GojiBean
Your resident irradiated Kaiju King
Good morning, afternoon, and evening!
GojiBean here with what I hope will be an insightful read about what it means to give your characters meaning.
And no, I'm not talking about "meaning" in a philosophical sense like "why are we here?" I mean it in the literary sense which is far more tangible and easier to both qualify and quantify.
What is meaning?
Put simply, "meaning" is whether or not your character's history and current circumstances and behavior flow seamless together and generate a feeling of dynamic correlation rather than being a series of circumstantial events which just so happen to be occurring in the life of one person.
A momentary detour!
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I've noticed that there's a lot of conversation and questions being asked on just about every RP site I've even ever been to about "how to make good characters?"
In all honesty I'm firmly of the belief that this is an unanswerable question in its present form as there's really no such thing as a "good" character or "bad" character.
Why do I think that? Because characters do not write their own backstories, dialogue, or actions. Their creators do.
So to me it's not so much a question of whether the character is good or bad. It's whether or not their creator has the experience and know-how to present them in a way that gives them relevance, presence, and purpose. If they lack even one out of these three their authenticity, and thus the interest they generate whenever they appear, goes down sharply. If they lack all three, you end up with a character who's basically a consolidated version of Tommy Wiseau's "The Room."
What really gives us the perception of whether they're "good" or "bad" is whether or not we find and are able to perceive meaning behind who they are, what they do, why they do it, and whether or not it has lasting consequences on the story within which they exist. And again this all falls squarely on the shoulders of the character's creator. Not the character themselves.
So if you've ever wondered "do I make good characters?", wonder no more. Your characters are fine. But whether or not you've managed to bring meaning into their existence in each RP they've appeared in is another matter. So if you're wondering, then please keep reading!
Let's continue!
Back to meaning!!
To ascertain whether a character's creator has brought meaning into the character's existence, we need only to ask (albeit repeatedly) two simple questions: "Why does this detail matter?" and "What's next?"
We ask "Why does this detail matter?" first because without a genuine answer to this question any details we read about in a character profile could be, or more than likely are entirely circumstantial. And circumstance does not bring meaning.
Let's look at an example...
Meaning vs. Meaningless
Example One: Todd is a character in a Fantasy adventure RP and was born into a noble family. Growing up he was heavily ostracized by other children. As an adult, he has major trust issues.
Sounds legit, right? Each detail moves in order and seems to share a causality. But on closer inspection, they don't. They're all circumstantial and mutually exclusive events with no directly stated causality or connection at all.
* He was born into a noble family - "Why does this detail matter?" In short, it doesn't.
The fact he was born into nobility is simply a detail. And by itself it says nothing about who he is, why he does what he does, or what to expect from him.
Of course we can assume that his noble birth is the cause of his ostracization. But without a factual statement by Todd's creator that this is true, then we're just assuming based on our own understanding of how ostracization works. And you know what they say about the word "assume."
People are ostracized for all kinds of things. And many of them are far less important than the circumstances of one's birth. These reasons include, but certainly aren't limited to: skin color, scars, beauty marks, language, birthplace, clothing style, who they hang out with, their chosen love interest, weight, height, freckles, shape of their lips, shape of their eyes, nose, ears, etc. I could easily go on with more and more reasons why people are ostracized by others at any and all age groups. But you get the point.
Just because we know that the circumstances of one's birth can be a cause for ostracization does not mean that in Todd's case it is in fact the culprit. By failing to provide a factual statement of connection, Todd's creator in this example has done a poor job of constructing his background to carry any significant weight or meaning for Todd.
* He was born into a noble family - "What's next?" We don't know.
He was born into a noble family. Congrats. What was next for him? Who were the adults who scorned him? Just everyday people in his neighborhood? Were they associates of his parents at their workplace? Were they teachers at his school, if he went to school? What about the kids? Were they school children? Were they street urchins? Were they just everyday kids who hated him for being a noble? When did the ostracization actually start? When did he notice it for what it was? How and when did it actually start affecting him? Why is he growing up with trust issues? Was trust really at the heart of his problems as a kid? How many people did he get to know who acted like friends and then stabbed him in the back, so to speak? Bullying doesn't create trust that can then be broken or create trust issues on its own so much as it does a desire to simply stay away from those doing you wrong (I as one who was bullied heavily in school would know this.)
The bottom line here is: The more questions you can ask about the legitimacy and relevance of the presented details of a character's backstory and current existence, the less the presented details actually matter. And if they don't matter, there is no "meaning."
The fact that I can ask so many questions, which really represent the tip of the iceberg in this example, speaks to the fact that none of the provided details by themselves in Todd's backstory carry any meaning. They're entirely circumstantial, and they don't matter at all to him or anyone else who hears about them.
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Example Two: Todd is a character in a Fantasy adventure RP and was born into a noble family with an unfortunately shady history going back generations in the city they live in. As a result, when Todd began attending school at at the age of five he was heavily scorned by the teaching staff and both ostracized and bullied by the other children, even those of noble birth like him. Due to this childhood trauma Todd grew up with severe social anxiety and became something of a recluse.
Sounds legit, right? Well, that's because it is. This example, by contrast to the first, answers both the posed questions of "Why does this detail matter?" and "What's next?"
* Todd was born into a noble family with a shady history going back generations in the city he lives in - "Why does this detail matter?" Because that shady history is why the teachers at his school despise him and the other kids, even the noble ones, ostracize and bully him. "What's next?" - Todd grew up with severe social anxiety and became a recluse because of the trauma.
It's such a simple change from the first example that it's almost comical. By simply giving an affirmative statement of fact that Todd's background, which he has no control over, led directly to the hate he received from others we leave absolutely no room for doubts that his current existence as a reclusive and socially anxious young man are directly linked to that trauma.
Todd is a victim of circumstance which creates a sense of injustice surrounding the fact that he was ostracized, scorned, and bullied by others. His birth isn't his fault. And as a result he's far more relatable and sympathetic as a character which makes him more compelling, believable, and likeable.
When you don't need to ask the question "why" with respect to the presented details, that's when you know you've brought genuine meaning to a character.
As simple as it is, Todd's backstory in this second example says everything about who he is in the present day. Any behavior from Todd that fits with social anxiety, such as speaking very little in a group or never being the one to start a conversation, are perfectly understood and justified. Nobody needs to ask Todd's creator "Why is Todd so quiet all the time?" It's right there in his history. They will also know that they don't need to ask questions like "Hey, can you have Todd start a convo with my character? I want them to be able to interact a bit." They know they have to be the one to make their character approach Todd because he's not a conversation starter.
As a final note, it's important to know that there are irrelevant questions to avoid like "why does his family have a shady history?" If you were writing a novel then this question most certainly needs to be answered. But for an RP where only Todd's forward progress really matters questions like that don't need to be answered. The only real exception would be if Todd was the GM's character and the reason behind the shady history is directly related to the entire group's path forward in a group-focused RP as part of the overarching story. But if it's only Todd's personal background in an RP that has nothing to do with his history, then you can leave that can of worms alone with peace of mind.
The Conclusion
In summary, bringing genuine meaning to a character is a relatively simple affair.
You don't need 20,000 paragraphs explaining every single life story event down to the smallest detail. In fact even if you did that there's no guarantee that you'd be able to bring meaning to the character at all. You can write an entire 600 page novel about a character and still have them end up about as interesting and their history as filled with meaning as a stale flake of an old saltine in the middle of the desert.
It's all about answering those two questions: "Why does this detail matter?" and "What's next?"
If you can answer these two simple questions effectively then you'll never fail to generate characters whose history, from birth until their present day, tells everyone everything they need to know about who this character is, why they do what they do, and what they can expect from them whenever interactions take place.
GojiBean here with what I hope will be an insightful read about what it means to give your characters meaning.
And no, I'm not talking about "meaning" in a philosophical sense like "why are we here?" I mean it in the literary sense which is far more tangible and easier to both qualify and quantify.
What is meaning?
Put simply, "meaning" is whether or not your character's history and current circumstances and behavior flow seamless together and generate a feeling of dynamic correlation rather than being a series of circumstantial events which just so happen to be occurring in the life of one person.
A momentary detour!
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I've noticed that there's a lot of conversation and questions being asked on just about every RP site I've even ever been to about "how to make good characters?"
In all honesty I'm firmly of the belief that this is an unanswerable question in its present form as there's really no such thing as a "good" character or "bad" character.
Why do I think that? Because characters do not write their own backstories, dialogue, or actions. Their creators do.
So to me it's not so much a question of whether the character is good or bad. It's whether or not their creator has the experience and know-how to present them in a way that gives them relevance, presence, and purpose. If they lack even one out of these three their authenticity, and thus the interest they generate whenever they appear, goes down sharply. If they lack all three, you end up with a character who's basically a consolidated version of Tommy Wiseau's "The Room."
What really gives us the perception of whether they're "good" or "bad" is whether or not we find and are able to perceive meaning behind who they are, what they do, why they do it, and whether or not it has lasting consequences on the story within which they exist. And again this all falls squarely on the shoulders of the character's creator. Not the character themselves.
So if you've ever wondered "do I make good characters?", wonder no more. Your characters are fine. But whether or not you've managed to bring meaning into their existence in each RP they've appeared in is another matter. So if you're wondering, then please keep reading!
Let's continue!
Back to meaning!!
To ascertain whether a character's creator has brought meaning into the character's existence, we need only to ask (albeit repeatedly) two simple questions: "Why does this detail matter?" and "What's next?"
We ask "Why does this detail matter?" first because without a genuine answer to this question any details we read about in a character profile could be, or more than likely are entirely circumstantial. And circumstance does not bring meaning.
Let's look at an example...
Meaning vs. Meaningless
Example One: Todd is a character in a Fantasy adventure RP and was born into a noble family. Growing up he was heavily ostracized by other children. As an adult, he has major trust issues.
Sounds legit, right? Each detail moves in order and seems to share a causality. But on closer inspection, they don't. They're all circumstantial and mutually exclusive events with no directly stated causality or connection at all.
* He was born into a noble family - "Why does this detail matter?" In short, it doesn't.
The fact he was born into nobility is simply a detail. And by itself it says nothing about who he is, why he does what he does, or what to expect from him.
Of course we can assume that his noble birth is the cause of his ostracization. But without a factual statement by Todd's creator that this is true, then we're just assuming based on our own understanding of how ostracization works. And you know what they say about the word "assume."
People are ostracized for all kinds of things. And many of them are far less important than the circumstances of one's birth. These reasons include, but certainly aren't limited to: skin color, scars, beauty marks, language, birthplace, clothing style, who they hang out with, their chosen love interest, weight, height, freckles, shape of their lips, shape of their eyes, nose, ears, etc. I could easily go on with more and more reasons why people are ostracized by others at any and all age groups. But you get the point.
Just because we know that the circumstances of one's birth can be a cause for ostracization does not mean that in Todd's case it is in fact the culprit. By failing to provide a factual statement of connection, Todd's creator in this example has done a poor job of constructing his background to carry any significant weight or meaning for Todd.
* He was born into a noble family - "What's next?" We don't know.
He was born into a noble family. Congrats. What was next for him? Who were the adults who scorned him? Just everyday people in his neighborhood? Were they associates of his parents at their workplace? Were they teachers at his school, if he went to school? What about the kids? Were they school children? Were they street urchins? Were they just everyday kids who hated him for being a noble? When did the ostracization actually start? When did he notice it for what it was? How and when did it actually start affecting him? Why is he growing up with trust issues? Was trust really at the heart of his problems as a kid? How many people did he get to know who acted like friends and then stabbed him in the back, so to speak? Bullying doesn't create trust that can then be broken or create trust issues on its own so much as it does a desire to simply stay away from those doing you wrong (I as one who was bullied heavily in school would know this.)
The bottom line here is: The more questions you can ask about the legitimacy and relevance of the presented details of a character's backstory and current existence, the less the presented details actually matter. And if they don't matter, there is no "meaning."
The fact that I can ask so many questions, which really represent the tip of the iceberg in this example, speaks to the fact that none of the provided details by themselves in Todd's backstory carry any meaning. They're entirely circumstantial, and they don't matter at all to him or anyone else who hears about them.
---------------------------------------------------------
Example Two: Todd is a character in a Fantasy adventure RP and was born into a noble family with an unfortunately shady history going back generations in the city they live in. As a result, when Todd began attending school at at the age of five he was heavily scorned by the teaching staff and both ostracized and bullied by the other children, even those of noble birth like him. Due to this childhood trauma Todd grew up with severe social anxiety and became something of a recluse.
Sounds legit, right? Well, that's because it is. This example, by contrast to the first, answers both the posed questions of "Why does this detail matter?" and "What's next?"
* Todd was born into a noble family with a shady history going back generations in the city he lives in - "Why does this detail matter?" Because that shady history is why the teachers at his school despise him and the other kids, even the noble ones, ostracize and bully him. "What's next?" - Todd grew up with severe social anxiety and became a recluse because of the trauma.
It's such a simple change from the first example that it's almost comical. By simply giving an affirmative statement of fact that Todd's background, which he has no control over, led directly to the hate he received from others we leave absolutely no room for doubts that his current existence as a reclusive and socially anxious young man are directly linked to that trauma.
Todd is a victim of circumstance which creates a sense of injustice surrounding the fact that he was ostracized, scorned, and bullied by others. His birth isn't his fault. And as a result he's far more relatable and sympathetic as a character which makes him more compelling, believable, and likeable.
When you don't need to ask the question "why" with respect to the presented details, that's when you know you've brought genuine meaning to a character.
As simple as it is, Todd's backstory in this second example says everything about who he is in the present day. Any behavior from Todd that fits with social anxiety, such as speaking very little in a group or never being the one to start a conversation, are perfectly understood and justified. Nobody needs to ask Todd's creator "Why is Todd so quiet all the time?" It's right there in his history. They will also know that they don't need to ask questions like "Hey, can you have Todd start a convo with my character? I want them to be able to interact a bit." They know they have to be the one to make their character approach Todd because he's not a conversation starter.
As a final note, it's important to know that there are irrelevant questions to avoid like "why does his family have a shady history?" If you were writing a novel then this question most certainly needs to be answered. But for an RP where only Todd's forward progress really matters questions like that don't need to be answered. The only real exception would be if Todd was the GM's character and the reason behind the shady history is directly related to the entire group's path forward in a group-focused RP as part of the overarching story. But if it's only Todd's personal background in an RP that has nothing to do with his history, then you can leave that can of worms alone with peace of mind.
The Conclusion
In summary, bringing genuine meaning to a character is a relatively simple affair.
You don't need 20,000 paragraphs explaining every single life story event down to the smallest detail. In fact even if you did that there's no guarantee that you'd be able to bring meaning to the character at all. You can write an entire 600 page novel about a character and still have them end up about as interesting and their history as filled with meaning as a stale flake of an old saltine in the middle of the desert.
It's all about answering those two questions: "Why does this detail matter?" and "What's next?"
If you can answer these two simple questions effectively then you'll never fail to generate characters whose history, from birth until their present day, tells everyone everything they need to know about who this character is, why they do what they do, and what they can expect from them whenever interactions take place.
Thanks So Much For Reading!
~ GojiBean
~ GojiBean
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