while it is popular to give your character some kind of a mental illness, sometimes these are very real problems that people experience and survive through on a daily instances, and should be treated as a privilege to be used rather than simply a sign of attention. I will include a link to support for those of you who are undergoing such personal stresses. You are not alone.

Mental illness as a whole can be considered a vastly influential and often negative affliction to a characters personality. Many people can meta-game and justify their actions due to their ‘mental illnesses’ such mania, psychosis, or even multiple personality disorders. Many people will treat these illnesses as a ploy for attention reading into the facts by the media and Hollywood films rather than the true facts about mental illness as a whole. Using truism and Hollywood stereotypes is not only lazy, but can perpetuate detrimental and erroneous perceptions over what something REALLY is.

How to Receive Good Information about Mental Illnesses
_{Do your RESEARCH on the illness’ you wish to portray, (the amount of times I’ve had someone claim to have schizophrenia in a storyline because the only hear voices with no explanation beyond such can leave one sick to their stomach.) Give yourself a basic understanding of mental health issues; read Abnormal Psyche texts and articles. Always remain open minded as some websites can be scandalized and over embellished. Always find a credible source (Wikipedia doesn’t count.) Never stop your research, keep reading and advance your understand of what this illness is because you hop skip and jump into a world you don’t even have a clue your writing about.}

Varieties of Mental Illness’

Anxiety and Panic Attacks:

Bipolar Disorder:

Depression:

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ‘OCD’:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ‘PTSD’:

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