I wonder how others come up with the concept for a story character, I get inspiration from the most unexpected things like nature, card games, even randow Pinterest pins! And I am curious about your character creation "process", if you have any?
most of my OCs come from “what-ifs” or other “unexplored concepts” from different media that i enjoy.
You want to know the neat part about my process?
Delusion.
Be delusional enough to make even the scummiest of characters and hope to god you don't get stuck in that writing space, or headspace.
I wonder how others come up with the concept for a story character, I get inspiration from the most unexpected things like nature, card games, even randow Pinterest pins! And I am curious about your character creation "process", if you have any?
There are two main reasons that factor into why I create characters.
The more boring of the two reasons and the one I used to rely on would simply be that I need X character archetype in order to fill an empty niche in the story (Like cannon fodder for the main protagonist, more recurring characters to bulk out the cast, and or I need an interesting dynamic between a character and X Character archetype that wouldn’t be possible without inserting in a whole new character) etc etc.
But, as I’ve learned over a couple years, that gets kinda boring real fast.
I still often end up having to make new characters for the WIP for the reasons I listed above, but one day, I thought to myself.
“You know what? Why not create character with a cool gimmick and place them into the roles that the story really needs? Why not make a supporting character a masochist robot that likes to rip off their own limbs to please themselves? Why not have a pumpkin head cowboy robot that smokes a cigar? Why not make an arc villain an uncomfortably polite and gentle mantis robot that doesn’t know the implications of what he’s doing? Why not have one of the protagonists be a TV head? Why not have the one of the main antagonists not be someone with overarching ambitions but an overwhelming illogical hatred for the protagonist?”
Long story short, the second way (and my preferred way) of creating new OCs is essentially to either come up with an interesting concept of a character I want to see (Rule of Interesting) or just let ideas from the media and or my shower thoughts I consume bounce around into characters (Rule of Spontaneous Ideas).
Either way, I then reverse engineer the character into the story as one of the roles I need by fleshing them out and making them logical to the world.
Of course, that’s just my two cents on the matter.
random genators on tiktok and name wheels.
Personally, a lot of ideas that I have for OC's come from music/playlists. i love assigning personalities or experiences off of different lyrics and feelings that the music evokes. Either that or plot holes in my stories XD
I feel like there are several "categories" of OCs in my roster, I have 207 of them btw lol
Type 1 - The "vibe" OC - Usually, I listened to a certain song(s) or watched a specific kind of media that makes me go "damn, this is inspiring, I should make something kinda based on that". Dmitri fits the bill, as I watched videos about mortality and that inspired me to create a morally gray killer who was cursed to be immortal.
Type 2 - The "enbodiement" OC - Something interests me, I turn it into a character. Example: OutOfBounds, an actual character of mine, based on a glitch
Type 3 - The "role" OC - I need an OC to fit a role in a story, so I make them. Henka started this way, he was just "older brother that brings the protagonist to the place she needs to be"
Type 5 - The "fandom" OC - Obviously, started as a fandom character. These have 2 subtypes: the "fandom OC" and the "headcanons/alterations went so far they became their own character". Forrest Blaze is just a My Little Pony OC, while William started as a fusion of Puppet and Purple Guy that eventually changed too much to even connect to FNAF anymore.
Type 4 - The "reflection" OC - I create an OC that reflects something I went/am going through, as a way to ponder upon my situation from a 3rd person lens. ANY OC is subject to become a reflection OC, regarless of how they were created. Dmitri, the vibe one? Now has trans/queer running away from home subtext. OutOfBounds and Simon, both enbodiements? Now Simon is about self-esteem and body image, while OutOfBounds is about isolation and madness. Henka, who was just a role? Now he's straight up the most well developed OC of mine, about toxic families and it's consequences. William, the FNAF/Steven Universe ripoff? is straight up the OC with the most extensive backstory.
depends. my oc who started my series was simply a math class doodle. then I gave them a gf based on monster energy. I recently made an oc based on a mop. bc why not- I have ocs who used to be fandom ocs. I made an oc based off a science project, then made him a cousin. ….yea :)
pinterest, and characters i want to see more of or have yet to read about. My whole story idea started from a piece of art, i think fanart but idk what it was. It was just a pirate girl and now ive got a whole book im working on