Making Your Characters Realistic

This.Useless.Heart.:

Maybe its just me but I get tired of fanfictions that don't even bother to make the band members seem like themselves. If you are going to write something fictional about someone that is real and especially if you are serious about it.[because when you're just kidding around this stuff isn't quite as important] then you need to make them act decently like they would if really faced with the fictional scenarios in which they find themselves.
...Not that I'm any kind of expert...I don't even know if that rant made sense, I hope it did... I just get tired of always seeing the same issues in fiction and especially in fan-fiction.

I dunno, sometimes it's interesting, and a good change, to write something completely out of character for someone. Though, granted, seeing Billie Joe as a bully one too many times has kept me away from that particular option, I still sometimes tag around with other ideas to see how well I can stretch a character.

The Waycest:

Waycest that basically consists of 'Gerard loves Mikey. He knows it's wrong. But he makes a move and finds out Mikey loves him too. The world is against them. The end.'

I think Waycest is one of the most fragile and beautiful pairings if handled well. I mean, it just annoys me that it's summarized like that, without effort into making it more emotional and real.

I wouldn't say that I think Waycest is fragile and beautiful, but I personally think incest in general can be. The fact that it is so little seen in our culture makes it rather mysterious and debonair...And sometimes it's nice to write something like that.

princess.:

The Waycest:

Waycest that basically consists of 'Gerard loves Mikey. He knows it's wrong. But he makes a move and finds out Mikey loves him too. The world is against them. The end.'

I think Waycest is one of the most fragile and beautiful pairings if handled well. I mean, it just annoys me that it's summarized like that, without effort into making it more emotional and real.

I wouldn't say that I think Waycest is fragile and beautiful, but I personally think incest in general can be. The fact that it is so little seen in our culture makes it rather mysterious and debonair...And sometimes it's nice to write something like that.

Yeah I agree.

My strategy (which I don't use as often as I should, only really for this new fic no one's seen) is to figure out a full "character sheet" for everyone. It won't go into the story like that, but just to know how they'll react to anything, and how to put it in there, because in the past, I've had a tendency to lose the character.

alan?:

My strategy (which I don't use as often as I should, only really for this new fic no one's seen) is to figure out a full "character sheet" for everyone. It won't go into the story like that, but just to know how they'll react to anything, and how to put it in there, because in the past, I've had a tendency to lose the character.

that works for me too

If I'm unsure about a certain piece of dialog, I read it out loud. If it sounds funny, or like something no one would ever say, then I find a way to rephrase it so that it sounds better.

I usually keep a few notes on my character, their flaws and desires.
I also find it helps if I write them as looking like somebody I know, even if they don't share any personality traits.
I don't know, it helps me visualise it better.

I try not to make characters 'perfect'. I always give them a little insecurity with themselves, or get them to compare themselves to one of their friends or people around them. I find it a lot more realistic to read and write, rather than saying a character is perfectly in proportion, and never worries about their appearance or anything like that.

I mostly just write their names, basic looks, birthdates and little quirks about them, plus anything I find important to write down.
But if I imagine the character in my head, I know exactly what they would and wouldn't do and how they'd say things without writing it down.

I try to make them true to how they are in the fandom they're in [movie, book, anime, band, etc.]

Of course I can take their personality places, but they somehow have to be true to themselves.

Siriano;:

princess.:

The Waycest:

Waycest that basically consists of 'Gerard loves Mikey. He knows it's wrong. But he makes a move and finds out Mikey loves him too. The world is against them. The end.'

I think Waycest is one of the most fragile and beautiful pairings if handled well. I mean, it just annoys me that it's summarized like that, without effort into making it more emotional and real.

I wouldn't say that I think Waycest is fragile and beautiful, but I personally think incest in general can be. The fact that it is so little seen in our culture makes it rather mysterious and debonair...And sometimes it's nice to write something like that.

Yeah I agree.

My grandparents were cousins. :shifty. </offtopic>

I think to make any romantic pairing realistic, incest or not, you have to give the characters more to think about or focus on than their love interest/lack thereof.

Like, in a Waycest, its just no believable if the only thing he thinks about is his homosexuality and how sick he is for loving Gerard and what will Alicia say.

People do other stuff. They read and watch movies. They have jobs or homework. No one writes about the characters doing or thinking about these mundane things, but it adds that certain something to the character...just...brings them off the paper.

Example 1: Suze Simon from Meg Cabot's Mediator series. The only things she talked about were ghosts, dieting and guys. Like, ever. That's all she ever talks about in narration or with other people. And she mentions over and over that with mediating, she doesn't have time for a social life but jeez. She's just so boring, she so flat.

Example 2: Samantha Madison from Meg Cabot's All American Girl. Much less boring than Suze. She listens to ska, but worries that her musical taste is restrictive. She draws. She has a soft spot for special ed kids, because she was once one herself. She has a very realistic and interactive relationship with her family. She makes an active attempt to think politically. She's sarcastic, easily bored, hates school, and is just so normal that she actually comes off the page.

I know that Meg Cabot is not the best example for a discussion, but its one of the easiest examples to think of.

One strategy that has been helping me a lot lately is writing about the other characters as well as the main protaganist. So, say the narrative is listening to her friend talk about what they had been up the previous night, I would write about it.

Just because nobody will actually read it, writing about what's going on "off-page" can really help fill in characters personalities, help with realistic reactions, and all around make things more interesting - it's personally also a lot more fun for me.

I actually hate filling out character sheets. They seem so tedious.

I play character development with my friends a lot, which helps.

I usually look to people and situations around me for influence. Either that, or I try to apply what's happening with them to my own life to find out whether it's realistic or not.

When I have a basic idea of their character, I just branch off of that idea into all the things it would be likely that they would do.

I take a lot of tiny snippet-notes in my journal for my characters. Just random ideas that pop into my head.

Character development can be fun.

Although I have this one character who just won't budge from his basic idea.

I base my characters on people I know, and it's easy. I also look around at daily life and try not to make my character's life to "abnormal"

fool's paradise:

I actually hate filling out character sheets. They seem so tedious.

They bore me to no end. If I spend too much time thinking about the character's childhood nickname and their mother's religious beliefs, I just get sick of the story.

I like filling out character sheets sometimes.
I don't put them in the stories or anything, but I like filling them out.
They're like MySpace surveys for characters.
:tehe:

I have started to write down an outline for the characters i create, I take flaws from whatever inspires me at the time and I sometimes base appearences on people I have seen in the streets of manchester without realising it, but this can make the person seem more real because you don't know them and therefore shouldn't have as much of a problem discribing the flaws in their appearance.

As for personality, after making a plan of the background of the character, I begin to make a personality based on how their background would have affected them, this not only makes the story more real but it also means you don't have to work as hard to make the story fit together when writing it, it just seems to weave together itself.

Good Luck :)

I find that it really helps to kind of base the characters off of people you actually know. I'm basing the main guy in my new story off of my best guy that I actually know, and can react with.

It does wonders for personality.

I think the best part is remembering that your characters are people.

druscilla's number 9:

They're like MySpace surveys for characters.
:tehe:

I'd rather do one of those. Those have personal questions, one where your character can actually develop.

The character sheets are just tedious and pointless.

Like: Where were they born? What street do they live on?

If I find I need to know these questions, I can develop them during the course of the story.

I don't consider that developing a character. Developing a character is asking questions that can help an author define their personality.

Such as: Favorite color? Reaction to uncomfortable situation? etc.