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Post by Red Charge on Jun 18, 2011 16:08:58 GMT -5
An article about creating an original MLP character!
All links on this lead to our sister site, which is currently inactive! You can all register there, but please do not make any posts until it is ready!
So, YOU Wanna Make a Friendship is Magic Original Character....?
Come one, come all, come big and come small, to the Character Workshop! We're going to welcome the community to offer up some help along with whatever help that I can give to anypony who has questions about a character in the works or a character who needs a double checking. Here's what I'm going to do:
In this, the intro, we'll be giving a basic take on what makes an original character....well, original! I'm leaving it open to anypony who has small or big questions they want to ask me and anypony who wants to give a bit of input. Because asking just one person for advice doesn't always work, and objective points of views from more than one pony can help a BUNCH!
FIRST: A few rules for those who are around to help out. If you're going to offer your assistance, you miiight want to pay attention to these.
Rule No. 1: Please offer constructive, well-thought out critique ONLY. If anyone needs a definition of constructive critique, here it is:
From Dictionary.com:
Constructive:
1. serving to build or improve; positive: constructive criticism
2. law deduced by inference or construction; not expressed but inferred
3. another word for structural
Constructive Criticism: criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions
From Wikipedia:
Criticism is the judgement of the merits and faults of the work or actions of an individual or group by another (the critic). To criticize does not necessarily imply to find fault, but the word is often taken to mean the simple expression of an objection against prejudice, or a disapproval.
Another meaning of criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature, social movements, film, arts, and similar objects and events. The goal of this type of criticism is to understand the work or event more thoroughly. Links to different types of criticism can be found at the bottom of this page.
In other words, we're here to build up a character, not tear it down. If you find a flaw in someone else's or your own character, don't look down on it! View it as an opportunity to improve, and if it's someone else's, voice whatever opportunity you see or any interest to see that improvement! And if you can't figure one out for your own critters, come on over! We don't bite!
Rule No. 2: Refer to the guidelines already set up by our lovely Higher Admins if you think there's some sort of rule being broken with your character's personality or design, or you just need a basic, VERY helpful guideline!
Rule No. 3: Keep it quick and to the point! Bullet your points that you want to get across, keep it under three paragraphs in length, blablabla, yadda yadda.
But when will you tell us what makes a character original?
Hold your horses, everypony, we're getting there.
Flat characters serve as brief, straight-forward voices and influences that usually only further develop a character’s plot line in small, not-to-important doses. Layered characters are the ones that make a plot line take leaping bounds, they’re the ones that the audience connects with, either to sympathize with or to dislike. No two layers are exactly the same....a lot like an onion's layers! Each one is shaped differently, is a bit thicker or thinner than the next or the one before.
Outer Layer: This is the face and the personality the character will subconsciously reveal to any other character, regardless of his/her/it's concentrated efforts. This is the way that the body moves, the character speaks, and what the character says and does in immediate, instinctive reaction to outside forces. This is also what the character will hide their innermost flaws and fears behind.
(Example: Rainbow Dash is confident and tough on the outside but is secretly bitter when it comes to losing, though she hides it well behind a coarse, gritty outter shell, one we all know and love!)
Middle Layer: These are the core themes of the personality. This is what fuels the outer layer and how it interacts with other characters. This is also where we come to the less significant but no-less character building flaws that make any critter interesting and gives them pause in certain situations.
(Example: Fluttershy is crushingly shy in most social situations where she doesn't recognize most of the faces surrounding her, but dig a little deeper and there's a heart of gold just under the surface!)
Inner Layer/The Core: This is what really makes the character tick. These are the deepest, most primal personality traits and flaws that makes or breaks your original character. This is where you're going to run across such things as: deepest fears, hopes and dreams, and secrets. Many a character has what I like to call a 'shallow' core. This basically means it's not developed nearly enough, because most of the time we all concentrate on the Outer and Middle Layer rather than get to the nitty-gritty and find out what's going to make our characters cry their hearts out or pour it all out.
(Example: Applejack is loyalty in and of itself, almost to a fault. Basically, this is the soul-deep 'Element' of each character, so think of it in terms of a very serious version of an Element of Harmony and how it can both hinder and strengthen a character.)
What makes a good Outer Layer:
Basically anything that can be relatable to your target audience at a glance. For example: Fluttershy is bashful at first glance, and it makes the audience curious. Why is she bashful? Why is she stammering? This is what you draw in the readers with, and what you'll typically see portrayed in the bulk of your posts, so keep it relatively basic and easy to write about.
What makes a good Middle Layer:
Depth! Depth is key here. You see, there's more than one of these middle layers. However many you like! The best way I can explain it is this: How is your character going to react to the sky falling? What will your character do on a rainy, stormy day? How will they tell a friend that the dress they're wearing makes them look fat? You want this to be multifaceted, but not too much so. Usually I give each of mine anywhere from three at the minimum to seven at the maximum amount of layers, depending on how involved I'm going to get into the character. Another example: Twilight Sparkle is afraid to talk to the ponies in Ponyville, but because of her loyalty to Celestia she preservers through it. (Key word: perseverance. This basically means, in terms of Twilight's situation, that whatever the character faces, they're still willing to do what they've been told/what's expected.)
What makes a good Core:
Many, many things! As many as you like. The Core is literally a bottomless pit, a well that has a leak somewhere down in it's craggy black depths, that you keep trying to fill up and fill up but it never seems to reach the brim. In short, this makes a good Core: innermost fears, hopes and aspirations. The Core is what gives a character energy and anti-energy. This is where the biggest strengths and weaknesses are located and kept secret and drawn upon only in extreme situations. The Core is the source of all character crutches, strengths....you get the point.
Building Personality:
When building a character personality, you want to draw on things that ANYONE can relate to. For example: say a male character has a weakness for food. This is both an emotional aspect and a physical aspect of a character that many can connect to and sympathize with. (Myself included, hee~!) Remember what I mentioned earlier about the middle layer having layers? This is where personality really comes into play. You want to have dominant and submissive personality traits that don’t go against each other. So, taking the same example of our food-loving-man: loves food, right? He’s also proud, and doesn’t like to admit his weaknesses. So, when someone finds out he loves food, will he readily admit he would do ANYTHING for filet mignon? Of course not! Admitting weakness means compromising pride, and THAT isn’t good for our tubby example!
I’ve always found it’s a fun exercise to go to an in-depth personality quiz site and take the quiz through the character’s point of view. The questions are usually ones that anypony can answer, and it helps get into character quite well! (A suggestion: fill-out quizzes like these usually help tap into the character source because you’re answering directly with the character’s voice and thoughts.)
Strengths and weaknesses are what makes a character well-rounded, but notice those words: well-rounded. You don’t want too many of either, because then the character won’t make sense to your target audience. It’s fun to make a character with hidden motives but you don’t want a robot, unemotional and cold, if you want to tell a story.
Equestria Specific Character Building Techniques:
When I make a character for a specific fan-verse, usually the first thing I take into account is this:
How will this piece fit into the big puzzle?
And sometimes, I don’t! Background characters to help other key-characters are ones that make sense in the desired setting, but only stick around briefly to offer something that builds or hinders the key-character(s).
For Equestria, you’re going to most commonly create some sort of pony character. So, let’s do a bit of research, shall we?
Scientific Research:
Ponies are equines. They have a herding instinct at their core: most ponies are going to want to have some form of daily interaction with another pony or something that makes them feel safe. That isn’t to say that anti-social ponies don’t exist, though this usually isn’t the norm. (Not that anypony who is anti-social should be liked any less.) This is something to keep in mind: ponies naturally interact closely with each other. What is it about your pony when they interact with others that makes them either likeable or despised? Is it a reasonable trait? Is it over the top? Is it some sort of physical crutch?
Ponies are also creatures with a heightened sense of ‘flight’ when it comes to instinctive reactions to frightening situations, just like most horses are. There are of course ALWAYS exceptions to the rule, but not all ponies are going to be like Rainbow Dash and Applejack and barrel into any situation. Ponies and horses are curious, but if something spooks them, most of the time they will run, and run FAST, and very, very far away.
But what is your point?
Essentially, this: ponies are instinctively going to run from situations they find scary, and ponies crave social interaction. (OOC: Of course this isn’t always applicable. This is just a bit of a realistic take on this universe. The ponies of Equestria are arguably much more human than equine, though this is something interesting to draw back on in a pinch.)
Society:
Equestria has a rich, multi-faceted society that has hundreds, if not thousands, of different individuals. This means that goods and services are needed, and if you’re going to make a pony character who you want to serve some sort of purpose in the board’s plot, give them a place to be, a source of income, and a reason to want to be an Equestrian!
Characters that are more down to earth and laid back are going to fit into most situations with ease. Those that are more demanding, more competitive, or even less confident are going to struggle a bit to find their niche, but don’t worry! Just because one or two ponies don’t seem to mesh with your’s well doesn’t mean that there aren’t more friends out there!
(OOC: Basically, just because one player isn’t playing along, don’t get disheartened. Sometimes its hard to deal with a character we don’t know a lot about, but there are plenty of folks on this site who are willing to interact with you!)
This is also where our talents come into play. Talent has a LOT to do with how everypony is going to make a living in Equestria. For example: I like to make people happy, and I happen to be working in the Sugarcube Corner. (Which is where everypony who is anypony should be.) Treats and goodies of all sorts are more often than not going to make ponies, dragons, even gryphons happy! And sometimes, talents work against us, which is never fun, BUT, there’s always friendly ponies about!
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