Creating and developing realistic characters is hard (at least for me it is) so I thought it would be kinda cool if we had a place to share websites/reasorces/tactics we use to help develop our characters! Heres some of mine:
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I always use this website https://www.familyecho.com/# to help make family trees, I looooove making family trees and this website has always worked pretty well for my as you can write lot's of basic info down then link your more detailed character creations, I also just really like the way it clearly lays out the tree
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This isn't specific for character creation but I'm a huge fan of using https://workflowy.com to help map out my ideas, I don't really know how to describe it so just check it out :)
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Idk if anyone else does this but I love making pintrest boards that kind of show the whole aesthetic of my character, I've found it really helpful to just look at for some Inso
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Similar to making a pintrest board but also making music playlists for you characters is super helpful. Whether its a playlist you think describes them or a playlist you think they'd listen to, I love making them and listening to them while working on my character
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My final suggestion is kind of a random one but try taking quizzes as your character. I'm a theatre kid and this technique has always been really helpful for figuring out more about my character in acting, so I tried it with writing too. It can be like a simple buzzfeed quiz or like a professional personality test, but for me any of them are really helpful
That's all that I can think of right now, feel free to add more :)
You my good sir are a god send with the first one
I am sure to find this all helpful!! Thanks!
Thank you for this, I'll be sure to check all these ideas out! And I can vouch for taking personality quizzes as your character, it really helps a lot.
Oh, I use familyecho to make family trees too. It's helpful when you're mapping character relationships out, but you don't have enough info on some of them to make character sheets.
I'm gonna use these. Absolutely.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ogrx6d9oohf6D42G44j1A I've found this channel to be hilarious and also useful, particularly when he says, "here's a complex, unconventional, and interesting idea!" And then proceeds to tell you it's stupid because sarcastic humor is the base of the channel. (The channel is named Terrible Writing Advice, and it has lots of stuff on genre fiction and character development and love triangles and stuff.)
"Why have a love triangle when you can have a love dodecahedron?"
(Some of the ideas are so unironically good too - like having a damsel in distress overthrow a villain, take over his plan, and become the villain herself, leaving a moral dilemma for the heroes who were supposed to save her - like, that's golden)
(I want a book or RPG like that)
https://www.youtube.com/user/RedEyesTakeWarning Oh yeah, also Overly Sarcastic Productions, particularly their series, 'Trope Talks' (though the history vids are very insightful and entertaining, and can also count as period research if that relates to your writing)
Oh my god, I love both these channels! Both give fantastic advice, especially on tropes, and are super entertaining.
hi i just tried out workflowy and im so excited about it thank you very very much
http://www.nymbler.com/ I forgot about this site! It's a site that you can use to find names and their meanings, and they tailor the names to your preferences as you like or reject names. I found some interesting names there that I ended up using.
http://www.nymbler.com/ I forgot about this site! It's a site that you can use to find names and their meanings, and they tailor the names to your preferences as you like or reject names. I found some interesting names there that I ended up using.
Adding on to that, if you're looking for something in specific, try Behind the Name.
https://www.namegenerator.biz/last-name-generator.php
Great for last names if you can't think of any. Just type in your OC's first name and it'll spit out a whole bunch of last names so you can view them side by side. I use this ALL the time because I can think first names no problem but last names always get me.
This isn't exactly for characters, more like writing in general, but if you're stuck and don't know what to write, try Fighter's Block. You set your word limit and pick a little character, and as you write, the monster takes damage. If you stop writing, your fighter takes damage instead. You can pause it if you need to, as well.
I'm currently stuck on an English paper I'm writing, and I'm using Fighter's Block, and it's going much smoother.
This isn't exactly for characters, more like writing in general, but if you're stuck and don't know what to write, try Fighter's Block. You set your word limit and pick a little character, and as you write, the monster takes damage. If you stop writing, your fighter takes damage instead. You can pause it if you need to, as well.
I'm currently stuck on an English paper I'm writing, and I'm using Fighter's Block, and it's going much smoother.
Oh, that sounds awesome! I’ll definitely check it out.
http://www.nymbler.com/ I forgot about this site! It's a site that you can use to find names and their meanings, and they tailor the names to your preferences as you like or reject names. I found some interesting names there that I ended up using.
Adding on to that, if you're looking for something in specific, try Behind the Name.
Forebears is great for names too! https://forebears.io/
I like to look through a old phone book and my Facebook friends list for name ideas, often combining names
Pro tip for finding dystopian names:
write down some ordinary names (I like to Google lists of the most popular baby names from different years), stuff your mouth with Oreos or some sort of food, and read the names out loud.
For example, I got 'Eeya' from 'Mia' and 'Alit' from 'Alice.'
