Differences Between Characters

[Tribunal Power]

Someone I used to RP with once told me that he never understood people having more than one or two characters. He felt that, since we often get deep into their minds and feelings, we can really only RP them as an extension of ourselves, and thus all the characters played by one person are basically the same with only superficial differences.

I argued that seeing things that way was a limitation on one's writing ability, and encouraged him not to think inside that box. We agreed to disagree and went on with life.

But it occurred to me the other day that my two characters Kendra and Tsu, who are both equally my favorite characters, are two extremely different people in personality. Most of this has come through RPing-- in truth, they were somewhat similar when they started-- but I don't think I've ever had two characters that function so differently.

Kendra is loving, uplifting, energetic. She believes in the good in others, even if they're misguided. While she won't hesitate to defend herself or others, she doesn't like fighting despite he skill. She respects all living things and has a big heart, though it is full of hurt that she struggles to control. Her greatest attribute is her passion, with which she pursues all things that interest her. She is quick to trust and easy to befriend, but difficult to get close to. She is very survivalistic, with lots of woodwise and knowledge of various fauna and foliage. Kendra sometimes struggles with her identity; is she just a Jedi, or is there someone more beneath the Force?

Tsu is a bitter and damaged person, a seductive woman with a fire in her heart to chase the idea of who she is. She's a pirate first, last, and always. Her role as a leader in the Retrade has left her feeling empty, angry at herself and the galaxy for stepping off the path. Her life is awash with drugs, alcohol, and sex, and some say they are just tools to fill a void within her-- but what's wrong with a little fun? She'll never back down from a fight, and if it comes to blasters, it's not her fault the other person is a slower draw. Tsu is, more than anything else, security conscious; she will always protect herself first, and others should do the same, no matter what. She keeps people at a distance, often using them for her own purposes, though when it's possible she tries to make sure it's a mutually beneficial exchange; why burn a bridge when you could make it stronger to use later? At the end of the day, Tsu is a hard and sometimes cruel woman, but she treats those she respects as fairly as she would expect to be treated herself.

Their differences can be seen in their fights very evidently;

Kendra is very calculating and strategic in personal combat...

Road to Hell

The sith wasted no more time. He rushed, a long red blade erupting from his hand, pointed straight at Kendra. She stood her ground, pushed her human nerves deep into her soul and steadied herself in the universe.

"There is no death; there is the Force."

Red struck forth to thrust, and yellow flashed from her right hand to redirect it. As quickly as the yellow came, it went, like a brilliant flash that pushed the red blade away. The sith saber spun rapidly to strike again. "High cross to Two," she thought as the battle played. The yellow blade again appeared and blocked the red, which bounced away; no time to withdraw, the yellow shot down to intercept a dangerously deceptive faint attack. "Ripost feint thrust to Six," she thought. "Now parry sixte, withdraw, and fleche to trakata!"

Kendra's blade wound around his, flashing backward and vanishing as the young Knight retreated a step. The sith moved to strike again, but was surprised with a sudden aggression that burst from her like an explosion. The shimmering golden blade flashed out for a low swing, barely redirected by the sith saber, as Kendra rushed past him with a lunge that carried her around his left side. The sith turned and brought his saber around for an attack that fell short, but Kendra's saber found something. A large section of the sith's robe fell apart, cut through; had the sith not turned just when he did, he might have fallen apart with it. The two squared once again, and Kendra steadied her racing heart.

The Knight was beginning to think her duelling experience gave her the advantage. "Have I outmatched him?"

Whereas Tsu is wild and feral in a fight...

Cover: Blown

With an angry shout, the man demanded, "Who do you kriffing work for?"

Gasping a breath into her lungs, Tsu began to turn, using the wall for support. The man could see she was ready to talk, and eased off of her for a moment, allowing her to turn to face him. She took in a sharp breath and spit a mouthful of blood to the floor, finally working the strength to speak in a hoarse, beaten voice: "Your goddamn mother."

Shoving off the wall with all the strength her hips and arms could muster, she rocketed her head at the merc, finally connecting. She heard a sickening crack, and the man jerked his head back and collapsed to the ground, hand holding his face as blood dumped from his nose. He let out a howl, and Tsu capitalized, leaping on top of him.

Straddling him, she began to rain elbows down upon his head. Left elbow, right elbow, left elbow, right elbow, left, right, left, right, left, right. Gore began to spatter against her own, and she could feel her elbows cutting into bone and bone cutting right back. Left, right, left, right, left, right. The man wasn't screaming anymore. Left, right, left, right, left, right.

A force grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back. She wheeled to see two more men. When did they come in? She took a swing, missed-- another one, at the gut this time, but her fist landed in the new merc's hand instead. Something very heavy collided with her head, and Tsu felt like she was high for a moment before the world went white again and she found the floor.

"Good god almighty, look at this sh|t," commented one merc, nudging his fallen friend with the obliterated head.

Very different ideologies.

Anyone else have stark differences between character personalities that you really like? I don't just mean "he's a jedi, she's a sith", I mean strong ideological differences in the evolution of your characters, even if they're the same faction. Why do you think characters develope so differently?Is it the circumstances they get into, or the way they're played? What do you think about what my old friend said, about our characters all being a side of us as the player?

Discuss!

 

[Clayton]

A character is a role. You write that role as an actor plays his/her character. Lucy Liu was a stone cold bitch in Kill Bill, but she's a wonderful person as far as her public image goes. Does that mean since she played O-ren Ishii, she's a murderer deep down? I don't think so.

The only thing that stays the same (for the most part) across characters in the author's writing style.

 

[Dmitri]

Indeed, I think sometimes we see ourselves in some of our characters, or at least traits, but that does not always mean they're a perfect reflection or a reflection at all. We're not our characters. We write characters. I think that's been a problem at times on this site whether this timeline or the last. Confusion on separation of IC and OOC. Just because someone RPs a manipulative, lying, murder-happy jerk doesn't mean they are OOCly. Just because someone is with the Sith doesn't mean that when they try to do something with the Jedi it's because they have some sinister plan to destroy the Jedi. In actuality, they're taking on a new role to RP ICly.

 

[Mistress]

This was interesting to read, in my opinion. For me its a lot like the differences between how I must behave at my job, to what I'm thinking inside that nobody ever sees. And also, the type of person I wish I were, whose thoughts would be just fine to be brought out in the open.

I like a character for every mood I can have. They get to do things I probably will never have the chance to do. And then, I can think of them having so-and-so's face, as a little voodoo doll, and chiose to make them suffer.

But I've created characters that I even hate, and those I love to hate. The fun is in RPing them, knowing you made the reader feel what you intended. Not very thing is a reflection of myself, but it did come out of my own head...so...perhaps the verdict is still out.

 

[Silver Cutlass]

By nature, my characters are all different from each other in their own way, but yet, they do have their similarities. For example, my character Myra is an Admiral in the Galactic Alliance Navy, while my character Kara, is an Imperial Knight and former Force-using vigilante, each having two vastly different professions, yet they both have a similarity in terms of preferring to keep to themselves, though that has spawned from different means. I believe most people subconsciously put a little bit of themselves into their character, which helps in roleplaying them because you understand their feelings, yet we're writing them different from how we ourselves would act in certain situations. Why? Because its fun, and it gives you a chance to experience, in a way, things you wouldn't normally.

My two credits.

 

[Lord Pane]

It is strange because often times you hear the "Duality of Man." We have this innate since to create and destroy both in real life and in our writing. This is not just create and destroy physical things or practicalities. This is simply to say that destruction IS change. Destruction is the only method of change against what is already established. When we don't like something about ourselves we either choose to change them or accept them as what they may be, both good and bad. Does that mean we are innately evil because we hate or at minimum despise parts of our character? No, it simply means we want change. When you change what already exists you take away portions and add back equal parts into the situation. Creating is the main form of changing which does not yet exist. However, it still innately destroys in that in alters what is the "status quo." In reality, we have regulations such as gravity, and laws. Take away our regulation and we are floating in infinite nothing. That is what we do in writing. We establish parameters for our Characters to abide by and adhere. You can write MANY regulations and constrict the flexibility of your character. However, in doing so you make them more realistic. No human can perform the feats of a Jedi or Sith. Not only force related but humanly possible, we fear death. Does a Jedi? Does a Sith? Do these things fear death? Adding regulation makes them more realistic, but makes them less of who they are as characters. So please do not assume a Sith is a jerk or Jedi is a prep. Whatever we choose to write, can only be a reflection of what we create for them and destroy for them. Not for ourselves.

Now...since I am tired of typing I will attempt to make this brief. A character has the obligation to fulfill the desire we have. If that deep desire is to create then we portray that and vice versa. These characters by definition CAN NOT be who we are as an individual. If they were, they would not be characters and this would not be an RP. I agree, I would find that 1 or few characters would be more fulfilling to the writer and the characters. However, many characters is our only attempt to live out our deep rooted multiple personalities. :CHappy Yes we are all a little crazy. We all wear different hats and have different faces. We are all many personalities that coexist. Much like our characters have learned to do in this RP. Whatever fulfills you as a writer is absolutely right.

I am done....No more from me. Maybe

 

[Mistress]

Or...we exist within the Matrix.

 

[Dmitri]

Or...we exist within the Matrix.

Or...we exist within a science fiction-based writing forum run by nerds and guys who wear white shorts.

 

[Mistress]

We could just call it a nerd asylum.

 

[TweedPawn]

There will certainly be similarities, but that doesn't mean stagnation. Even within the animation industry, you can spot certain things animators will do when they draw their characters. They're little "ticks" that they add. This is because many artists will use a mirror as a reference when they draw. Yet these artists are able to draw a great variety of subjects!

I imagine it is the same with writing and character development. There will be SOME similarities, but a good writer knows how to give each character its own flavor.

 

[Dmitri]

There will be SOME similarities, but a good writer knows how to give each character its own flavor.

If only you were like that. :CRawr

 

[TweedPawn]

If only you were like that. :CRawr

:CCry1:CCry2:CCry1

 

[MasterTyvokka]

As far as my characters are concerned they tend to have a number of similarities. Most of these are subtle and really an accident on my part. However when I discover this I tend to just roll with it. On the other hand there base personalities are different as are there experiences, since they interact with different characters and have different adventures, which shape their personalities and who they become.

 

[Fyston]

At first, I was really strict with Fy. He was like this and that was it. It became difficult to keep it like that, however. So I changed him. He was lighter, nicer, etc. He was still relatively strict, however, and I would have a hard time writing with him if I wasn't feeling perfectly chipper simply because I wanted to respond one way but I knew deep down that Fy wouldn't respond that way.

So, again, I changed him. I could be more of myself and didn't have to worry about reactions because he didn't care. Of course, it was still somewhat strict. At times, it felt just as inorganic as the other two and, during those times, it felt forced.

With a load of CD and time, I feel comfortable. Granted, I felt comfortable with the others, but still. I can flow into him. The part of me that IS Fy can react a certain way and I have the freedom to react how he would while also having the ability to put a bit of myself in Fy and it works.


As for the others, 16 is fairly free, as nobody knows what he's gonna do. Half the time, not even I know how he's going to react. Part of me goes "He'd react this way," and I'd be uncertain. I sit on the post for a little bit, rereading it and thinking before I get another completely different idea that I hadn't even thought of when I was first writing the post. It's strange, but I'm like that.