Conveying character personality
So, this is a general roleplay post, it's about conveying character personality, just as the title says. One of the most important things in writing! These are a few things you should keep in mind while you're rping your character.
Lots of emotions should be swirling around characters when they're struggling through daily or maybe abnormal life. They should be feeling frustration... uncertainty... excitement... desperation, the list goes on. Thing is, it's these emotions that really let other roleplayers connect with your character! Without this, you get roleplayers just... skimming over, your lines. Skimming over what your character says. Skimming over what they do. I know I fall into a little rutt sometimes when I'm roleplaying with players just out of the 'newby zone', and I find myself not properly reading what they say. It's not my fault (#indenial), it's just I'm not connecting with their characters on an emotional level. It's like trying to pay attention to a wooden plank. It doesn't happen. You get bored and you move on to a slightly more glittery wooden plank.
It just happens too often. When they try to take a stab at doing it, they more often than not have their characters actually /say/ their emotion. WHY? Why would your character realistically say these things? As a writer we have literally the whole world to play with! No matter the roleplay server, the book, wherever your character is. So here's what can help in my opinion.
Strong verbs, something that are often overlooked. They're perfect. Literally beautiful at conveying different stronger behaviours and actions, /because/ you already associate all these words with things that /are/ strong actions! You associate that generally people stride when they're walking forwards with intent, they stomp when they're angry. They happen! Don't be too melodramatic, but they happen!
Subtext... is a pretty difficult thing to describe. It's like... conveying an emotion by deliberately going out of your characters way to not convey emotion? Like when you ask a girl whether she's alright and she replies "I'm fine." and then she just glares at you like she wants to gouge out your eyes, stick them on skewers, gently allow to simmer for five to ten minutes in a pan, add some vanilla extract for an extra peculiar taste and feed back to you once you're suffering hypovolemic shock. This quickly turned into a blog on cooking.
So subtext is pretty great, and it makes sense. Characters won't always cope or represent their emotions and so they'll try and hide it, maybe try and pretend that they aren't feeling anything at all? Be obvious but be subtle. Yeah contradictions are great, but you learn to live with them when writing.
Juxtaposition! Fun little word. If you're surrounding yourself with friends of your character that were affected by the same event, but /not/ in the same way, then the little roleplay scene becomes all the more interesting. This becomes dangerously more likely to be subjected to those little snowflakes that come out and aren't affected by an event at all however. You should react to events. Your character is not a wooden plank! React, just react uniquely to your character. Maybe he is bothered but tries to hide it. He could grits his teeth. A bead of sweat might appear on his forhead. She might bite down on her own knuckle, watching with anticipation as her heart quickens. Work with it, and work with the people around you. Your character is not a person in a little bubble watching things on a tv to react to. Your character is surrounded by lotsa other people in a massive bubble you all shape together.
Lots of emotions should be swirling around characters when they're struggling through daily or maybe abnormal life. They should be feeling frustration... uncertainty... excitement... desperation, the list goes on. Thing is, it's these emotions that really let other roleplayers connect with your character! Without this, you get roleplayers just... skimming over, your lines. Skimming over what your character says. Skimming over what they do. I know I fall into a little rutt sometimes when I'm roleplaying with players just out of the 'newby zone', and I find myself not properly reading what they say. It's not my fault (#indenial), it's just I'm not connecting with their characters on an emotional level. It's like trying to pay attention to a wooden plank. It doesn't happen. You get bored and you move on to a slightly more glittery wooden plank.
It just happens too often. When they try to take a stab at doing it, they more often than not have their characters actually /say/ their emotion. WHY? Why would your character realistically say these things? As a writer we have literally the whole world to play with! No matter the roleplay server, the book, wherever your character is. So here's what can help in my opinion.
Strong verbs, something that are often overlooked. They're perfect. Literally beautiful at conveying different stronger behaviours and actions, /because/ you already associate all these words with things that /are/ strong actions! You associate that generally people stride when they're walking forwards with intent, they stomp when they're angry. They happen! Don't be too melodramatic, but they happen!
Subtext... is a pretty difficult thing to describe. It's like... conveying an emotion by deliberately going out of your characters way to not convey emotion? Like when you ask a girl whether she's alright and she replies "I'm fine." and then she just glares at you like she wants to gouge out your eyes, stick them on skewers, gently allow to simmer for five to ten minutes in a pan, add some vanilla extract for an extra peculiar taste and feed back to you once you're suffering hypovolemic shock. This quickly turned into a blog on cooking.
So subtext is pretty great, and it makes sense. Characters won't always cope or represent their emotions and so they'll try and hide it, maybe try and pretend that they aren't feeling anything at all? Be obvious but be subtle. Yeah contradictions are great, but you learn to live with them when writing.
Juxtaposition! Fun little word. If you're surrounding yourself with friends of your character that were affected by the same event, but /not/ in the same way, then the little roleplay scene becomes all the more interesting. This becomes dangerously more likely to be subjected to those little snowflakes that come out and aren't affected by an event at all however. You should react to events. Your character is not a wooden plank! React, just react uniquely to your character. Maybe he is bothered but tries to hide it. He could grits his teeth. A bead of sweat might appear on his forhead. She might bite down on her own knuckle, watching with anticipation as her heart quickens. Work with it, and work with the people around you. Your character is not a person in a little bubble watching things on a tv to react to. Your character is surrounded by lotsa other people in a massive bubble you all shape together.
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