But the answer involved creating a OC (original character), which I consider myself experienced at doing, so I decided to provide my knowledge and some basic materials that will enable you (my loyal Y'ners) to create your own unique characters.
You're welcome.
There are steps to creating a good character, but most of them can be done in no specific order, so feel free to switch around these steps if you think it will help get your creative juices flowing.
1. I usually start with giving my character a basic list of personal information, the level of detail depends on weather the character is a main character or a side character; I like to leave some details up to the readers imagination for side characters, but let's assumer this is a main character
Here's a list you can use, but understand, this really is just the basics.
Name.
Nickname.
Age.
Gender.
Race.
Height.
Weight.
Eye color.
Hair color.
Hobbies.
Likes.
Dislikes.
Quirks.
Traits.
Marital status.
Child/children's name/s.
Spouse name.
You can stop reading here, or continue for a descriptive process of character creation, or skip to the bottom for a filled character sheet example.
Name. Ash Kracol
The name often impacts the way you shape the rest of the character, for instance, because I named the character Ash, I have decide to make my character have White hair (like ashes) and orange eyes (like fire). And because Ash is already a short and amazingly cool sounding name, I have decide not to give my character a nickname.
Hair color. White
Eye color. Bright orange/ fire orange
Nickname. N/A
Often, the character's name also decides their gender, you don't usually see a girl named Bob or a boy named Mary; of course, you COULD, but you might confuse your readers early on.
The name Ash could easily belong to either gender, in this case, I've decide my Ash is going to be a boy of around 16.
Gender. Male
Age. 16
Because my character is 16, he could still have growth spurts in his years to come, we can assume that he hasn't yet reached his final inches, but because we are writing this character for a fantasy story height, weight and race all become more complicated. For instance, a dwarf isn't going to be very tall, but he could easily be very heavy.
Let's just get race out of the way first, this character is a simple Human, and if he lived on Earth, he'd be called White, but in this world... Humans are just Humans.
Let's make him slightly taller than average for height, say 6'1", we could make him any weight, but to make things simple, I'm just going to give him an even 160 pounds.
Race. Human-W
Height. 6'1"
Weight. 160 LB
So now we have the character's basic physical appearance, and we can move on to his personality.
Ask yourself some basic questions regarding your character, like "Is Ash an Introvert?" "Has Ash had a hard life or an easy life?" and so on; these will help you to better answer what your character likes, dislikes and what his/her hobbies are.
Let's assume Ash is an introvert, for instance.
He probably likes quiet places and activities, and we can easily fill his "likes" section if we throw in some personal activities specific to his character, such as reading.
Likes. Reading, Quiet places, drawing, nature, long walks.
Because we've filled out his "likes section, his hobbies section is also easy to fill out. After all, a hobby is something you enjoy doing right? In fact, to simplify things, we'll copy two of the answers from his "likes" section and paste them on his "hobby" section, like so.
Hobbies. Reading, Drawing.
Just because someone likes something, doesn't mean they must dislike the opposite of that thing.
So just because Ash likes quiet places, it doesn't necessarily mean he dislikes social events.
However, we can assume he is less inclined toward SOME of those things.
What your character dislikes is also affected by his history, if Ash was bit by a snake as a child, he may dislike snakes and etc.
Dislikes. Snakes, Destroyed nature, Interruptions, Obnoxious people.
Your character's traits are also affected by his/her history, as well as what they like and dislike and especially their core personality. Ash is an introvert, so he's probably not very dominate or talkative, this doesn't mean he's not authoritative or confident though.
Because Ash is a reader and an artist, we can assume one of his traits is educated, and another one is smart, let's add in some heroic traits that have developed through his experiences and...
Traits. Smart, Brave, Educated, Calm, Quiet.
Quirks are similar to traits, but on a more specific and personal level, like how some people are always chewing gum or constantly whistling a tune.
These, like everything else, are affected and developed through the character's experiences.
Because Ash is a reader, I can say that one of his quirks is constantly carrying a book under his arm, likewise, because he is an artist, another quirk can be having a pencil in his pocket at all times.
Quirks. Always carries a book, always has a pencil and notepad on hand.
Finally, what is Ash's marital status?
He's 16... so, even though this is a fantasy genre character, I'm going to say he's not a husband yet.
This also means he doesn't have any kids or wife, and because Ash is an introvert (and because this blog is long) let's assume that Ash has yet to find a girlfriend.
Marital status. Single
Child/children's name/s. N/A
Spouse name. N/A
Congrats if you made it all the way through this! I hope this blog has helped you with your writing or given you some sympathy for professional authors, who do much more than just one page of info per character by the way. here is the full character sheet for Ash, as well as a drawing of him by yours truly- Y
Name. Ash Kracol
Nickname. N/A
Age. 16
Gender. Male
Race. Human-W
Height. 6'1"
Weight. 16
Hair color. White
Hobbies. Reading, Drawing.
Likes. Reading, Quiet places, drawing, nature, long walks.
Dislikes. Snakes, Destroyed nature, Interruptions, Obnoxious people.
Quirks. Always carries a book, always has a pencil and notepad on hand.
Traits. Smart, Brave, Educated, Calm, Quiet.
Marital status. Single
Child/children's name/s. N/A
Spouse name. N/A
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