Advice/Help Better ways to descirbe characters more detailed?

[dragonfliesonsunday]

I have a hard time explaining characters personalities!
Like I can describe them physically really well
and i dont struggle with depth in my characters (i'd like to think)
But when im writing character sheets/pitches i always struggle to describe their mannerisms n just things that make them a person

 

[Idea]

their mannerisms n just things that make them a person

Can you give some examples of what you mean by this?

 

[dragonfliesonsunday]

Can you give some examples of what you mean by this?

it's pretty rough

heres one of my most recent ones sobs

``
Nahko Kahale

A reserved and possessive boy, who often finds his emotions taking him over.

He has light mocha colored skin, with honey-colored soft eyes. His hair is long with a light natural curl, and is an almost white shade. He often wears it back in a low and loose ponytail or bun. He mostly wears light desaturated tones in his clothes, often wearing turtle neck sweaters, cut off t-shirts, baggy jeans, often ripped, with some kinda light colored boot. His ears are slightly pointed, with two silver hoops in each, along with a nose ring that matches. Several rings line his fingers, that he’s just collected over the years, with a silver necklace that holds great value to him. ``

 

[Idea]

A reserved and possessive boy, who often finds his emotions taking him over.

Right, I see. So I suppose when you said you "don't struggle with depth" would it be fair to assume you mean you are the type to come up with a more in-depth personality as you write/RP? As in rather than knowing what you're going for when you're making the character sheet.

 

[dragonfliesonsunday]

Right, I see. So I suppose when you said you "don't struggle with depth" would it be fair to assume you mean you are the type to come up with a more in-depth personality as you write/RP? As in rather than knowing what you're going for when you're making the character sheet.

kinda?
like i fully grasp the way most of my characters act think and feel, i just have a hard time conveying who they are outside of actual roleplay.
i know how to be them
not describe them

 

[macheath .]

describe certain situations and implement their traits, or mention one specific trait and follow up with a related or even contradicting trait to showcase character depth.

here’s an example of how i go about it.
being the epitome of a chaotic neutral, kanon often walks a dangerously fine line between moral and immoral amidst a world he’s never quite understood to be his own. immensely detached from his surroundings, not even having a concept of identity and gender, let alone the social differences between right and wrong, he’s always been somewhat outside of everything; merely living, experiencing, attempting to find the meaning behind his existence. believing that nothing truly matters in the end, which stems from his extreme nihilism, he’s prone to an eccentric and oftentimes outrageous lifestyle despite people generally mistreating him due to such openly expressed individualism. being relatively open about his sexuality, he’s never been one to not overindulge in his desires and fantasies; earning him quite the notorious reputation in town.

despite facing much discrimination and abuse throughout his life, he’s rather lighthearted and unphased in his general approach; having no sense of worth regarding himself, and thus believing himself completely equal to any living creature, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant. not afraid to play with his own life without any regard for the consequences, he’s also prone to inflict the same unphased treatment towards the humans and creatures in his path; not quite understanding the immorality behind such actions. influenced by his apathy and detachment, he’s already exhibited homicidal and macabre traits way back in his childhood; long before the actual serial murders taking place in the present; quite indifferent towards his cruel treatment of animals, even describing said cruelty and violence as “playtime” caused by his innate curiosity. nonetheless, again and again, kanon actually shows signs of subtle humanity; revealing a much more thoughtful nature than previously believed by the readers. ultimately, he’s driven forward by his love for declan and his internal desire to find an answer to his question; “what purpose do i have?”


not saying that this will 100% work for you but it’s always good to talk about your character as if they’re an existing person. expand on their traits, give us some lore, explain why they’re reserved and possessive, and don’t be afraid to come up with some short hypothetical scenarios.

 

[dragonfliesonsunday]

describe certain situations and implement their traits, or mention one specific trait and follow up with a related or even contradicting trait to showcase character depth.

here’s an example of how i go about it.
being the epitome of a chaotic neutral, kanon often walks a dangerously fine line between moral and immoral amidst a world he’s never quite understood to be his own. immensely detached from his surroundings, not even having a concept of identity and gender, let alone the social differences between right and wrong, he’s always been somewhat outside of everything; merely living, experiencing, attempting to find the meaning behind his existence. believing that nothing truly matters in the end, which stems from his extreme nihilism, he’s prone to an eccentric and oftentimes outrageous lifestyle despite people generally mistreating him due to such openly expressed individualism. being relatively open about his sexuality, he’s never been one to not overindulge in his desires and fantasies; earning him quite the notorious reputation in town.

despite facing much discrimination and abuse throughout his life, he’s rather lighthearted and unphased in his general approach; having no sense of worth regarding himself, and thus believing himself completely equal to any living creature, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant. not afraid to play with his own life without any regard for the consequences, he’s also prone to inflict the same unphased treatment towards the humans and creatures in his path; not quite understanding the immorality behind such actions. influenced by his apathy and detachment, he’s already exhibited homicidal and macabre traits way back in his childhood; long before the actual serial murders taking place in the present; quite indifferent towards his cruel treatment of animals, even describing said cruelty and violence as “playtime” caused by his innate curiosity. nonetheless, again and again, kanon actually shows signs of subtle humanity; revealing a much more thoughtful nature than previously believed by the readers. ultimately, he’s driven forward by his love for declan and his internal desire to find an answer to his question; “what purpose do i have?”


not saying that this will 100% work for you but it’s always good to talk about your character as if they’re an existing person. expand on their traits, give us some lore, explain why they’re reserved and possessive, and don’t be afraid to come up with some short hypothetical scenarios.

omg,, i adore both how you write and that character

thank you so much, ill 100% try that.

 

[macheath .]

omg,, i adore both how you write and that character

thank you so much, ill 100% try that.

i’m sorry that i can’t offer more advice!! but really, it does extremely help to think about one specific trait and then find connections and/or contradictions. “he’s very possessive, which resulted from abandonment in the past, but he’s also quite reserved and therefore has trouble expressing his true feelings to others.”

just an example but you get the drift!!

 

[Idea]

kinda?
like i fully grasp the way most of my characters act think and feel, i just have a hard time conveying who they are outside of actual roleplay.
i know how to be them
not describe them

Ah, gotcha. So I guess it's less you have trouble coming up with the fine details and moreso you are struggling with expressing in the character sheet the idea of the character you have in your head.

Alright, here's some strategies I use when I'm writing my characters:

• Picture a scene that depicts a typical interaction with a given tone, be it comical, romantic, shock, action... How does your character talk and act in those scenarios? What is going through their head? Picturing a concrete scene may help you give descriptions to the behaviors on given circumstances. With experience doing this will come finding more specific scenes to fit the character and finding better ways to translate extended behaviors into more concise behavioral patterns.
• Try to describe the character along certain axis, if possible avoid any middling or unstable results. For instance how energetic or inactive are they? Are they more prone to overthinking or to going with the flow? Are they more the passive type or the type that jumps into action even if they maybe shouldn't? Etc...
• try to think of aspects most intimately connected to the personality - goals/motivations, what one appreciates or wants to avoid, their worldview... Describing those things already helps get a sense of personality, but it can also get an idea of what their way of thinking is like and thus what their behavior is like.
• This one is more for coming up with ideas in the first place, but it's important enough for me to mention almost every time, and that is what I call the golden rule of consistency. Internal consistency - that is, any fact you establish as true you don't contradict - and consistency of consequences - within those established facts, things have sensible causes and effects. Tracing through those causes and effects from aspects around the personality, such as the backstory for example, can help one figure out the personality.

In addition, one major issue I often encounter in characters is when a person thinks the character has a proper personality, but when one goes to look at it it's full of vagueness, unexplained contradictions, instable traits and behavior that is more prone to what the writer finds convenient than what works for the character. Needless to say, but all of these issues, if present, make it far more difficult to describe a personality - for the very simple reason more often than not they mean the character barely even has a personality.

To avoid accidentally falling into those mistakes, I have two pieces of advice:
A) Don't be afraid to commit to aspects of your character. If the character has a temper, don't just make them kinda grumpy at times, make them fly off the handle because someone won't stop whistling. Naturally, characters will respond to circumstances and have common sense (or most characters will anyway), but these should be variations on the way of being rather than the character's behavior being amorphous. Not only is this better for anchoring what the character is like, but also just makes for far more interesting characters in most cases.
B) If your character is doing what you think would be the sensible thing to do, talking about topics in the lens of beliefs you hold, in general if you find yourself in pretty much full agreement with at least your character's overall point 90% of the time - As a rule of thumb, you're doing it wrong. While it is a mistake to presume you're trying to create a real person here, they are still supposed to be an independent individual from you the player after all. Odds are if they match what you think too closely they are either a self insert or a sock puppet without a real personality to influence their thoughts and actions.



I hope this helps. Best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[macheath .]

Ah, gotcha. So I guess it's less you have trouble coming up with the fine details and moreso you are struggling with expressing in the character sheet the idea of the character you have in your head.

Alright, here's some strategies I use when I'm writing my characters:

• Picture a scene that depicts a typical interaction with a given tone, be it comical, romantic, shock, action... How does your character talk and act in those scenarios? What is going through their head? Picturing a concrete scene may help you give descriptions to the behaviors on given circumstances. With experience doing this will come finding more specific scenes to fit the character and finding better ways to translate extended behaviors into more concise behavioral patterns.
• Try to describe the character along certain axis, if possible avoid any middling or unstable results. For instance how energetic or inactive are they? Are they more prone to overthinking or to going with the flow? Are they more the passive type or the type that jumps into action even if they maybe shouldn't? Etc...
• try to think of aspects most intimately connected to the personality - goals/motivations, what one appreciates or wants to avoid, their worldview... Describing those things already helps get a sense of personality, but it can also get an idea of what their way of thinking is like and thus what their behavior is like.
• This one is more for coming up with ideas in the first place, but it's important enough for me to mention almost every time, and that is what I call the golden rule of consistency. Internal consistency - that is, any fact you establish as true you don't contradict - and consistency of consequences - within those established facts, things have sensible causes and effects. Tracing through those causes and effects from aspects around the personality, such as the backstory for example, can help one figure out the personality.

In addition, one major issue I often encounter in characters is when a person thinks the character has a proper personality, but when one goes to look at it it's full of vagueness, unexplained contradictions, instable traits and behavior that is more prone to what the writer finds convenient than what works for the character. Needless to say, but all of these issues, if present, make it far more difficult to describe a personality - for the very simple reason more often than not they mean the character barely even has a personality.

To avoid accidentally falling into those mistakes, I have two pieces of advice:
A) Don't be afraid to commit to aspects of your character. If the character has a temper, don't just make them kinda grumpy at times, make them fly off the handle because someone won't stop whistling. Naturally, characters will respond to circumstances and have common sense (or most characters will anyway), but these should be variations on the way of being rather than the character's behavior being amorphous. Not only is this better for anchoring what the character is like, but also just makes for far more interesting characters in most cases.
B) If your character is doing what you think would be the sensible thing to do, talking about topics in the lens of beliefs you hold, in general if you find yourself in pretty much full agreement with at least your character's overall point 90% of the time - As a rule of thumb, you're doing it wrong. While it is a mistake to presume you're trying to create a real person here, they are still supposed to be an independent individual from you the player after all. Odds are if they match what you think too closely they are either a self insert or a sock puppet without a real personality to influence their thoughts and actions.



I hope this helps. Best of luck and happy RPing!

this is solid advice. i think it’s very important to stick to a certain amount of character consistency. i especially love coming up with consequences relating to their traits. like my example “he’s very possessive, which resulted from abandonment in the past, but he’s also quite reserved and therefore has trouble expressing his true feelings to others,” but how about we take this a step further? let’s give him a reaction and therefore consequence for this personally frustrating dilemma. perhaps this dilemma results in his regular anger outbursts due to not being able to actually express his possessiveness. it’s so fun to deep dive into a character’s brain!!

 

[dragonfliesonsunday]

this is solid advice. i think it’s very important to stick to a certain amount of character consistency. i especially love coming up with consequences relating to their traits. like my example “he’s very possessive, which resulted from abandonment in the past, but he’s also quite reserved and therefore has trouble expressing his true feelings to others,” but how about we take this a step further? let’s give him a reaction and therefore consequence for this personally frustrating dilemma. perhaps this dilemma results in his regular anger outbursts due to not being able to actually express his possessiveness. it’s so fun to deep dive into a character’s brain!!

i love how you accidently described Nahko down to a T
I tend to play him almost as a stalker alot of the time- so i think one could assume how that correlates

 

[macheath .]

i love how you accidently described Nahko down to a T
I tend to play him almost as a stalker alot of the time- so i think one could assume how that correlates

we love a troubled stalker. but yes!! connection, contradiction, consequence. that’s how i personally go about it, but the other person’s advice is also chef’s kiss.

 

[dragonfliesonsunday]

oh boy, we love a troubled stalker. but yes!! connection, contradiction, consequence. that’s how i personally go about it, but the other person’s advice is also chef’s kiss.

yes!! thank you so much
if youre ever bored either of you can pm me to rp or invite me where ever

you both have been so helpful it means the world

 

[A Sparkling Zombie]

Taking a Myers-Briggs test (for example) as a character could sometimes be a helpful tool. There is perhaps the pitfall of allowing the personality type to dictate a character too much, when people are more organic than that, but the questionnaire itself can at least be a way to consider the different aspects of your character's personality and how they fall on the different spectrums.

Someone else's mileage may vary, but my process usually involves looking through this list of traits and identifying those that fit the character. Having the keywords helps to focus me, and the division of positive and negative traits might also be helpful to some. Just gotta be sure to determine the traits that actually speak to your character, not select traits for the sake of doing so. That and Idea's advice on consistency and being willing to commit to aspects of the personality is really excellent when using this method.

 

[AtomBombBaby]

I'm also the kind of person who knows my OCs really well, but tends to struggle creating a cohesive character sheet, especially when it comes to personality. Sometimes it's hard to translate all the depth I have in my head into a few hundred words, and my characters tend to evolve and change over time, so I worry my sheet may not stay accurate to my OCs as they develop. Or, when I initially write the sheet, I may have a solid image of their personality that ends up playing out totally different than I imagined. So I challenged myself to make a comprehensive sheet over the past few days. I struggled a lot with the personality section, but found that researching character traits and nailing down mannerisms really helped me define him well. Feel free to check out those sections if you like ^-^

Fen Adrian Serica

docs.google.com

Taking a Myers-Briggs test (for example) as a character could sometimes be a helpful tool. There is perhaps the pitfall of allowing the personality type to dictate a character too much, when people are more organic than that, but the questionnaire itself can at least be a way to consider the different aspects of your character's personality and how they fall on the different spectrums.

This is a really cool idea that I'm going to do for sure ^-^

one major issue I often encounter in characters is when a person thinks the character has a proper personality, but when one goes to look at it it's full of vagueness, unexplained contradictions, instable traits and behavior that is more prone to what the writer finds convenient than what works for the character.

I definitely found myself doing this, and very well may have still. It's something I'm personally working on, and caught myself doing a few times and had to correct. It's a very real struggle lol!