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| Creative Disillusions...; Hopefully a discussion and at the very least some advice? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 17 2011, 08:42 PM (172 Views) | |
| -Hedj- | Sep 17 2011, 08:42 PM Post #1 |
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Master
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I'm aware this might start sounding like I'm emoing out or ranting, but I really want this to be a discussion that can support input, so bear with me. I've been having a lot of trouble with my creative side lately, as I've been telling Psych and my boyfriend, but I feel like I need to drum up a discussion on it, see if I can get some help or something. I just... don't feel like I can create a good, fun character that I like playing any more. It's making it hard to draw as well. I've been thinking about rewriting and redesigning Hedj for ages, for example. She doesn't have that spark she used to, I keep trying to do different things with her to try and make her new and exciting... Her backstory is stale and I personally feel it's poorly pulled together and elaborated. She's not balanced to anything specific so she sounds really broken and possibly awesome in my head but down on paper she's a load of crock. And I've had to rewrite her so many times because of falling out with people I'd written into her story, but that's my own stupid fault for doing so in the first place and not making her an independent creation. I recently retired Jen in the LARP she was in because I found she wasn't fun to play any more, and I didn't believe I could play her faithfully any more. It's quite sad because I'd had her for over a year, and she brought plot and intrigue to the game. I'm also starting to dislike my LARP werewolf Dani, because she's... empty. There's very little to her. She's cookie-cutter and almost self-insert. I don't really want to get rid of her but I might have to. I have a much cooler idea in the sidelines but even then, it might turn out to suck. Speaking of suck, my vampire's okay, but both she and I are pretty unguided now in the LARP she's in, and I'm not sure what direction she's taking or she's supposed to take. She's a good character apart from that, but I realise that direction was an issue I had with Jen as well. The most meaningful character I've created has been the latest Mage I created for LARP, and even then I had to have some things fixed up and I didn't come up with all of the ideas. If I can't think of how a character would react in a situation then I start panicking. This has been happening with a lot of characters I've made lately and even some I've had for ages. I just don't know where my creativity's going. It's painful, because a part of me is dying. I don't know if this has ever happened to anyone else, and I don't know what to do about it or whether to just give up trying to save my imagination and let it die. It's already been screaming at me (but why the hell did it have to look like a Mudokon!?) but I couldn't tell what it was saying. |
SCUMBAG SPECTROPHILIAC ARCANOPHILIAC CYBORG BITCH YEAH![]() WARNING: MAY TURN UP OUT OF NOWHERE AND COMMENT WITHOUT READING A DAMN THING IN REALLY BADLY WRITTEN ENGLISH | |
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| -Korokage- | Sep 17 2011, 10:45 PM Post #2 |
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Master
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Hmmm...sounds like a painful case of RP block. Or sommat. I've had to rewrite characters a few times, and usually I end up with something at least likeable, power wise. I'm not sure what to tell you on how to make your characters more fun for you, as I have it fairly easy when it comes to character creation (which usually goes idea > make it crazy > tweak > fucking done, or as Cody would more correctly put it "If it's awesome throw it in! *awesomeface.jpg*"). However, I can think of one suggestion. Instead of stressing over how to best rewrite a character, try making a new one, and make that character in a way that gives freedom of direction in terms of plot. Maybe experiment with semi-self inserts if you feel bold. I know that most of my character's personalities started out as exaggerations of bits of my own and from things I've seen in others (Marianne, however, started off as a shopping trip on TVTropes.org *shot*). Another idea I have that might spark some fresh idea, or give you a new idea to try using with Hedj, Jen, Dani or your vampire is to schedule a day where you can surf TV Tropes uninterrupted for most of the day. Trust me, you'll need to schedule it as otherwise the tab explosion will eat your entire day and you'll have no idea how it happened, though you'll likely have a powerful desire to curse my name ala Wrath of Khan. Something else that could work is just sitting down and writing something random, like a short story or an excerpt from a larger idea or just a scene. It might give you something you need, or help you generate ideas and thoughts. A provision to my first suggestion though. If you don't have it in your heart to just up and make a new character that's a bunch of awesome shit thrown together with a rubber band, three paper clips, some Scotch tape and a thermos and pray to God (or other applicable deity) that it works ala McGuyver, then you can try narrowing a particular direction with your characters and remove or edit things that don't fit with that. For example, do you see Hedj as a quick and dirty brawler, a skillful tactical fighter with fancy long range skills, or some mix of those traits? And don't worry about the cookie cutter backstory, there's a million ways to make it work and still be as original as you can be. In the worst case scenario, just take a hiatus from RPing. Watch TV, read books and surf the net until you feel that itch that only beating up other people's imaginary characters with your own can scratch. By then you should have a repertoire of ideas on how to make your experience fun. ...I feel like I may have regurgitated stuff that Psycho and your BF have already told you, and I'm sorry if nothing I've said helps in any way, but I do wish the best for you. It'd be nice to see you RP here. :) Edited by Korokage, Sep 17 2011, 10:49 PM.
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| -Ekoi- | Sep 18 2011, 12:33 AM Post #3 |
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I... I'm honestly not sure how I could help, to be honest. I don't have many characters I play with, but I'm content with most of them. Those I don't care for I "retire" or, if it comes to it, abandon them. As I really don't know what else to put down, I'll just post my own characters, I guess... Maybe you can get something outta if or something. "lookat dis shit" - Brick
Edited by Ekoi, Sep 18 2011, 12:34 AM.
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Ekoi.deviantArt.com
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| -Hedj- | Sep 18 2011, 02:25 AM Post #4 |
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I have considered jumping into the dojo with a character, in all honesty, I just don't know which one. Was considering maybe seeing how far I could go in scenarios with all of them to see which character I feel most comfortable with right now... |
SCUMBAG SPECTROPHILIAC ARCANOPHILIAC CYBORG BITCH YEAH![]() WARNING: MAY TURN UP OUT OF NOWHERE AND COMMENT WITHOUT READING A DAMN THING IN REALLY BADLY WRITTEN ENGLISH | |
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| -The Raging Zephyr- | Sep 18 2011, 02:30 AM Post #5 |
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The Winds of Change
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Oh right, I was supposed to go post in the Dojo...*stretches back* It could always work. It's supposed to help you flesh out a character, in theory, by tossing you into a random situation with whoever wants to join in. I found my comfortable zone by coming up with most of my stuff on the fly before the Grand Celestial last year. I typically add tiny little alterations to each of my characters, but that was the first time I made a major overhaul in how a character was presented. Of course, that's always an idea. The Grand Celestial is a couple weeks away, and it's going to try to be the first cross-forum one as well. Trying out someone in fighting is always instant fun. I think. |
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| -Hedj- | Sep 18 2011, 02:34 AM Post #6 |
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The huge problem is I'm very shy about combat, and competition, when it comes to RPing. This is a problem when most of the RPs I'm in require combat. I'm getting away with it so far with my vampire Evangeline, as she's very much a social character and it can work in a Vampire: The Masquerade game... That might be where I'm going wrong, I dunno. That I'm not combat squakking my characters. I know I'm getting a little excited over Stitchlips, the werewolf I'm currently working on story for. And she's going to be fitey. |
SCUMBAG SPECTROPHILIAC ARCANOPHILIAC CYBORG BITCH YEAH![]() WARNING: MAY TURN UP OUT OF NOWHERE AND COMMENT WITHOUT READING A DAMN THING IN REALLY BADLY WRITTEN ENGLISH | |
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| Psycho Werekitsune | Sep 18 2011, 02:36 AM Post #7 |
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Part man...part beast...full psycho!
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I think this is more a combination of self criticism and RP block, but it's a pretty harsh case considering it's gotten to where you're not enjoying anything RP related at all. I've seen people slink into a funk and bounce back up after getting reinvigorated with new ideas or maybe encouragement from friends about pursuing some ideas. I suppose that since RPing is a form of writing (even LARPing is most likely based on written concepts and ideas) it's a little easy to get lost in a sea of things that might start to make someone think that they're doing it wrong. Unfortunately, the whole medium is user based, so it's hard to "cure" something that ultimately depends on exactly what said user has a problem with. In order to alleviate and preconceived notions, I'll just say it now; your characters are already good and fun, they probably just need tweaking to seem a bit more wholesome and rounded out. It's only natural, we all go through changes, both minor and major, to get with the times and you just need to find the right hook to both, have the character seem more three dimensional and appealing as well as allowing actually using and developing them in a proper setting to be an enjoyable experience. Self insertion isn't a bad thing, everyone here is guilty of it to some extent and that only shows that our characters are merely extensions of ourselves. Your characters could effectively either be how you perceive yourself, or someone you aspire to be, or even a manifestation of your darkest inhibitions. That's the beauty of the art, we get to write parts of our personalities into an intricately woven story that can be shared with others without being judged for not being real enough. Plus characters may tend to start out as very simple and uninteresting, with maybe some relatively cliched backstories, but the point of getting involved in RPs it to help flesh them out, allowing other people to understand and maybe relate to them and have them go through experiences that could very well change them in ways you never expected. Letting your imagination run a little wild is a lot of fun, you'll never know where it takes you. In short, try to restrain any inhibitions you may have about trying new things. When in doubt about what to do in any given situation, clear your mind and let it wander and see where it takes you. Maybe start studying other people's characters as a way of seeing how you'd want to get involved with them in a given situation or RP, or just talk to other RPers if you feel like you need more advice on what to do next. We're, thankfully, an open community that isn't quick to judge and is more about helping enhance the overall experience for everyone. Maybe you've RPed yourself in a corner and need a break to work things out for yourself, or maybe you just need to look in a different place for inspiration and ideas (protip: real life does WONDERS for that). I think that's really about all the advice I can think of. Again, if you're having trouble thinking of ideas or improving on older concepts, I'm sure most of the people here can lend an ear and help out with things. I want to say that your prior experiences with having Hedj as not being a completely independant creation (well relatively, I think this was more a case of relationships with other characters as opposed to full on collab backstory and creation) were the exceptions and not the rule because it's always great to collaborate with other people to think up ideas. |
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| -Korokage- | Sep 18 2011, 02:57 AM Post #8 |
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It's not bad to be shy of fiitey stuff. I mean, considering how fite happy some of us can be (/guilty), it can seem that way, but a good social RP is good too. :3 Also, everything Psycho said. And I agree that taking a roll through the dojo can be helpful. :3 |
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| -The Raging Zephyr- | Sep 18 2011, 03:03 AM Post #9 |
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The Winds of Change
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There was a time or two where I took a couple months off as far as RPing went. Last time I did so, I definitely had a pretty huge outburst of work afterwards. Note that the people you RP with can alter your experiences, as well as playing around with going with more social characters and more combat focused characters. As much as this is a hobby filled with people who want to work with you to play around with inserting your own characters into an existing universe and exploring around, it's also a hobby where people want to see whose character is best, and the best way to do that is to work competitively with sparring matches. |
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| -Eternally Fallen- | Sep 18 2011, 03:44 AM Post #10 |
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The Darkness
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I don't have much advice, but I know that after years of using the same character (Lynness), I've been having trouble with a new character of mine named Melody; her personality is so much more different than Lynness' and it's alot of fun using her. I've also figured out recently that I get alot of enjoyment of thinking up backstories for my characters; all of my old ones have had alterations to their history prior to their first RP on the board, and the ones I haven't used yet have gotten more attention to their past than most of my old ones did on first conception. |
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| -Arem- | Sep 18 2011, 07:00 AM Post #11 |
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Fabulous Homosexual
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If it helps you, the one character I'm RPing as took years of development before I even dared to place him in fanfiction, and two years after that to put him on here, but that's mostly because Fenix wouldn't shut up about it. [shot.] |
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| -Nageki- | Sep 18 2011, 04:01 PM Post #12 |
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Master
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This probably won't be helpful, but when I felt like my characters were getting stale and I didn't have fun RPing them anymore, I just dropped them all and started fresh with Nageki. I still keep my old characters locked away, waiting for some time where I will get off my lazy ass and recreate their backgrounds to be less convoluted and make more sense. |
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