Playing Different Personalities

[call me rae]

So recently I have noticed that a lot of my original characters seem to have the same personality type. Even when I set out to make different personalities I tend to always play them the same basic way.

So I thought I'd make a thread to see if anyone else has this problem or has any practical advice for how to fix it. 


My specific questions are :
1. How do you keep your characters personalities from blending together?
2. How do you create pick personalities for your characters?

To clarify this is a feedback / advice thread focused on a specific issue  this means that I am not looking for opinions on the proper way to create a character or to debate what kind of personalities are better than others.

So I don't want to see any arguments in the thread or off topic tangents. If you wish to discuss pet peeves or your own characters there are plenty of threads for that. This one is strictly for advice/feedback.

That being the case all feedback is welcome as long as it's constructive. And remember guys let's try to keep things civil.

 

[StoneWolf18]

1) Most of my earier made characters had extremely similar personalities so I know your struggle. Normally I try to stick to an archetype best I can. An example being I just made a new character that's a cold, heartless bitch. Yes they could soften up, but for the most part they aren't going to be playing with puppies like a few of my other characters would.


2) I do this opposite of how you describe. I find a personality I want to play, and then form the character around that. Back to my previous example, if I wanted to play her in a fantasy setting, I would model their name, age, race and so on to mirror their archetype.

 

[The Mechanist]

I cant really portray other personalities that well, i just stick with usual concentrations of my own personality.

 

[Epiphany]

1. How do you keep your characters personalities from blending together?


Character sheets and rereading my last couple of posts to stay in character.  It helps to glance over a character's history or personality writeup to remind myself of what I'm supposed to be playing.  Something you might try if it's an issue for you is coming up with a cheat sheet of quick key traits that you can read in seconds to get you into the character's frame of mind.  Like:


Alex: 

• Bitchy.
  
• Always worries about his family, especially his mom and his sister.
  
• Has a limp but doesn't like to draw attention to it, so he stands and leans a lot.
  
• Can't stop checking girls out.
  
• Loves his country.
  

Kim:

• Smile, especially when someone's picking a fight.
  
• She lives for praise and compliments, so react!
  
• Don't waste a lot of words on someone unless they impress her.  
  
• Talk with her hands!
  
• Check out new people's clothes and resent them if they look better.
  

2. How do you create pick personalities for your characters?
Practice.  Which isn't super helpful, I know.  I start with a history.  Then I look for basic tools of motivation.  Big questions are:

1. What does she want?  What's she working towards?
   
2. What will she never do?  What must she overcome?
   
3. What do other people mean to her?  How does she see people?
   

Answering that helps me lock a personality in pretty quickly.  A corporate lawyer who wants to be a partner, who can never ask for help but must overcome her own fear of vulnerability to accept aid, a woman who sees people as untrustworthy liars...has a lot of personality right there.  Play her cool, poised, in control and never let her look weak in front of others.  


Hope it helps!

 

[Umbrie]

i do a lot of characters that are genuinely sweet and friendly, and act innocent as a cover. but said characters are generally pleasure driven and family oriented.


i fall into that trap a lot. and it is hard for me to play a genuinely bitchy character that actually intends to be bitchy. i might have characters who say rude things by accident. but it usually isn't deliberate on the character's behalf. i also have a habit of making my seemingly innocent characters the type who get into "clumsy accidents" that put them into "compromising positions." sometimes, those clumsy acts reveal a particular item needed to advance the plot. like the lever to the lift to the bosses chamber.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

Have you tried using a personality generator? It's a good, quick fix and will get you to play a character with a set of personalities you wouldn't have otherwise. Though of course, you can make a few tweaks if you want.

 

[call me rae]

Great advice guys thanks a lot !

 

[RatFlail]

1. I generally model characters after people that I know in real life. Friends, family, coworkers, etc. It's far easier to tell if something is out-of-character if I think whether it would be odd if that friend does it. Things tend to be more concrete that way.


2. I pick the person that would best fit the traits that I have selected for that character.


Of course, the secret to the above is to never EVER tell people which character is modeled off of them.

 

[Ganryu]

1. How do you keep your characters personalities from blending together?


I try to model my characters off of tropes. Alot of their personalities are very exaggerated, giving me a defined role of what they should and shouldn't do. If my cowardly tactician, and my hyperactive idiot are doing anywhere near the same thing, I've done something incredibly wrong. I just try to keep a few keywords in mind whenever I post for them.


I like to see my characters as taking a very small part of my own personality, and exaggerating it until is a completely different beast.


2. How do you create pick personalities for your characters?


I generally go about it a few different ways in creations. The first way I love to do is think of a personality that is ironic considering their talents. My hyperactive sniper is great to play as, and was real easy to come up with. 'What's the worst job for the someone whose the personification of ADHD? Yeah, sniper, this should be fun."


The other way is I consider their backgrounds, and think how that would have shaped them. A royal character is either going to grown up loving it, or hating it. If it's the first, they are a rules minded person, very eloquant, and 'acts rich'. If they hate it? Probably the polar opposite. Their environment very much shapes them.


So basically, exaggerations, tropes, and backgrounds help me shape personalities and keep them distinct.

 

[Gilzar]

1. This is a problem that I have a lot as well, and my best advice for you is this: Make a day and night difference between the personalities of your characters. By this, I mean you should be able to describe the key points of your characters personality in just a few words. Now you don't want to be able to describe the WHOLE personality in one word, as that might imply a flat, one-dimensional character, but you should be to state the key points. Maybe keep a chart of these, or just remember them. Now knowing these words will help you make sure two personalities aren't too similar. For example if I have a character I'd describe as 'Stubborn grouch with heart.' and then I have a character I describe as 'A stubborn inexperienced sweetheart' I'd notice the similarities between the stubborn aspects, and would maybe write that out. ALWAYS remember these key points when writing for the character. When in dialogue, often ask 'Is this something this personality would say?'


2. Unlike many, I kind of take a few odd steps to determine personalities for characters. The first way I do it is I'll think up the appearance of the character and visualize it in my mind (I always do this first, that's just my way of doing things.), and then I kind of mold a personality around that because physical looks can effect personality in some instances or vice versa. For example, if I have an attractive character they probably know about their good looks and try and use it as an advantage, or a person who has many scars probably lives a very daring lifestyle.


On the otherhand, I'll think of the personality first and mold around that. Think of the tales we're told as children: We always here about what they did and about their personalities, but things like looks are normally out of the picture. I'll almost present a character in my mind like a legend, and then make the tale come to life on CS.


A few other things I'd like to add is if you're struggling with making different personalities, perhaps you could go to the extremes. Make a character who's personality is COMPLETELY different then any other personality you've ever done, so remotely far that it's unlikely you can pull back old habits and reactions. Emphasize on the reaction part of it. What I've noticed about myself is it's not the actions or dialogue I personally struggle with to convey personality; It's the reactions. I tend to try and make more selfish characters as that's an area I feel I lack with my roleplaying, and I've been told that I can make them do things that are selfish and talk in ways that are selfish but when I have to react to what's going on around the character I slip. If a character needs help I'll try and rationalize it out when in reality my character probably wouldn't even be there to begin with.


I hope this helped!

 

[Interstellar Bun]

1. How do you keep your characters personalities from blending together?


I might be beating a dead horse at this point but I figured I'd throw my two cents in. This is a big problem for me, especially if I'm doing multiple RPs at the same time because I've caught myself smushing together different characters more than once mostly to hilarious results (at one point I even swapped character names and my friends didn't let me live that down for a while). In the long run having a character sheet to look back to always helps me, one where the personality and motivations are described in detail for not only how they act, but why they act that way. Typically no one else ever sees these sheets but they help me out a lot. On the fly, though, I'll stop writing and just kind of remind myself of the core characteristics of who I'm writing, and what their end goal is that motivates them.



2. How do you create pick personalities for your characters?


Like some others have said, I like to pick archetypes to try and follow, at least vaguely. The scholar, the angry warrior, the cynical detective who drinks too much; all of these are basic ideas everyone has seen time and time again, but they're just shells for you to fill with your own unique take on things and it can help give you an idea of what you're aiming for so you don't end up writing the same kind of character too many times. For me, the character creation process starts with the role my character will be playing and what they, as an idea and concept mean and represent from a literary point of view. From there I can build the background and personality kind of at the same time.


If you feel like you're in a rut, do something extreme, make a character you've never made before. Bounce the ideas off a good friend, let them help you push the character concept and define the personality.


In addition: Try writing bad guys. There's nothing like writing a narcissistic killer to make you shake up your character routine.

 

[Ganryu]

If you feel like you're in a rut, do something extreme, make a character you've never made before. Bounce the ideas off a good friend, let them help you push the character concept and define the personality.


In addition: Try writing bad guys. There's nothing like writing a narcissistic killer to make you shake up your character routine.

Amen to this.


It helps a ton, because writing bad guys teaches you about writing opposition. They have to compare to your characters, or someone else's, and yet be a complete opposite. Writing a good villain teaches you about motivation, which is at the crux of what makes characters different. What are they going for? 


And playing things you've never done before is great fun, even if it extremely awkward at first. I'm a sober guy, but writing my first drunk made everyone laugh. (and then be terrified as he was a surprisingly effective villain). Sure, there were a ton of mistakes, but I learned and had a lot of fun.

 

[zooka]

I think this has been said, but I'm going to say it again.


Once, for a Hunter: The Gathering table top role play I took a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as my character.  Granted, this was an in-person campaign with friends and I knew it was going to last awhile and be fresh to fucking death.  If you get a general idea of what you might want to try, do what you can to step into those shoes, and take an online test.  The questions are really great for making you think, "hmm, how would my character feel about this?" or "what would they do/like/prefer?"  It just helps you think of things you might not have otherwise, and you get a much fuller picture of them and how they will act in certain situations.  


Now, you probably don't have time to do that for every single character.  I certainly don't.  But if you are really looking to push yourself for one character in particular, I would say it is worth a shot. 

 

[Thalia_Neko]

It bugs me, but this is the truth (Even in this thread), and it just isnt focused on enough, I've said this, and I'll say it time and time again. One simple way to have a character have a different personality than another -and how I personally make my characters different from one another- is they have a PRIMARY CHARACTER FLAW.


This flaw can be anything, but it has to be PRIMARY. It has to be the complete basis for the character. Meaning you have to basically exaggerate the character's personality revolving around this exaggerated flaw. This flaw can be tropeish, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.


Examples.


Is your character deeply regretting something in their past? Make it the whole point of their existence! Every single action in some way has to be influenced by this. Is the person you interacting with remind you of someone from that past? Then react negatively to them, or react positively to them, if it is applicable. Does their character NOT remind yours of something/someone from your past? Then they aren't worth your character's time! Or maybe they are, because your character is trying to move on.


Is your character smart? Very smart? Super smart? Certifiable super-genius? Good. Great! Make them a total idiot when it comes to common sense, or relationships with others. And make it noticable! Your character can solve some ancient mathmatical challenge that leads to making teleportation a reality? Cool. Now when she/he is speaking about it, make them stumble around, bump into things, cast their gaze around flustered, stutter with their speech. Then they can go back to being a badass genius when they're "alone". Or if you don't want to go that cliche route, make them an average person, but they only THINK they're a genius. In reality, they're just nutso, and their facts, ideas, and sciency-stuff doesnt work. Causing issues in their own mind, and the minds of those characters around them.


Is your character spunky, and good natured? Make her constantly worry, or fret over herself inside, to the point that its visible her confidence is actually a false bravado that is hiding someone who is secretly afraid deep inside. Go with that for quite awhile, before she ever opens up.


Ultimately, this is how I work all my characters. (Even my evil/villain/antagonist ones). They all have exaggerated "good" qualities (that good quality may even be their primary flaw, like confidence), offset by some sort of HUGE character flaw that is always hiding just underneath. You say you struggle with personalities, but I just made 3 characters right there. None of them are the same.


And this has to begin from your VERY FIRST post in an rp. You have to establish your character's "good quality/s" and their flaw, and their motivations, from the very beginning.


If making such exagerations is a tad hard from, then make them a little less apparent. That's fine. Remember, if your character has some sort of primary flaw, they should always be rather interesting.


Too little characters have some sort of flaw that really messes with them and others around them.


The goal of said character/rp is and always will be (despite the actual plot), for your character to circumvent/ultimately GET OVER this flaw. When they get over it, then the rp should either be close to ending, or you can introduce some other flaw that finds its way to the surface. But it should take quite awhile. Even if they do starting getting over it quickly, make it stretch out. If something seems like itll make them completely get over it, introduce something that snaps them back. (Dont overdo it to the point where its a nuisance, just be organic with it. -This can be tricky lol-)

 

[Shin Positron Laser]

1. How do you keep your characters personalities from blending together?
2. How do you create pick personalities for your characters?

So if I have more than 1 character in an RP, maybe 2 for example, I will create my first character with everything regarding his personality to my desired specs depending on the type of RP it is.


The second character will be the complete opposite if I can help it.


If I were to guess the reason some people's character end up with the same personalities it would be because either they are constantly playing themselves in the RP or their ideal persona.


History, background, culture and upbringing usually shape a persons personality. So when creating a characters background and such, try to play true to it. It takes a little more effort


because you have to reason with yourself whether this is something the character would act or react to according to their personality. Not taking the time to think things through we revert


back to our own thinking rather than that of the character.


Now choosing personalities is completely up to my mood, function in the RP, or needs of the RP.


When creating I always find it useful to add a Negative Trait. Probably something along the lines of the 7 deadly sins, and play that throughout the RP.


But again, choosing or creating personalities only makes a difference when we stick to that personality and play it true.

 

[Coward]

I find, at least at the start, that it's helpful to follow rules for the character to make sure they have distinct modes of speech and distinct personalities.


So for example, you might try things like this for a reserved, quiet character:


1. When trying to say something he uses the minimal number of syllables possible, and does the rest with body language.


2. When he's nervous he'll laugh.


3. When something needs doing he'll do it without discussion, and expect others to keep up.


4. When talking to someone he listens carefully and asks questions rather than talking about himself.


5. He feels personal responsibility for other people's problems, and will usually help out without even discussing it.


And so on. Following the rules helps you keep consistent until you feel intuitively what the character would do. It also allows you to pre-emptively fix some problems with the character - for example you can build in rules like 3 - 5 that will compensate for the tendency of quiet characers to stand in the corner and not interact. 3 makes sure he does things despite not talking, while 4 and 5 are both super loveable traits that would make it worth hanging out with a guy who hardly speaks.