Path of the Vampire forum

I’ve been curious as of late as I read through the stories that have been written here on Path and I’m always left with this:

How do you come up with your basic character sheets and stories? Do you have a trick that you’d like to share to influence others? Is there a way you always wanted to encourage others to try?

For me, I usually have a general idea in mind. I have a face in mind and it usually goes the opposite of where I want to go. I look at prompts on tumblr, as well as consider looking at tropes to enhance my character further, and I start with vices before working my way into virtues.

I have a bad habit of using angsty tropes. A lot of my characters have an aggressive personality.

What do you find hard to write? Would you ever consider making a character to challenge yourself as a writer? What tropes and things do you avoid - keeping PG-13 TOS in mind.

What advice would you give a new writer trying to develop their very first character?

So, let’s have a chat.

I see this as many different questions, which I'll be happy to discuss.

When I look at a CS. I think about what my partner needs to know about my character in order to interact with them in the story without me having to give this to them in every single post or thread. I also think of it as a handy place to put information about my character as I develop them so I remember bits about them. Call it a cheat sheet.

To make a CS easier for me, I tend to develop a template of basic information that needs to go in there and I add to it as the character develops. This way I have that track record of who they are, who they were, and it may give me ideas about who they're becoming.

Nevertheless, I do try to keep all of my Sheets unique to the character. They might all start off with the same template style, but as they develop through the RP and through the grid, I add more graphics, I change it up so it meets their individual brand.

My aim is to always ensure that my characters are different from each other. Yes, they will share personality traits, likes and dislikes, as a lot of people on this planet do, but I do want them to be more than cookie cutter characters with different faces. I also want my characters to seem like realistic people in an otherwise supernatural setting, so they'd be pretty well thought out and developed people even if all you see of them is their grumbling in a corner. Lol

I'm quite a psychological and scientifically inspired person too. I like my plots and characters to be realistic in more than one way. I try, perhaps, too hard to make sense of Path's Canon and its version of the supernatural. I like structure and order and logic, yet at the same time I'm capable of creating ridiculous scenarios and people that will make your brain itch. It's fun!

If I fall into any traps, rather than tropes, it's that my characters always end up trying to people please because that's what I would do. They go against their natures because I, as a person, don't want the other player to feel bad about what my character is doing or saying to their character. I fail to play bad people. I also fail at playing female characters.

Urm. Inspiration can come from any place. I don't watch a lot of TV or read. I think my music tastes are older than some of your clothes. I do play video games though. I enjoy Anime, but to an extent. No, I don't like Harry Potter or Dr Who. Sorry. So I guess my tastes limit my creativity there. So, I can't very well advise on where this craziness comes from...

I do have a habit of plotting out scenes as though I am a voice actor for my own characters, however. This is especially interesting when there's NPCs involved and it's been particularly great to have my own PCs interact.

I used to go outdoors and listen to the world, pay attention to the sounds and the people around me prior to quarantine. That gave me a lot of inspiration to write scenes and such. I don't have any subjects that I find particularly challenging to write. I will give everything a go.

As for coming up with the characters themselves? Well. I don't know. They start off as a small thing - maybe an image, a name, a concept, a little emotion of mine, a part I'm playing for someone else - and before you know it, they're growing into their own person. You can't stop them before long. XD

I'm pretty sure Myk is planning on killing me in my sleep and taking possession of my body. >.>

My advice to aspiring writers is to do what feels right to you. Make a character that makes sense to you and play them that way - no holds bars! If you find that character isn't working out and you want to try a different project? Go ahead. It's your life. Enjoy it.