Come chat about your characters!

@Anneko - same! Grocery shopping is actually quite a character-defining exercise, in my opinion. haha it's even possible to make a story about it --> Tales of a One-Armed Blind Man

 

Oh gosh I am such a sap for strikingly sculpted dolls. Halp. I've just secured a Seed Arts Peabody head and I have NO IDEA what story he fits into IF ANY and I have only two groups of MSDs with stories and he doesn't match either one yet and I have no flipping idea WHO he's supposed to be.
Clever me.

 

I hear you on the striking sculpts. I sort of impulse bought a SD Azrael skull head a few months back. But, his character came easy to me, so that was a relief. He's Ra-Sui, God of Decay & Guardian of Souls and part of my Divine Worship world. Just a week ago I finally managed to snag one of my grails, ImplDoll Miguel the Demon Hunter, from the MP (he's in Canada customs right now!). He was previously a character in a stand alone story but since his partner was a Unidoll Ark and my chances of ever finding him are... extremely small, he's going to be a new character in my Divine Worship world and I'm actually really happy with that.

New guy (still working out his name, front runners are Sefu-Rishi (sword sage) and Kamen-Wati (dark rebel) with Sefu-Rishi leading slightly) is the God of Destructive Transformation (which... might still be up for a little tweaking) and he is the fraternal twin to Ra-Sui (new guy is older by a few minutes). With new guy and Ra-Sui sharing space in a womb, it explains how each of them came to look as they do.

Ra-Sui has half the skin missing on the left side of his face. Part of that is because he is the God of decay, but it's also partially new guy's fault as before they were born, he caused Ra-Sui to undergo some destructive transformation. New guy has a mecha arm from the elbow down that is Ra-Sui's fault. When they were about to be born, new guy was first and baby Ra-Sui didn't want his brother to leave so grabbed his hand. Because Ra-Sui is the God of Decay, the hand he grabbed started to rot, spreading quickly up the forearm, and the arm needed to be amputated to save the child.

 

thanks @KiyoshiSenshi and @Iron_Dog I am not the only one who does this!
He's not getting a body until he says who he is. I am looking at putting him on a Modelf Delf body.

 

Well, I guess I could ramble about the vague story ideas I have! When it comes to ones I actually want to shell out, I've only got two.

First of all, I've just been calling it the Weird NJ story for now but the problem is that's already a magazine. Anyway, four young adults, after being brought together by different circumstances, end up making a supernatural investigation team! Sort of like the Scooby-Doo gang but with actual supernatural stuff. I know the Jersey Devil is gonna end up being a plot point in at least one part? But I have like, 0 definite plot for this, just a premise and some nice characters. But the characters so far are:

Ian Spencer: A young man with a dubious family history and a lot of knowledge of urban legends, Ian is honestly just doing the supernatural investigator thing until he finishes his novel and it takes off. At least, that's what he tells himself. He's introverted and has an intense presence to him, but he has a good sense of humor and a big heart. His sculpt is a Dollzone Annie on a male body, and he's the only one I have physically in my possession so far!

Eris Hart: Ian's best friend (and ex-girlfriend), a major flirt, an adventure junkie, and a lover of all things pink. You would think she doesn't bring anything to the table to the crew since she doesn't have any particular knowledge of the supernatural, but what she lacks in smarts she makes up for in bravery and knowledge of how the average person works. Her planned sculpt is D.I.M. Larina, which... Hopefully, I can find her on the secondhand market when I have money again.

Austin Henson: Fresh out of high school, Austin is the book smarts of the team. He's always had a love of the supernatural and paranormal, and he's got an encyclopedia-like knowledge of it. Of course, even the best encyclopedia can't account for variables. Anyway, Austin is cheerful, outgoing, sometimes a bit awkward, and is happy to be helping people with his job. His planned sculpt is a Minifee Luka on the male moe line body!

Odette Lyon: Odette moved into a haunted house in town, and is alternately their first client and their last team member. With a decent knowledge of magical practices and a quick wit, she rounds out the team's knowledge base and helps come up with plans. Sometimes she can end up getting a bit too interested in the things they try to stop, but she means well and doesn't usually cause any problems. Her planned sculpt is a Doll Chateau Agatha, but I'll need to remove the extra joints on the body to get her to the right height.

The other story used to be a lot bigger and more developed, but sort of got revamped. It's 2025 (or some time sufficiently in the future but also not too far off, depending on when I actually make the story), and smart phones and such are basically implanted into people's brains by this point. Just little chips that help make your life so much easier and more convenient, no more losing your phone or anything, and it charges just by your thoughts! Of course, there's still malware and viruses, but usually just slapping some antivirus on there and scanning every so often is enough safety. But then a piece of malware comes out that keeps overriding people's chips and affecting not only their device, but their brain chemistry and behavior. It basically ends up one part massive outbreak of technological failure, one part invasion of the body-snatchers, one part zombie apocalypse. I only have one character for it so far!

Xander Romera: A whitehat hacker who loves to press the limits of what his mind, body, and tech are capable of. He's sort of cocky, sort of flirty, and very much hyped up on caffeine. He basically ends up trying to stop the techno-zombies, albeit not without help. I honestly want to come up with more of him, but I don't know where to go with the story yet. However, I know his planned sculpt is a Resinsoul Seng, though I'm not sure whether to do their light tan or dark tan resin for him.

...And that turned out entirely longer than I meant for it to. Oops? Well, hopefully someone likes it.

 

I have always had an overactive imagination, which is both great and terrible. I have a trillion stories in my head, and two dolls xd. I'll start with Yuna.
Yuna is a ghost of a victorian girl who was murdered by a psychopath in a secluded park area during the evening. She loves to read, and was an outcast in victorian society for refusing to marry, having no interest in the men she knew. She is quite quiet and sweet, also ladylike and kind, but has no problem getting dirty and laughing and having fun. She had no friends when alive, but dead she is dating Kai, my vampire doll. She sometimes seems like a snooty butthead, but she's just shy and tired of being ignored. Her fave colours are white and blue.Her Favourite food is chocolate crepe cake. She loves victorian lolita fashion. She is now about 200 years old, stuck at 21. Her spirit animal is the glasswing butterfly, which is delicate and pure with a streak of passionate colour like her.

Now Kai.
Kai is a vampire, around 2000 years old, 23 in looks. He was raised in his older brothers shadow, everyone wondering why Kai wasnt more brutal and wealth hungry like all the other vampires, especially his brother. Kai is sweet and caring, friendly and fun loving, and never wanted to hurt anyone, plus he could care less about money. However, after his family killed all his human friends, he became outwordly cold and wary, scared of somehow causing the death of others again. He ran away from home young, and never looked back. He met and fell in love with Yuna, and now they have opened each other's lonely, broken souls to a new and exciting love, full of purity and adventure. His fave coulors are black and red. His fave food, blood of course, but also japanese pork cutlet. he loves gothic fashion. his spirit animal is the fruit bat, scary looking but actually sweet loving, like him.

Both Yuna and Kai can turn wickedly scary though if you hurt the one they love, however.

OK I tried to keep it short as I could, but longest reply I have written so far XD. Agh I love Yuna and Kais romance so much it is goals!

 

Hoo boy.

I've liked Saints since I've laid eyes on one, but I told myself I couldn't get one because I couldn't decide on a look or character. But right after I was satisfied with getting no more dolls, the Saint sculpt decided on being an older brother to my MD Ell.

An older brother that is annoyingly good-natured and cheerful, if perhaps an even bigger potty mouth than his little brother.

Is it even possible for a Saint to not look moody? If I do get him (and he is insisting that I do despite the fact that it would be breaking my height limit and hitting my preferred number limit of five) I don't know if it would even work. Oh well, I have time. He is basically at the very back of the line for purchasing (if I even allow him in line in the first place), and unlike Red Dove or Gobby, no cancellation or time limit will scare me into cracking early as getting a Saint head secondhand is an easy task (also, getting a Dollshe firsthand is a nightmare I'd like to avoid anyway). I hope that if I do get him then that the last of it (though you never know with this hobby). I don't have plans for a big collection. But will 65+ prove too tall? Isn't Ollie already the cheerful one, making him redundant? Should I just change his character? To what? Ah, decisions, decisions.

 

I've seen some really soft, neutral sort of Saints, and face-ups go a long way in helping even out that moody look. (And I wouldn't be too seriously fussed over the "cancellation" thing with Dollshe. That seems to be a running theme with them. But Saints do come up with regularity.) That being said, Dollshe's resin is *delicious* in person, just gorgeous and solid and perfect.

But I am an admitted dollie enabler. XD And my Dollshe Hound is still one of my favorite dolls.

 

Update on the Saint situation. After a bit of roleplaying, he is still chiller than his brother, but has turned into quite the snarker. So the face fits better. Unfortunately, his character made me think of another idea I was toying with (LLT Lazuli on the upcoming boypink buff girl body) to be his girlfriend, a hybrid I thought wouldn't work because of neck size but looking again it totally does (turns out I was accidentally looking at Edria). Fortunately, she doesn't have a clear cut personality (I mostly just want to make her so that the hybrid exists, and she is based a bit on this lady looks wise: The Internet Has A Huge Crush On This Female Weightlifter ), but gah, these dolls. I really want the cap to be at five so I can finish them all, lug them around easier, etc. So hopefully the brother will be the last of it. Sigh, famous last words...

 

Yeah, I said I'd have 2. That was 9 years and 41 dolls ago (I have 43 dolls now). I will be buying another in August (Eilam, a SD Vito Rail) and maybe if I can swing it, a body for Ra-Sui (he's just a head right now) for Xmas although that's totally up in the air. Depending on when Impl release the ultra cool heads they've been working on, I'll be buying one of them to go with a body I already have. Ra-Sui will need Wisp (Lume Meissa boy unless Soom torments me again with another ID 51 Xmas kit) but unless I win the lotto, that's a 2018 purchase for dead sure.

Crack would be cheaper and easier to obtain *laughs hysterically*.

My newest guy (Impl Miguel the Demon Hunter) is quite the WIP as both a doll and character. It seems like he approves of the name Mkhai and he's being rather insistent that he is a warrior in command of an army in addition to being the god I knew he was. So I've been debating if his godhood as the God of Destructive Transformation is quite the right title for him or if I need to give him a different wheelhouse to be his purview.

As a doll, I've put in 17 hours so far in removing the black spray paint, water colour pencils and some other type of paint he was covered in. I have 1 piece left to do of the initial paint removal but ran out of cleaning pads before I could do the last piece today *grumbles*. But I think doing all the cleaning has helped me to focus more and think on his character as I work since I'm in the bathroom doing the cleaning without anything to distract me from my task. I highly doubt I'll be able to get rid of all the paint from every little nook and horn projection and that may have had something to do with my seeing him as a warrior as he's never going to be pristine grey resin (which I'm okay with) and sort of has a battle-worn appearance now.

 

@KiyoshiSenshi I'm glad you like her (that body is so nice that after realizing a hybrid with my other head wouldn't work out I thought of another one to go with it) because I finally managed to pick out a personality after having this idea for months just after posting here. She'd be a quiet and softspoken gentle giant who alternates between work out clothes and girly outfits to contrast my tomboy. She likes watching the other, more energetic dolls, though she can get rather intense herself when working out. Man, this thread is dangerous. I am starting to realize just how doomed I am.

That Pipos idea sounds fun. Having a little spirit following them around, playing pranks, chastising them... Okay, maybe only fun from the outside looking in.

 

This is the story of my life.

When SD released a Souloid last year, I had to have him. But I don't buy dolls without a character already existing for said doll. Brain went into overdrive and produced Warrick. On the upside of things, I have almost 21K of that story written and it will be posted on a monthly basis to a website that has already hosted 2 other epic-sized stories of mine. 21K is nothing though as the last chapter of the story that I've just wrapped up posted to the same site came in at just over 18K.

Khale's backstory is about 60K (and completed) and the story of how he ends up with his lovers is at about... 130K and only about 1/2 finished. Not too shabby for a doll I won in a charity raffle that I entered on a whim and was going to sell to fund other doll purchases. Instead, having Khale created an entire new world (Divine Worship) and resulted in my getting 19 dolls from that world. I've probably written about... 500K worth of assorted stories in that world.

 

I've just started a new thing, because it's not like I don't have too many projects and characters already...

so now I have Prince Ailbe, who is the fifth-out-of-seven royal siblings in his fantasy kingdom, a young man with a degenerative disc disease, no desire whatsoever to compete with his older brothers, and he just sort of starts out in what he feels is the worst position in the family, where he's not any kind of strong competition for titles and favors, but where he's old enough and male enough that his older brothers force him into that game just to keep him in the low position, rather than just letting him be (for fear that he'd be finding some other, sneakier way to come out on top, as it's inconceivable to them that he does. not. care. He has no expectations of and no desire for power. What he does have is the attention of a dragon, entirely by accident.

And Dragon, who has not earned a name yet (as is custom among dragons, who gain their names based on who they are and what they've done in life), who considers humans dangerous but fascinating, and who wound up terrifying Ailbe because he'd been under the misapprehension that there was a human in danger who he could give a quick rescue to and then go on his way.

 

@Anneko That sounds interesting and a story I'd definitely read.

My newest guy home (Impl Miguel the Demon Hunter, he was my grail for 7 years) is becoming more fleshed out. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I spent so much time on him cleaning him of the black paint and had no distractions as I worked because was in the bathroom over the sink the whole time (removing full body black spray paint is VERY messy).

He is Mkhai, God of Warfare & Weaponry, Supreme Commander of the Immortal Army and basically a living weapon. he's fraternal twin to Ra-Sui, God of Decay & Guardian of Souls. Mkhai is a little arrogant (he is a god *shrugs*), a little on the flashy side and he enjoys showing off his martial skills. The horns/spikes that are all over his body are weapons in that he can envenomate an enemy (like a platypus with his ankle spurs) if he chooses and if someone is tagged, they will quickly in excruciating pain. He's focused when working but also has a playful side. He's extremely knowledgeable about military/martial things and loves a good fight/spar but also enjoys very sedate things like painting watercolours of summer days or birds nesting in trees. He can be very patient and kind but he's also got a brutal, fiercesome temper. That temper, while blazing hot, is generally over and done with quickly.

He is extremely loyal. If he's got a steady partner, he won't bed another unless that's something his partner wants/asks for. However, he doesn't do steady partners often as they are typically some flavour of mortal and he'll mourn the passing of a partner for decades or even centuries. He loves hard and deeply although not yet to the point of finding someone he wants to give his god-mark to (either the general or noob will be that someone), making that individual immortal as well.

For his partner, I'm not sure yet whether it'll be one of his generals or some totally wet-behind-the-ears recruit who's so green it's nearly painful. Both have the opportunity for interesting times between them as their relationship develops.

 

Oh man, I have so many characters... I've tried to keep my novel and my doll characters separate, and for the most part this has worked, though I recently decided to shell two of my favourite short story characters, Nadya and Boris, into dolls. Maybe that'll let me figure out how to write the short story into the novel... but ehhh... (Also this got long. Sorry!!)

For the most part, my doll characters tend to be very self indulgent compared to my novel ones. My oldest doll, Dagny, has been through the most changes, but I think I've finally found a character that works for her. She's a young(ish) Norse lady during the Viking Era, but has little to nothing to do with vikings. Instead, her main focus is home-based work, like weaving and tending to farm animals. I really am dumping all my favourite non-Viking Norse things into her. Even the fact that she's Norwegian is kinda self-indulgent, since she's from relatively close to where an MC from my favourite Viking book series is from. There's currently no plans to give her a linear story or anything - she's just my cute, single Viking girl.

I also had a lot of struggle with giving Fuyu a character I liked. Finally, I decided that she would be from the same world as my in-coming doll Hideyasu - which is basically just an excuse to have all the youkai. Since there's approximately one billion cat demons out there, I went with one I didn't see very often - the spirit of a shamisen, which is traditionally made out of cat skin. Then I made her from Osaka and gave her an inn, which meant she had to have the ability to stand up to Hideyasu (a terrible guest anywhere). So she's kinda of a gruff "Southern" gal, but with very refined hobbies. Hideyasu, meanwhile, is a troublemaker who thinks he's cooler than he is. He's also a tengu and I'm really excited to get him home to play around with him more! There's also plans for this world to have a Baize (a Fairyland Dark Elf Soo named Tianzhu), a Kappa (a Luts Kappa named Nori), and a zashiki-warashi (a Only Doll Youbai named Kurumi). Oh, and an OT Sakura & Paper Xiao Jiu, who's a three-footed crow named Yu. This world is actually a lot of fun, so I keep planning dolls for it. There's also no real linear plot, besides "characters mess around in various historical eras." The main era is the 1620s, though.

Otakar actually does have a linear plot. It's about fighting a fantasy plague in 17th century Prague. The plague is really fun because it's a combination of my two favourite historical plagues, the Black Death and the Sleeping Sickness, and is also basically zombies - an accident, I swear. Otakar is a doctor who says he's a scientist, but really uses a complicated universal life force called anima to basically do magic. His hubby, Vit (whom I hope to one day get as a doll, but he's currently fine as a marionette - also, said marionette is to blame for my entire doll hobby) is an executioner and a demon hunter. Some good things happen in the plot, but mostly just bad things. Otakar is also fun for me because I get to dumb a bunch of my own autistic tendencies on him, along with my otherwise useless knowledge and love of alchemy.

I've kinda got two Russian plots going on. The first, nicknamed Winter Palace, is so far just Vissarion, who's a genderfluid member of the Preobrazhensky guard. He is an excuse to talk lovingly about 1750s aesthetics while also making up an entirely new version of Russia that is Elf Russia. I'm really excited to work on him more!! The second Russia plot has the WIP title "Everything Under the Sky," though I might change it to "Mercenary's Honour" or something of the sort. It's a technically-finished fantasy short story about a mercenary, Boris, who rescues/kidnaps/adopts a young girl fleeing from political turmoil in their home country. Adopted parent/child relationships are some of my favourite to work with, so I'm excited for them, too...

I decided recently to start using doll profiles to hold a little more information about my doll's characters. The Information section will contain a little story, either backstory or a little "day in the life" scene. Then the Character section will be a bit of a summary, with things like birthplace, likes/dislikes, and a short bit on their personality. So far, only Fuyu's is done, but I'm hoping to work on the rest when I have the time!

 

So after a lot of writing and rewriting, I accepted using existing races is not working. For one side, I love doing my own version of supernatural beings and on another it doesn't feel enough.

So I'm debating doing my own races, like my other stories, or follow another concept I like that there's no races and each individual has unique traits and powers. Maybe I would find another way to categorize them or just make their society have no concept of it, what would be great when making them deal with humans.

On either case the stories events would stay similar but the mythology of their universe would completely change, and I would have more freedom customizing. It is just a bit frustrating since the races does define parts of the characters and having to redo it makes me feel like I got back to zero with them.

 

Creating your own races/species is very freeing. My favourites to play with are my Awh'anise and I've been writing stories with them for almost 30 years. I've also created a language and writing system for them, culture, political views, religion of sorts, planet (including figuring gravity, oxygen content, length of day, various climates, giving them 2 suns and 9 moons), flora, fauna, types of food they eat, alcohol they drink, houses they live in... I went full on world creation on them and because of that, I think that's one of the reasons I have so much fun with them. They aren't the only species I've created either but they are the most detailed because I've had them the longest.

Playing around with accepted mythos/creatures can also be a lot of fun. Because they are myths and there are a multitude of cultures that have slightly different takes on them or even ways that they change over time (vampires and fairies are excellent examples of these), you're also pretty much free to do what you want with them as long as you give a plausible reason for it. Be consistent and make the myth your own and readers will go along with it. Thy may even like it better than the standard myth *shrugs*.

I have Phane who is a vampire but not one like is currently all the rage. Oh he's pretty and stupidly strong and would appear to be immortal and forever young. However he isn't dead. He is a Scion of Set. He was given the opportunity to become an instrument of Set by a High Priest of Set under direction of Set. Phane isn't human any more and hasn't been human for getting close to 2,000 years. He can be killed. It's just really hard to do it. Sunlight doesn't do a thing to him. Nor does garlic, silver, crosses or holy water.

Ancient Egyptian writing makes note of some of the priests of Set assuming vampiric qualities after being blessed by Set, so I took that and was off and running with a bit of a different path than the standard vampire myth. I did something very similar with Kaleb who is a were-jackal. He wasn't turned by Anubis, but all were-jackals are his "children" as he gifted some of his most deserving priests with the ability to shape-shift, which again, is written in ancient Egyptian texts.

Dolf is a Wight. I used part of the standard myth and gave it a bit of a twist to get what I needed out of it. A Wight used to be a word for a sentient creature. That has since evolved to mean an undead human (or elven or fairy or giant or...) that is brought back to life and generally harms the living in some way. Sometimes they retain their mind and sometimes not. Some tales tell of Wights being murder victims that rise to seek vengeance and others say they rise to be with family again (only they end up eating their family as a method of being "together", oops).

In Dolf's case, he's murdered and wants vengeance as his dying thought. The king of the Nagas hears his plea as Dolf was murdered using aspic vipers (which were then killed with him) and aside from the revenge, Dolf felt sorrow for the snakes deaths. The king, channeling the power of a Bodhisattva, turns Dolf (at his request) into a Wight so he can get his revenge. Dolf retains all his mental faculties and while he is a corpse, he is not actively rotting or smells like death/decay. His skin does have a greenish-grey cast to it (he is dead after all) and if you gave him a corpse to eat he'd say thanks and dig in with gusto. However, he isn't controlled by his desire to eat dead humans and he passes for human, writing off his skin tone as a medical condition.

You can have a lot of fun twisting and tweaking myths and legends without needing to do a complete re-write of what you have. Yeah, you'll have to re-write some stuff but the act of writing typically involves re-writing things anyways. I'd say to say whatever you have already and copy it to a new document and then proceed to slash and burn that version. That way, you can keep what went before just in case the new direction doesn't pan out quite like you wanted.

 

@Iron_Dog Yes, I love making my own races but I wanted do something different for the BJDs, so I thought it would be fun play with myths like I did on a short story I published.

But is not working for me because is not being satisfying. I was having more fun with it when I was just planning than writing. I think myths work better for me when is a short standalone story stead of a series of stories, but I wouldn't have found this out if I hadn't written it.

I use scrivener and write with scenes so separating it all is very easy, don't even need to archive everything if I don't want. I will do a character study of my new concept first to test how much I like it. But I think the idea of no race, just individual traits, will work better both for writing and customization. I like all my universes to be unique in the way they work and I already have two with beings separated by race, having this one not have concept of it will be a treat.

 

Writing is all about exploring ideas or creating new ones. Go for it! It sounds like an interesting concept. And sometimes the only way you can figure out if something works or not is to actually write it and see what happens.

 

Looks like someone has been watching Reid's channel

 

*thread-o-mancy*

Anyone still here?

 

I am. DoA is playing fast and loose with my notifications again *sighs*.

I got my newest doll a few days ago waaaaay in advance of when I thought I'd see him. He shipped just 2 weeks after ordering *gasp*. Wisp is an Iplehouse Creea-J Lev and I thought he was perfect from the website pics. Turns out he's even more so in person. I wrote him as a skinny, delicate looking person with a very forceful personality. He's a skinny little steamroller now that I have him home *laughs*. He's not particularly demanding per se but there's just this feeling of doing what he wants or getting the hell out of the way before he flattens you. And for such a little bit of nothing, holy cow does he have ginormous feet. Which, if you go with the old adage, totally works for his character.

 

Wisp sounds like a handful! It's so cool to see people ordering the Creaa dolls, I've been super curious for owner pics of them.

 

I haven't taken photos yet as I am constantly running out of time to do stuff. And the lighting in my apartment worse than sucks once the sun goes down. However, I do plan on taking some shots this weekend.

The Iple forum had quite a few people unhappy with the perceived direction of the Creea line. I don't understand that as they're not changing all their sculpts to be like that. It's that line specifically that has the uber lean look and if you don't like, don't buy. Generally, I like my guys more on the buff side of things but some characters simply demand a lean look. Wisp is one of them.

Wisp came into being when I managed to buy a SD Azrael skull-head. He is Ra-Sui, God of Decay & Guardian of Souls. Wisp was a soul that was doing things during each of his incarnations that caused his soul to become corrupted and begin to decay. Ra-Sui warned him each time he died and returned to his realm that the course of action he seemed set on way going to lead to his destruction. The decay of Wisp's soul eventually reached a point where Ra-Sui needed to intervene to restore it or it would be lost to decay and destroyed.

In order to repair the soul, Ra-Sui takes the soul into his body through his bone eye socket and, in the case of Wisp, over several centuries, repairs it. When it's healthy again, Ra-Sui releases it to join the Great Wheel once more. Only... Wisp didn't want to leave Ra-Sui. He does because Ra-Sui is a god and if he says you're ready to leave, you do no matter how hard you resist. Wisp made the choice upon leaving Ra-Sui's body to become a Shadow Soul. Shadow Souls stay in Ra-Sui's realm and serve him. They can never travel the Great Wheel again. Usually only ancient souls decide to do this and Wisp is a relatively young soul. He learned a lot while within Ra-Sui, including Ra-Sui's preferences and needs and decided that Ra-Sui needed him as a partner and lover. He wasn't going to take no for an answer either. Fortunately, this amused and intrigued Ra-Sui.

I plan on sending out Wisp's arms and legs to a modder to be gradient dyed black as that's part of his look. Dunno when that'll happen though as I hadn't planned on ordering him when I did especially since I'd ordered a doll about 2 weeks before him. Gotta love those limited sales *laughs*. So the dolly funds account has tumble weeds and dust in it right now and I'll need to wait to get funds back in reasonable shape before that can happen.

 

I know that feel! Super curious for his dyed look, and oh my, he's quite the personality, isn't he?

I 'member ... I'm still lurking in the Iple threads (about half of my girls are Iple sculpts). Yes, they're different from their usual line, but other companies are going more realistic at the same time. It's not like we depend on Iple for realistic sculpts any more, which is lucky for me as most of my OCs are in their mid twenties to mid thirties and I don't want the girls to look tiny next to 70+cm dudes.

 

Wisp is quite the character. He's very cock-sure and incredibly stubborn and wants things his way but at the same time, he's genuinely invested about Ra-Sui's happiness and will go to crazy lengths to make that happen. He isn't doing that because of anything he may get/benefit from because Ra-Sui is a god either. he simply feels a deep connection with Ra-Sui and is convinced they're meant to be together. He's not a stalker. He spent several centuries within Ra-Sui and learned thing Ra-Sui hadn't anticipated him learning. In this world the gods are omnipotent within their godhood but frequently mortals and their actions leave the gods confused (which makes it so much fun to write).

I'm really anticipating writing the first instance of Wisp meeting Mkhai. Mkhai is Ra-Sui's older fraternal twin (Mkhai is an Impl Miguel The Demon Hunter). Mkhai is the God of Warfare & Weaponry and the Supreme Commander of the Immortal Army. Him and Ra-Sui have also been sometimes bedmates. Wisp is aware of that and thinks the two were hot together but he's also not the sharing type and will end up sassing a god who could turn him into a bloody stain with basically no effort.

I could've seen the distress if Iple was doing what DZ appears to have done (gone a similar aesthetic as their sister company DC, which I personally don't appreciate) but that doesn't appear to be the case with Iple. There are quite a few companies that are producing realistic sculpts and ones that are testing out sculpts that are a bit more... experimental. I'd say that's a good thing as it opens new door/possibilities and gives us customers more options. A large number of my guys are fantasy-type characters so I appreciate the tangents that some companies take.

 

Oh man. Someone needs to tell those characters what "self-preservation" means ... some of mine would do well to read that memo too

 

It's possible Wisp doesn't think Mkhai could kill him as he is a soul an not mortal in the same sense as when he would live a life as a whatever. Ra-Sui is going to have to enlighten Wisp about just what Mkhai could do and that Wisp is mortal after a fashion.

Sleet has sassed several gods and threatened to bag Ji-Sun, the God of Carnal Desire. But Sleet is also a sociopath and tends to play by his own rules frequently. He only listens to Fei-Lau (God of Winter Storms) and Khale (Shard of an Ice Demon Clan). Killing Sleet would incite a god war though as he is god-marked by Fei-Lau and since that is something rarely done, it is an offence that would provoke a very bloody battle in the least. The god who was sassed could just hurt Sleet badly but he's also a sado-masochist so he'd enjoy it, which wouldn't be the desired outcome.

 

I'm still here, although I kinda feel like I've run out of things to say that people won't find tedious.

 

I have a bit of a general question. Apart from the way one would write OCs, how do you guys handle (sorry for my use of RPG terms, I don't know better) "gifts and flaws"? As in, do you use help sheets, and/or make a conscious effort to balance a character, or does it just sort of happen?

 

I make up a character sheet with all the important details as there's no way I'll correctly remember all that stuff. This includes things like height, weight, hair colour/length/style, skin colour, eye colour, species (if applicable), job, any special abilities/powers (if applicable), etc. Then further down I'll put in typically point form things about their personality/character.

Keep in mind, too, that some things that can be positives can also be negatives if a person goes too far off center. Like... Moswen is highly protective of his partner, Kijika. To the point of trying to protect Kijika from everything, which pisses off Kijika like mad. Edenlei is humble to the point of not properly valuing his worth as a person. Nassano is extremely conscience of his duty to the point that he won't take a step back and see the danger that he's putting his own life in.

But, by giving these characters these positive flaws, it gives them a lot of room to grow and learn and be better. It's also my opinion that perfect characters are boring and have no depth to them. But you can play around with the idea of one character seeing the other as perfect when they're clearly not when viewed by others.

And I've had random things develop for a character that were unexpected but ended up working out awesomely for both the character and the story.

 

For me, character development (and story creation, too) is a largely holistic process so I guess, in a sense, characters "just happen". I don't use templates or help sheets, and I don't really make a conscious effort to balance them in the sense that I deliberately set out to give them specific strengths, weaknesses, gifts or flaws. Yet, somehow, I feel like they are balanced, three-dimensional and "real" in their own way. I am not an analytical thinker by nature, so I don't do well with charts and fact sheets. Although I do record some details about characters, I also have an exceptionally good memory, especially for things of my own design. It may sound strange, but I don't feel like I engage as much in a process of character creation and development as I do in an experience of character discovery, learning and growth.

I also don't believe characters can be created in isolation or exist in isolation, and it's very rare that I will create a single character (they usually come in groups of at least two, or if I do make a single character, there'll be a place for them in a group that already exists). Their strengths and weaknesses, like the characters themselves, can't exist in a moral or ethical "clean room". They're shaped and influenced by the other characters they interact with, and the perceptions other characters have of them. For instance, if you look at a character with the trait of "honesty" without giving them any context, you might say that's a strength (which in most cases it would be). But, if you look at it in context, "honesty" might be an undesirable trait and even a weakness. In my Descent, a character like Sir Selwyn Davenport (Aubrey's father) would definitely view honesty as a less desirable quality, because to survive in his realm, honesty is not always the best policy. Sir Selwyn sees Aubrey's unwavering desire to be honest, honourable and kind as a detriment and a definite weakness, whereas other characters see Aubrey's integrity and kindness as true strengths. For Aubrey, this creates uncertainty about whether his tendency toward being a good person is a strength or a weakness, and also has the effect of giving him other weaknesses - insecurity and self-doubt.

I think one of the keys to balancing characters is to understand how they fit into their world and how they interact with other characters in their world, because it's really never about just one character. A character may see himself one way while others around him see him in a totally different light, and all of those perceptions will affect how the reader sees him, too. Tyler, for instance, sees himself as a selfless person, but people close to him often see him as selfish and self-centered (which he is). Although people around him do see a friendly and generally happy person, Tyler would most likely not describe himself as "happy".

Another thing about characters for me is that they are dynamic, and can evolve and change just like real people. I don't necessarily set out to deliberately "evolve" them, either. Sometimes their circumstances will change them one way or the other depending on their fundamental nature, or sometimes they will learn something by interacting with other characters or having a good or bad experience. For me, working with characters is very similar to people-watching in real life, except that I have a guiding hand on my characters of course.

 

Characters definitely can't operate effectively in a vacuum. There's nothing to play off of and as SapphireStargazer commented, it's often the people/things/situations around a character that push/guide them into growth (or sometimes destructive paths).

I write things down because I have so many irons in the fire and worlds I'm playing in that if I don't keep track, I may accidentally cross worlds with info. In the case of my Awh'anise I sometimes forget how I spelled some words in their language. Or more likely, get their large families mixed up. Making them a multiple birth species that is generally not monogamous seemed like a neat idea at the time but ended up turning complex when just my favourite family to play with has 42 members in the immediate family (parents, siblings & half-siblings and spouses to the assorted family members).

 

I've certainly written down more about the Erisans than I have about human characters, simply because there is so much detail involved in world-building and society-building and making up names & languages. Their family structures aren't nearly as complex as the ones you've created @Iron_Dog but they still have a lot of intricacies.

 

Yeah, with the main family I <strike>torment</strike> write about the most I've got (off the top of my head)...

Makis, Mered, Muna, Meriwa, Mahira & Moswen (sextuplets by Fayina/Dukker). Makis and Mered are partnered with Kushaiah and Makis and Mered have a girl each, Namir & Nusair, along with their foster daughter, Qetsiyah and her partner, Kamau. Moswen is married to Kijika and they have 2 kids, Jaiseki and Xinda. Tyhlian, Tohan & Telek (triplets by Huyana/Dukker) are half-siblings to the afore mentioned sextuplets. Telek has a quad brood with Ulla. Tyhlian is married to Dakvir. Tohan is partnered to Warrick. The triplets are half-siblings to Chinua & Chike (twins by Huyanna/a name I can't recall at the moment). Annnnd I'm already at 22 people (not including the quadruplets, which I haven't given names to and that doesn't include any of the cousins that still feature in the stories that you do actually meet. Or the members of Kushaiah's clan. Or Kijika's parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Complex is putting it mildly *laughs*.

I've also got something like a 30 page document in Word that details specific words in Awh'anise as well as certain plants and animals that play a substantial role in the various stories. There's another 4 page document that outlines things like gravity of Awh'an, length of day and year, oxygen ratio, number of suns and moons, relative distances to other planets in this world, type of housing, government structure, military structure, types of sub-species of Awh'anise and the various differences between them, etc.

I kinda go all in when world building.

 

Not strange at all, that's pretty much how I feel. For me, stuff normally just happens. I explore the characters by writing (about) them, and they change and evolve over time.
I tried character sheets once and found them ... somewhat too static? They did give me ideas, so they definitely served a purpose, but I don't think I've ever completed a single one. I do sometimes add stuff to my OCs when I stumble across something I'd like to explore (like a "how would character X handle this situation?" kind of thing). I have some notes on each of my "mains", stuff I don't remember well (ages and birthdays being top of that list!) and stuff I thought I might need reminding of (some likes and dislikes, family that doesn't necessarily make an appearance in the stories themselves, etc). I make notes on gifts/flaws there too, and when I find something I'd like to play around with a bit I check if I have a character who might "fit" the thing in question ... if that makes any sense. Like that pretty much all of them end up with a set of advantages and challenges over time.

 

Yes, that sounds a lot like what I do. I have a list of all the characters in each of my storylines and how they're connected to each other, and I write down stuff that I might forget, especially about secondary or minor characters, but I generally develop characters and learn about them by writing them. I also find character sheets way too static for my needs and I haven't ever really completed one, as I find them too limiting. If I categorized and wrote down everything I know about some of my OCs, I'd have thousands of bullet points on my character sheet! I also like to explore with character development prompts like "how would Character X handle X situation?" because everyone really is going to respond in their own unique way.

 

X

 

I always meant to come back to this thread and apparently forgot about it.

This might not be the best place to ask, but I'm curious what people think about fantasy race designs. What kind of range works for you between what's too close to ordinary humans and what's too inhuman? And for that matter, what's just plain overdone?

 

For my main characters that are of a species I create I generally go with a humanoid form but will play around with aspects of that. Like... the Awh'anise have claws, fangs, pointed ears, slit-pupil eyes and a prehensile tail. The two species that share Ge-Foeh, Nameo and Vylfillian, are both winged species that can fly with the Nameo having either feather/skin wings and the Vylfillian have insect-type wings. Both species are also extremely tall with the typical female at about the 6.5 foot mark and the typical male over 8 feet tall.

My most different main species I have are in my Gen-Mod world. The Gen-Mods are a military experiment to create super soldiers. They are created in a lab and have 25% human DNA. The other 75% is dependant on what type of soldier they were trying to create. I have 3 mains that are Gen-Mods, Xai-Shen, Cephian and El-Ashir. For the most part, they are bi-pedal but you'd never mistake them for human (despite the portion of human DNA they have).

Xai-Shen is for places where food/water may be scarce and is used mainly for infiltration. He's also copperhead snake and frilled lizard. Like the frilled lizard, he has that on his head instead of hair and his skin is lightly scaled and patterned like a copperhead snake as well as eyes like said snake. He can also dislocate his jaw and eat prey as large as a rabbit, whole without chewing it first. He also produces copperhead venom and has the retractable fangs like the snake in the roof of his mouth.

Cephian is for water operations as he's bue-ringed octopus and viper fish and is a saboteur. From the hips down he has octopus arms and if measured from top of head to tip of arms, he's 8 feet long. He has no hair anywhere and his eyes are completely black. He can and does fit into impossibly small spaces although his human bones keep him from fitting into the tiniest of crevasse like an octopus. He produces the blue-ring octopus venom.

El-Ashir is desert/hot/arid conditions and is basically a tank/heavy fire soldier. His DNA is primarily deathstalker scorpion and fire ant. He has a scorpion tail and 2 sets of arms. He's also got multi-faceted eyes like an insect but you don't really notice that until you're up close to him. He produces the deathstalker venom.

In my Divine Worship world, Naicree is probably my most not-human. He is an Oceanid. His skin is translucent blue, he has 4-fingers/toes, a fin on his head, forearms and calves, is extremely skinny/delicate and his eyes are pearls (He's an Argonautica Little Kio if anyone is curious).

I think if you're writing straight up fiction, you can make your species whatever you want. if you plan to have a romantic element of some kind or are writing a romance and intend to write sex scenes with the non-human, it gets trickier as far as getting readers to take a chance on a non-human main. I published the story with El-Ashir and his lover, Bertram, but sales were very poor because people couldn't seem to get past "the bug guy". However, of those who did take a chance said that they enjoyed it and thought El-Ashir and Bertram were sweet (which they are). That's been my experience though and your mileage may vary.

 

Thanks for sharing - sounds like you have some very interesting world-concepts!
Well, I'm not interested in writing romance, really, but... technically, the races of my main project do interbreed (with abnormalities and limitations). The original plan (years ago, and may never happen now) was to have a related RPG based on this world, which meant each of the races should be something people would actually want to play. And I ran into a situation early on where the uncanny valley effect was a problem - people actually seem to prefer 'spliced' humanoids rather than modified ones (e.g. you can give a character cat legs, but don't give them human legs with elongated feet and wide-splayed toes unless you're trying to creep people out, apparently).

Interestingly, I have armored scorpion-humanoids myself, but they're my aquatic race. And my flying race don't have wings - they modify the gravitational field instead (they do have bat-like ears, gecko-pads on their palms and feet, and prehensile tails, though). The 'earth' race has the aforementioned cat-legs, long furred tails, and horns (that relate to their magical ability), but I'm a little concerned they'll just be seen as a variation on fauns. The last of the five is the shapeshifting race, so...

I'm just interested in getting some other people's read on what works and what doesn't. ^_^

 

I play RPG's a lot and I have to say that there has to be a very special set of circumstances at work to get me to play a human (despite additional bonus that may come into play for doing that). My fav characters that I've played in campaign (in D&D) have been a Lizard-woman and a Wemic.

People are funny about how they relate to characters. Sometimes being wholly alien is fine and popular for the main while other times something more human with a few... quirks is what works. I think it tends to be very situational within a story and is all about how you make the presentation of the not-human character. I'd say as long as you have a strong reasoning for why the characters are the way they are, many readers will go with it and accept that as the canon for that character. You'll need to stay solid as to why they are how they are as well. Readers will typically go along with your rules for a species as long as you don't start changing things mid-stream or throwing in some new, fantastical, deus ex machina thing at them. At least not without a damn good reason.

For example....
The Awh'anise are fast and agile with advanced healing rates and short bursts of over-the-top strength. But, the gravity of their planet is higher than Earth so when they're somewhere that has a lighter G, they move incredibly fast. The speed, agility and healing is also due to the extremely violent and deadly nature of the flora & fauna of Awh'an where nearly everything will eat you. They evolved to be faster/stronger/more resilient just to stay alive. The strength burst is also an evolutionary thing that allowed them that one, last, desperate bid to escape a stronger attacker or to defeat a stronger opponent during a breeding cycle.

By contrast, the Laiokians are short, stocky and have incredible endurance as long as it's not something like say running at top speed for hours. An in-shape Laiokian can jog/run at about 8mph for about 2-hours without becoming exhausted. They'd be pretty sweaty at the end of that, but otherwise fine. The G's on Laiok are even higher than on Awh'an so it takes more effort for them to do regular everyday stuff leading to the evolution of them having high stamina. The Laiokians also developed more on the tech side of things than the physical because of the higher G's. They've also got sentient hair and their skin and hair comes in all colours (although a person is always monochrom with regards to skin/hair) that will change in shade/intensity depending on mood/emotions or reactions to pain/pleasure/hot/cold etc.

 

@Sianserais it's an interesting question about fantasy/SF race design. I agree with @Iron_Dog that what works is very situational and story-dependent. I also believe that for a non-human race to work it needs to be credible. When I say credible, I don't necessarily mean the metaphysical, physical, biological or otherwise scientifically or logically probable possibility of something like that existing in the real world because, let's face it, a lot of SF and fantasy races are most likely scientific impossibilities. I'm talking about whether the writer can make the reader buy into the existence of the race in question. For that to work, you have to know what you're doing. If you make up rules for your fictional universe, they need to be logical in context, and you have to stick with them. If there are exceptions (e.g. the ability of some beings to fly or levitate without wings, despite the absolute law of gravity) there had better be a credible explanation for it (e.g. the existence of magic in your universe). I also think that an alien or fantasy race has to be relatable in some way, whether it's physically, emotionally or culturally; if they're too alien, the reader won't care enough about them.

As for me, personally, I prefer alien/fantasy races that are physically more humanoid, or which at least have a "real world" frame of reference. It's not that I don't like non-humanoid or really "alien" aliens, because I do enjoy them in other people's fiction; it's just that I tend to forget that these creatures aren't humanoid and either find myself surprised or annoyed when they do something with their 14 eyes or mysterious extra appendages or whatever. I'm more likely to accept alien concepts and ideas than dramatically alien appearances. Really, there's so much more to being different from Earth humans than just a being's physical appearance. It's entirely possible to create a race that is, for all intents and purposes, physically human but with a socio-cultural system that is so dramatically different from Earth's system(s) that it's not too much of a stretch at all to see them as alien.

I write a number of non-human characters across a few different universes of my own design. My favourite and most prominent alien race that I've created is the Erisans. I've done extensive world building for my Two Worlds universe. Physically, the Erisans are humanoid, although there are a number of differences between them and Earth people. Erisans are larger than Terrans, on average. Their skin colours range from pale green to medium green through medium blue to dark blue. Their ears are larger than Terran ears and are pointed. They have natural hair colours that Terrans can only achieve with dye, and their possible eye colours are shades of green, blue, pink and violet. They also have a high instance of heterochromia and polychromatic hair colours. Another biological difference between Erisans and Terrans is that Erisan males have the ability to fully retract their exterior sexual organs (in fact, retracted is the "default" position) and females have a muscular structure in their breasts which allows them to have positional control over them.

But, where Erisans really differ from Terrans is in their socio-cultural systems. They have a lot of cultural philosophies that are utterly foreign to Earth people, as Earth has a lot of cultural philosophies that are utterly foreign to them. For instance, Eris has no social concept of "gender" Males and females are distinguished only by their biological sex, which is purely a scientific classification. There are no sex-specific roles in Erisan society, no family roles, fashions, pastimes, occupations, sports, toys or social activities that are "for males" or "for females". Everyone can do everything. The only distinctions are those dictated by biology, such as the fact that only females can become pregnant.

Probably my most alien alien race are the Celestial Guardians and The Fallen (they're the same race, just playing for different teams). They are energy beings who have the ability to take on any physical shape they choose. In their natural form, they're sexless, genderless and immortal. My "main" one of these guys is Zerachiel, who loves mortals and has created two human personae for Itself in order to be able to interact with them. Zerachiel and Its siblings don't experience existence the way mortals do, so It is constantly exploring mortal interactions and seeking typical mortal experiences to help It learn about what mortal life is like and how mortals think and feel. Its companion, Aubrey Davenport, is a First Order demon who looks entirely human when he's not in his true form. Aubrey longs to be human, even though he knows that's impossible and he is also trying to experience things that will help him be "more human".

I think Zerachiel's human personae help to make It more relatable and credible as a character, as does Aubrey's entirely human appearance. There's something about the idea of a perfectly human-looking entity that is not, in fact, human which really appeals to me. I like the idea of exploring what it means to "be human" and asking questions like whether being human involves physically being human or whether it's more of a psychological or ideological state.

 

Making your character(s) relatable is key to getting the reader to care about what happens to them. This works for the bad guys/villains, too. You want your reader to be invested in the character regardless of their morality. Having a reader passionately want the villain to die is just as important as wanting the hero to overcome the evil.

I think one of the best compliments I got was with regards to Adrial. A reader told me she really disliked him and was glad he constantly failed to get into Quin's pants. But, after reading what happened to him and the love of his life, she felt bad for him and everything he endured and understood why he was so persistent with Quin. She still wasn't a huge fan of Adrial but she was now curious to read his story with Dorren.

Adrial was first introduced to readers in Blind Desire as a secondary character and was a giant douch canoe. People hated him and wanted to see him get the crud kicked out of him; which was the reaction I wanted. Then, I released The Fall Of Sodom (Adrial is a Nephlim and several thousands of years old in Blind Desire). In that, you find out why he's the way he is and readers were sympathetic to him. They weren't in love with him as he is an egotistical ass most of the time, but they understood him better and now wanted to read his story, which was my whole round-about way of making that happen *muwahahahaha*.

I think, like @SapphireStargazer said, you need to make sure whatever rules you set down should be logical. Having people fly without the use of wings is perfectly fine. But how do they do it? Can they manipulate magnetic fields around their bodies like we use for mag-lev trains or like how Magneto from X-men does? Do they make the surrounding air around them denser/heavier so they float/fly? Is it some sort of psionic talent/gift? Is it flat out magical in nature? If you give a reason for why something is the way it is (and stick to that!), readers will generally go along with it.

In some instances a whole world of things can be explained away because of what the individual is but it relies on the context of what we assume in life now. Such as the fact that Fei-Lau can teleport, fly, heal from grievous wounds and make nearly anyone submit to him if he wants them to, among other things. But, Fei-Lau is a god. As such, I don't need to explain how he can do any of those things. It's simply assumed that he does them because he is a god (which is true).

 

Oh this is all very meta for me since I first discovered my grail sculpt while looking for a reference photo for my NaNo character. Now I'm full circle and I've shelled Aneirin and Stig and I'm trying not to go crazy and start shelling everyone in the story (although I'm also shelling Goldy and Lughead from a completely different short story).
I'm attempting to NaNo this year and with the physical embodiment of my two mains with me I'm finding their personalities shifting. (I also know I've evolved as a writer from five years ago).
Aneirin was supposed to be sullen and to be the kind of person with a long fuse and a dangerous temper. Basically someone you shouldn't cross (a proper Scorpio for the astrologists out there). And his sweet side is supposed to be hidden and only brought out by people he cares for, like his lover and wife. But having Annix around (and Annix has the sweetest and most melancholy little face) I'm trying to bring out the softness in the story too, not to make Aneirin more like Annix, but to make it more about the goodness in him and not the absolute hell I put him through. (The Somme, before you ask)
Stig, OTOH, was always meant to be mischievous and a bit brittle. And for the most part Pike is too, but Pike also has this boyishness to his face, and I can't stand the thought of putting his character through any pain (The. Somme. + Mustard. Gas) that it's making me soft pedal my plotting choices. And then it's weird because having the two physical boys makes me rethink how they'd interact in the story, because now I can better picture height differences, and body shapes and all the other stuff that were before just ephemera.
This sounds more wishy washy than I meant it to. But this is where I'm at with them as characters. Aneirin is also likely going to get an upgrade to proper Boyish Boyness and be less of this withdrawn snail person and he'll soften to Stig waaaaay more easily than he had before.

 

That's the thing about characters, they tend to be who they were meant to be regardless of what you want them to be. They tend to evolve as you write, too. Or at least I find that they do for me. I would say it's likely because they're very alive in my head and living people tend to evolve and change as forces outside of themselves act upon them or they make internal choices and the way the act/react to others adapts. It's my opinion that your characters shouldn't remain static unless you're purposefully using that to show how the character needs to grow but refuses to do so for some reason.

Xai-Shen was originally supposed to be this shy, quiet guy who'd go along with whatever others wanted or told him to do. I tried to write that. I really did. Got something like 15K written and it just wasn't him and every word was a letter-by-letter struggle to get on the page. So, I started over and let him be who he was. He's quiet, yes, but it's more contemplative. He's got some snark and a vicious but short temper. He's also patient and understanding and will go to the wall for friends and is a little self-depreciating. he's quite different from how I originally thought he'd be. But I like this other version of him better so its all good.

 

It seems I'm not the only one who has gotten a doll for a certain character only to find out that the doll had other plans. I've tried multiple times to get a doll to match a character I already had in mind. They always looked so perfect for the role, but when the doll arrived it just wasn't them. I've now stopped planning a character beforehand and just let the dolls personality come out on it's own. Even just picking out a name before their arrival has never stuck.

My Yuli was supposed to live in a fantasy world and be a very brazen, fearless young girl. Instead she's quiet and shy, and she lives in a modern age surrounded by humans. (She's an elf.) I have a doll that will be arriving tomorrow (I'm so excited!) that I'm hoping might fill in that role of a more adventurous soul, though she will simply be added into my Yuli's world. I just hope that she will fit in. Her personality can show itself more from there.

 

I've recently had an experience with a character, Ondraeden, God of Fear & Nightmares, where I knew he was an arrogant person (even for a god) as I was creating his character. I'd thought, initially, that he was that way because he is an Elder God, one of the gods that has just always existed. He answers to no one, not even the god of gods (they're pretty much equal in power) so I figured that was the reason he was so arrogant.

Nope. Turns out because of what he is god of, he is the embodiment of all fear that every living thing feels and the source of all nightmares for every creature that dreams. Everybody fears him, even other gods. So he's alone most of the time and hasn't had a lot of interaction with others on a regular basis, particularly with mortals. Nobody has ever told him no before either. Because of that and him being an Elder God, he believes that whatever he does is right and is his right to do. He's terribly high-handed, too. But he's also rather sweet and tender and kinda clueless when it comes to relationships since he's never had one in the eons he's existed.

His lover, Valerian, is mortal and doesn't fear him, which is fascinating/intriguing/attractive to Ondraeden since he's never been in that situation before. He's rather good at pissing Valerian off, but in Ondraeden's defense, he really has no idea what he's doing to make Valerian so mad when he's just being his arrogant godly self. He's trying to understand but it sort of keeps flying right over his head right now (they're still at the very beginning of their relationship since they've only met 24 hours previously).

 

In the more serious stories the dolls are quite different then the "doll stories" (in which they are literal living dolls, like Rozen Maiden).
In that they live in two separate shelves (which is their word for country, I keep all my dolls on shelves on cabinets or attached to the wall) one, called the United Shelves of America (the oldest dolls live there, all the MSD's the most expensive, and the first, Clover Zephytanthies, runs it as President- with a talking Donald Trump doll as her VP).
The other, the Confederate Shelves of America, is run by Clover's once close friend Takine Satori Tangier and her step sister Shura Chan, has the newer dolls, and the plastic jun planning dolls, Clover considered them pests and illegal shelf squatters.
They are more organized and one doll, Shukriyah Tehrani, mustered most of them into an army and they even have uniforms (the yo-sd's do so far, as all my yo-sd's, save Ishtar, are on that side and action figures come in roughly that size so I can get their clothes).

 

My dolls characters are all from Tang Dynasty China. Got into Chinese history ages ago and couldn't help myself - I love the outfits so much, and the hair, and the culture...! They are female, and I like to think of their stories as a Chinese 'Game of Thrones', with manipulation and subtle plays for power... The issue is I could never kill any of them off - I love them all too much

 

@Merla That is so awesome! I love the ancient Chinese aesthetic and Chinese historical dramas. Especially those about all the battles for power in the palace and harem and stuff. Your doll story sounds like catnip to me!

 

Oh, this is SO true! It's a real pain for me, because I'm a plotter, not a pantser, but generally you don't know who your characters truly are until you write them. You get a "feeling", but it's hard to sustain that when merely plotting, at least for me. And then sometimes I find myself walking all over my characters' true personalities to "stay true to the plot". It's a hassle for sure!

 

That happens to me too! They just take a life of their own. Faceups too, end up changing from what I originally had planned.

 

I have shelled four characters from my upcoming novel:

Nadir, the main protagonist, a 24-year-old Christian Israeli Arab living in a fictitious Arab town in the Lower Galilee. He holds a nursing degree, works at a pet shop, and has just married his first love, Orli. A bit of a geek and a hell of a pest and prankster. Has a concentration span of 0 to potato. He's a happy, carefree rich boy, when Israel decides to draw walls around major Arab towns to deport every citizen-no-more the government considers an Arab, behind said walls.
Circumstances/poverty force him to start selling himself to provide for his family. His formerly cheerful nature takes a very deep plunge to a place where he loses his faith in God as well as other things.

Orli, Nadir's wife, 30, is an Ethiopian Israeli and dropped out of her psychology studies so she could be with Nadir. She's the only Jew in town and also the only black person and doesn't speak any Arabic, so she's rather isolated and grows more and more frustrated. Pregnant, her husband now the village hustler, she starts questioning her decision.
I can't wait to get a Summerbird Viola to shell her. I made a point of making the most beautiful woman in the book fat to remind readers that thin (or white) is neither the default for a protagonist, nor for beauty.

Nasreen, 16, Nadir's sister. If she's had teen angst before the walls went up, she now has 99 problems but food shortage isn't one as she's now got an eating disorder. That, as well as her unhealthy feelings for her older brother who at some point resorts to flinging her across the room to get her off of him. No access to mental or other healthcare, she ultimately causes several major "ends" in Nadir's life.

Ameer, 22, wanted to be a neurosurgeon when, in the midst of his medical studies, he found himself deported to the Al Shama ghetto. Demoted to go-to drug dealer, Ameer himself enjoys regular substance abuse, but does take rigorous care of his appearance and fitness.
A Muslim by birth, he takes to drinking in excess, chewing on pork chops, and blaspheming indiscriminately behind his parents' backs. While his often callous and irresponsible behavior suggest he's a sociopath, he has shown a deeply romantic and caring side to his loved ones, and volunteered with disabled children during national service. Ameer is as brave as he's intelligent, loyal in his twisted ways, and doesn't walk away from the right fights. Or any other fights.

Being Israeli myself and descending from Arab Jewish refugees, the political situation hits me on a personal note and I want to tell this story for reasons beyond money or being able to say I published a book. It's part of why I left the country. I'm not going to get deeper into this as politics isn't something I wanna discuss here.

Anyways, these are mine

 

It sounds like a really good, in-depth story with flawed characters that you want to root for despite some of their behaviour or poor life choices that they really should know better than doing. Always, always, always write the story that demands to be told not what others tell you to write. You'll be a much happier writer and, in my opinion, you'll write a better story for it.

 

That's exactly what I think! I've gotten really attached to these characters. The story was originally just supposed to package a bandwagon jump (50 Shades kind of stuff) in shallow depth, but at some point, it became its own story and I wanted it to mean something.

 

Sometimes, in writing a PWP, it can turn on you and the next thing you know, you're up to your ears in Plot. I've had this happen so many times, frankly, it's a touch embarrassing. People call them Plot Bunnies because they multiply rapidly.

My works usually involve Plot Roaches. They are not cute and fluffy. They are rough, tough, often ugly things and incredibly hard to kill with reproduction abilities that make rabbits look like they're not even trying. But oh the satisfaction when you do get one of the little pests nailed to the floor. You can lop the head off and the damn things go on surviving for days or even weeks. Squish them under your heel and you only release the eggs for more of the little bastards. They crawl around in my brain, tickling, scratching until I HAVE to do something about them or go mental from it. Almost nothing kills them and when think you've figured out how to nuke them from orbit, all you've done is mutate them and made them stronger.

I wrote what was to be a one-shot PWP that was inspired by a drawing. 250K and multiple plot threads later....
I wrote what was supposed to be a 1 page limit drabble. 150K and 6 different pairings later....
It'll just be a little background thing. Maybe 20K at the outside. 60K later....
It'll just be a little background thing, take 2. 15K at the most. 40K later....
It'll be a short novel. Nothing big, maybe 60K. 200K later....
Full novel on this bad boy. Should be 100K, tops. 365K later....

For those last 2, I wrote both stories at the same time, they crossed each other multiple times and had plot points that twined around each other. Several of those plot points extend to other stories set in the same world. Why, yes, I am insane. Thank you for noticing.

The story I'm working on the most right now (The Dire Heart) has been eating my brain hardcore. In roughly 2 months I've written 120K of it and I work full-time so that's all writing that happens in evenings and on weekends. During that time period I also needed to submit chapters for stories I'm under contract for so there was an additional 20K or so of writing on unrelated fiction (which has those previously mentioned plot points extended from the other novels). You may have also noticed that I VASTLY underestimate the size of my works. That's always due to Plot.