I dunno, I'm in the process of preparing these chapters for print and if people buy it, I don't want them to pay for something bad. It would be a waste of their money.
That is a good point about looking through slice-of-life stuff, I follow a few comics and have watched movies/tv series in the genre, but admit to never being a fan. I'll start searching out more for study purposes.
It's not 'bad' and I didn't say that it would waste people's money. There are plenty of novels, films etc. that aren't the tightest they could be! The Lord of the Rings has Tom Bombadill for example. No one has removed it from the main book, even though it tightens the plot to do so.
Fancy seeing you guys here @saintc @KRWilliams
Preferred Name: LDJ or Pride
Pronouns: He/Him
Genres you create: Fantasy, Adventure/Action, Science Fiction
Where you plan to take your writing journey: Traditional/Self Publishing, Online Serialisation
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/ldjones1
Oh no! Excess filler weighing a story down being bad is solely my belief, at least for my own work, sorry if it felt like I was putting words in your mouth. I just don't want people to have a bad experience if they're paying for it.
Whoo gosh, Lord of the Rings is kind of a revolutionary piece that redefined the fantasy genre, I can see why no one would want to alter the original story. I agree that some loose baggage won't always be detrimental to a story, some stories can probably work pretty well like that, it just is for mine because I'm trying to stay focused on only the plot and character development that helps the story progress.
Hi @Everyone ! It's the next day and yesterday's discussion went really well so I'm hoping that todays goes similarly!
As with the other topic, there's going to be an infographic and some questions! I won't be making infographics for everything (they're super time consuming), but I will for the first two as I know some people found them helpful!
18
I haven’t started my comic yet so I don’t really have anything to add but I think this is really cool and helpful, reading everyone’s discussions!
I skipped the first one but with characters I can spare some time to fill the questions out!
But first, on mary sues, I think the infographic missed a pretty big thing - invincible characters aren't Sues until the story itself revolves around their opinion and their being. Too many people like to throw that term as an insult at anyone that's a prodigy, but it's not the problem. Harkening back to the good ol classic My Immortal, the bad characters aren't bad because they do bad things or oppose the cast, it's only because they dislike Ebony and do bad things to her.
As an example of characters that might come from anywhere, I have Spinelthorn on the mind so here we go. All three main hobs in the comic started as him, a tiny orange rabbit named Claws inspired by the Hopgoblin from the short film Reversal of the Heart. When I redid the entire cast, he slowly started needing more and more character traits to serve as Mortimer's lancer and started being too competent - so I split him into Fangs and Berylclaw to fit different emotions and roles without acting basically like a butler. Spinelthorn had no "himself" before that point, and without the scene roles, I finally had room to give him character, voice, flaws, backstory and everything.
"What is the hardest thing about character creation for you?"
I always struggle with protagonists. I have a tendency to make a protagonist, then to make a bunch of side characters who are inevitably more compelling. I actually combat this by making a dummy main character, building my cast, then swapping in whoever works best thematically from the "supporting cast" for the empty dummy. 
My other nemesis... male characters... I just always feel like there's so much more room to make a really unique female character I haven't seen before, wheras dudes are so ubiquitous in the genres I work in I always feel like they're a bit boring and like "yeah we've seen this guy..." so I tend to end up making a cast full of really colourful women then go "ugh I guess some of these should be men..." 
"What is the easiest thing about character creation for you?"
I can come up with a character's voice on the spot. It's really handy for DMing or GMing tabletop games. Their voice, speech pattern, vocabulary, colloquialisms and even things like posture and gestures are very vivid in my mind, so "character voice" is really intuitive for me.
"How do you choose names when creating characters?"
Errant is a bit of an outlier because the characters date way back to older work from when I was about eighteen and my approach was "just throw in some syllables and whatever sounds cool." Nowadays my approach is: "Think about who gave them this name" So we all have, or have had in the past, a name our parents gave us, and that name always reflects our parents in some way; what they wanted to say about themselves, how they felt about this little crying blob they'd produced and what they wanted you to be. In many people's cases, as they grew up, people (maybe with some kind of guidance from you) may have settled on some kind of nickname for you, or maybe you picked a new one yourself. I always try to have some kind of logic in mind of "who gave this person this name, do they like it? Do they suit it? Do other people like it?"
If you were named Robert, you could be a Rob, Robbie, Bob, Bert, Bertie or maybe you ended up with a more wacky nickname like Robo or Robsie, or a nickname that has nothing to do with your name like "Lucky". Or you might have entirely divorced yourself from Robert and chosen a name for yourself, and that's always interesting because then it becomes "who do I want to be?" and "What do I think suits me?"
I always find it weird when a character has like... the most ridiculously badass name and it's just one their parents apparently gave them and I'm trying to imagine the scenario where their parents who ran like... a grocer's shop in a little village named their kid BLAZE WOLFHEART. Like, I'm sorry, were your parents actually huge nerds or did you really give yourself that name and they originally named you Robert?
Surnames are generally easier because it's all about just thinking about the character's lineage and choosing a name from an appropriate area that goes together nicely with their first name. If it has an appropriate meaning, that's a nice bonus.
One sentence of advice for a newbie character creator:
The lies your character believes about themselves are some of the most important things to nail down when creating a compelling character.
What is the hardest thing about character creation for you?
Probably getting into the head of a character with certain disorders that affect their personality. One of my characters is a narcissistic sociopath, and completely different from me in every way. It's hard to fully understand how he ticks regardless of how much research I do on sociopathy/ASPD and narcissism, even with fleshing out his character via background, interests and personality traits.
What is the easiest thing about character creation for you?
Other than what I said above, probably everything else is pretty simple? I'm kind of a nut for learning and building every aspect of my characters from little body language quirks, to deeper things like what made them who they are. I especially love working with mental health and the medical aspect of a character, such as possible hereditary issues they might have and how those affect them mentally and emotionally, along with what daily challenges their face because if it.
How do you choose names when creating characters?
I choose names for characters the same way I do for pets. I look them over, run a few names in my head, look some up online to help with brainstorming, then choose one that fits and sounds the best for that character. I also go by country of origin, or parental interests. (Like if a Japanese couple moved to Germany and liked the sound of German names over the ones from their own country.) This can take a few days to a few weeks because I may come up with a name that feels better after already deciding a name. Such as with a side character I have in my comic, he started out being called George, but later on I changed his name to Kevin because it fit with him better.
While I'm almost as picky about surnames I don't care as much, although I do put ancestry into consideration when looking them up. For my comic itself their existence does have a subtle importance, all my characters have surnames except one. They are mononymous, meaning they only have one name. This is a legit thing and totally legal but it makes filling out paperwork, along with other related tasks, difficult. It also has a sense of symbolism since this character was found as a child with no identity, the lack of a surname adds onto that feeling of not fitting in, or having no place to call home.
Write one sentence of advice for a newbie thing about creating their first character.
Just go for it, who cares if the character may suck, we all start somewhere and you can always fix up your character as you go.
I'll probably end up being more of a lurker than anything but, I know I need improvement as a storyteller so I'll join up.
Preferred name: Dragon or Nate
Prounouns: Galactic Overlord of Terror, or Him\he is fine I guess...xD
Genres I Create: Sci-fantasy, Action, Fighting, Comedy, and a depressing office comedy Slice of Life.
Where do I want to take my writing? I'd love to have my flagship series Dragon Sparking become an animated series. Being able to write and draw it full time while getting paid would also be nice.
Link to my tapas profile: https://m.tapas.io/friendlypirahna
Jumping in right off...
The Hardest thing about Character Creation?
Coming up with powers and abilities for them. Since I write mostly shounen style comics I like to have interesting powers that don't get used a lot. So to do that I come up with the abilities first, and then build the character around that.
I suppose creating main characters is rough too, because there's so many already out there that are unique and been done before.
Easiest thing about Character Creation?
Drawing their designs. Once I have powers and names and personalities, I can visualize them pretty well.
Choosing Character Names?
Mythology. I usually take characters from mythology, bastardize them and tear away everything they're about and make them in my own image.
Now...I do have character names that aren't Mythology based.
Rip, my main OC for example. Originally he was a Sonic OC when I made him back in 2001...so...there's that. Rip was just a way to say move fast, so I went with that.
But... NOW... I have a symbolism that goes with his name. He's joining an organization that tears or 'rips' down oppressors and tyrants. So it works that way xD
Also for other names, I'll either come up with the name based off what kind of animal the character is. For example, I've got a lion character, his name is Leo. (So inventive xD) Sometimes, I'll name them off of their powers, or personality, or even off of name lists. (that's my last ditch resort)
Finally my other prerequisite for names is, "Does it sound like it fits?" "Okay." And then later I'll come up with reasons for the names, but most of the time I just guess.
One Sentence of Advice for a Newbie Creator:
I'm not qualified for that xD but maybe...don't sweat it too much, just get started writing the character and then you'll understand them a little better as you go.
Wasn't able to get an answer in yesterday, but I'm pretty determined to do this today ^^;
What is the hardest thing about character creation for you?
Thinking too much about what value they add to the story before writing.
I try hard to make them human, relateable, unique, and try to understand the ratios in a recipe to accomplish all this successfully without seeming unrealistic, out there, or boring. Yeah, when I imagine character creation, I think what comes to mind is the opening sequence of the PowerPuff Girls, when they explain the Professor trying to make the perfect little girls and accidentally dropping Chemical X in ahaha.
It's not that I want my characters to be perfect. I just want them to be engaging enough, at least in unison, to propel the story through the twists and turns it will take. It takes me bit of time to fully understand what I'm going for in each character's temperament because solidifying them in this respect is a back and forth battle in the question "how can these characters actions and mannerisms take the story from Point A to Point B?" I think I just think about it way too much in detail in the beginning instead of tossing them in there like dice and letting them them fall where they may lol.
What is the easiest thing about character creation for you?
The main character overall is always the easiest to create. I don't usually have a story in mind unless I've been thinking about a main character's possible actions and temperaments for weeks on end.
How do you choose names when creating characters?
I actually just list out names I really like on notepad listing app on my phone and look at them over and over again with process of elimination in mind until I pick one tbh lol. Unless the name has some major significance to the story (which I haven't attempted to do personally) , i'm not going to linger too long on that part ngl.
Write one sentence of advice for a newbie thing about creating their first character.
Obvious but overlooked tip: Whether you're an artist or a writer, sketch your character out first; artist-->visually, writer--->narratively. Sitting down to do this in the very beginning will help tie down some idea of who you want to create and give you the confidence to actually start.
What is the hardest thing about character creation for you?
The hardest for me is knowing their detailed physical looks, determining their internal and external goals, and thinking of the love interest as the antagonist.
While I do have a vague idea of how they look and present themselves, I find it hard to know exactly what they look like. I can't picture their faces vividly or any lines, curves, and all that. (This is why I don't draw lol) I have to know how they look like first because what makes them stand-out to me might not be so obvious to the other characters or to the readers. It is also easier to imagine characters in scenarios if I have a clear picture of them than think of just the outline of their bodies.
The goals are important because these are my basis on knowing how my character would act or react to situations. If I can't figure out what is important to them, then I have a flimsy story and should reconsider the entire thing again.
Since I'm writing romance, the love interest is just as important as the protagonist. But it's hard for me to think of my LIs as an antagonist when I think of them as the MC's support system. I have to think hard and find a way for them to have a conflicting external goal.
What is the easiest thing about character creation for you?
Naming and the basic bios. I often come up on the spot when I'm writing a draft.
How do you choose names when creating characters?
By gut feeling. Sometimes, the names just pop out when I'm writing a scene. Other times, when I don't have any idea especially for historical, I search for old names or something like that. If I want to take my research the extra mile, I try to find by theme or meanings but that rarely happens. A lot of times, I rely on Sims for naming my characters. lol
But I do follow one rule for naming: short and simple names only. Because they usually stick. And they're easier to write.
Write one sentence of advice for a newbie thinking about creating their first character.
It's okay to use popular tropes. What's important is how you put your own spin to these characters. They may seem flat at first, and it's alright because you'll develop them along the way.
I'll have to check out Novel Section to see if I can find more light novels 
All right time for the discussion!!
What is the hardest thing about character creation for you?"
Ooof the hardest part...I'm not sure. Most of it is pretty easy for me to think of on the fly. My guess is names. Names are a bit hard for me to figure out as well as what the character first looks like, especially if I want to make sure they don't look like another character.
"What is the easiest thing about character creation for you?"
Personality traits and backstory is very easy for me to think of. I'm not sure why but typically a personality comes first and then from that personality I figure out the back story...or why they act the way they do :3.
"How do you choose names when creating characters?"
First off it's a theme (innocence, sultry, tragedy, color, etc), then comes the race/ethnicity. I know if I do a character that is from America, then really an 'ethnic' name may not be necessary. At least for a first name. For a last name I do look more to where the character came from.
One sentence of advice for a newbie character creator:
Write down the first things that come to mind with the character when you first think of them.
Hardest thing: Occasionally I have a difficult time visualizing and connecting with certain characters. Like there's just this essence I want to capture and express, and sometimes that cannot happen until I find an actor that I think exemplifies a character really well. But once I have an actor and a few of their past performances to latch on to, I'm usually golden!
Easiest thing: Writing dialogue. Sufficed that I now have a solid grasp of the character and their personality, their dialogue and manner of speaking just flow out.
Names: The past couple years, names just come to me from my memory bank. But if I need a name from a specific origin or that means something aligned with the character themselves, I will use http://www.behindthename.com/
I will usually choose names that are pleasing to me personally, but I sometimes I will pointedly name a character something I dislike or have feelings about if they're framed to be a less than stellar person. Other times, particularly for side characters, I might just think about the demographic they belong to and consider common names within that group.
Advice: It may depend on what's practical for your story, but don't let that completely snuff out your true heart's desire.
What is the hardest thing about character creation for you?"
For me, it's definitely my problem of putting too much of myself into my characters. I tend to be more grounded, less emotional, and I tend to put that into my characters. It's okay if it's one or two, or if it works for the story, but I can't have multiple Arushis interacting with each other and expect anything interesting or unexpected to happen.
"What is the easiest thing about character creation for you?"
Names. I just go to baby name websites. I once had the unfortunate experience of naming a character Melaina, which sounds very similar to melaena. I had finished the entire book, and later found out that melaena means bloody stools. And once that was in my mind, there was no getting rid of it. So, yeah, baby names websites it is. Makes my job easier and faster, and I can just go back and replace all if I don't like it later.
"How do you choose names when creating characters?"
Baby name websites (refer above), and also I take existing words or names and try to put a spin on them (especially for last name).
One sentence of advice for a newbie character creator:
Keep writing. Keep putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. I stopped writing for several years, and when I came back to it, I found that I wasn't the same as before. I'm getting back into my own rhythm, but I think writing literally anything (fanfiction, poetry, tumblr posts) during those years would've helped.
Welcome welcome! If you ever do want to jump in - feel free to fill out an intro and just jump in. You can revisit old topics at any time as well!
This is a really important point about Mary Sues. It might be a discussion topic in itself later down the line, because the concept of them and everything they stand for is actually fascinating and a lot of new creators do fall into them (and others get falsely accused of being Mary Sues when they aren't!).
This is such a good idea omg. I also have this issue a lot of the time. Sometimes I find putting a 'dummy character' in who is everything to everyone works (everyone likes to self-insert a little) but it's definitely something that needs forethought if you're trying to build a very distinctive main character. Personally I love distinctive main character, they're often far more included in the plot and the world.
OMG this
It is certainly difficult to get inside the mindset of someone who has a mind that is structured differently from ones own. I think that's why own voices works from non-neurotypical viewpoints are so good and fascinating. What's your research process for looking into things like this?
I think this is also very important advice for new creators. I think a lot of people get caught up in the ins and outs, the intricacies, when they first start (experienced ones too!) and that sometimes we just all need to learn to chill.
This tells me an interesting thing about the way you plan - that you have a focus on the storytelling element and intwine it with the characters. Do you outline first or do you do character creation first?
I've actually found that people are often more interested in character tropes and archetypes than they are the intracacies I've laid out for them. They'll come to love the intricacies as they go - but they click on the story for the trope.
This is a good thing. I often go through and assign my characters roles in the plot, then I do race/ethnicity and then I find themes from there. Why do you start with theme first? Are you creating the plot first?
I do this too. I love to have names that are quirky and slightly British sounding. Noah Pigeon. Henry D Thistle. Leander Mediean.
It's also important to understand that as we get older, we also are exposed to more stories, styles of writing, but also we change. We understand more complicated themes, and we come at them with different eyes and experiences to frame them. Writing you do as a teen, or even in your early twenties, will differ wildly from writing in your thirties or forties. It doesn't make the earlier writing less good, it just makes it different.
@Everyone Here's today's topic and the last infographic I think I'll be doing this week! Thanks for everyone who contributed yesterday - I think I've replied to them all! Feel free to continue past discussions even if the conversation moves on each day (there's no cut off point - and you can return to the past discussions at any time if your answers change or you think of more).
11
