Post by ActuallyFace on Feb 19, 2014 19:44:42 GMT -8
Original Characters (OCs) are fun, but the process of creating one can be difficult, and it's all too easy to make the characters flat and rather boring. This guide is an attempt to walk you through the template for OCs I've made, with a few added tips.
Keep in mind that a lot of this is opinion-based, and you aren't going to not have your character approved if you don't follow every tip in here. This is just my attempt to help you through the character-creating process, as well as help you make your character more three-dimensional and interesting to play and be played with. Don't take my word as law here. The factual parts, though, are true.
• Make sure you use the correct number of letters or syllables for your character's name. Humans have four-letter first names and two-syllable last names, trolls have six letter first and last names, and ancestors have eight-letter titles.
• Don't just try to use a baby name site to find a name that has some kind of meaning to fit your character. It's lazy, and trolls don't even have human names. For humans, try a site with a list of four-letter names, and a last name generator. For trolls, try the names of stars, constellations, Greek or Roman temples, cities, and even obscure god names (you can alter these to fit the six-letter mold. The goal here is to find Latin-based names. You can also use the root for other points on your OC, like the lusus, the symbol, and even certain personality qualities). These are, of course, only if you're having trouble coming up with names.
• Stay away from generic Japanese names. Please. Naming a character "Sasuke" is just so cheap, and all of the troll names in canon are from stars and constellations, which gives them more of a Latin-based sound. Japanese is not Latin-based. If a human character actually comes from Japan, or their guardian does, that's fine, but be careful. Don't take the weeaboo way out.
Just make sure it's a real day.
Most characters are between thirteen and seventeen years old, but ancestors have some leeway. Just keep in mind that the higher the blood in a troll, the longer they live, with the Condesce being almost immortal.
• Try to stay within the bounds of reason. Humans probably shouldn't be over seven feet, and neither should trolls. Ancestors have some leeway here too, being far more extreme, but anything over eight and a half feet is a little bit too much.
• Make sure the height fits the age and physical sex. Females do tend to be shorter, and males taller. Younger kids also tend to be shorter. Look up height charts for your character's age and sex if you're having trouble. BMI charts, too, are helpful with finding the right weight for a certain height.
• Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat, so a character with lots of muscle mass will probably be "overweight" or "obese" according to the BMI chart.
Please keep in mind that if you make your character's sex something different from it's gender, you need to continue to respect and remember that.
• Continue to address your character as their gender, not their sex. I shouldn't even have to say this, but I've seen people do otherwise, and it's incredibly offensive.
• Make sure you know, if your character is trans*, how they are dealing with that and how the people around them are dealing with that. Is their guardian supportive, or not? Do they have enough money around to do hormones, a full sex change, both, or neither? The situation you put them in may also have an effect on this; if it's a medieval-type setting, nobody is supportive of them. Let's be real here. There are no hormones, no sex changes, nothing. They'll probably still have to dress like their sex and be incredibly uncomfortable.
• Don't make a character non-cis as their only point of interest. It's good to address multiple demographics, but something like that doesn't define a character's personality.
• Your character is going to physically hold elements of their sex no matter what they go through to change it. Keep that in mind. They will have more or less depending on what changes they do or do not go through, though.
• Do some research before you start. This can be a touchy topic, and you need to make sure you aren't getting important things wrong. I can only help so much here.
Try to make sure this compliments your character's personality, and isn't just some kind of mystical thing, like "darkShadow". If you're having trouble coming up with one, look up an adjective that describes your character, find a synonym, and use something a little more complex than the adjective you started with. Apply this to a noun that you think works with your character (romanticist, etc.).
Humans tend to have brighter text colors, and trolls almost always match their blood color. If your troll is a mutant, especially in Alternian society, they will probably conceal this behind some other color. Either grey, or a legitimate blood color that they might be pretending to be.
• Human quirks don't exist. They only type with varying amounts of grammar and correctness of syntax.
• Troll quirks include puns, replacing certain letters with something else, and starting or ending messages with something (like Nepeta's ":33<" ).
• Troll quirks almost always relate back to what their lusus or symbol is.
• Dead trolls have only one quirk: replacing "o" with "0".
• Trolls, and sometimes humans, usually have some kind of emote they've changed to symbolize them (Karkat's "):<B", John's ":B", Terezi's ">:]"). These all can vary, but usually keep the elements that define the emote as their's).
• DO NOT MAKE THE BLOOD COLOR OF YOUR TROLL THEIR ONLY POINT OF INTEREST. I cannot emphasize this enough! While blood color can add interest, it shouldn't be the only interesting thing about your troll. If you can't figure out how to make a character interesting without it being entirely based on blood color, you should not be making characters. The personality is what makes characters interesting and three-dimensional.
• Jadebloods have a TENDENCY to turn into rainbowdrinkers after dying. Not every jadeblood turns into a rainbowdrinker, and if you made a jadeblooded character for the sole purpose of them becoming a rainbowdrinker later, you need to rethink your strategy there. Jadebloods are interesting in other ways (not to mention incredibly rare). They are more motherly, they care for grubs, and they get more interesting and rare lusi. Jadebloods are also usually female. I'm not telling you to not make your jadeblooded character turn into a rainbowdrinker, but you should explore the possibilities. Also, a jadeblood becoming a rainbowdrinker is a bit overused and predictable.
• Highblooded trolls have a higher tendency for mental instability, and please keep that in mind. That doesn't mean that every highblood will go insane, but it does mean that they may, and that lowbloods are less likely to.
• Lowbloods are more likely to have psionic powers than highbloods. Also keep in mind that if you decide to give your character psionics, you need to have plenty of limits on their power. Overpowering is boring and frustrating for everyone.
• Mutants only have a lighter blood color. Most trolls have dark shades of their blood color, but a mutant will have a more light and vibrant color. In Alternian society, mutants are culled, so will hide their blood color behind grey, or some other real blood color. In Beforian society, mutants are treated as incapable pets, and aren't listened to. They may hide their color, or show it. Either way, they will not be killed.
• If you make a pinkblooded character, you will be laughed at by the fandom. Don't ask me why.
• Limebloods are pretty much extinct, and hated by highbloods because they are the only trolls with the ability to calm them down.
• Most of the fandom agrees that any troll above purple is a seadweller, and none below are. Seadwellers must have seadwelling lusi, and not all seadwellers use nautical-themed puns.
• I shouldn't even have to say this, but trolls can only have one blood color.
• Lowbloods live shorter lives than highbloods.
• Lower-blooded trolls are physically warmer than higher-blooded trolls.
• There is no blood color that is higher than fuchsia.
• There is no blood color that is higher than fuchsia.
• There is no blood color that is higher than fuchsia. Fuchsia-blooded trolls are incredibly rare, and they usually have an overwhelming instinct to kill each other. Without variation, fuchsiablooded females are either currently the empress, or the heiress, and you should refrain from creating an empress in Alternian or Beforian society because both of those things are actually already ruled by an empress. That is their defining feature. Alternian society is the way it is because the Condesce rules it, and Beforian society is the way it is because Feferi rules it.
• Blood does not sparkle, shine, glitter, or glow.
• Kids generally choose their symbol, so it should reflect their interests.
• Kid symbols are not always the kid's color, but they usually are.
• Troll symbols should not be shapes. If your troll has a heart symbol, you need to rethink that pretty fricken hard because that's a problem. Be creative. Try symbols for constellations, or stars, or something interesting.
• Troll symbols are not solid. Troll symbols are pretty much always drawn with thin thines, usually between one and five strokes.
• Troll symbols pretty much never mean anything. Don't just use a letter (in ANY language) for your troll's symbol.
• Using star or constellation symbols for your troll's symbol is definitely encouraged.
• Do some research before you give your character a god tier. Look up the wikia's descriptions, or the descriptions given by the person who created whatever fan-class or fan-aspect you have decided to use.
• The god tier should fit the character. Make sure the god tier fits the character.
• Space players will have "Frogs" in their land ("The Land of Frogs and ____").
• Time players will have lands that relate to actual time and to fire (e.g., The Land of Heat and Clockwork, and the Land of Quartz and Melody... Quartz is a thing used in some heaters).
• Try to make your character's land relate to them or fuck with them in some way, shape, or form. Make it their land.
Consorts are only known for humans. It's actually questionable whether or not trolls have consorts. What is known, though, is that consorts are all reptiles.
Enter items are what your character will use to enter the game. Created from the free pre-punched card and pure cruxite, the enter item must be broken somehow to allow the player to enter. Enter items always symbolize some form of entering, as well as something else that relates to the character (Dave's egg relates to patience, Rose's bottle relates to her mother's (and her own future) drinking problem).
• Do not make the strife specibus a sword unless you have a DAMN good reason. Swords are generic, overused, and boring.
• A strife specibus should compliment your character and their own personal fighting style in some way. And trust me, all characters have a fighting style. If they don't, the fighting style is probably long-range and/or primarily defensive.
• Characters in Homestuck usually have one guardian.
• Don't use a totally terrible living situation filled with hatred and abuse as a way to add interest to a character. That stuff is rare, incredibly serious, and a very triggering topic. You need to treat it as such. Don't treat a real-life, terrible situation as a cheap way to make people pity your character.
Lusi are entirely white (the color, not Caucasian or Arabic), and usually an animal or insect on it's own or with some kind of variation (multiple limbs, out-of-the-ordinary size, etc.)
• Do not make a character's appearance their only point of interest.
• The appearance should compliment the character. Keep in mind that they are dressing themselves, too.
• It's pretty much agreed throughout the fandom that horns grow outwards from the head (this being the only way that horns ever grow on any horned creature in nature). Because of this, having two horns that fuse is pretty much impossible.
• Horns should reflect the symbol or lusus in some way.
The personality should be the main point of interest in a character... it is also the hardest to come up with.
• Make sure your character is three-dimensional. You want them to have plenty of good and bad qualities, and there should be a fairly even amount of these.
• A personality should be like a tapestry, with every quality acting as a thread, and every thread complimenting another and helping to hold everything together. Of course, a personality is incredibly complex, but trust me, this is still plenty possible.
• If you're having trouble, try starting with a few base traits (helpful, loyal, manipulative, controlling, appreciative of others, intelligent... there are lots). These base traits will then compliment each other, and go from there.
• A personality is much like a tree. The base traits will form the roots, then come together and compliment each other to form a trunk, and then go off in a few other directions with each other to form branches.
• Make sure you know whether each trait is an innate quality, or something gained from an upbringing or situation. If the trait is gained during the character's life, make sure you know why.
• A character is going to react to it's situation, and how they react will have something to do with the qualities they've already gained. They aren't going to have a super joyful, perfect upbringing and come out evil bitches with no love for anyone or anything. Keep this in mind.
• Don't use depression, anxiety, or any other kind of mental disorder as a main point of interest for your character. They need to have other qualities, and you need to treat these things as a valid disorder and not some cheap way to make everyone pity the character.
Just make sure the likes/dislikes compliment your character, and make sense. These can even add interest to your character, and a third dimension in a guilty (or totally confident) pleasure.
Your character should have a balance here. Don't make your character 100% awful, or 100% perfect. Real people have a balance.
Everybody has some small insecurity, at the very least. Just a sneaking little thing that they feel the need to improve on, even if they are the most arrogant ass out there. You character should also not be entirely made of insecurities unless they have severe depression, and like I said, that's a pretty cheap way to go. Be careful how you tread there.
Just make sure you have a firm grasp on this, because most stories and RPs are going to include a lot of stress and tough situations, and it's good to know how a character will react to those.
Keep in mind that a lot of this is opinion-based, and you aren't going to not have your character approved if you don't follow every tip in here. This is just my attempt to help you through the character-creating process, as well as help you make your character more three-dimensional and interesting to play and be played with. Don't take my word as law here. The factual parts, though, are true.
Original Character Creation Guide
Name
• Make sure you use the correct number of letters or syllables for your character's name. Humans have four-letter first names and two-syllable last names, trolls have six letter first and last names, and ancestors have eight-letter titles.
• Don't just try to use a baby name site to find a name that has some kind of meaning to fit your character. It's lazy, and trolls don't even have human names. For humans, try a site with a list of four-letter names, and a last name generator. For trolls, try the names of stars, constellations, Greek or Roman temples, cities, and even obscure god names (you can alter these to fit the six-letter mold. The goal here is to find Latin-based names. You can also use the root for other points on your OC, like the lusus, the symbol, and even certain personality qualities). These are, of course, only if you're having trouble coming up with names.
• Stay away from generic Japanese names. Please. Naming a character "Sasuke" is just so cheap, and all of the troll names in canon are from stars and constellations, which gives them more of a Latin-based sound. Japanese is not Latin-based. If a human character actually comes from Japan, or their guardian does, that's fine, but be careful. Don't take the weeaboo way out.
Date of Birth
Just make sure it's a real day.
Age
Most characters are between thirteen and seventeen years old, but ancestors have some leeway. Just keep in mind that the higher the blood in a troll, the longer they live, with the Condesce being almost immortal.
Height and Weight
• Try to stay within the bounds of reason. Humans probably shouldn't be over seven feet, and neither should trolls. Ancestors have some leeway here too, being far more extreme, but anything over eight and a half feet is a little bit too much.
• Make sure the height fits the age and physical sex. Females do tend to be shorter, and males taller. Younger kids also tend to be shorter. Look up height charts for your character's age and sex if you're having trouble. BMI charts, too, are helpful with finding the right weight for a certain height.
• Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat, so a character with lots of muscle mass will probably be "overweight" or "obese" according to the BMI chart.
Gender and Sex (Physicial Gender)
Please keep in mind that if you make your character's sex something different from it's gender, you need to continue to respect and remember that.
• Continue to address your character as their gender, not their sex. I shouldn't even have to say this, but I've seen people do otherwise, and it's incredibly offensive.
• Make sure you know, if your character is trans*, how they are dealing with that and how the people around them are dealing with that. Is their guardian supportive, or not? Do they have enough money around to do hormones, a full sex change, both, or neither? The situation you put them in may also have an effect on this; if it's a medieval-type setting, nobody is supportive of them. Let's be real here. There are no hormones, no sex changes, nothing. They'll probably still have to dress like their sex and be incredibly uncomfortable.
• Don't make a character non-cis as their only point of interest. It's good to address multiple demographics, but something like that doesn't define a character's personality.
• Your character is going to physically hold elements of their sex no matter what they go through to change it. Keep that in mind. They will have more or less depending on what changes they do or do not go through, though.
• Do some research before you start. This can be a touchy topic, and you need to make sure you aren't getting important things wrong. I can only help so much here.
Chumhandle
Try to make sure this compliments your character's personality, and isn't just some kind of mystical thing, like "darkShadow". If you're having trouble coming up with one, look up an adjective that describes your character, find a synonym, and use something a little more complex than the adjective you started with. Apply this to a noun that you think works with your character (romanticist, etc.).
Text color
Humans tend to have brighter text colors, and trolls almost always match their blood color. If your troll is a mutant, especially in Alternian society, they will probably conceal this behind some other color. Either grey, or a legitimate blood color that they might be pretending to be.
Quirk
• Human quirks don't exist. They only type with varying amounts of grammar and correctness of syntax.
• Troll quirks include puns, replacing certain letters with something else, and starting or ending messages with something (like Nepeta's ":33<" ).
• Troll quirks almost always relate back to what their lusus or symbol is.
• Dead trolls have only one quirk: replacing "o" with "0".
• Trolls, and sometimes humans, usually have some kind of emote they've changed to symbolize them (Karkat's "):<B", John's ":B", Terezi's ">:]"). These all can vary, but usually keep the elements that define the emote as their's).
Blood Color
• DO NOT MAKE THE BLOOD COLOR OF YOUR TROLL THEIR ONLY POINT OF INTEREST. I cannot emphasize this enough! While blood color can add interest, it shouldn't be the only interesting thing about your troll. If you can't figure out how to make a character interesting without it being entirely based on blood color, you should not be making characters. The personality is what makes characters interesting and three-dimensional.
• Jadebloods have a TENDENCY to turn into rainbowdrinkers after dying. Not every jadeblood turns into a rainbowdrinker, and if you made a jadeblooded character for the sole purpose of them becoming a rainbowdrinker later, you need to rethink your strategy there. Jadebloods are interesting in other ways (not to mention incredibly rare). They are more motherly, they care for grubs, and they get more interesting and rare lusi. Jadebloods are also usually female. I'm not telling you to not make your jadeblooded character turn into a rainbowdrinker, but you should explore the possibilities. Also, a jadeblood becoming a rainbowdrinker is a bit overused and predictable.
• Highblooded trolls have a higher tendency for mental instability, and please keep that in mind. That doesn't mean that every highblood will go insane, but it does mean that they may, and that lowbloods are less likely to.
• Lowbloods are more likely to have psionic powers than highbloods. Also keep in mind that if you decide to give your character psionics, you need to have plenty of limits on their power. Overpowering is boring and frustrating for everyone.
• Mutants only have a lighter blood color. Most trolls have dark shades of their blood color, but a mutant will have a more light and vibrant color. In Alternian society, mutants are culled, so will hide their blood color behind grey, or some other real blood color. In Beforian society, mutants are treated as incapable pets, and aren't listened to. They may hide their color, or show it. Either way, they will not be killed.
• If you make a pinkblooded character, you will be laughed at by the fandom. Don't ask me why.
• Limebloods are pretty much extinct, and hated by highbloods because they are the only trolls with the ability to calm them down.
• Most of the fandom agrees that any troll above purple is a seadweller, and none below are. Seadwellers must have seadwelling lusi, and not all seadwellers use nautical-themed puns.
• I shouldn't even have to say this, but trolls can only have one blood color.
• Lowbloods live shorter lives than highbloods.
• Lower-blooded trolls are physically warmer than higher-blooded trolls.
• There is no blood color that is higher than fuchsia.
• There is no blood color that is higher than fuchsia.
• There is no blood color that is higher than fuchsia. Fuchsia-blooded trolls are incredibly rare, and they usually have an overwhelming instinct to kill each other. Without variation, fuchsiablooded females are either currently the empress, or the heiress, and you should refrain from creating an empress in Alternian or Beforian society because both of those things are actually already ruled by an empress. That is their defining feature. Alternian society is the way it is because the Condesce rules it, and Beforian society is the way it is because Feferi rules it.
• Blood does not sparkle, shine, glitter, or glow.
Symbol
• Kids generally choose their symbol, so it should reflect their interests.
• Kid symbols are not always the kid's color, but they usually are.
• Troll symbols should not be shapes. If your troll has a heart symbol, you need to rethink that pretty fricken hard because that's a problem. Be creative. Try symbols for constellations, or stars, or something interesting.
• Troll symbols are not solid. Troll symbols are pretty much always drawn with thin thines, usually between one and five strokes.
• Troll symbols pretty much never mean anything. Don't just use a letter (in ANY language) for your troll's symbol.
• Using star or constellation symbols for your troll's symbol is definitely encouraged.
God Tier
• The god tier should fit the character. Make sure the god tier fits the character.
Land
• Space players will have "Frogs" in their land ("The Land of Frogs and ____").
• Time players will have lands that relate to actual time and to fire (e.g., The Land of Heat and Clockwork, and the Land of Quartz and Melody... Quartz is a thing used in some heaters).
• Try to make your character's land relate to them or fuck with them in some way, shape, or form. Make it their land.
Consort
Enter Item (Artifact)
Enter items are what your character will use to enter the game. Created from the free pre-punched card and pure cruxite, the enter item must be broken somehow to allow the player to enter. Enter items always symbolize some form of entering, as well as something else that relates to the character (Dave's egg relates to patience, Rose's bottle relates to her mother's (and her own future) drinking problem).
Strife Specibus
• Do not make the strife specibus a sword unless you have a DAMN good reason. Swords are generic, overused, and boring.
• A strife specibus should compliment your character and their own personal fighting style in some way. And trust me, all characters have a fighting style. If they don't, the fighting style is probably long-range and/or primarily defensive.
Guardian/living situation
• Characters in Homestuck usually have one guardian.
• Don't use a totally terrible living situation filled with hatred and abuse as a way to add interest to a character. That stuff is rare, incredibly serious, and a very triggering topic. You need to treat it as such. Don't treat a real-life, terrible situation as a cheap way to make people pity your character.
Lusus
Lusi are entirely white (the color, not Caucasian or Arabic), and usually an animal or insect on it's own or with some kind of variation (multiple limbs, out-of-the-ordinary size, etc.)
Appearance
• Do not make a character's appearance their only point of interest.
• The appearance should compliment the character. Keep in mind that they are dressing themselves, too.
• It's pretty much agreed throughout the fandom that horns grow outwards from the head (this being the only way that horns ever grow on any horned creature in nature). Because of this, having two horns that fuse is pretty much impossible.
• Horns should reflect the symbol or lusus in some way.
Personality
The personality should be the main point of interest in a character... it is also the hardest to come up with.
• Make sure your character is three-dimensional. You want them to have plenty of good and bad qualities, and there should be a fairly even amount of these.
• A personality should be like a tapestry, with every quality acting as a thread, and every thread complimenting another and helping to hold everything together. Of course, a personality is incredibly complex, but trust me, this is still plenty possible.
• If you're having trouble, try starting with a few base traits (helpful, loyal, manipulative, controlling, appreciative of others, intelligent... there are lots). These base traits will then compliment each other, and go from there.
• A personality is much like a tree. The base traits will form the roots, then come together and compliment each other to form a trunk, and then go off in a few other directions with each other to form branches.
• Make sure you know whether each trait is an innate quality, or something gained from an upbringing or situation. If the trait is gained during the character's life, make sure you know why.
• A character is going to react to it's situation, and how they react will have something to do with the qualities they've already gained. They aren't going to have a super joyful, perfect upbringing and come out evil bitches with no love for anyone or anything. Keep this in mind.
• Don't use depression, anxiety, or any other kind of mental disorder as a main point of interest for your character. They need to have other qualities, and you need to treat these things as a valid disorder and not some cheap way to make everyone pity the character.
Likes and Dislikes
Just make sure the likes/dislikes compliment your character, and make sense. These can even add interest to your character, and a third dimension in a guilty (or totally confident) pleasure.
Strengths and Weaknesses (Pros and Cons)
Your character should have a balance here. Don't make your character 100% awful, or 100% perfect. Real people have a balance.
Insecurities
Everybody has some small insecurity, at the very least. Just a sneaking little thing that they feel the need to improve on, even if they are the most arrogant ass out there. You character should also not be entirely made of insecurities unless they have severe depression, and like I said, that's a pretty cheap way to go. Be careful how you tread there.
Decision-Making/Leading/Operating Under Stress Abilities
Just make sure you have a firm grasp on this, because most stories and RPs are going to include a lot of stress and tough situations, and it's good to know how a character will react to those.