forum How do you come up with birthdays?

Started January 24, 2018 by @rupleb

tune

How do you come up with birthdays? Currently none of my characters for my current story have birthdays, other than the year. I don't like having my characters have the same birthday (or name, for that matter) as me or my close family and I've got no idea what choose (even though there's 300+ to choose from).

I just pick two random numbers and go from there:
like 12 and 3.
You can either have the 12th of March or the 3rd of December

I hope this helps x

Thanks.

If my characters are related to magic and stuff like that, usually I figure out from there. Like if they're related to darkness, I usually give them an October birthday, or ice, December, but otherwise I just put down what comes to mind immediately.

thats a creative way to do it, i've never thought of that

If my characters are related to magic and stuff like that, usually I figure out from there. Like if they're related to darkness, I usually give them an October birthday, or ice, December, but otherwise I just put down what comes to mind immediately.

Yes!! This is how I do it! My warm/happy characters get summer birthdays, my cold characters get winter birthdays. It just sorta ~fits~ :DD

I sometimes pick dates that are significant to me. You could give your character a birthday that lands on the initial release date of your favourite movie, or a date from a movie.

Ah, thanks so much you guys~! This is very helpful.

Another way is that if you enjoy looking into personality traits for astrological signs you could choose birthdays based on that.

When I do it, I tend to pick what zodiac sign I think they would be and go from there. For example, if your person is very outgoing, loves adventure, people, and partying, they may be a Leo, Sagittarius, or Aries. Maybe a Leo, then pick a date within the range of that sign.
This doesn't always work because obviously zodiac signs and their 'stereotypes' aren't always right, but since I know a lot about them this tends to be the easiest way for me to find at least a range for my dates.

you could also just not pick a specific date if you wanted. Most of mine are things like early june, midwinter, late december, etc., but it also gives you a chance to show how your character feels about their birthday - i.e. my character, Damien, considers august his "birthday month", without stating a specific date.

I've always used those "national" days if I don't have ideas. One of my characters' birthday is November 5 as it is "national redhead day" and the character is a ginger.

I have a couple different methods

• Randomly choosing. This is the one that I used the most. Idk how to explain it, but I just kinda look at a character and go like "Yeah, he looks like he'd be born sometime in early spring, so lets go with March 16."
• Obscure national holidays. No U already mentioned this, but it's a good one and it makes for a fun little easter egg.
• The day you created them. Obviously this only works if you remember the day you created them, which I often don't.
• Giving them the same birthday as your friends/family/ favourite celebrities, etc.
• Having your character's age/birthday be an important(ish) role in the story. It doesn't have to be a huge plot point, but in one of my stories I realized that things would make more sense if my character was legally an adult. That kind of forced me to have his 18th birthday early on in the story. It's the beginning of January at the start of the story, so I gave him a birthday that's also during the beginning of January.

Usually I just come up with a random date. WHich usually consists of a) the first month that comes to mind and b) the first number between 1 and 31 that comes to mind.
i can come up with one on the spot right now: may 31

You start doing the Wand Quiz on Pottermore as one of your characters when you're bored and panic when they ask if your birthday is an odd or even number, so you pick the first thing that comes to your mind

One of my characters is asked during the story, "Why are you so happy?"
Instead of answering the question, she laughs and says, "My Mamma always told me that I was born with the fireflies and couldn't help being happy!" Born with the fireflies= born sometime when fireflies are out… Summer to early fall. Thus I chose her birthday to be June 2nd.
Really don't stress it. It can be really important in a story- Like someone prophesied that they would be born on that day. Or it can be not even mentioned in the story. Take into account whether you want their birthday to occur in the story or not. If your story is happening in the winter, the birthday can't be in may- you have to adjust accordingly. Or the birthday can just add a little endearment to a character- see my example!