Character Creation Survey Thingy

[Atraea]

Character Creation Sheet by Yamiloo

Something interesting that I found. It's essentially a series of in depth questions to help develop a character. Good for when you have a character idea in mind, but can't think of a way to flesh him or her out. Enjoy!

[ecco]

where did you find this?

i had a read through and it seems very interesting i may try it out, ive had a couple characters since i was about 13 but theyve never taken on a true form. hopefully this will help ^^

[Maeve]

Very interesting thing you got there ^^

I've seen some character development sheet like that before, but more often than anything they forget an important aspect of the character (focus a lot on physical, but not enough on mental, or vice versa). This one looks well made and will hopefully help a bit with some of the characters I have in mind.

[Chu]

That's interesting. The only problem I see with this type of thing though is that it will never focus on what you, the writer, finds important in a character. I, for example, would never add something like, "She picked a blue flower because it was her favorite color."

[Maeve]

But I love blue flowers XP

I see it as thinking about more things (that you might not have thinking about on your own) and planning ahead.
Though I'd probably never write something like that (the blue flower thing), it forces you to define your character well enough to know how he would act and why in most situations. Like that, you don't need to stop every time you encounter a problem and go read everything you've written before to find how your character should act, or worse just randomly make up something.
Then of course you don't need to rely on the parts you don't find important, but if you ever need them, they are there.

[Chu]

Yeah. It's probably just my style of writing though, honestly. I like to leave things up to the imagination sometimes. If you add too much detail in, it can begin to seem fake.

[Tsemara]

This is an interesting questionnaire. I'll have to look at in more in depth in a bit. With most of the characters I've created, I'll use one of the online 'Mary Sue' Litmus Tests. They amuse me, but keep the character believable.

The test for Original Characters han be found here.

[Atraea]

ROLL BACK REEEEEEEMIIIIXXX


My current character got a 20. My first character from the seventh grade got a seventy three. Dig that 50pt diff.

[evercharmer]

Okey dokey then. I posted easrlier, but rollback and all, so:

I love these questionnaires. I hardly ever fill them out, but I do like to read them for things to keep in mind when creating a character. I think I'll fill this one out with a character of mine called Frank, though. I still can't seem to place him in a story after the four years I've had him, maybe this will help.

I've taken the Mary Sue Litmus test a few times. The character I always take it with, Giovanni, always gets above 71 points, though at least this time it wasn't like the first time, where he was like 151 or some shit.

I have no doubt he's a bit of a Sue still. Thing is, there's a lot of things these tests can't account for. Giovanni is a character I created for the Elder Scrolls universe and have played through both Morrowind and Oblivion, and it's kind of hard to adjust for a fantasy setting like that.

I remember the first time I took that test. I was all like, "No way, man. No way in hell my Giovanni is a Sue."

He totally was. And still kind of is, really. I plan to actually write his story when I've decided he isn't one. His story changes each time I replay through Morrowind and Oblivion with him, and I will definitely do that again this summer. I'll weed a bit more out, and the score will get a little lower. Maybe even below Irredeemable Sue. But probably not much lower than that, because the test simply seems unable to account for the universe, particularly the wide range of spells Giovanni, who is quite a bit of a mage, knows. It has no way of knowing almost anyone can learn the spells he knows with a bit of training, even those who are not mages and do not spend a big part of their time learning about magic.

He'll still be a Sue no matter what in the end, though. At least according to that test. After all, he wouldn't be the big hero of Morrowind and Oblivion if he didn't have that prophecy, would he?

Man, seems like I wrote about four times as much, because I told you about Giovanni. Cool.

[Maeve]

Hm, yeah, a fantasy character will most likely end up being a Sue according to this test.

I made the test for my first OC, Maeve, and she scored a nice 38. Still good, considering she one of the few survivors of her race (a humanoid dragon specie) and also has some strong magic and fighting skills (which is normal in the fantasy world she comes from, but meh).
Though, I'm changing her story every two weeks or so, so I guess the score can vary a lot... I really need to write it down someday...

[Keylaleigh]

I took that Mary Sue test for one of my oldest characters, and the problem is, they don't get specific enough for me. Sure, she is telepathic, but she can only read the thoughts of one person. And she's immortal in the fact that she doesn't age. She can be killed just as easily as a human.

Yeah, she scored a 55 on the Mary Sue test. But hey, she could've been worse.

[Maeve]

Agree with that, I wish some of the questions would be more specific too. Then again, I guess that if my character doesn't fully answer those questions positively or have good reasons for it, it means she not that Mary-Sue after all.
Anyway, the little text at the bottom of the test says that it doesn't work for all characters, so I guess our little fantasy pets go into that category.

We should make a Mary-Sue contest lol

[evercharmer]

Mary Sue contest like who can make the biggest one or like who has the biggest Mary Sue already?

I'm pretty sure there are tests geared toward a fantasy setting better, but I haven't run across them. Not that I've really been looking, though. Google probably has something.

[Chu]

That's actually a good idea, Maeve. xP It would be great for the shits and giggles. Hell, I'd even sponsor it with prizes if enough people were to enter.

[Keylaleigh]

I'm totally in on a Mary Sue contest! Here comes Lilly Sunshine!

But it shouldn't be gender-restricted! There should be two categories- Mary Sue and Gary Stu.