Character creation

Every character starts with an idea. Where you go from there is unique to you, the player.

How do YOU create a new character from scratch? Do you have any rituals, a step-by-step guide?

Tell us about your character creation process, from vague idea to ready-to-write.

For the characters that I have in play in public forums, there is generally a small kernel of an idea that catches my imagination and sparks the questions 'why does/would...' and 'what if...' It is easy to go from there.

Gwynne is a new character for me. She is from a five page story in a game resource book about Britain in the Dark Ages. There are a handful of facts about her:

1. She can summon and speak with the Fae
2. She has a self-appointed apprentice that barely knows anything about her magic
3. She is currently in Winchester and has some dealing with magii of diverse magical heritages
4. She has willingly let the forces of the Inquisition take her into custody

The question that hooked my interest was why she would let herself be taken. What reasons are behind it and how will she get out of the situation?

Granted, I am still creating her, but the four pillars of her character core are the ones mentioned above. These cannot change or the character will change in ways that I may not wish to see happen. With those fixed points firmly in mind, I am creating the story of how she came to be in Winchester. Starting with her name, I gave her a Welsh [Brythonic] background as opposed to a Saxon or Norman one. With this in mind, I am working on developing the core story to pillar one of her foundation; which will lead to pillar two [and Gwynne has told me that she meets young Jerome on the road to Winchester] and then to pillar three, etc.

Shameless Promotion

This is a repost from my Welcome to Writer's Muses response. I cannot help myself, I adore both WM and PH, so today I am promoting them in the blogosphere.

I apologise for being tardy in joining in with the welcome post, but rest assured that I am very excited to see Writer's Muses here on PanHistoria.

The beauty of Writer's Muses here on Pan is, for me, two-fold.

1. I get to post the character development pieces for Isabel here. You know the ones, those posts and ideas that just don't fit into her blog/diary but that I, obviously, enjoy sharing about her. We all have such beautifully complex and well-thought out characters here, and any chance to share the things that occur behind the scenes in making them who they are, but don't quite fit into our novels and/or blogs is one to be grabbed.

2. Seeing the prompts and what others post about their characters can jump-start my own stalled creativity. Sometimes, it's just good to read what others write and share and be inspired by them. It takes a certain amount of bravery to hit the post button, and seeing so many others hitting that button here on Pan is wonderful! Especially after those days when mired in the 9-5 muck that pays the bills so that I can play here in my free time.

Okay, to end this before I keep gushing in my excitement and glee. In the immortal words of Ms Frizzle:

Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!

Your muses will thank you for it.

Coming together

Gwynne is beginning to speak and it is very satisfying. I am giving her free voice in the first person present tense at Short Cuts in her own story thread called Equinox Road: Tales from the Broken Worlds. So far, I have a post on 'The Rites of Spring' for her, and need to add the edited beginnings of The White Lotus Clan to that thread. Vanth's tale will be in the Autumnal thread.

Which leaves some summer and some winter stories to think of soon. I will do that just as soon as I finish the co-written piece with cousin Gino.