Gauner's Guide to character Creation

by Gaunerfox

What Can I say? Some people are bad at makeing fanfic, or for that matter original characters. This is meant to HELP people. :D Because I'm a sucker for really good characters...

Gauner's Guide To:

Creating Characters!~

Intro:

Characters are essential, I think, for a healthy imagination. Without them, you'd halve to admit, life would be boring. Its characters like Mario and Luigi, or any other character you can insert here, that makes modern day more fun and adds to a rich fantasy life. What's even better is the characters that you create yourself. Characters that can vary from Furrsonas, Fantasy characters, or whatever. It helps though….If you know how to create them that is.

You're probably thinking I'm kind of stupid. Everyone knows its dang easy to create an Original character, and…you're right. It is incredibly easy. All you gotta do is THINK; but at the same time it's hard. You have to try to make a character that's different from the rest, and totally original. However, you can and you can't. There are simple dos and don'ts to creating your own Original characters, as well as many other things such as design, and mental assement. You want detailed characters and this guide will help you---So let's get this party started!

Part one:

The five parts of a character.

Every one of my seventy eight ((You read that right)) Characters have the five basic points. Which I'll list now for convenience!

1. Personailty

2. Appearance

3. Versatility

4. Past

5. Future

This is all I use to help create my many characters, and I'll explain each one now for clarity on how. XD

Personality: This is the most obvious one besides appearance; everyone knows that a person has to have one, even if they don't seem like they have one. Personality includes the character's likes and dislikes, Mental stability ((also has something to do with apperances...I3)), Romance interests, artistic ability, their flaws, their temperament, and basically everything that has to do with the way they think and act.

Appearance: Yay, for obviousness! Appearance deals with the fun stuff! Appearance is how your character looks basically. Appearances are the most fun to come up with. They can vary from humanoid animals/Furrsonas/Furries, anything fantasy related, regular animals, humans, even gelatinous masses of ectoplasm.

Versatility: How well can your character fit in different settings, basically. This is an important one. A Versatile character can be used for hundreds of different settings, just make sure to make a few minor changes in whatever your using the character for. Sometimes you gotta pull some stuff to make it work.

Past: Another major trait. Your character must have a past or it won't work..At all. You have a past, so give your character one too! A good character has a rich past or a pretty uneventful one.

Future: This is a major one most people forget. What are you gunna do to your character? Is it gunna get married? Or are you gunna kill it off? This is important if you get bored with a character or you just want it to be happy.

Well. Those were my five points to making a character. However, I have some more things to tell you. FOLLOW ME!

Part two:

The Do's and Don'ts of Character creation.

You already know this section and what it's going to be about. But I don't care. I'm making it anyways! Clichés, stereotypes, Mary sueing/gary sueing, and god-moding are always present in role-playing, TV shows, videogames, and unfortunately…In a whole buttload of people's characters. I try to avoid doing them as much as possible, but still, you do need some of these, especially if creating a manga or something. We'll explore the various elements to the annoying characters ((and how to improve them)) by starting with their names.

Names

Names are important. Plain and simple, you can't just call your character "It", or He, or she. You have to give "it" a name. However, people tend to give names that are...incredibly horrible. These are the character name don'ts! There are about 6 of them so be warned.

The non-Japanese character with the Japanese name:

This is a maaaaajooooooorrrrrrr Don't. If the character isn't something from Japanese mythology or isn't ethnically Japanese. Don't name it Haji or Kimiko.

NEVER, EVER, Name your character after an Animal, Object, Or Color.

Sometimes its okay…Sometimes it's just bad. Seek help section below to help with this.

Names that are long and incredibly HARD to pronounce:

You want to avoid this…plain and simple. People want to be able to comfortably pronounce the name and spare their embarrassment if they get it wrong. ((I.e. Mystyynklitzrieg.))

names:

Simply try to avoid names that you know are used waaaaayyyyyyy too much, however they do work. I simply just try to avoid it, dosen't mean you half too.. ((I.e.: John, James, Jason, Amy, Rose, Scarlett, Tiffany, and insert over 400 other ones in here.))

Names stolen from pre-existing characters from shows/movies/manga/comics/ Etc.:

This makes me really angry, and annoys a whole slew of people. You want to NEVER do this. EVVERR. It makes your character seem stupid and it's very rude of you to steal something else's THAT YOU KNOW OF'S name.

Letter names:

Meaning they only have one letter…for a name (Like "J" or "B"). Cool for a spy movie and all…but…What is the point? It just means you lack effort. XD

Now you know the six annoying naming flaws. I'll show you how to fix them or use them properly. : 3

The Japanese names:

These are utterly perfect if you're trying to make an authentic manga, A Japanese mythology creature, or An Ethnic Japanese character for fanfic or whatever. These names are fun and beautiful at the same time. Here are three Examples using three of my characters ((If you steal I swear to whatever gawd you worship...I'll kill you)) showing how these names can be used within the whole Japanese spectrum:

Kogoro: She is a kitsune and is a Native of Japan. Her hometown is Osaka.

Ryuu Tsubasa: A female Oni ((I forget the proper term...^-^)) demon. Her hometown is Tokyo.

Takeshi Rukio: male American born to Japanese parents. Thus his name is traditional Japanese.

Animal, colors, object names.

Well. These are relatively easy to fix. You can use them in the first name context, as long as the name isn't overdone or isn't an established name. ((Ie. Violet, berry.)). Also…Here's another tip. If you feel you must use a color or an animal name…Use it in a different language!((Except for Japanese)) This is incredibly useful for Furrys and foreign characters! Take my name for Example. My name is Gauner. Gauner is German and it means trickster or cheat. Fitting considering I'm a fox and am of German decent. Another example of a different name using Spanish is Amarillo ((yellow)) Armadillo.

Another thing…You can do for furrs ((or anything I guess…XD)) is make a title using the animal name as a last name. Examples: Bobbert w. Platypus, Casey Crocodile.

Long names:

Simple. ;3 If you want to have an original sounding name simply string together easy to pronounce letters. Don't make it long or to hard. But if you make it somewhat hard…Eh. Make a pronunciation guide. Examples of this: Django or Pseuvo.

Stereotypical names:

Simply use a name that nobody uses much! However overly used names do good in a creative dryspell. 8D Examples: Cardigan, Samine, Samara, Jessina, Hudson, Ford, Etc.

Stolen names:

MAKE UP YOUR OWN YOU LAZY BASTARD! Unless it was an accident.

Letter names.

See number five. 'Nuff said.

Well! That's it for the names. You now know the do's and don't for the naming of characters. Now to another major issue…Personality. This is a big one in regards to stereotyping. You don't want your characters to have Mary sue or Gary sue personalities or to be that way. Here are the three major utterly horrible personalities you just want to avoid.

The "OMG NOBODY LOVESSS MEE" Type:

These are also known as emo attention whores. They are the whiney characters nobody really enjoys and they make role-plays…horrible. DX They thrive on the negative or positive attention of others and forces other players to interact with them constantly. They often in appearance dress emo or Goth, or may simply look like a regular person. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Example line: "IF YOU DON"T LOVE ME I"LL KILL MYSELF!"

The "Little miss/mister perfect" type:

These…are the characters that fall under Mary sues/Gary sues. They are always perfect, kind, and the love interest of every other character. Like the emo attention whore they thrive on attention, but only on positive attention. Anything else and they simply shrug it off or become Über killers. These characters always know how to solve a puzzle and often have high IQs, even though they are supposedly in high school. Appearance wise they are always flawless and gorgeous or have perfect bods. Again, AVOID. They need no example. You know exactly how they are. I

The "I Am GOD!!!!" Type:

These are quite simply the all powerful high and mighty character! They can do it all and have no weakness. These characters often kill off others in an RP without permission from the owner. These kinds are notorious for controlling everyone and everything within the RP or Whatever. These characters have a stick shoved so far up their ass; they can't even take a moment to ACTUALLY enjoy character development or actually take part in the plot. Why? They's to busy killing off all the fun characters. :/ Yeah, these are easy to avoid, but hard to get rid of. Best thing to do is ignore these kinds. :

You now are aware of the three major personalities and types of character to avoid. 8D

Last Minute tips.

Well now we are close to the end to this tutorial... Here are some tips to creating excellent characters pasts and personalities.

Try to explore the characters strength and His or her weaknesses. Instead of a lot of strengths, add a lot of weakness or fears. Like, take me for Example. I'm Terrified of spiders, getting hurt, the dark, and I'm easily distracted by the gayest stuff. XD Try adding a bunch of irrelevant fears but don't forget to add some strengths. Like for my strengths I can be brutally honest and super annoying. :3

Try to be realistic. Try to research things that you want to add to the character. Like if you want it to be bipolar, find out all you can about bipolar disorder. That way you don't seem like an idiot. ; 3 Again, the research is important. RESEARCH IS IMMMMPOOORRRTANTTTT. Got it yet?

Try not to be uber powerful or have too many powers. Limit your characters to having only 1-3 powers. :/ That way you don't seem like an asshole.

Avoid the super tragic past to an extent. Things like divorces and minor family members ((I.e. Aunt, Uncle) kicking the bucket are common in real life, so those you can add in it. However if adding the usual " making mothers prostitutes or having your character raped or their parents die in some freak accident.." Thing going on..Limit it to only a few characters at a time…just for gods sake. Also..Try to spice things up. Have the parents die in a freak toaster accident instead of homocide…Or something.

Be original. Don't copy off others and you'll be just fine. 8D

Part Three:

The do's and don'ts of character design.

We finally got to the fun part besides adding all those other details to your characters personality. Now here is the final step, the drawing and design of the character! As with all other aspects of creating a character…There are dos and don'ts. You want to know what's clichéd and whats not. ;D And so I say ONWARD!

Avoid traditional Japanese outfits. Like Kimonos and stuff. If the character isn't Japanese don't bother with it. :/ Did you read the naming section? This applies to that. 8D

Try to be at least Semi-modest with costumes. XD Try not to over do it on the cleavage and don't make the skirt to short. Unless this is what you going for. This is fine for characters with a flirtatious and promiscuous personality...but try to avoid it on characters with an innocent personality.

Try to come up with something besides basic t-shirt pant combo of solid boring colors. Add designs, make it rainbow. Spice it up. Man! XD Try to add a long sleeved shirt under short or sumthin. Mix and match. :

Try coming up with your own costumes. Mix and match things from ancient civilizations or something. Work wit what you got. XD

Try to be realistic in Body. Not everyone is Uber thin (('especially me. XD))…Try exploring in between certain weights. Try making a semi chubby character or maybe an obese one...if not for freaky purposes…Yeah…I'm not into obese fetish art…unless for comedic purposes...other then that it's...utterly scary. ._.; sorry personal opinion.

Not everyone is an ideal beauty. I know I'm not a beauty, and most my characters aren't either. It's okay to have a few pretty characters, I have a few, but let's not make every character we own a prettyfull. ;

Slutty characters are fun. They make RPs fun. X3 Why? 'cause they'd flawed. Big time. Try to have at least ONE slutty character to either beat up on...or whatever else you want to use him or her for... 8D

DO NOT COPY OFF ANY EXISTING CANON CHARACTER. Again. It means you're lazy. Recoloring a picture of sonic red, isn't original. Never give the character the same clothing or the same ANYTHING. Don't RECOLOR an Existing picture of an anime character. Don't do anything that even remotely is close to a canon character. It's okay to use the same style, but COME ON PEOPLE. Try to make it look DIFFERENT Yah lazy bastards! I'm done ranting now. :/

Play around with different species and things. You'll eventually find something you like. 8D

Lastly, When making animal characters….It's a GOOD idea to stick with the animals natural appearance and fur color.

With this. I bid you adios. This was my tutorial. I hope you take my examples and try to use them. ^_^' I just want people to make good characters and I like helping people. So……ADIOS and have fun creating characters! REMEMBER Originality is your friend, don't recolor, and always research things. : Enjoy.

Gauner the Fox

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