Experiences Have you ever been so happy with the way you have written a character, and why?

[Edric Blight]

I don't know if anyone has done this before, maybe they have, and if so I apologize for the repeat question. But as the title asks, have you ever been roleplaying and writing for a character and been like "Damn, I LOVE how I just wrote that!" Personally for me, it's a rare moment, but I'm interested to hear if any of you have ever been in love with the way you've written a certain character in one of your RPs, whether it be a 1 x 1 RP or a group RP. If you have had this experience, why did you enjoy the way you wrote or created this certain character? Hopefully that all makes sense, and I'm looking forward to hearing all of your responses.

 

[Edric Blight]

I'll go first with my own experience to begin! Personally for me, I feel like it's a very rare occurrence that I'm absolutely in love with a character I'm writing, but I gotta say right now, I'm in an RP right now where I'm actually a big fan of this SIDE character I've been writing. He's not actually the main character of the RP, and it's still relatively early in his whole character development, but I like what I've got going with him.

Basically, this character in question is a side character in one of my 1 x 1 roleplays. He started out established as good long time friend of one of the main characters (one that I am playing). I gave him a little cocky part of his personality, but not too over the top and arrogant to the point where he's an unbearable character or one that you would hate. But what I've particularly enjoyed about writing him is that I've slowly been turning him into a side character friend of the main character into somewhat of the main antagonist of the story. I don't know if this makes any sense, but basically I'm nerding out about this character I'm currently writing lol.

 

[GojiBean]

Actually, yes.

I put a lot of time and effort into my characters. And when things go right in the RP and I feel like something the character did was just... Muwah (chef's kiss)... I get all giggly and happy with myself for making it happen.

Being a perfectionist it's hard to ever see my work as being anything other than a work in progress. But thankfully the work I do put in gives me lots of little moments like this to enjoy (even if there are many MORE moments that go by where I'm like, "Well... Okay, I flubbed THAT one up pretty nice.").

Cheers!

 

[Edric Blight]

Actually, yes.

I put a lot of time and effort into my characters. And when things go right in the RP and I feel like something the character did was just... Muwah (chef's kiss)... I get all giggly and happy with myself for making it happen.

Being a perfectionist it's hard to ever see my work as being anything other than a work in progress. But thankfully the work I do put in gives me lots of little moments like this to enjoy (even if there are many MORE moments that go by where I'm like, "Well... Okay, I flubbed THAT one up pretty nice.").

Cheers!

Heck yea! I feel ya on that one!

And yes, zee chef's kiss when it all comes together lmao

 

[Onmyoji]

I usually rp fandom characters and to me the best feeling is when I can get into the right mindset to rp the character that would be good enough to pass for canon. And I'm happy if I get that feeling. And even more happy if my rp partner gets that feeling as well.

 

[Damafaud]

Just the latest one I recall! Successfully wrote my character casually ripping someone's head off in a scene without disturbing the scene's slice of life vibe.

Feeling proud because I feel like I nailed the casual disregard toward human life my comedic murderer has xD

 

[Edric Blight]

I usually rp fandom characters and to me the best feeling is when I can get into the right mindset to rp the character that would be good enough to pass for canon. And I'm happy if I get that feeling. And even more happy if my rp partner gets that feeling as well.

That's always fun

 

[Edric Blight]

Just the latest one I recall! Successfully wrote my character casually ripping someone's head off in a scene without disturbing the scene's slice of life vibe.

Feeling proud because I feel like I nailed the casual disregard toward human life my comedic murderer has xD

Holy cow lmao, that's impressive.

 

[GloomySage]

Not so much for a direct post;
but I've had a character I've been developing for years and I'm super pleased with who he has become over the years.
I feel like I've grown with him and it's a really nice feeling.

 

[TerrorKitty]

Oh all the time, it used to be rare but nowadays it's a lot more common as I've grown as a writer.

Sometimes it's when I write a new variant of a previous character that needed more development and wasn't clicking but I finally have the perfect example of 'who they are'

Sometimes it's just after writing a really big character sheet and it just feels good to finally hit 'post' and rest; at least after reading over it one more time as a completed work. Feeling proud of what I've made, my own art piece.

Sometimes it's just realizing a character I've made has grown into something amazing from almost nothing, especially side characters given their own spotlight.

 

[Kurotsuki]

The one character I'm really proud of would be a girl named Saki from a world I created. Her story is a tragic one, venturing through the unfortunate reality of bullying, family issues, and deteriorating mental health.

What I like most about her, though, is that it doesn't get better. People like happy endings yes, but often times the not so happy outcomes never get their share of the spotlight. The circumstances work out in her favor but her internalized distrust runs them into the ground. Saki doesn't get her happy ending. And if it seems unfair, that is the source of my pride: being able to evoke such sympathy over a character.

 

[crumbelivable]

I had an RP I did over Discord a few years back, it was an urban fantasy type thing with a lot of inspiration from music like Swans, and manga like Zaregoto and Monogatari. I played a good few characters, but my main one was this child of a time god, named Ian. I put a lot of myself into Ian, a lot of my rage and desire to be loved and struggles to be understood and shit, really put a lot of myself into him. Writing him was like free therapy for me, honestly. I never felt more happy then when I was writing him. The rP ended for me a long time ago, unrelated drama made me lose contact with those people. But I still cherish the characters that came out of it. I'm currently writing a little series of some sort about them, and I'd be happy to use them in most any RP.

 

[Idea]

The thing about me, is that I build a lot of things for the long term, but time constraints often force me to write things more in a hurry, and the RP often ends before I have a chance to really get to the long-term that my writing and characters are meant for. However, I am always proud of the final product I end up making, or almost always, as otherwise I wouldn't make it. However, there are three instances I can think of, with three different characters, which I recall being particularly proud of:


1. The character is Inula Maillian. She is a lvl 1 D&D character in a Baldur's Gate campaign, and a total mess. She's in the service of another player's character, a noble, after they took her in following her losing pretty much everything, humanity and all, on account of her enormous naivety (never a great trait for someone living in a half-lawless city like that, especially not with hell so close by). The time she resolved herself to go against the one she was in service of for that person's own sake - attempting to cast a spell to force them to apologize (which failed in the end due to a bad dice roll), is a memorable moment I think showed a more active side of that timid and naive character, while bringing a more categorically unexpected element into the RP at the time, and prompting more character moments in posts that followed.

2. Lawneck was one of my earliest characters and needless to say my attitude in roleplay at the time was a lot more strict than it is today. However, while I wouldn't have expected a character like Lawneck today to work today -indeed, he didn't- they were certainly a very memorable one for me. Lawneck was the leader, the alpha of the sunpack, opposing the wolves of the moon pack. By contrast with the freedom-loving leadership of the moon pack, Lawneck was a very strict leader, very much tied down by the need for order and rules in the way the packs conducted themselves. He wasn't completely inflexible of course, but he would rather flexibility would come from rules that gave leeway rather than people playing fast and loose with rules. He very much cared for his pack, always doing what he could to help, while also keeping a watchful eye to make sure the rules he set up for the pack's well-being were followed, and hierarchies followed as well. However, the RP was not only very skewed numbers-wise towards the moonpack, but they were kind of set up as the "good guys framed for an accident". Good roleplaying called that I had Lawneck be suspicious of their generational enemies, but that didn't mean the other players had to follow suit, and their characters were already not super into following Lawneck's rules anyway. Lawneck witnessed disobedience, further signs of betrayal in collaborating with their enemy, and when he called his pack to at least help put out the forest fire, only one came (most sunpack people vanished if memory serves me right, and most of the rest were doing other things and didn't bother to heed the howl) and even then they weren't keen on doing what Lawneck said. The feelings of betrayal and shock for Lawneck gripped me very much back then, or at least that's how I remember it. To be honest I'm not sure how much of this last part I posted and how much I just thought, because it was very long ago, but either way I seem to recall writing Lawneck well. I think, if given more time to develop, Lawneck's story could really have been tragic and great.

3. I believe one of my best written characters ever was Morois, the goddess of dreams, youth and trickery. Also former goddess of curses, though she cast aside that domain due to her history. I've talked about her quite a few times, as she was the catalyst to the biggest impact a character of mine ever had on an RP - she was the catalyst for a key event, the trial on the moon, after obliterated the life that existed on the moon with a curse in order to win a challenge against a goddess who insulted her, and this trial in turn would lead to the conflict between the gods that would escalate into a war ending the RP, and being the backstory of the reboot. The secret to Moroi's success as a character is simple, she was exceptionally easy to write for, because her personality was complex but could at core being boiled down to a concept very easy to portray: Self-importance. Morois viewed all beings in a hierarchy, with gods such as herself standing at the pinnacle, followed by minor gods, followed by creations like mortals. Those below owed reverence to those above, and while they weren't insignificant, they were mere extensions (in her eyes) of those who made them. In her eyes life on the moon was all involved in the conflict of the goddess of the moon, because they were merely extensions of her. Mortal life mattered only in so far as an affront to it was an affront to its maker. Morois was well-aware of her power, but still viewed herself as the lowest of the gods, but she was also petty, and took to heart what she viewed as insults to her dignity or that of other gods, another concept she highly associated with a higher placement in the hierarchy she believed in. Morois was never meant to be likeable, but being able to make her so remarkably consistent made interactions with her fun despite being unlikeable, or at least that was the impression I got, and her almost alien worldview grounded by her pettiness worked well as well, in my opinion. However, I think the thing that really settled Morois among my characters was a single comment in the discord OOC chat in the RP reboot, after Morois came to talk to a depressed goddess to get her out of her funk.

"Only Morois could cheer someone up by being arrogant, and make it make sense."

 

[Murdergurl]

I have a tendency to play characters with a dark streak. Borderline villainous. Sometimes blatantly villainous. But a character that I'm especially proud of is actually quite the opposite. She's a do-gooder to a fault, a zealot. And to top it all off, she's from a fandom. The majority of my characters are not from fandoms and are usually from some generic fantasy or sci-fi setting. But again, Adrielle is an exception. she isn't a canonical character. But she's definitely from a popular fandom. Her and one other are my favorite characters to write about and write as. It's just SO hard to actually get anything going with either of them.

 

[halcyon_tales]

Yes yes yes!! It's one of the best feelings ever. I get really excited when I finish a post and feel like I did justice to the nuances of a certain character, or 'out of character' moments that are realistic due to the circumstances. Another great feeling is writing an argument well! The best arguments are when nobody's in the right and there's just a clash of ideals or perspectives, or both characters have messed up and are trying to come to terms with their/the other's actions!

 

[Daisie]

Absolutely!

My favourite character to play is a demon that actually turned out to be way more frightening and twisted than I ever originally intended. To the point where my partner and I have been shaking while writing posts, hehe. He's now our prime example of the worst a person can get.

It's absolutely unreal to be deeply unsettled by your own character, and I couldn't be more pleased about it.

 

[Genii]

I have a Knight who is basically an evil Regent’s hitman. I dropped him into a group (world-hopping) RP, just as a side character really, but he actually turned out to be very enjoyable to play.

He was foul-mouthed, quick tempered and morose, but thanks to a few of the more friendly (and patient) characters he grew as a person and even found love.

I’m always wary about bringing antagonists or standoffish characters to a role play, but I love that this grumpy henchman found his happy ending.

 

[pavlikovsky]

there are certain canon and original characters that i’m super proud of and that therefore become my favorites for sure!

 

[Owl Knight]

This might not technically fit the bill, but I wrote a sample first post for a prospective roleplay the other day (still waiting for interest since it's a niche sort of idea).

The character is an android that has begun to experience emotions that physically manifest in his mechanical operations and he is trying to mask the fact from his creator who is scrutinizing his operation data in response to questions. It was just a super fun way to re-imagine writing a character's emotional state.

 

[Jannah]

Honestly, as a character driven writer I have had quite a few moments like this. I put a lot of thought and detail into each one of mine. They also get thrown into some pretty tough situations and their development will reflect that. One of my most notable examples of this was in a Hunger Games RP I did years ago. I was playing some arrogant District 1 career tribute. Over the course of the RP he humbled significantly because for the first time in his life he experienced true hardship and trauma. He came out of the games a victor, but like all others he had a lot of baggage to deal with afterwards. It really humbled him into someone I could almost sympathize with, while at the beginning of the story he was an annoying little twat with almost no redeeming qualities.

 

[HystericalHeart]

Yes. Characters for me, are the most fun. Creating a life for them and throwing them into a world. I've made some characters who I ended up not enjoying. Not feeling like they were doing what I intended. Eventually, having them dissappear or die or whatever to the plot. I've had some I've loved but the plot had adapted them to a place that makes me struggle enjoying them. And I have some I absoloutly adore!
Perhaps my two favorite characters I've made were possibly the least like me, but they had relationships. They had a life before coming to life in writing. I worked with other players to establish relationships prior to the entry. I think that's what made me love them the most.

 

[jump.]

i recently had my friend tell me that they love one of my characters, but that character also makes them sad, because they can relate to them. because my portrayal of their problems and their trauma is realistic.
and im so happy to hear that?? im glad that im portraying their ptsd in a realistic way, i try my best not to be insensitive or uninformed. so im happy im doing things right. especially since the character in question is probably my favorite oc.

 

[Edric Blight]

i recently had my friend tell me that they love one of my characters, but that character also makes them sad, because they can relate to them. because my portrayal of their problems and their trauma is realistic.
and im so happy to hear that?? im glad that im portraying their ptsd in a realistic way, i try my best not to be insensitive or uninformed. so im happy im doing things right. especially since the character in question is probably my favorite oc.

Omg I love that for you.

 

[Kveykva]

oh yeah, especially recently. one of my biggest influences (i believe) for what i like to write and how i write it is the book thief, which i read for my english class when i was still in school. i liked the way death was written as the narrator, as well as it being a very cynical and tongue in cheek character. i did some writing for it back then, but eventually i branched away to follow other characters that belonged more to me.

coming full circle, i recently had death cameo in one of my posts in an rp where a reaper had taken a child of hades on as an apprentice (as punishment, naturally, because she is a menace). honestly i've been very proud of everything to come out of that roleplay, but that cameo really hit the nail on the head - for me at least - for the image i wanted to paint of Death itself. a vague, indiscernible figure with pearlescent wings, absolutely buried in the thousands upon thousands of souls they carried. you always picture the greco-roman gods on their golden thrones expecting to be worshipped, but no one expects one to be slogging through the mortal worlds right alongside their subordinates, reaping souls because there's always too many dead and never enough help

 

[Kaiju Cat]

I’m finally getting back into my Edward Elric muse hopefully it stays that way.