I tend to leave specific characters until after I’ve finished the world. As you can maybe tell, I have no specific characters. Over 10 years in, and I’m still (and only just) completing and standardising everything.

It consumes me. I’ll be this little old white-haired man in Hospital, still trying to make that one last alteration before I die ultimately unpublished. Then, someone will discover the bulk of my brilliance and publish it posthumously to stunned awe and critical acclaim.

That, or I’ll publish in my 40s and be forever known as “that guy who spent 30 years to write a first-print-flop”, or something.

I do no planning. At all. I just start writing, and somewhere along the way, it transforms into a coherent story with plot and characters. Don’t ask me how. I do not know. The stories, they have a mind of their own, and I am merely the vehicle they use to make known their presence in the world.

That is, until revisions time comes along…

I usually just start with a rough outline of a character, only knowing really what role he’s going to play in the story. And as I go through drafts of the story I just let them develop and evolve. Like I’ve been working on The Fool for several years now, it’s amazing how much he’s changed over time.

I usually just start out with their basic personality, appearance and role in the story, then let the characters take it from there.

I am mostly focusing on planning planning planning my plot and world. Too much planning not enough actual writing. I guess you could say my novel is a little more plot-driven but the characters have enough logical thoughts and motivation based on their own personalities and views to do what they do. I've got all or most of the basic primary characters I need with names and vague personalities. I've planned characters for the future but I don't know anything about most of them, just their place in the plot. I need to actually write my characters in situations to see how their personalities develop; their dialect and body language quirks, emotions, beliefs and views on things, skills and weaknesses and whatever else there is. Some characters I've got a very very good idea of how they act. I quite like this alcoholic old guy who's kind of a douchebag to everyone because of a certain reason.

I like to plan my PoV characters, to some extent, or at least think about their motivations. I find character profiles to be a powerful tool, but I make them myself so that they force me to think about more important things than their favorite color or food is.

I don’t think any of my characters had anything more than a name before the story required their other attributes. Early on they didn’t have even names when I started writing outlines, nowadays I keep a list of names so I don’t have to think any up on the spot :)

Does anyone know what Lucy, Edmund, Susan, or Peter’s last names are?

I can’t remember, and I’m pretty sure even if they were mentioned, they were only mentioned, not made such a big deal of…

Edit: POINT RENDERED NULL, DUE TO IDIOCY.

Damn I should have remebered that. GAH.

And I read the books… D: I MUST RE-READ. GAH. FORGETTING DETAILS LIKE THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

I just think up characters, imagine how they would coexist with the plot and other characters, and see if they would work out or not. After that, I start thinking up what they’re motives and personalities would be like.

I don’t at all. They develop as I write. This means I sometimes have to re-write beginnings so their actions fit the rest of the story, but it usually fits in pretty well. But this also means I sort of ‘discover’ things about my characters through their behavior, rather than assigning them attributes.

For example:

I’ve got a character named Ivan. I’ve been writing about him for at least four years (though he’s been bounced from story to story, and undergone name changes, etc). He’s VERY overprotective of another (male) character. It took me a little while to figure out: “Oh, he’s gay!” And when I did, it was more discovering that he’s always been gay, rather than thinking: “Hm, what would happen if I made him gay?”

So yeah. my characters sort of control me…

This is what I do:

Character Name: Piper Chit

Nicknames: Pip, Piper, and odd nouns or adjectives when she decides to refer to herself in third person- typically along the lines of Curls, Songbird or Cornflower

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Physical Appearance: Her curly hair is an auburn color, and she has three buns she wears at the back f her head wrapping around, but it’s inevitably always messy and has pieces falling out. She has large, expressive, bright green eyes but very pale skin. She is rather short (Only five feet four inches) and thin, with long delicate fingers. She has dark circles around her eyes. Weapon (one if applies): She has no weapons, but she is observant- and she doesn’t realize it. All of her observations are included in her hallucinations- but if you can put them together from the hallucinations you should have been smart enough to observe it yourself in the first place!

Clothing: As crazy as she is, so are her clothes! She often forgets to put on her skirts, wandering around in her bloomers and a corset- but more often, in the drafty castle, she wears layer upon layer of skirts and corsets, along with slouchy cardigans and a pair of lace cloves which she’s cut the fingertips off of. Her clothes were all once richly colored- but over time with her inattentive washing the colors have dulled.

Personality (one paragraph): She is, quite honestly, insane. She constantly has vivid hallucinations and nightmares. Because of this she has a very… peculiar mind. She talks to a whole menagerie of animals (in her hallucinations, anyways), and is actually very perceptive, even if she doesn’t think it’s special. If she says anything that could be construed as profound or insightful about someone, she will look at you and insult your intelligence because you couldn’t see it yourself. She’s loyal if she befriends you, and very quick to learn- so long as she can move while doing so. She can’t stand still too long and twitches and fidgets if she must. The stiller she stands the more intense the hallucination- until it gets so intense she’ll fall to the ground in a fit of pain. Because of this she’s widely seen as crazy- although if you call her that she’ll quickly tell you you’re the crazy one because your mind can’t understand her higher cranial functions. She’s a very cheery girl. She has a very pretty singing voice too.

Background/History (one paragraph): The daughter of the prominent Lord and Lady Chit, she is tolerated in the court but widely acts on her own. The Queen finds her peculiar and won’t deal with her unless cornered and unable to escape in even the most ungraceful ways- which is a general reaction to her. When she was younger her mother tried to teach her to be a young lady, but as she grew older and the hallucinations grew worse from the sedentary activities her mother gave up. Her father finds her endearing and hilarious, but her mother is somewhat ashamed and also tries to separate herself from her daughter’s antics. This doesn’t really bother her though; she’s more than happy in her own world.

Health: Her mental heath is nonexistent. She hallucinates often and is plagued by nightmares- making her sleep sporadic and fitful. Because of this she’s prone to cat naps during the day and wandering about at night.

Habits: Fidgeting and singing. She reads and converses with her imaginary animals frequently and without reserve. She also collects teacups, fills them with green tea and sugar and leaves them on the windowsill at night- “For the fairies” she says. However, if the liquid is not gone by morning, she’ll smash the cup and then use the pieces on a mosaic she has covering the walls of her room. She will also tell you that she “Collects people” but don’t be alarmed- she simply means that if she finds you interesting that you will never escape from her, doomed to be her Companion (mutual or not). So sorry for your luck. Welcome to hell. She also likes to come up with peculiar or annoying nicknames for her companions- so be prepared!

Family details: Her mother and father are the Lord and Lady Chit- tacticians and brilliant political adversaries that if not favored by the queen, would be most dangerous to her otherwise. She has no siblings, aunts, uncles, or grandparents. If she did her mother probably would have sent her to plague them long ago. Earliest memory: She doesn’t have an earliest memory- her mind is so chock-full of imaginary worlds and general craziness that what she might have of one or two ‘early’ memories is entirely mixed up and out of touch with reality.

——-

Aye. TYhe more insane the character the more fun it is :3

@ arska: I do a profile somewhat similar to yours, but more in-depth. I find that writing down stuff about characters forces me to consider aspects I hadn’t thought about before.

Sanasa, what was that look for?
ಠ_ಠ

@ SWQ- That is a very basic one. I know my characters clear down to their medical history, but typically I don’t bother to write it down.

O.O

That’s it. It’s gone. Out the friggin window.

Yeah; I don’t agree with sansafro187 here. That said, I don’t think that it’s a good idea, either – not only is it a strange and seemingly-contrived thing to mention, it doesn’t really fit the character.

Yeah… My Characters inevitably always maker one trip to the hospital, (At least) or are amputees/blind/ ect.

My characters are these nebulous beings with character profiles that sometimes end up being completely untrue.