Avoiding Mary Sues
source.
Tips to Avoid Making Mary-Sues
In this piece of writing, I will be giving you some tips on how to avoid Mary-Sues. I will be using some of my own characters as examples in here too.
Just one thing before I get started though, having only one thing apply to a character doesn't always make them an instant Mary-Sue (except for point 3 because no one is perfect).
1. Tragic Pasts
Tragic pasts are extremely common, you can pick up a lot of books and see that the main character has some kind of bad happening in their past. Some examples of tragic pasts can be orphaned in a car/plane crash, beaten, raped, stolen, enslaved, having alcoholic/drug addict parents, etcetera. There isn't anything to say that a character can't have a good past though, many people grow up in happy homes.
Now, Mary-Sues are likely to have at least more than one of those tragic happenings. They also tend to keep angsting about it too, making other characters take pity on them.
I must admit that I have characters that have tragic pasts, but I don't make them angst about it all the time.
Example: My character Li. When he was six years old his whole village was burnt down because people like him in the village hadn't been given up to Trackers. Everyone but him died because he managed to find a place to hide (it's sounding fairly Mary-Suish isn't it?). He doesn't like to really explain it to others though, and he says later on in the story: "I got over it a long time ago." I won't use it as an excuse for him to do whatever he wants and get away with it.
2. Amnesia
Boy is this one common. The character usually wakes up, probably in a strange place, not remembering a thing about themselves except for their names and their ages (maybe not even that). Over time, their memories return, or are given back, and they find out that they are a secret princess or something similar.
I have (sadly) done this in the past. It does actually get annoying after a while because they keep having flashbacks. I, personally, am going to avoid this situation from now on. (I am not going to mention that character here, they are old and too embarrassing to think about.)
I'm sure that someone could actually write a good story where the main character has amnesia, but that person is not me.
3. Perfect in Every Way
I am not kidding about this one. Mary-Sues are usually perfect in every way; they have perfect bodies, perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect personalities... And, if they do have any flaws, they are usually so small that they don't matter. Perfection isn't good, if someone is perfect, they have no room to grow. Of course, since they are perfect in every way, every character falls in love with them.
I can't think of any characters of mine that are like this, although, the character I mentioned before in the amnesia section may fit into this one too.
4. Unusual colours
By 'unusual colours' I mean eyes or hair that are naturally a weird shade of pink. Sometimes, the colours change depending on their mood. Usually, people who have these weird colours for eyes and hair stand out from the norm because absolutely no one else is like them. Also, a common trait is heterochromia, but instead of one brown eye and one blue eye, they have one violet eye and one pink eye. I do have characters with unusual coloured eyes, but they aren't humans.
Example: Haku, Li and Jiang have deep purple, emerald green, and topaz orange eyes respectively. Those aren't unusual colours for their kind.
More examples: I have two characters that are re-dos of old ones, Flora and Shafiq. They both have red eyes, but so does everyone else, they aren't human even though they look like humans.
5. Half Everything
Don't have a character who is half demon, half human, half dragon, half angel, etc, etc. For one thing, someone who has both angel blood and demon blood shouldn't be able to exist unless they wanted to implode, for another; it doesn't add up to one. If it worked like that, five hundred different people would be created or something.
If you want them to be more than half of one thing and half of another, do some maths and get the fractions right so it all adds up to one. Failing that, say 'part this' and 'part that'.
The most things I've put into one person is three things, making them half, quarter and quarter. See? ½ + ¼ + ¼ = 1, it gets harder the more things you put in though.
Also, don't put complete opposites into one person. A being who is half demon and half angel would cancel itself out. It's sort of like (sorry, more maths) +1 – 1 = 0, nothing is made. How does an angel fall in love with a demon anyway? (Sorry, I really needed to point that one out.)
Example: In my current story, Jiang is half eastern elf, half southern elf (yes, there is a difference between them), east = wood, south = fire. He is fine because in Wu Xing (the five elements – it's Chinese) fire and wood are next to each other. There is one pairing that absolutely won't work, fire and water, if they are full blooded northern and southern people that is. The parents won't get along at all for one, they wouldn't have kids in the first place. The only way people from the north and the south would ever be able to have children together is if they managed to figure out a way to complement each other, like the other nations managed to do. If two people, one northener, one southener, managed to get over their differences and started to complement each other instead of fight, it would be possible for them to have children because they aren't great good and great evil getting together. They're just opposites, and sometimes they can attract. It's just something to think about.
6. All Powerful
Don't give one character a billion and one magical powers. It takes away weaknesses (this one kind of links back to the 'Perfect in Every Way' section) and, eventually, you start forgetting about the powers that they possess. Unless there is a reason, don't give them godlike abilities.
Common powers that get stuffed into one person are: earth, fire, water, air, telepathy, telekinesis, transformation, time travel, future sight, teleportation... I think you get the picture. It may be cool to give your characters awesome powers like these, but having all of these powers shouldn't be physically possible.
I have fallen prey to this one before, and I did start to forget about the powers my character(s) already had. They were overly powerful and didn't seem to have any weaknesses at all.
Right now, I still have powerful characters but they have their weaknesses.
Example: Haku can control five elements, heal, calm the dead and transform into a dog. She may sound powerful at the moment, but since she is from the north, she is severely weakened by hot, dry environments – such as deserts, and dehydration. Also, since fire and earth are her natural opposites, she finds it extremely difficult to control those elements. Anyone can transform too, people turning into dogs are really common, and even then, Haku has great difficulty changing back. She can heal people, but uses her own energy to do so, and absolutely anyone can use the spells she uses to calm the dead. There are weaknesses for each of the elements too, if someone who controls fire is drenched with water, all they create is steam. If people who control water are dehydrated or can't use the water in the air because there is none, that's their weakness. Wood people are at a disadvantage if they are in an environment that doesn't support plant life well. Anyone who controls metal can't use their power if there isn't metal around, and even then, if there are magnetic substances are in the area, certain metals can be extremely difficult to move. Earth people have some trouble with mud and sand, qi constantly has to be put into these substances so energy is drained quickly. Also, (I was inspired by Avatar for this one) if they are restrained, they cannot use any of the elements.
It is extremely important to make sure that each ability has an equal weakness.
7. Clothing
The style of clothing used in the story usually depends on the time, place and genre. For example, a steampunk story would allow things like corsets, but miniskirts would not be something you'd expect as steampunk is futuristic Victorian era costume.
Skimpy clothing in a Victorian era story is not a good idea, and neither are pants on a woman, it would be frowned upon because the fashion was long dresses, as much skin as possible was covered up. If your story is set in the 1920's (a flapper for example)or the 1960's then it would be fine to have mini skirts.
It's best to do the research and learn about the clothing of the time and place.
Clothing preference also depends upon the skin tone of a person; anyone with pale skin who is prone to sunburn would cover up whereas people with darker skin tones would tend to expose a bit more skin. It's good to look at people in real life, how many people a day do you see wandering around in a mini skirt and a corset? I don't see many people like that, in summer, people usually wear a pair of shorts and a tank top or a t-shirt.
Research can actually be fun. I love to look up different types of clothing and learn about them. If it is fanfiction that you are writing, look at the types of clothing in the fandom, there are a lot of things you can do.
8. Weird Marks/Tattoos and Scars
I must admit, it can be cool to give your characters tattoos and strange birthmarks. They should have a reason for being there. Birthmarks aren't unusual, but usually they are just splodges of a darker skin colour somewhere on the body, if they must have an odd shaped birthmark, have a really good reason for it.
Example: Haku has a birthmark on her right shoulder in the shape of the Chinese character for love, the reason she has it is because it tells people that she is part of the healing family.
Tattoos are a bit different, sometimes they can have reasons as to why they are there, but other times, they are just decorations. Some things can be inappropriate though, a sweet girl won't have a skull tattooed onto her arm, but a rebel probably would. Age is also a factor; people under eighteen aren't likely to have any tattoos whatsoever. Magical tattoos, however, could probably be on someone younger than eighteen, but again, give a good reason for them being there.
Example: Haku has her name tattooed on her left arm near her armpit marking that she has actually been captured by the south before. Jiang has a tattoo on the back of his left shoulder, it's the Chinese character for 'tiger' and it hurts every time he thinks about killing his friends while in his half-tiger form – no he doesn't actually have tiger blood, it's a magical form.
Obviously, a person won't have scars unless they've been hurt badly in the past. Not all wounds make scars though; deep ones are more likely to form scars. Stitches can as well, but it would depend on the placement, the skin and how it healed. Bad burns are almost certainly going to make a scar.
Example: Li was burnt when he was six because burning wood fell on his back
9. Names
Unless there is an extremely good reason, never ever give a character ten names. Usually, they only need one name; the one that others know them by. Also, do research, if your story is set somewhere in particular, use names from that region. Obviously, Japanese people will have Japanese names. English is probably the exception, we use Hebrew, French, Latin, etc. names, but not usually Asian or African names unless someone from the family is from somewhere in Asia or Africa.
There are also different ways that names can be arranged. In western countries, the order of names is 1st, 2nd, last. In countries like China and Japan, the last name goes before the first name, which can make it fairly confusing sometimes.
Example: (There is probably only one of these in any of my stories) Feng Jiang, he is a noble, which is why he has two names, and his last name is placed before his first name since the story is based on eastern cultures.
10. Romance
Unless you are writing a romance novel, not every character has to fall in love with yours (sometimes, not even then). No one instantly falls in love with someone, they develop crushes a lot of the time, but they don't often act on these crushes. There are also things that may keep someone falling in love with another person: (a) the other character is already in a strong relationship, (b) the other character is gay and your character is of the opposite sex, (c) the villain may see the character as beautiful/handsome, but they are still enemies and the relationship won't work.
In real life there may be one person who looks really beautiful and is probably talented in everything, but they have horrible personalities which will put a lot of people off. Also, in real life, people won't respect you much is you have lots of different relationships, you'll be called names because of it.
There doesn't always have to be a love interest either, pairing your character up isn't really necessary. It is also hard to do if you have never been in a real relationship.
I'm no authority on love, but I do know that no single person is able to walk into a room and make everyone look at them, instantly make them fall head-over-heels in love with them and confess their undying love, it just never happens.
Give your character one main love interest (yes, main, because they are likely to have crushes and maybe even short relationships too, but no really serious relationships with one or two other people). Either that or don't bother with a love interest at all, it may be easier that way.
So there you have it, a list of tips on how to avoid making a Mary-Sue. I hope this helps.
Tips to Avoid Making Mary-Sues
In this piece of writing, I will be giving you some tips on how to avoid Mary-Sues. I will be using some of my own characters as examples in here too.
Just one thing before I get started though, having only one thing apply to a character doesn't always make them an instant Mary-Sue (except for point 3 because no one is perfect).
1. Tragic Pasts
Tragic pasts are extremely common, you can pick up a lot of books and see that the main character has some kind of bad happening in their past. Some examples of tragic pasts can be orphaned in a car/plane crash, beaten, raped, stolen, enslaved, having alcoholic/drug addict parents, etcetera. There isn't anything to say that a character can't have a good past though, many people grow up in happy homes.
Now, Mary-Sues are likely to have at least more than one of those tragic happenings. They also tend to keep angsting about it too, making other characters take pity on them.
I must admit that I have characters that have tragic pasts, but I don't make them angst about it all the time.
Example: My character Li. When he was six years old his whole village was burnt down because people like him in the village hadn't been given up to Trackers. Everyone but him died because he managed to find a place to hide (it's sounding fairly Mary-Suish isn't it?). He doesn't like to really explain it to others though, and he says later on in the story: "I got over it a long time ago." I won't use it as an excuse for him to do whatever he wants and get away with it.
2. Amnesia
Boy is this one common. The character usually wakes up, probably in a strange place, not remembering a thing about themselves except for their names and their ages (maybe not even that). Over time, their memories return, or are given back, and they find out that they are a secret princess or something similar.
I have (sadly) done this in the past. It does actually get annoying after a while because they keep having flashbacks. I, personally, am going to avoid this situation from now on. (I am not going to mention that character here, they are old and too embarrassing to think about.)
I'm sure that someone could actually write a good story where the main character has amnesia, but that person is not me.
3. Perfect in Every Way
I am not kidding about this one. Mary-Sues are usually perfect in every way; they have perfect bodies, perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect personalities... And, if they do have any flaws, they are usually so small that they don't matter. Perfection isn't good, if someone is perfect, they have no room to grow. Of course, since they are perfect in every way, every character falls in love with them.
I can't think of any characters of mine that are like this, although, the character I mentioned before in the amnesia section may fit into this one too.
4. Unusual colours
By 'unusual colours' I mean eyes or hair that are naturally a weird shade of pink. Sometimes, the colours change depending on their mood. Usually, people who have these weird colours for eyes and hair stand out from the norm because absolutely no one else is like them. Also, a common trait is heterochromia, but instead of one brown eye and one blue eye, they have one violet eye and one pink eye. I do have characters with unusual coloured eyes, but they aren't humans.
Example: Haku, Li and Jiang have deep purple, emerald green, and topaz orange eyes respectively. Those aren't unusual colours for their kind.
More examples: I have two characters that are re-dos of old ones, Flora and Shafiq. They both have red eyes, but so does everyone else, they aren't human even though they look like humans.
5. Half Everything
Don't have a character who is half demon, half human, half dragon, half angel, etc, etc. For one thing, someone who has both angel blood and demon blood shouldn't be able to exist unless they wanted to implode, for another; it doesn't add up to one. If it worked like that, five hundred different people would be created or something.
If you want them to be more than half of one thing and half of another, do some maths and get the fractions right so it all adds up to one. Failing that, say 'part this' and 'part that'.
The most things I've put into one person is three things, making them half, quarter and quarter. See? ½ + ¼ + ¼ = 1, it gets harder the more things you put in though.
Also, don't put complete opposites into one person. A being who is half demon and half angel would cancel itself out. It's sort of like (sorry, more maths) +1 – 1 = 0, nothing is made. How does an angel fall in love with a demon anyway? (Sorry, I really needed to point that one out.)
Example: In my current story, Jiang is half eastern elf, half southern elf (yes, there is a difference between them), east = wood, south = fire. He is fine because in Wu Xing (the five elements – it's Chinese) fire and wood are next to each other. There is one pairing that absolutely won't work, fire and water, if they are full blooded northern and southern people that is. The parents won't get along at all for one, they wouldn't have kids in the first place. The only way people from the north and the south would ever be able to have children together is if they managed to figure out a way to complement each other, like the other nations managed to do. If two people, one northener, one southener, managed to get over their differences and started to complement each other instead of fight, it would be possible for them to have children because they aren't great good and great evil getting together. They're just opposites, and sometimes they can attract. It's just something to think about.
6. All Powerful
Don't give one character a billion and one magical powers. It takes away weaknesses (this one kind of links back to the 'Perfect in Every Way' section) and, eventually, you start forgetting about the powers that they possess. Unless there is a reason, don't give them godlike abilities.
Common powers that get stuffed into one person are: earth, fire, water, air, telepathy, telekinesis, transformation, time travel, future sight, teleportation... I think you get the picture. It may be cool to give your characters awesome powers like these, but having all of these powers shouldn't be physically possible.
I have fallen prey to this one before, and I did start to forget about the powers my character(s) already had. They were overly powerful and didn't seem to have any weaknesses at all.
Right now, I still have powerful characters but they have their weaknesses.
Example: Haku can control five elements, heal, calm the dead and transform into a dog. She may sound powerful at the moment, but since she is from the north, she is severely weakened by hot, dry environments – such as deserts, and dehydration. Also, since fire and earth are her natural opposites, she finds it extremely difficult to control those elements. Anyone can transform too, people turning into dogs are really common, and even then, Haku has great difficulty changing back. She can heal people, but uses her own energy to do so, and absolutely anyone can use the spells she uses to calm the dead. There are weaknesses for each of the elements too, if someone who controls fire is drenched with water, all they create is steam. If people who control water are dehydrated or can't use the water in the air because there is none, that's their weakness. Wood people are at a disadvantage if they are in an environment that doesn't support plant life well. Anyone who controls metal can't use their power if there isn't metal around, and even then, if there are magnetic substances are in the area, certain metals can be extremely difficult to move. Earth people have some trouble with mud and sand, qi constantly has to be put into these substances so energy is drained quickly. Also, (I was inspired by Avatar for this one) if they are restrained, they cannot use any of the elements.
It is extremely important to make sure that each ability has an equal weakness.
7. Clothing
The style of clothing used in the story usually depends on the time, place and genre. For example, a steampunk story would allow things like corsets, but miniskirts would not be something you'd expect as steampunk is futuristic Victorian era costume.
Skimpy clothing in a Victorian era story is not a good idea, and neither are pants on a woman, it would be frowned upon because the fashion was long dresses, as much skin as possible was covered up. If your story is set in the 1920's (a flapper for example)or the 1960's then it would be fine to have mini skirts.
It's best to do the research and learn about the clothing of the time and place.
Clothing preference also depends upon the skin tone of a person; anyone with pale skin who is prone to sunburn would cover up whereas people with darker skin tones would tend to expose a bit more skin. It's good to look at people in real life, how many people a day do you see wandering around in a mini skirt and a corset? I don't see many people like that, in summer, people usually wear a pair of shorts and a tank top or a t-shirt.
Research can actually be fun. I love to look up different types of clothing and learn about them. If it is fanfiction that you are writing, look at the types of clothing in the fandom, there are a lot of things you can do.
8. Weird Marks/Tattoos and Scars
I must admit, it can be cool to give your characters tattoos and strange birthmarks. They should have a reason for being there. Birthmarks aren't unusual, but usually they are just splodges of a darker skin colour somewhere on the body, if they must have an odd shaped birthmark, have a really good reason for it.
Example: Haku has a birthmark on her right shoulder in the shape of the Chinese character for love, the reason she has it is because it tells people that she is part of the healing family.
Tattoos are a bit different, sometimes they can have reasons as to why they are there, but other times, they are just decorations. Some things can be inappropriate though, a sweet girl won't have a skull tattooed onto her arm, but a rebel probably would. Age is also a factor; people under eighteen aren't likely to have any tattoos whatsoever. Magical tattoos, however, could probably be on someone younger than eighteen, but again, give a good reason for them being there.
Example: Haku has her name tattooed on her left arm near her armpit marking that she has actually been captured by the south before. Jiang has a tattoo on the back of his left shoulder, it's the Chinese character for 'tiger' and it hurts every time he thinks about killing his friends while in his half-tiger form – no he doesn't actually have tiger blood, it's a magical form.
Obviously, a person won't have scars unless they've been hurt badly in the past. Not all wounds make scars though; deep ones are more likely to form scars. Stitches can as well, but it would depend on the placement, the skin and how it healed. Bad burns are almost certainly going to make a scar.
Example: Li was burnt when he was six because burning wood fell on his back
9. Names
Unless there is an extremely good reason, never ever give a character ten names. Usually, they only need one name; the one that others know them by. Also, do research, if your story is set somewhere in particular, use names from that region. Obviously, Japanese people will have Japanese names. English is probably the exception, we use Hebrew, French, Latin, etc. names, but not usually Asian or African names unless someone from the family is from somewhere in Asia or Africa.
There are also different ways that names can be arranged. In western countries, the order of names is 1st, 2nd, last. In countries like China and Japan, the last name goes before the first name, which can make it fairly confusing sometimes.
Example: (There is probably only one of these in any of my stories) Feng Jiang, he is a noble, which is why he has two names, and his last name is placed before his first name since the story is based on eastern cultures.
10. Romance
Unless you are writing a romance novel, not every character has to fall in love with yours (sometimes, not even then). No one instantly falls in love with someone, they develop crushes a lot of the time, but they don't often act on these crushes. There are also things that may keep someone falling in love with another person: (a) the other character is already in a strong relationship, (b) the other character is gay and your character is of the opposite sex, (c) the villain may see the character as beautiful/handsome, but they are still enemies and the relationship won't work.
In real life there may be one person who looks really beautiful and is probably talented in everything, but they have horrible personalities which will put a lot of people off. Also, in real life, people won't respect you much is you have lots of different relationships, you'll be called names because of it.
There doesn't always have to be a love interest either, pairing your character up isn't really necessary. It is also hard to do if you have never been in a real relationship.
I'm no authority on love, but I do know that no single person is able to walk into a room and make everyone look at them, instantly make them fall head-over-heels in love with them and confess their undying love, it just never happens.
Give your character one main love interest (yes, main, because they are likely to have crushes and maybe even short relationships too, but no really serious relationships with one or two other people). Either that or don't bother with a love interest at all, it may be easier that way.
So there you have it, a list of tips on how to avoid making a Mary-Sue. I hope this helps.
Character tips pt. 5
source.
Character Creation – Dreams and Fears
Absolutely everybody has their dreams for the future and there isn't anybody alive who isn't afraid of something. Giving your character both dreams and fears will help to flesh out your character a little bit.
Dreams
You probably have dreams for your future, so why shouldn't your character? They don't have to be huge, but it has to be possible to work towards them. Their dream could be to get the job they've always wanted. It could be to recover from an illness that they've had for a long time, or it could be as simple as to just find where they belong.
Whatever the goal is, there has to be something getting in the way. For example, my dream is to become a professional author, but I'm not comfortable showing what I've written to other people. It's the same for your character, achieving a dream shouldn't be so easy.
Of course, no one has just one goal in life, but they will always have one major one. That would be the one you would write down if you were creating a character reference sheet. There will be small goals leading up to achieving that dream.
Heroes aren't the only ones who have dreams. Villains have them too. If you are creating an evil character they will still need to have a goal that they are working towards. Sometimes it's the same basic goal as the hero's, but for a different purpose in the end. The difference in these goals will most likely define whether your character is a hero or a villain.
Example: Both Shafiq and Quintessa are after the same thing. The difference between them is that Quintessa will use it to plunge the world into darkness after making herself all powerful and eternally young and beautiful. Shafiq, on the other hand, will use it to save his family from a generational curse and then he plans to destroy it so no evil can get their hands on it.
Note: For a happy ending, the goal of the hero should be reached and the villain loses. If the villain wins and achieves their goal, then it's a not-so-happy ending.
Fears
Fear is the ability to recognise danger and flee from it or face it. It is also known as the 'fight or flight' response, a basic instinct.
Everyone is scared of something. Most of the time there is a reason, but they could be irrational fears. Sometimes these fears will be so big that your character just freezes up or passes out.
A traumatic experience in your character's past would most likely cause them to have a fear of that particular thing. If they had an incident with fire and have burn scars to prove it, then they are likely to be afraid of fire. If they almost drowned as a child then it would be reasonable to develop a fear of water afterwards.
A phobia is a persistent fear of a situation or thing. Someone with a phobia will go to great lengths to avoid that fear which is often considered irrational. If the phobia cannot be avoided then the person will endure the situation or object with visible distress and it could interfere significantly with social or work related activities.
Encountering a phobia usually provokes an immediate anxiety response. It may take the form of a panic attack; the symptoms of a panic attack can include trembling, shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness, hot and cold flushes, nausea, dizziness, sweating, light-headedness, and more. Fainting can also occur. A child will express their anxiety as crying, freezing, tantrums or clinging.
Your character is going to have fears, whether they are rational or completely irrational. They only need a few of them, and they should be used. If your character is afraid of spiders, have them scream every time they see one. Your character will probably notice whatever scares them more than someone who wasn't afraid of it.
Example: Faunus is afraid of blood, he faints when he sees large amounts of it; even small amounts make him nauseous. Shafiq is afraid of falling asleep because of the nightmares, he avoids it until he collapses and has to sleep. Flora is afraid of spiders and will scream and stomp on it until it is dead, and then she'll stomp on it some more.
Villains will have fears too; usually it is a fear of failure.
Your character doesn't need to conquer their fears. Having that fear can define them. Of course, it is possible to get over it, but getting over a fear is never easy.
Conclusion
Now your character should have their major goal and also some fears. They should be fairly fleshed out by now, but they need some friends and family. It's not possible to be completely alone in the world.
Character Creation – Dreams and Fears
Absolutely everybody has their dreams for the future and there isn't anybody alive who isn't afraid of something. Giving your character both dreams and fears will help to flesh out your character a little bit.
Dreams
You probably have dreams for your future, so why shouldn't your character? They don't have to be huge, but it has to be possible to work towards them. Their dream could be to get the job they've always wanted. It could be to recover from an illness that they've had for a long time, or it could be as simple as to just find where they belong.
Whatever the goal is, there has to be something getting in the way. For example, my dream is to become a professional author, but I'm not comfortable showing what I've written to other people. It's the same for your character, achieving a dream shouldn't be so easy.
Of course, no one has just one goal in life, but they will always have one major one. That would be the one you would write down if you were creating a character reference sheet. There will be small goals leading up to achieving that dream.
Heroes aren't the only ones who have dreams. Villains have them too. If you are creating an evil character they will still need to have a goal that they are working towards. Sometimes it's the same basic goal as the hero's, but for a different purpose in the end. The difference in these goals will most likely define whether your character is a hero or a villain.
Example: Both Shafiq and Quintessa are after the same thing. The difference between them is that Quintessa will use it to plunge the world into darkness after making herself all powerful and eternally young and beautiful. Shafiq, on the other hand, will use it to save his family from a generational curse and then he plans to destroy it so no evil can get their hands on it.
Note: For a happy ending, the goal of the hero should be reached and the villain loses. If the villain wins and achieves their goal, then it's a not-so-happy ending.
Fears
Fear is the ability to recognise danger and flee from it or face it. It is also known as the 'fight or flight' response, a basic instinct.
Everyone is scared of something. Most of the time there is a reason, but they could be irrational fears. Sometimes these fears will be so big that your character just freezes up or passes out.
A traumatic experience in your character's past would most likely cause them to have a fear of that particular thing. If they had an incident with fire and have burn scars to prove it, then they are likely to be afraid of fire. If they almost drowned as a child then it would be reasonable to develop a fear of water afterwards.
A phobia is a persistent fear of a situation or thing. Someone with a phobia will go to great lengths to avoid that fear which is often considered irrational. If the phobia cannot be avoided then the person will endure the situation or object with visible distress and it could interfere significantly with social or work related activities.
Encountering a phobia usually provokes an immediate anxiety response. It may take the form of a panic attack; the symptoms of a panic attack can include trembling, shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness, hot and cold flushes, nausea, dizziness, sweating, light-headedness, and more. Fainting can also occur. A child will express their anxiety as crying, freezing, tantrums or clinging.
Your character is going to have fears, whether they are rational or completely irrational. They only need a few of them, and they should be used. If your character is afraid of spiders, have them scream every time they see one. Your character will probably notice whatever scares them more than someone who wasn't afraid of it.
Example: Faunus is afraid of blood, he faints when he sees large amounts of it; even small amounts make him nauseous. Shafiq is afraid of falling asleep because of the nightmares, he avoids it until he collapses and has to sleep. Flora is afraid of spiders and will scream and stomp on it until it is dead, and then she'll stomp on it some more.
Villains will have fears too; usually it is a fear of failure.
Your character doesn't need to conquer their fears. Having that fear can define them. Of course, it is possible to get over it, but getting over a fear is never easy.
Conclusion
Now your character should have their major goal and also some fears. They should be fairly fleshed out by now, but they need some friends and family. It's not possible to be completely alone in the world.
Character tips pt. 4
source.
Character Creation – Magic and Abilities
If you are creating a character for the fantasy genre, more often than not, they have some kind of magic. There are all kinds of magic, but some planning has to go into it.
How did they get it?
There are many ways your character could get their magic. It could be given to them by some higher power, it could be genetics, or they could use a magical item and have no real power of their own.
I'll start with genetics. If this is how your character got their power then somebody else in their family tree somewhere should have the same power. It wouldn't have to be in their immediate family since it could be recessive (just like I am a red head with green eyes whereas everyone else in my immediate family has brown hair and blue eyes, I take after my great-grandparents), it could skip a few generations before showing up again. Also, since magic is basically part of your character's genes in this type, they cannot gain both of their parent's abilities, genes don't mix in humans. They can in plants, however, like when you put a red snapdragon and a white snapdragon together, you can eventually get a pink one. If this is the way your character has gotten their powers (the plant-like way) then, say their parents have the powers of fire and water, your character could end up being able to control steam or something like that. It probably won't always work though. If biology isn't your strength then you shouldn't choose this type.
The second way your character could gain their abilities is to have them given to your character by a higher power. This one would mean that people in the same family don't need to have the same powers, and if they did it would have nothing to do with genetics. The higher power could be royalty, a priest, the gods – you have to think of something. I commonly use this way of giving my characters their abilities (if they have them).
Example: The characters in the book I am currently writing are blessed by different gods and goddesses. Shafiq was blessed by the sun god, Flora was blessed by the flower goddess, Edward was blessed by the god of the night and Faunus was blessed by the god of animals.
Of course, if you want some sort of deity to give magic to your character, you'll need to either make up your own gods or research some from world mythology. Even then, gods will have personalities (so they could be selfish) or they have powers that are too dangerous to give to anyone (e.g. time or death) so those powers could be extremely rare or non-existent.
The third type is to have a magical item such as a talisman which allows your character, who has no magic of their own, to use some. There would be many limits to this though, maybe the magic doesn't last long and has to be recharged somehow, or it could be extremely difficult to use. This type is fairly uncommon, but it could be interesting to try and use.
Ways to Use Magic
Your character could cast spells, or use their own energy to use their magic. Remember that both have their strengths and their weaknesses. Spells don't necessarily need to use up the caster's magic but they could be difficult to cast in the first place, especially in a battle situation. They have to say all of the words (unless they've figured out how to cast the spell in their head), and that can take a very long time to do.
In the second type, using their own energy to use their magic, they can only fight with magic until their energy runs out. However, they don't have the disadvantage of having to say words to make their magic work. Of course, many things could affect this type of magic. If they haven't had much to eat, haven't had enough sleep or are sick then their energy levels, and in turn, their magic, are affected.
Types of Magic
If your character casts spells then they probably aren't that restricted, although they could specialise in a particular type of magic. Using energy, on the other hand, will probably restrict their magic a little bit more. They may only use one element or type of magic.
Example: (Using my characters from before – I should point out that they use their energy to use their magic). Because he was blessed by the god of the sun, Shafiq has the power to control both fire and light – although, not both at once. Flora can control plants and anything made from them – but she has great difficulty moving large pieces of wood (or any heavy plant material), even if she is using magic. Edward can control the winds and is developing a power over darkness – but this power scares him so he doesn't like using it. Faunus can understand the language of beasts and develops an ability to transform into animals – however, he keeps forgetting that he isn't insane when an animal shows up and starts talking to him and he can hardly control his new power.
Things like fire, water, earth and air are very common to use as magical powers. They aren't the only things you could use though. You could use light, darkness, wood, metal, animals, magnets, electricity, sound, sand, ice, fog, glass, pressure, time, death, and more. Of course, for any strength, there has to be a weakness, especially for magic. Someone who controls fire should be weakened by water and light and dark will be strong against each other, just to point out a few.
Whatever you do, don't give your character every imaginable power. Having a horribly over powered character isn't a good thing. It isn't realistic and it is easy to forget which powers you gave them in the first place. Also, for every weakness, they have a strength. So technically speaking, they have no weaknesses. Just don't do it.
Note: One to two powers are good, three powers are okay, four to five is starting to push it, six powers is starting to cross the line and any more than that is unrealistic.
Abilities
As well as their magic, a character may have some special abilities. Most of the time, these abilities are connected to the character's magic in some way.
Example: Shafiq has a quick mind and body, has a high tolerance for heat and can stand in a fire for a limited amount of time without getting burnt. Flora has a natural knowledge of plants and is flexible. Edward has weak psychic abilities, can see in the dark and often notices things other people miss. Faunus has exceptional hearing.
Usually there are one or two abilities that come with each magical power. Maybe with the power of water there come abilities to heal and to breathe underwater. Someone who has sound magic could have a good ear for music. Earth magic might bring great strength. There are still weaknesses to these abilities, maybe having hearing better than a human would mean that extremely high pitched sounds would incapacitate them.
Just like magic, don't give your character loads of abilities. One or two abilities per power is probably enough.
Conclusion
Your character now has their magical abilities. They probably aren't completely finished, but some of the little things (like fears and dreams) aren't hard to figure out. Hopefully this has been helpful.
Character Creation – Magic and Abilities
If you are creating a character for the fantasy genre, more often than not, they have some kind of magic. There are all kinds of magic, but some planning has to go into it.
How did they get it?
There are many ways your character could get their magic. It could be given to them by some higher power, it could be genetics, or they could use a magical item and have no real power of their own.
I'll start with genetics. If this is how your character got their power then somebody else in their family tree somewhere should have the same power. It wouldn't have to be in their immediate family since it could be recessive (just like I am a red head with green eyes whereas everyone else in my immediate family has brown hair and blue eyes, I take after my great-grandparents), it could skip a few generations before showing up again. Also, since magic is basically part of your character's genes in this type, they cannot gain both of their parent's abilities, genes don't mix in humans. They can in plants, however, like when you put a red snapdragon and a white snapdragon together, you can eventually get a pink one. If this is the way your character has gotten their powers (the plant-like way) then, say their parents have the powers of fire and water, your character could end up being able to control steam or something like that. It probably won't always work though. If biology isn't your strength then you shouldn't choose this type.
The second way your character could gain their abilities is to have them given to your character by a higher power. This one would mean that people in the same family don't need to have the same powers, and if they did it would have nothing to do with genetics. The higher power could be royalty, a priest, the gods – you have to think of something. I commonly use this way of giving my characters their abilities (if they have them).
Example: The characters in the book I am currently writing are blessed by different gods and goddesses. Shafiq was blessed by the sun god, Flora was blessed by the flower goddess, Edward was blessed by the god of the night and Faunus was blessed by the god of animals.
Of course, if you want some sort of deity to give magic to your character, you'll need to either make up your own gods or research some from world mythology. Even then, gods will have personalities (so they could be selfish) or they have powers that are too dangerous to give to anyone (e.g. time or death) so those powers could be extremely rare or non-existent.
The third type is to have a magical item such as a talisman which allows your character, who has no magic of their own, to use some. There would be many limits to this though, maybe the magic doesn't last long and has to be recharged somehow, or it could be extremely difficult to use. This type is fairly uncommon, but it could be interesting to try and use.
Ways to Use Magic
Your character could cast spells, or use their own energy to use their magic. Remember that both have their strengths and their weaknesses. Spells don't necessarily need to use up the caster's magic but they could be difficult to cast in the first place, especially in a battle situation. They have to say all of the words (unless they've figured out how to cast the spell in their head), and that can take a very long time to do.
In the second type, using their own energy to use their magic, they can only fight with magic until their energy runs out. However, they don't have the disadvantage of having to say words to make their magic work. Of course, many things could affect this type of magic. If they haven't had much to eat, haven't had enough sleep or are sick then their energy levels, and in turn, their magic, are affected.
Types of Magic
If your character casts spells then they probably aren't that restricted, although they could specialise in a particular type of magic. Using energy, on the other hand, will probably restrict their magic a little bit more. They may only use one element or type of magic.
Example: (Using my characters from before – I should point out that they use their energy to use their magic). Because he was blessed by the god of the sun, Shafiq has the power to control both fire and light – although, not both at once. Flora can control plants and anything made from them – but she has great difficulty moving large pieces of wood (or any heavy plant material), even if she is using magic. Edward can control the winds and is developing a power over darkness – but this power scares him so he doesn't like using it. Faunus can understand the language of beasts and develops an ability to transform into animals – however, he keeps forgetting that he isn't insane when an animal shows up and starts talking to him and he can hardly control his new power.
Things like fire, water, earth and air are very common to use as magical powers. They aren't the only things you could use though. You could use light, darkness, wood, metal, animals, magnets, electricity, sound, sand, ice, fog, glass, pressure, time, death, and more. Of course, for any strength, there has to be a weakness, especially for magic. Someone who controls fire should be weakened by water and light and dark will be strong against each other, just to point out a few.
Whatever you do, don't give your character every imaginable power. Having a horribly over powered character isn't a good thing. It isn't realistic and it is easy to forget which powers you gave them in the first place. Also, for every weakness, they have a strength. So technically speaking, they have no weaknesses. Just don't do it.
Note: One to two powers are good, three powers are okay, four to five is starting to push it, six powers is starting to cross the line and any more than that is unrealistic.
Abilities
As well as their magic, a character may have some special abilities. Most of the time, these abilities are connected to the character's magic in some way.
Example: Shafiq has a quick mind and body, has a high tolerance for heat and can stand in a fire for a limited amount of time without getting burnt. Flora has a natural knowledge of plants and is flexible. Edward has weak psychic abilities, can see in the dark and often notices things other people miss. Faunus has exceptional hearing.
Usually there are one or two abilities that come with each magical power. Maybe with the power of water there come abilities to heal and to breathe underwater. Someone who has sound magic could have a good ear for music. Earth magic might bring great strength. There are still weaknesses to these abilities, maybe having hearing better than a human would mean that extremely high pitched sounds would incapacitate them.
Just like magic, don't give your character loads of abilities. One or two abilities per power is probably enough.
Conclusion
Your character now has their magical abilities. They probably aren't completely finished, but some of the little things (like fears and dreams) aren't hard to figure out. Hopefully this has been helpful.
Character tips pt. 3
source.
Character Creation – Clothing
So, your character has a body, a life and a personality. The thing is, they're still naked! Well, this should solve their problem.
Basics
Before we decide on their clothes, we need to figure out what they actually do for a living. This is important because, apart from their personality, this will decide the type of clothing your character will wear. For example, a princess will wear a lot of fine dresses and have a lot of jewellery whereas a peasant will have patched up clothes and little to no jewellery. A business man will wear a suit to work whereas a person working on a construction site will wear jeans, steel toed boots, a shirt, a high vis. vest and a hard hat.
Basically, position in society and career will determine what your character usually wears.
How Personality Fits In
Appearance is influenced by your personality, not the other way around. For example, an outgoing person will more likely reveal more skin than a shy person. A shy person will probably also wear baggy clothes and not want to show off their figure as much as a confident person.
Note: Pale skinned people will also tend to cover up more than a darker skinned person to prevent sunburn.
Research
I always find that, when it comes to clothes, there is always a lot of research involved. There are many, many, many different types of clothing around the world. Say you are looking for Police uniforms; look for as many pictures as you can at different angles and research until you can research no more. I usually stop after everything starts looking the same. With the internet now available to most of the population there is no excuse for not doing the research. Remember to always cross reference the information, everywhere you look, information will be slightly different. The information that shows up most often is usually right.
Note: If you happen to be writing fanfiction, make sure you look at the kinds of clothes that the canon characters wear, just so they fit into that universe.
Choosing Your Clothes
Dressing your character is one of the best parts of creating them because you get to choose what they wear. Of course, it should be realistic and it should fit with their personality. The career you have chosen for them is also important. So, what do you want to choose? They could be dressed in a country's traditional dress (e.g. kimono, dirndl, cheongsam, sari, etc), they could be trying to fit into some kind of sub-culture (e.g. Goth, steam punk, Lolita, etc), it could be historical dress (e.g. Victorian, Edwardian, 1920's, medieval, etc), some kind of uniform (police, army, air force, navy, school, etc) or it could be as simple as a t-shirt and pants.
There are loads of different materials too. Armour would be made out of a strong metal, like steel. A more primitive culture might make armour out of bone and animal skin, however, but it will never be as effective as metal for protection against weapons. For normal, everyday clothes, materials like wool, cotton, nylon, silk, leather, etc. could be used. Still, make sure it fits with your character and your setting. (Some people don't like materials like wool; it can be irritating to their skin. Your character could be one of these kinds of people.)
To make your character stand out a little bit, they could have embellishments such as lace or buttons on their clothes. Remember to not overdo it. If you have to draw your character all the time, less detail would be better.
A character for the fantasy genre is usually dressed in medieval type clothing. They could, however, be dressed in something modern. The only place where clothing can't vary is historical fiction. If you are creating a character to be placed in a specific era, their clothes need to match the time and place.
Jewellery
There are lots of different types of jewellery. Again, giving your character only a few items would be better. Also, jewellery doesn't have to be special or magical in any kind of way, it can just be decoration. It isn't something that is needed; a lot of people don't wear jewellery.
Jewellery can be made out of many different things, most commonly gold and silver with precious gems like rubies, emeralds and diamonds. Copper can be used, but it will almost certainly turn whatever part of the body they are resting on green (if you've ever worn a cheap, copper ring for a long time, you'll know what I mean).
Piercings are a common form of jewellery. Ears are commonly pierced, but so are many other parts of the body. The navel, tongue, eyebrows, nose, and more can be pierced. Remember, in modern times, these are acceptable for anyone to have, but they wouldn't have been in civilised cultures in the past. If you have a tribal character then it would be fine to have piercings on the face, it probably wouldn't be unusual – but research is still important, make sure you do it.
Conclusion
So, your character is finally dressed. There are probably a few things to figure out though. If they are going to have skills, they shouldn't have too many different ones. If they are going to have magical abilities, then there is still more to come. I hope this was helpful.
Character Creation – Clothing
So, your character has a body, a life and a personality. The thing is, they're still naked! Well, this should solve their problem.
Basics
Before we decide on their clothes, we need to figure out what they actually do for a living. This is important because, apart from their personality, this will decide the type of clothing your character will wear. For example, a princess will wear a lot of fine dresses and have a lot of jewellery whereas a peasant will have patched up clothes and little to no jewellery. A business man will wear a suit to work whereas a person working on a construction site will wear jeans, steel toed boots, a shirt, a high vis. vest and a hard hat.
Basically, position in society and career will determine what your character usually wears.
How Personality Fits In
Appearance is influenced by your personality, not the other way around. For example, an outgoing person will more likely reveal more skin than a shy person. A shy person will probably also wear baggy clothes and not want to show off their figure as much as a confident person.
Note: Pale skinned people will also tend to cover up more than a darker skinned person to prevent sunburn.
Research
I always find that, when it comes to clothes, there is always a lot of research involved. There are many, many, many different types of clothing around the world. Say you are looking for Police uniforms; look for as many pictures as you can at different angles and research until you can research no more. I usually stop after everything starts looking the same. With the internet now available to most of the population there is no excuse for not doing the research. Remember to always cross reference the information, everywhere you look, information will be slightly different. The information that shows up most often is usually right.
Note: If you happen to be writing fanfiction, make sure you look at the kinds of clothes that the canon characters wear, just so they fit into that universe.
Choosing Your Clothes
Dressing your character is one of the best parts of creating them because you get to choose what they wear. Of course, it should be realistic and it should fit with their personality. The career you have chosen for them is also important. So, what do you want to choose? They could be dressed in a country's traditional dress (e.g. kimono, dirndl, cheongsam, sari, etc), they could be trying to fit into some kind of sub-culture (e.g. Goth, steam punk, Lolita, etc), it could be historical dress (e.g. Victorian, Edwardian, 1920's, medieval, etc), some kind of uniform (police, army, air force, navy, school, etc) or it could be as simple as a t-shirt and pants.
There are loads of different materials too. Armour would be made out of a strong metal, like steel. A more primitive culture might make armour out of bone and animal skin, however, but it will never be as effective as metal for protection against weapons. For normal, everyday clothes, materials like wool, cotton, nylon, silk, leather, etc. could be used. Still, make sure it fits with your character and your setting. (Some people don't like materials like wool; it can be irritating to their skin. Your character could be one of these kinds of people.)
To make your character stand out a little bit, they could have embellishments such as lace or buttons on their clothes. Remember to not overdo it. If you have to draw your character all the time, less detail would be better.
A character for the fantasy genre is usually dressed in medieval type clothing. They could, however, be dressed in something modern. The only place where clothing can't vary is historical fiction. If you are creating a character to be placed in a specific era, their clothes need to match the time and place.
Jewellery
There are lots of different types of jewellery. Again, giving your character only a few items would be better. Also, jewellery doesn't have to be special or magical in any kind of way, it can just be decoration. It isn't something that is needed; a lot of people don't wear jewellery.
Jewellery can be made out of many different things, most commonly gold and silver with precious gems like rubies, emeralds and diamonds. Copper can be used, but it will almost certainly turn whatever part of the body they are resting on green (if you've ever worn a cheap, copper ring for a long time, you'll know what I mean).
Piercings are a common form of jewellery. Ears are commonly pierced, but so are many other parts of the body. The navel, tongue, eyebrows, nose, and more can be pierced. Remember, in modern times, these are acceptable for anyone to have, but they wouldn't have been in civilised cultures in the past. If you have a tribal character then it would be fine to have piercings on the face, it probably wouldn't be unusual – but research is still important, make sure you do it.
Conclusion
So, your character is finally dressed. There are probably a few things to figure out though. If they are going to have skills, they shouldn't have too many different ones. If they are going to have magical abilities, then there is still more to come. I hope this was helpful.
Character tips pt. 2
source.
Character Creation – History and Personality
So, you have the body of your character, but it's only the body. It has no life or personality yet. This will hopefully help to give it one.
History
Creating a history is not often fun or easy, but what has happened in your character's past will affect their personality. Of course, like with everything else, there are traps that you can fall into. Some things are horribly overused, it's not illegal to use them, but just keep in mind that they are really common. Whatever you do, don't have an overly sad past, and I don't mean that they can't be orphans, or be abused by a parent or partner, because it does happen in real life (sadly). Just don't have every single thing happen to them.
Example: "Growing up, Amy was never happy. She had been orphaned at the age of 5 in a car crash. She was soon adopted by a family who seemed nice at first but then they started to abuse her. She would cry herself to sleep every night because of this. When she started school, she was always bullied and had no friends. When she was thirteen, she started cutting herself and then one day her parents crossed the line and she stabbed them to death..."
(I think writing that just killed a part of my soul.) There was too much happening to her, and none of it was happy. I don't think that it's realistic to have a past like this. Not that everyone has a life filled with sunshine and rainbows. Don't do this:
Example: "Lisa's life has always been great. She was loved by both of her parents and got everything she ever wanted. Everyone wanted to be her friend at school and she always got top marks..."
(I don't even want to finish writing that one.) Something bad is bound to happen to them at some time in their pasts, they'll have no personality otherwise. They have more of a past if something has happened to them.
Example: "Anne has had a relatively happy life. She was born in South Australia but moved to New South Wales when she was six because her father got a transfer. She had a small but good group of friends that she always played with at lunch and recess times. Sadly, her father was posted back to South Australia, so at the end of year 3, she moved to a small country town with her family. Her family had to stop in Sydney because her grandfather died of cancer and they had to go to the funeral and memorial services. Year 4 was nothing special; she had a good group of friends and joined the local girl guides group in town with her younger sister. In year 5 she started having a bit of trouble, she started getting bullied, it got worse in year 6. Because of this, she started writing stories. Ever since then, writing has become a hobby for her and she does it in any spare time..."
(That was basically my past.) See, not everything is good, but not everything is bad either. To practice, you could write up your own past. When you make up a past for your character, make sure it is realistic.
Personality
This is not the easiest thing to come up with but your character needs a personality. Some parts are natural; other parts are influenced by what has happened to them throughout their lives. Like their past, personality should not be perfect.
Example: "Lisa is an extremely kind person. She is generous and bubbly. She would never hurt another living thing especially animals, she loves them too much. She is extremely loyal and trustworthy. She never raises her voice and she feels moved when somebody cries. She is happy with her life and doesn't wish it to be any different..."
That was hard to write because absolutely no one is like that. She has no flaws at all, and everybody in the whole wide world has character flaws. Perfection doesn't exist. There should be a balance of good and bad.
Example: "Anne is a very shy person; she doesn't often speak to others unless she knows them well. She isn't a very confident person, she prefers to blend in rather than stand out. She is also sensitive, making it easier for others to pick on her. She is a bit of a perfectionist, if she has to do something, she will do it well. She is polite and never swears. She can be a bit bossy, especially when working in a group. She can be impatient at times and stubborn, she also has a fairly short temper. When she is in a bad mood, she can be extremely sarcastic. She is intelligent and a bit of a spelling and grammar Nazi..."
(That was basically my personality.) That is a fairly good example of a personality. It's neither completely good nor completely horrible. Practice writing up personalities by trying to (truthfully) write down your own, the personality of someone from your family or the personality of a good friend.
Conclusion
So, now your character has a body, a personality and a life. Now they need clothing, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that. There is a method to my madness.
Character Creation – History and Personality
So, you have the body of your character, but it's only the body. It has no life or personality yet. This will hopefully help to give it one.
History
Creating a history is not often fun or easy, but what has happened in your character's past will affect their personality. Of course, like with everything else, there are traps that you can fall into. Some things are horribly overused, it's not illegal to use them, but just keep in mind that they are really common. Whatever you do, don't have an overly sad past, and I don't mean that they can't be orphans, or be abused by a parent or partner, because it does happen in real life (sadly). Just don't have every single thing happen to them.
Example: "Growing up, Amy was never happy. She had been orphaned at the age of 5 in a car crash. She was soon adopted by a family who seemed nice at first but then they started to abuse her. She would cry herself to sleep every night because of this. When she started school, she was always bullied and had no friends. When she was thirteen, she started cutting herself and then one day her parents crossed the line and she stabbed them to death..."
(I think writing that just killed a part of my soul.) There was too much happening to her, and none of it was happy. I don't think that it's realistic to have a past like this. Not that everyone has a life filled with sunshine and rainbows. Don't do this:
Example: "Lisa's life has always been great. She was loved by both of her parents and got everything she ever wanted. Everyone wanted to be her friend at school and she always got top marks..."
(I don't even want to finish writing that one.) Something bad is bound to happen to them at some time in their pasts, they'll have no personality otherwise. They have more of a past if something has happened to them.
Example: "Anne has had a relatively happy life. She was born in South Australia but moved to New South Wales when she was six because her father got a transfer. She had a small but good group of friends that she always played with at lunch and recess times. Sadly, her father was posted back to South Australia, so at the end of year 3, she moved to a small country town with her family. Her family had to stop in Sydney because her grandfather died of cancer and they had to go to the funeral and memorial services. Year 4 was nothing special; she had a good group of friends and joined the local girl guides group in town with her younger sister. In year 5 she started having a bit of trouble, she started getting bullied, it got worse in year 6. Because of this, she started writing stories. Ever since then, writing has become a hobby for her and she does it in any spare time..."
(That was basically my past.) See, not everything is good, but not everything is bad either. To practice, you could write up your own past. When you make up a past for your character, make sure it is realistic.
Personality
This is not the easiest thing to come up with but your character needs a personality. Some parts are natural; other parts are influenced by what has happened to them throughout their lives. Like their past, personality should not be perfect.
Example: "Lisa is an extremely kind person. She is generous and bubbly. She would never hurt another living thing especially animals, she loves them too much. She is extremely loyal and trustworthy. She never raises her voice and she feels moved when somebody cries. She is happy with her life and doesn't wish it to be any different..."
That was hard to write because absolutely no one is like that. She has no flaws at all, and everybody in the whole wide world has character flaws. Perfection doesn't exist. There should be a balance of good and bad.
Example: "Anne is a very shy person; she doesn't often speak to others unless she knows them well. She isn't a very confident person, she prefers to blend in rather than stand out. She is also sensitive, making it easier for others to pick on her. She is a bit of a perfectionist, if she has to do something, she will do it well. She is polite and never swears. She can be a bit bossy, especially when working in a group. She can be impatient at times and stubborn, she also has a fairly short temper. When she is in a bad mood, she can be extremely sarcastic. She is intelligent and a bit of a spelling and grammar Nazi..."
(That was basically my personality.) That is a fairly good example of a personality. It's neither completely good nor completely horrible. Practice writing up personalities by trying to (truthfully) write down your own, the personality of someone from your family or the personality of a good friend.
Conclusion
So, now your character has a body, a personality and a life. Now they need clothing, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that. There is a method to my madness.
Charcter tips pt. 1
source.
Creating Characters – Appearance
Here are a few tips to create the body of your new character. Appearance defines your character almost as much as personality. I hope something will be useful to you.
Body Shape
Is your character muscular? Tall and thin? Short and round? I think about body shape as basically height and weight. There are three basic body types that are also useful to know:
1) Ectomorph – This is a delicate build. Pretty much tall and thin, there are more angles on these bodies than curves. Limbs and neck are also long and shoulders tend to be small. They often have a flat chest. Ectomorphs tend to have fast metabolisms.
2) Mesomorph – A more athletic build. This type is more muscular. They have broad shoulders, a narrow waist and wide hips. This build gives women an hourglass type shape, with more curves than angles. Mesomorphs gain muscle easily.
3) Endomorph – A rounder build. The abdominal area is more dominant with a high waist and no prominent bones. Arms and legs are also shorter. Endomorphs have a slow metabolism and tend to gain muscle and fat very easily.
Of course, you can mix and match these three basic body types. For example, you could have a mesomorphic ectomorph which is a thin and delicate build with a bit more muscle than a regular ectomorph. (One thing though, if you swap those two, you'll get a muscular person who is just less heavily built.) It's more common to be a mix between these types than to just have a single basic shape.
Face Shape
There are many different shapes for faces. The shape of a face depends on the shape of the jaw, roundness of the cheeks and sometimes the shape of the hairline. Four common shapes are:
1) Triangular – A face which is narrowest at the bottom with a pointed chin. Widens at the forehead with a straight hairline (a heart shaped face is the same, but with a hairline like the top of a heart instead.)
2) Round – The face width and length are both equal with a round jaw and hairline.
3) Square – The height and width of the face are both equal with a squared jaw and straight hairline.
4) Oval – The face is widest in the middle with a narrow jaw.
Skin/Fur/Feathers/Scales
Colours for skin range from extremely pale to very dark. If it's a fantasy creature, then it could have a completely different colour – like green or blue. Of course, no one is going to have completely clear skin. People with pale skin are more likely to get freckles which appear on parts of the body which are exposed to sunlight most often, usually the face and arms. There are also the dreaded pimples and blackheads, which are common during teenage years because of hormones. There are also birthmarks (but more on that later).
Next there is the matter of fur; if your character is more beast-like than human then they could have fur instead of skin. There are many types of fur – long, short, wool, etc. There are also different patterns – spots, stripes, splodges, plain, etc. Fur is usually seen in different shades of browns, greys and also black and white.
Feathers and scales are found in more vivid colours than skin and fur. Parrots have bright red, green and blue feathers a lot of the time. Scales are also bright, tropical fish for example; they can be yellow and purple.
Eyes
If you are going to have realistic characters, ones who are human in the real world, then eye colour is not going to be very impressive. Blue, grey, green, hazel and brown are extremely common colours in the real world. Violet is extremely rare, but it does exist. Red is seen when there is no pigment in the eye – in severe cases of albinism under the right conditions (such as a camera flash). Fantasy is different; there can be more fantastic colours. It's not the real world so the colours don't need to be realistic.
Pupils aren't circular in all animals either. There are also vertical pupils, the types seen in reptiles and felines. Vertical pupils are good at adapting to the amount of light in a room. There is also a third type of pupil, square pupils, which appear in octopi and squid.
Eye shapes can also be different. They can be almond shaped, round, have droopy eyelids or be deep set.
Hair
Is your character going to be bald or have hair as long as Rapunzel's? Keep in mind that having really long hair may hinder them in the job you plan to give them. For example, a ninja fighting another ninja would get into trouble if the other one managed to grab their long, flowing hair and kill them.
Hair can be completely straight, slightly or very wavy, have slight curls or ringlets/corkscrews (tight curls), and it can be so frizzy that it turns into an afro. Straight and wavy hair tends to be shinier than curls or frizz. Also, is their hair thick or fine? Smooth or coarse? If your story is in a modern setting, then straighteners and curling wands exist, if it is historical (before the 1900's) however, they don't.
What colour is their hair? Humans can have blonde, brown, red, black and grey hair. Dyes exist in today's society, and a dark haired person can become blonde by using bleach. However, before these modern dyes existed it wouldn't have been possible to turn your hair green. Plants like henna did exist however and could be used as a hair dye. Fantasy is a little more open, so you probably could have a character with green hair.
Another thing to think about is hair styles. Does your character put their hair up in a ponytail? A braid? Do they leave it down? There are many, many different styles of hair to look at, but a person with short hair probably won't be able to do as much as someone with long hair.
Note: Guys can have long hair, just as girls can have short hair.
Nose
(A nice short section)
Does your character have a large or small nose? What size are the nostrils? Does the end turn up or point downwards? Is it more animal-like than human? Do they even have a nose or does it just have nostril slits?
Ears
If your character is a human, then their ears aren't going to be anything special. But, are they big or small ears? How much of an earlobe do they have?
Now, if your character isn't human, they can have different types of ears. An elf usually has pointed ears which are fairly large. Ears don't even have to be humanoid; they can be dog ears, cat ears, rabbit ears, etc. They could even be holes in the side of your character's head, like a reptile. The ears don't even need to be external; they could have another way of hearing.
Mouth
Lips have many different shapes. They can be narrow, have a Cupid's bow shape, and they can be thick. In pale people, lips are usually pink to red in colour. In people with darker skin, they could be about the same shade or a bit darker than the skin. How big is their mouth? Is it really wide or is it quite small. A wider mouth would usually signify a loud character while a small mouth could mean that your character is shy.
Teeth. A human has omnivorous teeth; we have teeth to rip and tear and also teeth to grind up our food. Maybe they have teeth like a cat, carnivorous teeth, teeth that are sharp fangs used to kill, hold and tear at their prey. Herbivorous teeth are found on anything that eats only plant material. They are flat and are used to grind up their food. Maybe your character doesn't even have teeth, they could have a beak or they could have baleen (the filter-like teeth that most whales have). Their race's diet will decide what teeth they are most likely to have.
The tongue. Humans have round tongues. Reptiles have forked tongues. Tongues can also be pointed or tubular. Animals like cats have rasp-like tongues that they use to clean themselves.
Hands and Feet
Does your character have nails like a human? They probably won't if you plan on having a carnivorous character, they'll have claws so they can grip onto and rip into their prey, and they'll also be a weapon to fight with. Claws can be retractable (like a cat) or non-retractable. Your character could have hooves like a deer or a horse. Hooves are made to support weight and could be used to replace feet.
Also, do they have plantigrade or digitigrade feet? Digitigrade means that they will walk on their toes. Plantigrade means that they walk on their toes and heels. Humans have plantigrade feet, whereas the back feet of cats are more digitigrade. The type of foot will change leg shape.
Some Other Minor Details
Your character could have a tail. It could be long and whip-like, or bushy. It could be a dragon tail with an arrowhead on the end of it. It could be a puffy rabbit tail. Maybe the tail completely replaces the legs, like a mermaid.
Does your character have wings? They could be bird wings with brightly coloured feathers. They could be scaly dragon wings, or furry bat wings. They could even have insect wings. Wings could replace arms or become a part of them, just like a bat. They should be a realistic size if you want your character to fly. Perhaps they've lost their ability to fly and their wings aren't what they used to be, then they could have short, stubby wings like a kiwi or emu.
Horns, antlers and antennae. If you have based your character on a deer or something similar, they are likely to have antlers. In reality, only male deer have antlers and they are used to fight other males over territory or a mate, they can fall off and regrow. They could be like horns commonly found in sheep, the ones that curl around. They could even be straight horns which are found on goats. If you have made a race of insect people, then they could have antennae which are sensitive to vibrations and smell.
Does your character have birthmarks or tattoos? What about scars? If they have a birthmark, where is it and what does it look like? Usually it's just a splodge of darker coloured skin on your body and over time it will disappear. Birthmarks are not uncommon, but it could make your character self-conscious if it's on their face. Tattoos are a good way to set your character apart, but think about their age. In places like Australia, it's illegal to get tattoos until you are eighteen. In a fantasy world, it might be a different matter, but a child or teenager is unlikely to have a tattoo. Scars are not uncommon, but they'd better be there for a good reason. Maybe your character had an accident involving flames as a child and they have a huge burn scar on their arm.
Conclusion
So, now you should have worked out what your character looks like, but right now, they are still naked. Life and personality still has to be given to them. I hope this helped you with some of the basics.
Creating Characters – Appearance
Here are a few tips to create the body of your new character. Appearance defines your character almost as much as personality. I hope something will be useful to you.
Body Shape
Is your character muscular? Tall and thin? Short and round? I think about body shape as basically height and weight. There are three basic body types that are also useful to know:
1) Ectomorph – This is a delicate build. Pretty much tall and thin, there are more angles on these bodies than curves. Limbs and neck are also long and shoulders tend to be small. They often have a flat chest. Ectomorphs tend to have fast metabolisms.
2) Mesomorph – A more athletic build. This type is more muscular. They have broad shoulders, a narrow waist and wide hips. This build gives women an hourglass type shape, with more curves than angles. Mesomorphs gain muscle easily.
3) Endomorph – A rounder build. The abdominal area is more dominant with a high waist and no prominent bones. Arms and legs are also shorter. Endomorphs have a slow metabolism and tend to gain muscle and fat very easily.
Of course, you can mix and match these three basic body types. For example, you could have a mesomorphic ectomorph which is a thin and delicate build with a bit more muscle than a regular ectomorph. (One thing though, if you swap those two, you'll get a muscular person who is just less heavily built.) It's more common to be a mix between these types than to just have a single basic shape.
Face Shape
There are many different shapes for faces. The shape of a face depends on the shape of the jaw, roundness of the cheeks and sometimes the shape of the hairline. Four common shapes are:
1) Triangular – A face which is narrowest at the bottom with a pointed chin. Widens at the forehead with a straight hairline (a heart shaped face is the same, but with a hairline like the top of a heart instead.)
2) Round – The face width and length are both equal with a round jaw and hairline.
3) Square – The height and width of the face are both equal with a squared jaw and straight hairline.
4) Oval – The face is widest in the middle with a narrow jaw.
Skin/Fur/Feathers/Scales
Colours for skin range from extremely pale to very dark. If it's a fantasy creature, then it could have a completely different colour – like green or blue. Of course, no one is going to have completely clear skin. People with pale skin are more likely to get freckles which appear on parts of the body which are exposed to sunlight most often, usually the face and arms. There are also the dreaded pimples and blackheads, which are common during teenage years because of hormones. There are also birthmarks (but more on that later).
Next there is the matter of fur; if your character is more beast-like than human then they could have fur instead of skin. There are many types of fur – long, short, wool, etc. There are also different patterns – spots, stripes, splodges, plain, etc. Fur is usually seen in different shades of browns, greys and also black and white.
Feathers and scales are found in more vivid colours than skin and fur. Parrots have bright red, green and blue feathers a lot of the time. Scales are also bright, tropical fish for example; they can be yellow and purple.
Eyes
If you are going to have realistic characters, ones who are human in the real world, then eye colour is not going to be very impressive. Blue, grey, green, hazel and brown are extremely common colours in the real world. Violet is extremely rare, but it does exist. Red is seen when there is no pigment in the eye – in severe cases of albinism under the right conditions (such as a camera flash). Fantasy is different; there can be more fantastic colours. It's not the real world so the colours don't need to be realistic.
Pupils aren't circular in all animals either. There are also vertical pupils, the types seen in reptiles and felines. Vertical pupils are good at adapting to the amount of light in a room. There is also a third type of pupil, square pupils, which appear in octopi and squid.
Eye shapes can also be different. They can be almond shaped, round, have droopy eyelids or be deep set.
Hair
Is your character going to be bald or have hair as long as Rapunzel's? Keep in mind that having really long hair may hinder them in the job you plan to give them. For example, a ninja fighting another ninja would get into trouble if the other one managed to grab their long, flowing hair and kill them.
Hair can be completely straight, slightly or very wavy, have slight curls or ringlets/corkscrews (tight curls), and it can be so frizzy that it turns into an afro. Straight and wavy hair tends to be shinier than curls or frizz. Also, is their hair thick or fine? Smooth or coarse? If your story is in a modern setting, then straighteners and curling wands exist, if it is historical (before the 1900's) however, they don't.
What colour is their hair? Humans can have blonde, brown, red, black and grey hair. Dyes exist in today's society, and a dark haired person can become blonde by using bleach. However, before these modern dyes existed it wouldn't have been possible to turn your hair green. Plants like henna did exist however and could be used as a hair dye. Fantasy is a little more open, so you probably could have a character with green hair.
Another thing to think about is hair styles. Does your character put their hair up in a ponytail? A braid? Do they leave it down? There are many, many different styles of hair to look at, but a person with short hair probably won't be able to do as much as someone with long hair.
Note: Guys can have long hair, just as girls can have short hair.
Nose
(A nice short section)
Does your character have a large or small nose? What size are the nostrils? Does the end turn up or point downwards? Is it more animal-like than human? Do they even have a nose or does it just have nostril slits?
Ears
If your character is a human, then their ears aren't going to be anything special. But, are they big or small ears? How much of an earlobe do they have?
Now, if your character isn't human, they can have different types of ears. An elf usually has pointed ears which are fairly large. Ears don't even have to be humanoid; they can be dog ears, cat ears, rabbit ears, etc. They could even be holes in the side of your character's head, like a reptile. The ears don't even need to be external; they could have another way of hearing.
Mouth
Lips have many different shapes. They can be narrow, have a Cupid's bow shape, and they can be thick. In pale people, lips are usually pink to red in colour. In people with darker skin, they could be about the same shade or a bit darker than the skin. How big is their mouth? Is it really wide or is it quite small. A wider mouth would usually signify a loud character while a small mouth could mean that your character is shy.
Teeth. A human has omnivorous teeth; we have teeth to rip and tear and also teeth to grind up our food. Maybe they have teeth like a cat, carnivorous teeth, teeth that are sharp fangs used to kill, hold and tear at their prey. Herbivorous teeth are found on anything that eats only plant material. They are flat and are used to grind up their food. Maybe your character doesn't even have teeth, they could have a beak or they could have baleen (the filter-like teeth that most whales have). Their race's diet will decide what teeth they are most likely to have.
The tongue. Humans have round tongues. Reptiles have forked tongues. Tongues can also be pointed or tubular. Animals like cats have rasp-like tongues that they use to clean themselves.
Hands and Feet
Does your character have nails like a human? They probably won't if you plan on having a carnivorous character, they'll have claws so they can grip onto and rip into their prey, and they'll also be a weapon to fight with. Claws can be retractable (like a cat) or non-retractable. Your character could have hooves like a deer or a horse. Hooves are made to support weight and could be used to replace feet.
Also, do they have plantigrade or digitigrade feet? Digitigrade means that they will walk on their toes. Plantigrade means that they walk on their toes and heels. Humans have plantigrade feet, whereas the back feet of cats are more digitigrade. The type of foot will change leg shape.
Some Other Minor Details
Your character could have a tail. It could be long and whip-like, or bushy. It could be a dragon tail with an arrowhead on the end of it. It could be a puffy rabbit tail. Maybe the tail completely replaces the legs, like a mermaid.
Does your character have wings? They could be bird wings with brightly coloured feathers. They could be scaly dragon wings, or furry bat wings. They could even have insect wings. Wings could replace arms or become a part of them, just like a bat. They should be a realistic size if you want your character to fly. Perhaps they've lost their ability to fly and their wings aren't what they used to be, then they could have short, stubby wings like a kiwi or emu.
Horns, antlers and antennae. If you have based your character on a deer or something similar, they are likely to have antlers. In reality, only male deer have antlers and they are used to fight other males over territory or a mate, they can fall off and regrow. They could be like horns commonly found in sheep, the ones that curl around. They could even be straight horns which are found on goats. If you have made a race of insect people, then they could have antennae which are sensitive to vibrations and smell.
Does your character have birthmarks or tattoos? What about scars? If they have a birthmark, where is it and what does it look like? Usually it's just a splodge of darker coloured skin on your body and over time it will disappear. Birthmarks are not uncommon, but it could make your character self-conscious if it's on their face. Tattoos are a good way to set your character apart, but think about their age. In places like Australia, it's illegal to get tattoos until you are eighteen. In a fantasy world, it might be a different matter, but a child or teenager is unlikely to have a tattoo. Scars are not uncommon, but they'd better be there for a good reason. Maybe your character had an accident involving flames as a child and they have a huge burn scar on their arm.
Conclusion
So, now you should have worked out what your character looks like, but right now, they are still naked. Life and personality still has to be given to them. I hope this helped you with some of the basics.
Writing Tips
source.
Writing Tips – Rules
Whether you are writing an original story or some fan fiction, there need to be rules to follow. As they are rules, they can't be broken.
Fan Fiction
When writing fan fiction, you are writing a story for a universe that somebody else has created. They have created the rules and they are there to be followed. You aren't sticking to canon if you break any of these rules.
Some examples: A Naruto fan character that has a thirteen-tailed beast sealed inside them is breaking canon rules since there isn't a thirteen-tailed beast anywhere in the story. There are only 13 squads in Bleach; a 14th squad appearing would break the rules set in place. In Animorphs, staying in a morph for more than two hours will trap the person as that animal and they can't change back unless they can touch the blue box again.
If you want to make sure that you don't break any of the rules, read the stories thoroughly. If there is a creature that is never mentioned in the actual story then you can assume that they don't exist there. It is easier to write fan fiction for a story that has ended since all of the rules have been set and there is nothing that can happen to change them.
Original Fiction
If you write original fiction, you create the rules; it is your own canon. Of course, you still have to stick to the rules that you create, people will notice if something you have written suddenly breaks a set of rules you set in place at the start of the story.
An example of where this has happened is in Twilight, Stephanie Meyer stated at the start of the series that the only fluid in a vampire's body was venom, yet in the fourth book Edward and Bella are somehow able to have a baby.
A good way to remember your rules would be to write them down somewhere you can find them easily for reference, a word document in the same folder on your computer or in a journal that goes everywhere with you. If you do this, you hopefully won't make the mistake of breaking your own canon. If you find you have, you need to go back and change it so it does fit your rules, and hopefully that doesn't mean that you have to rewrite a whole chapter, but it's better than having somebody pick up on it later once you have finished the story.
Example: In my story, The Demon's Seal, one of my rules is that there is only one true demon left. If I suddenly introduced another demon like that one into the story, I would have broken my own rule.
Conclusion
If you stick to the rules, you aren't likely to get into trouble. Some amazing characters can be made for a fandom without having to break rules to make them. Original fiction is a little more open, but rules are necessary.
Writing Tips – Rules
Whether you are writing an original story or some fan fiction, there need to be rules to follow. As they are rules, they can't be broken.
Fan Fiction
When writing fan fiction, you are writing a story for a universe that somebody else has created. They have created the rules and they are there to be followed. You aren't sticking to canon if you break any of these rules.
Some examples: A Naruto fan character that has a thirteen-tailed beast sealed inside them is breaking canon rules since there isn't a thirteen-tailed beast anywhere in the story. There are only 13 squads in Bleach; a 14th squad appearing would break the rules set in place. In Animorphs, staying in a morph for more than two hours will trap the person as that animal and they can't change back unless they can touch the blue box again.
If you want to make sure that you don't break any of the rules, read the stories thoroughly. If there is a creature that is never mentioned in the actual story then you can assume that they don't exist there. It is easier to write fan fiction for a story that has ended since all of the rules have been set and there is nothing that can happen to change them.
Original Fiction
If you write original fiction, you create the rules; it is your own canon. Of course, you still have to stick to the rules that you create, people will notice if something you have written suddenly breaks a set of rules you set in place at the start of the story.
An example of where this has happened is in Twilight, Stephanie Meyer stated at the start of the series that the only fluid in a vampire's body was venom, yet in the fourth book Edward and Bella are somehow able to have a baby.
A good way to remember your rules would be to write them down somewhere you can find them easily for reference, a word document in the same folder on your computer or in a journal that goes everywhere with you. If you do this, you hopefully won't make the mistake of breaking your own canon. If you find you have, you need to go back and change it so it does fit your rules, and hopefully that doesn't mean that you have to rewrite a whole chapter, but it's better than having somebody pick up on it later once you have finished the story.
Example: In my story, The Demon's Seal, one of my rules is that there is only one true demon left. If I suddenly introduced another demon like that one into the story, I would have broken my own rule.
Conclusion
If you stick to the rules, you aren't likely to get into trouble. Some amazing characters can be made for a fandom without having to break rules to make them. Original fiction is a little more open, but rules are necessary.
OC clothing
source.
When creating an OC the personality and backstory are the most important aspects. But how will s/he be recognized if her/his hair, face and whole body looks just like an other one's OC?
The answer is simply: her/his clothing! Most people choose their clothing on their own. And not everybody buys the same shirt or shoes.
The choice of clothing is the best way to get recognized because a lot of matters are insolved when you choose your new shirt. You consider age, attitude, gender, environment, hobbies, personality and profession (even when you're unemployed).
But let me show you step by step:
Age
This aspect is quite simple: A baby or toddler will just wear clothes like romper suits and so on. But remember that the one responable for their clothing may also consider the kid's so far shown personality and all the other things I'm going to talk about later.
When the kid gets older, it's a bit different. Parents or people in charge will still be the one buying the kid's clothing but the kid will slowly start to decide on what it wants to wear too. Maybe it will even start to resist wearing special clothing.
This development will go on all their life and as it goes on things like hobbies and attitude will be outweighing more and more.
Environment
What you choose to wear is affected by the people surrounding you (friends, family, even strangers you meet just by chance) and of course the amount of money you can or are willing to spend.
Just imagine a poor family-loving girl in a little village and a rich trendsetter in a big city. There's no way they wear the same kind of clothes!
Attitude & personality
This two aspects make the big difference between e.g. two twinbrothers. They share the same family, (maybe) the same body and face but their personality won't be the same.
Let's say one of them is quiet, reserved and carries a good-willing so-what-attitude. He is most likely wearing baggy and cheap clothes while his company-loving but little mean brother with his we-r-kings-attitude won't ever put down his brand clothes and cap.
Remember that shy people often wear long clothing to hide or tried to fit everbody's style to not stick out.
Let's take me for an example:
I wear practical clothes because I don't care much enough about fitting in and what others think about me.
My clothes are often sporty or college-style because I like doing sports and like the used look because I still want to feel cool (yes, here's my attitude).
I also wear long clothes very often because I'm a bit shy and not really confident when it comes to my own body.
Wearing a necklace became a kind of habit to me. It shows my unsureness and serves the function of protecting me. Because it's an unussual symbol it also shows who I am and who I want to be.
Just take a closer look at yourself and think of your own reasons and influences or maybe someone you are sure to know well.
Hobbies & profession
Of course there is a difference in how a book-lover and how a sport-loving guy dresses too.
But your hobby isn't that important. It is your profession.
It doesn't matter whether you are a professional artist, an office worker, simply unemployed or a student: You spend most time on your profession.
When creating an OC the personality and backstory are the most important aspects. But how will s/he be recognized if her/his hair, face and whole body looks just like an other one's OC?
The answer is simply: her/his clothing! Most people choose their clothing on their own. And not everybody buys the same shirt or shoes.
The choice of clothing is the best way to get recognized because a lot of matters are insolved when you choose your new shirt. You consider age, attitude, gender, environment, hobbies, personality and profession (even when you're unemployed).
But let me show you step by step:
Age
This aspect is quite simple: A baby or toddler will just wear clothes like romper suits and so on. But remember that the one responable for their clothing may also consider the kid's so far shown personality and all the other things I'm going to talk about later.
When the kid gets older, it's a bit different. Parents or people in charge will still be the one buying the kid's clothing but the kid will slowly start to decide on what it wants to wear too. Maybe it will even start to resist wearing special clothing.
This development will go on all their life and as it goes on things like hobbies and attitude will be outweighing more and more.
Environment
What you choose to wear is affected by the people surrounding you (friends, family, even strangers you meet just by chance) and of course the amount of money you can or are willing to spend.
Just imagine a poor family-loving girl in a little village and a rich trendsetter in a big city. There's no way they wear the same kind of clothes!
Attitude & personality
This two aspects make the big difference between e.g. two twinbrothers. They share the same family, (maybe) the same body and face but their personality won't be the same.
Let's say one of them is quiet, reserved and carries a good-willing so-what-attitude. He is most likely wearing baggy and cheap clothes while his company-loving but little mean brother with his we-r-kings-attitude won't ever put down his brand clothes and cap.
Remember that shy people often wear long clothing to hide or tried to fit everbody's style to not stick out.
Let's take me for an example:
I wear practical clothes because I don't care much enough about fitting in and what others think about me.
My clothes are often sporty or college-style because I like doing sports and like the used look because I still want to feel cool (yes, here's my attitude).
I also wear long clothes very often because I'm a bit shy and not really confident when it comes to my own body.
Wearing a necklace became a kind of habit to me. It shows my unsureness and serves the function of protecting me. Because it's an unussual symbol it also shows who I am and who I want to be.
Just take a closer look at yourself and think of your own reasons and influences or maybe someone you are sure to know well.
Hobbies & profession
Of course there is a difference in how a book-lover and how a sport-loving guy dresses too.
But your hobby isn't that important. It is your profession.
It doesn't matter whether you are a professional artist, an office worker, simply unemployed or a student: You spend most time on your profession.
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