Fanfiction Characters

Here's a thread to share your experience with working with Fanfiction characters.

*If you'd like to discuss your Original characters, please use the Original Characters thread.

How do you create your fanfiction characters? Do you research? Stalk their Wikipedia pages? Watch YouTube interviews religiously? Do they have any certain quirks that you created?

If you use the same character in more than one story, how do they (their personality, quirks, beliefs...) differ from story to story? Do they differ at all?

So talk about your fan fiction characters and if you have any other questions you'd like to discuss, feel free to post them. :)

I hope I'm understanding this thread right. :think:

I usually research, look for other resources other than Wikipedia. Ask around for things I don't know like parents and sibling names. :tehe:
:shifty Sometimes I like to pretend to be them when I write the dialogue. Like, change my voice and everything and I imagine them in all kinds of situations and how they would react. :XD

:think: I'm probably not very good at that, though.

Lately when I write about Brendon Urie, I've been giving him the habit of licking his lips when his nervous. And... for example, when I write about Pete Wentz, it always turns out he's a jerk in the story because in real life I kind of think he is [same with Joe Jonas. :shifty -cough-]. And it always just depends on my opinion on the people i write about.

Um, usually I write about MCR or Green Day. I look into interviews to see how they interact with each other. I check especially for ones where they talk about their families and such, just to see the relationships. i like to draw off things like, on SURS, I think Tre wasn't there because he was visiting Ramona.

I watched BIAB a few times to catch onto their movements and things.

When I write about Billie, especially, I listen to the songs nonstop. Depending on the era I choose, that's all I listen to, just to get a feel for his current emotional state in the story or whatever.

Right now, I'm writing about McFly. I try to put in as much of their RL character as possible and it's easy for me because I've been a fan for five years and know their traits and relationships with the other members of the band.

Another way I get to know their characteristics is by reading other fanfictions. When you read as many as I do, you're bound to learn that recurring traits should be present in the actual person and hence I insert them into mine.

Well, I have fan fictions about Bullet For My Valentine, The Used and Escape The Fate. As an obsessive fan for all three bands, I somehow just know a lot about them from years of addiction.
:tehe:

I suppose I've mostly found out the things I know about them through interviews, DVDs, youtube videos, stuff like that. You can get the odd quirk from actually seeing the person behaving, which is useful. For example, I've noticed Jeph Howard says 'actually' a lot, so I throw that into his speech when it seems appropriate.

It completely depends on the story whether I stick to the characters RL personality. I generally have kept them the same in all my current stories... But to be honest everyone's going to have a different impression of them as people. It's just all interpretation.
:cute:

I usually don't write OC's, but if it's necessary for the storyline I do. I'm terrible at describing though which is precisely why I like sticking to Fan Fiction characters.

I know alot of stuff about the people I write about, just because I already stalked them before I strarted writing about them. :shifty

But if there's something I can't find out I'll go through the internet to make sure I got it right.

I'm not sure if my character's change that much. :think:
I know in my Rydon's it's usually always Brendon that's a bit more of a child and more relient on Ryan, but in Through His Veins it's a bit mixed up.

In a Gabilliam I'm writing now, I purposely haven't watched any Cobra Starship or The Academy Is... Videos or interviews, because I want to build the character in my story the way it is in my mind without having so much input from what they are really like. If that makes sense. :shifty
Probably not. :XD

When I write fanfiction characters, I find it really difficult to do AU versions of the people. I think it's just easier to make an OC if I'm making it alternate universe, so whenever I write fanfic it ends up being real life.

The only fanfic that I have posted is My Chemical Romance. (I don't think anyone would read Star Trek, lol). I watch interviews, stuff like that, but mostly I base my characters off of what they just seem to be like in real life. Like when I write Gerard Way, no matter what story, he always ends up being thoughtful and sometimes deep about things. That's just how I picture the real Gerard to be, along with his dark sense of creativity about some things.

Gerard is actually a challenge to write in Wanderers of Ruin. Essentially I took the exact touring timeline the band had in April of 2008, and at first when the virus first strikes I try to make him as realistic as possible. Since it's the Gerard from the far-off future narrating the tale, his future persona shows through in parts. As the story progresses I'm tweaking his personality to accomidate the challenges he faces, how I think he (and any normal person) would react in real life, and things like that. Yet, I'm still staying true to those real-life traits that would stick with him forever, no matter what.

When I started writing Panic, I actually didn't know a lot about the people. And I hated Ryden, was annoyed with Brendon, and blah blah blah.

But I just sort of try to create my characters in the way that I would hope they would actually be from what I've read and watched.

Brendon is usually childish. Even if it's a serious story, I try to give him a bit of innocence and naivete.

But Ryan is so... changeable. Totally moldable. I can do anything I want with him. And because I consider him to be the broken boy, he's usually the one that gets raped, gets eating disorders, etc, etc.

I write Lacey Mosely and Amy Lee. That's it. But I have to say, their personal stories intrigue me. Like Lacey was a drug addict and had rage issues before she found God. I like to incorporate that into my stories. That's why she's always so fucked up: Pre religious Lacey.

Amy Lee on the other hand, had a pretty good home life, as far as i know, so I usually make her the preppy/popular/bitchy/good girl type.

For the most part, I invent my own versions of the celebrities I use in fanfiction. Some small details may be the same, eg. Gerard’s love of coffee and art, Ray’s of metal music, etc. And Gerard generally swears quite a lot in my fics, which is reflective of real life. I’d watched Life on the Murder Scene, which gave some sense of how the band interact with each other and how they talk; but obviously, this is different because my stories are usually Frerards.

My Gerards and Franks usually vary from story to story; in Fractured Wings, Gerard’s stubborn, very stubborn, and generally opinionated. He hates his job and doesn’t let anyone, especially Frank, forget that fact; almost childish in a way. He’s very dedicated to Frank though and appreciates his support. Frank is patient with him, but this patience eventually begins to dwindle. He’s also very dedicated to Gerard; later on in the story, he makes a difficult decision in order to ensure that he doesn’t hurt him. Their daily life is very routine-based.

In Whoremoanal, Gerard’s two-faced; he appears the doting boyfriend but betrays Frank’s trust and makes damn sure that Frank knows about it. This is a definite blow to Frank, who thought their relationship was solid; he was completely head over heels for Gerard.

For my two Smashing Pumpkins fanfics, I hadn’t seen many interviews; I’d already watched Vieuphoria, which was comprised of live show footage, some in-studio footage (including an interview) and some interviews with fans and little skit-type things. I’ve also watched the great majority of their music videos, which wasn’t all that informative in terms of personality, but the commentary did show that the band (especially Billy) had a great deal of influence over how most of the videos were filmed and the concept behind them. And it also showed the type of dress they wore, and what they looked like around the point in which I set my fics.

I’d actually read a lot about Billy’s history (through his online confessions and Wikipedia page) and how the band came to be. I remember a quote from Shirley Manson which was about Billy; the general gist of it was that Billy made life difficult for those around him, but she liked him for that fact. I also read an interview with Billy and Darcy in a book I found randomly at the library which gave a clue to how they might interact with each other. There was tension between them and their professional relationship ended on a sour note. However, I obviously changed this for Bill, I Believe This is Killing Me, because they eventually find out that they both harbour feelings for each other. It starts with Darcy withdrawing from conversation with Billy and keeping away from him, because she’s at first in denial about her feelings for him; they both argue and disagree frequently, so she doesn’t know exactly where they came from. This kinda comes from their history, because I know that they didn't have the best relationship.

Lindsey in Babe in Arms is purely my own creation, except for her appearance and name obviously. But when I began that story, I’d never seen an interview with her or any Mindless Self Indulgence videos (and to this date, I’ve only seen one). I’d only read MSI’s Wikipedia page and seen photos of her; and the only info I got from that was that her birth name is Lindsey Ann Ballato, that she plays bass and is quite flexible. In the story, she’s witty, sure of herself and has quite a big personality. She’s assertive and frequently loud. Loyal and quirky.

I write Vam, apart from the odd oneshot here or there.

Because I often sit there and watch DVDs, interviews, and download radio shows of either one or both of them so often, I kind of have their personalities and mindsets imprinted in my head. Stuff like this I don't think I could have picked up from Wikipedia or anything written, and even in the songs that Ville writes in reality. I use the words they use, which, even though it seems a tad... perfectionistic to some, I think puts more of a realistic edge on it. I remember I used the word 'haggard' in one story I've not yet posted, and one of my friends read it and thought just using that word gave him a much more believable picture in his head.

I also usually write Vam from Bam's point of view, because it's easier, in a way, for me to do so - partly because I think it's adorable how he's borderline-fangirl over HIM in reality.

In my Vams, Ville's always the somewhat-introverted, insufferable romantic, and Bam is always the ball of energy optimist. Though this does change depending on what I'm writing, the basis is the same, because in real life they're like this. Even watching making-of videos on YouTube, you can see that Ville's the more feet-on-the-ground, whereas Bam, obviously, is the trouble-making little shit.

I wouldn’t say I research. I stalk. Seriously, I do. I internet stalk them. I watch every interview you can possible find online. Every documentary. Basically everything where I can see it’s actually them. I will read written interviews as well but that’s secondary and less reliable sources in my opinion.

And blogs. To read the person’s own thoughts is great. Though, the only one whose blog I read that I’ve turned into a character that exists in a story on Mibba is Shawn. x] But yeah. It’s still a great source.

But I do all of the above because I’m so fascinated with the people who happen to be creating the songs I love. Because I kinda think that not only their music but they themselves says something about me. So yeah, I just. I wanna know. I like to know things. And since I find so much stuff out and I’m a write I just combine it and voalá!

I never write down anything because I’m so lazy that I don’t bother to specify time and place, I’m always really vague about it. What I have to mention I can memorize. The only thing I ever write down is a very short character sheet with full name, age, height, residence, hair and eye color. And I do put down things that might be relevant. Like, for example, it might be relevant for me to know that Frank Iero has arachnophobia (fear of spiders) or that Shawn doesn’t eat meat or any animal products. And maybe I know these things without looking at the sheet but it’s still good to have it all written down somewhere.

What I also do is list frequently used words and that I use when learning someone’s vocabulary. Shawn for example uses “ridiculous” relatively often. And Frank will relatively often swear and say “fuck”. Then I also list all these ‘non-words’ that they use a lot, if they do. Like, almost everyone uses “um” but some use it more than others. Billie Joe uses “um” a lot, for example. And Shawn’d use “so” or “like”. So if we’d have both of them to say the following sentence: “And then the homeless person jumped off the train and into the bush--”
Billie would possibly say something like: “And then, um, the bum, he-a would like, um, he jumped of the, the train and-ah into the bush--”
And Shawn might say something like: “And then the, like, vagrant would jump. So like, he jumps of the train and he’d like fly into the bush--”
And the third thing I do when it comes to the way they talk is make little notes about the way they talk. Like if I looks at Shawn’s sheet right now it says, for example, “Stops halfway through sentences and continues to explain/tell with a different phrasing.” And that’s just so if I’m not sure how he’d say something I can go back and check and see that, right, he starts saying something then goes back and starts over.

Basically their quirks are their real life ones. That Jon fidgets with his hands when he talks and stops when he’s quiet is what he does. Also Gerard taping or touching his lips while thinking or talking is a quirk that he has. I used to invent before which is why Mike has this thing with tilting his head back going “why?” ever so often. But I don’t invent quirks anymore. I may amplify some but they’re all real.

The thing that makes the same characters slightly different in each story is mainly their age in the story and which characteristics it focuses on. The only one who’s almost like two different persons is Mikey. He’s one kind of Mikey in all stories except Unfamiliar Eyes where he’s really nothing like I would usually portray him.

When I create my character I go in a certain order. First of all I already know a bunch of background information, some anecdotes and have an idea of how they are. So the first thing I do nowadays is to just write the first piece of plot that my mind has in store for me. After I’ve written about three or four pages and have gotten to know my character a little I create the sheet. After that I will summarize the reason behind their actions. I always have the plot outlined so I know roughly what they will do; I just need to figure out how they will do it and why. That’s why some things never make it to the final version: because it turned out it wasn’t a character consistent action.
After I have established the above I will start from the beginning of the story (if I didn’t start there when I started writing) and keep just write everything true to the characters except for their dialogue which is only so-so. When I’ve finished the story I will go back and scrutinize the dialogue and rewrite it until it first the characters perfectly.
The last thing I do is double check anecdotes and facts to make sure I got everything right.
But this process is only for when I create them. When I use the same character again the only thing I need to do is double check anecdotes because I might not remember them one hundred percent correct.
It sounds kind of step by step manual-like. But really, I never know what the characters might decide to do or how they will turn out at the end of the story. Like in At Pride’s Expense I had gotten everything about Shawn’s character down but in the middle of the story his motives changed. I had given him different motives to begin with but it would turn out those would only be half of the truth as to why he did what he did. And that happens all the time. But after I’ve gotten through one story with the character and really know it, it won’t surprise me in the middle of writing. Which is the good thing; I know from beginning to end who they will be act and reason and how they will develop or change. And it’s also the bad thing; I know it all so there will be fewer and fewer surprises and unexpected turns. x]

A thing that I’ve started doing is that I’ve made a character sheet for myself. Not to have as an actual character but so that I can check and see if I might be writing some of myself into my characters. I mean, some things are fine as there are things I simply have in common with the ones base the characters on. But sometimes it’s like, nah, he wouldn’t really do/say that, that’s what I’d do/say. And it’s important to me to have this because, being the crazyperson I am, I live with my characters when I write them. xD The more I write them the more of them will rub off. So I don’t want to cross-contaminate their personalities with mine.

Oh, and another thing that’s great is to discuss the real persons that the characters are based on with someone who knows them personally, more or less. I like to talk to Adam from the band DESA about Jon and Shawn. :XD Though, I fail to mention the fan fiction part. :tehe: We just talk randomly if the subject is for some reason brought up. It rarely is but yeah. Still. You get the point of view from someone who knows them and that’s always great. =]

What's funny about MCR is that... most of them are SOOO versatile.

Gerard can go from weak to sadistic and controlling
Frank can be hyper and childish and become heartless and deadpan
Mikey can be naive and innocent but also this secretly wicked, snoobish guy
And Bob can be the big, lovable dude to the one with a lot of hidden anger

It's great, and that's why I enjoyed them so much.

I was familiar with them before I started writing fics, though, so I didn't need to do much research.

-

I tend to like characters like these-- the ones who can mold their personalities. Even with other categories of fan fiction.

It seems I have a knack for writing characters based on quotes, online summaries, and reviews. I've written about... seven stories about episodes I've NEVER watched or with characters I've NEVER seen, but apparently, I get them right :XD

As I've said many a time, I write the rare and perfect pairing of Shavok, Davey Havok and M. Shadows.

I've watched interviews, read interviews, listened to the music, lots of stuff. Read their "thanks to" in CD booklets. Looked at Myspaces, Wiki, band sites, and anything else. Raid page after page after thousandth page of photos.

:coffee: And I still always develop the two the same way, normally, because that's how I've been roleplaying them for about a year.

As I've also said quite a lot here and there, almost all my Shavoks (almost all oneshots) are subtly interlinked because of ideas from that RPG.

Davey is always the dramatic, poetic, hopeless romantic, closet sexual deviant, and extremely emotional. Takes things too hard. Sarcastic. Weak, I make him weak, I love to use the personality I give him to my advantage and cause him as much pain as I can. He's depressed in nearly every fic, save about two. I kill him a lot, or rather, he kills himself a lot.

Matt's down to earth, funny, loves life, is realistic. Can sometimes be way too harsh to Davey, but then again it may just seem that way because Davey has a fragile emotional state. He can seem really cruel and mean to Davey sometimes. When I've made him and Matt not in a couple together, it always ends up that Matt is still in love with Davey no matter what happens to either of them, and it tugs at his heartstrings whenever he sees him or talks to him. He always feels sorry for whatever he does to hurt Davey and ends up falling for him all over again. Always.

:file: That's how they're designed. That's how they stay.

I usually write about Gerard and Frank from MCR, and when I develop the characters I like to base each version Frank or Gerard off a different part of myself, like in each story I usually make the characters reflect another one of my persona's. Or, I base the relationships with characters and how they interact with my own relationships. I find its easier than making everything up from scratch and it makes the text seem more real. Oh and when I'm developing my characters I find things like, quotes, pictures or stories that link into and reflect my characters personality or state of mind.

*doesn't write FF anymore but is starting to again*

I used to write A LOT of MCR. :file: I stalked them, had Carla (my own personal Gerard book of facts :tehe: ) help me, watch endless videos.

They always had the same little things (I wouldn't really call them quirks) in every story of mine.

Mikey stuttered and popped sleeping pills.
Gerard was over-protective and obsessed over relationships and such.
Ray was always immature and doing stupid stuff.
Bob never made much sense. He would just ramble about crap.
and Frank always had to get his point across.

I wouldn't go back to writing MCR again, but I might do some A7X, Cobra Starship, or maybe a Fall Out Boy. :file:

I find Youtube videos particularly helpful. It sounds kind of stalkerish...but you can hear how they speak, you see how they move, their habits, what they find funny, what annoys them etc.

There's also a small element of me that goes into each of the characters as well.

^ I watch a lot of Youtube videos too, haha. But most of the bands I write about now are Finnish, and a lot of interviews aren't in English... so yeah. :XD

Because of that, I just stalk their Myspaces and read the message boards to kind of get the gist of what they're like. Wikipedia's alright when it comes to finding out ages and birthdays and stuff, but apart from that... nothing. I read a lot of other fics in the fandom too, because then I kinda know who's like what.

In my writing, the characters differ depending on the fic. In With You, Jonne is all bubbly, happy, et cetera. In an upcoming oneshot, he's totally different.

I try to to keep the basis of their real life personalities, though. Like Jonne is always somewhat shy behind closed doors, but as soon as the curtain lifts, he's quite flamboyant and... loud.

:tehe: I like using Jonne for my examples, haha.

Well mine tend to be the same at the core especially with basic info in all stories (because that's who they really are and it isn't my business to tamper too much with it.) The added traits and quirks tend to develop as a result of the shit I put them through. (and I put them through some strange shit; trust me.)
On the whole research thing, I try to just go on what I've observed or read about people. It becomes obvious if you read one of my stories (a serious and good one not anything I have on here yet.) that I write more and better about the people I know more about. (Unless the story dictates otherwise, or course.)

I just watch them over and over, mostly because I enjoy it, but it helps lotssss.
There are less interviews as such, there's more of just...stuff they've been on and so on.
It's easy to do the Top Gear fandom now, because I watched TG so much, and I watched a load of programs that they were on.
Like, The One Show, QI, Jonathan Ross, Paul O'Grady...
Also, their own shows.
Blast Lab, Oz&James, Motorworld...

With Take That, I usually go in my own direction with the characters, but I try to keep bits I know are there, like Mark's cheekiness and that grin he gives a lot.
But with them, because they're so popular, I can watch them a lot.
There are a bunch of concerts and such on DVD, and I just repeatedly watch those. And they're shown on TV quite often, and there's usually a little talk with one of them or something at the end of a performance, say if they're on X Factor or whatever :3

Plus, I watch the documentaries and stuff.
Take That: Where Did It All Go Right?, etc...

I just watch them constantly on TV and it's quite easy to do so because they're so popular :shifty

and I read wikipedias, and interviews when they're linked on TGT.

S'how I know the TG three back to front...