#when they're talking to strangers albert does most of the talking instead

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How to Character

Was reminiscing for the days when I, as a small teen, wrote horrendous zelda fanfic and how I really really wanted to be able to write everyone in character but I had no idea how. I ended up giving everyone one or two Quirks or Bits and that was it, that was their character. I made Skullkid a pervert and gave Ganondorf a gambling problem. It was the best I could do at 16. In service to past me, I thought I'd put together a ramble about how to write a pre-existing character In Character. Maybe it'll help someone who's just starting out.

Point 1: He wouldn't Fucking Say That Check the canon and determine how the character talks. Are they formal or informal? Do they use sayings from a particular region? Do they swear or not? In most cases older characters aren't going to be using the most hip slang, and will be a little more formal. Also, no one should be talking like a therapist (unless they are a therapist. Hannibal fandom gets a pass). Here's an example of a character voice breakdown: Albert Wesker speaks somewhat formally, is likely to use complex vocabulary or 'science-y' language (fucking complete local saturation goddammit) (but he does not do this as often as you'd think), and doesn't swear unless it's a dire situation. He also doesn't use slang.

Now there's another layer to dialog to consider too: directness, lying, euphemisms, and hypocrisy. These are things that can vary depending on which characters are talking, what they're talking about, and if they're in public or private. In general, you're more likely to be direct and truthful with friends and loved ones, while strangers are more likely to get told white lies, vague euphemisms, or to be redirected entirely off of sensitive topics. This isn't true in all cases, so it's another thing to watch out for in the canon. An example: Luis Serra and Leon Kennedy (Remake edition) are both very cagey with each other from the start. Leon has to badger Luis multiple times just to get an answer for why Luis is helping him. Luis is exceptionally good at dodging questions he doesn't want to answer, and for his part, Leon has no interest in explaining his mission or backstory to this shady guy.

Point 2: He Wouldn't Fucking Do That Here are some aspects to consider when plotting a character's actions.

Morality: What are the character's values? What are their hard lines in the sand, and what do they see as a gray area? What are their goals? How important to them are those goals, and what are they willing to sacrifice to reach them? What kinds of things can push them to break with their values, or even rewrite them completely?

Intelligence: This isn't just 'how smart are they' on a pure IQ level. How much do they think things through, versus acting on instinct? Do they panic? Do they have a plan or are they flying by the seat of their pants? Do they think quickly, or do they need time to process? Are they really confident about some inaccurate piece of information that could lead them to wrong conclusions (see also: distorted worldviews, best applied to villains)? What are their biases? Are they observant or do they miss a lot of things?

Emotions: Are they repressed or are they in touch with their feelings? Do they mask their feelings, or are they openly emotional? Do they compartmentalize? How much self-control do they have? Are they hot-tempered or cold? Once they've been angered, does it burn out quickly or do they hold a grudge for ages? What scares them, and how brave are they when they have to face those things? How about their emotional intelligence? Do they have any idea why they're acting the way they are, or are they not thinking about it? (It's fine and normal for you, the author, to understand how a character is feeling more than the character does. Also, more importantly, there's ways to convey how they're feeling other than just having the character say it out loud) It's better to think of all these things as sliders instead of modes.

Point 3: Shipping. Yeah I know why you're all here This is an area where we have to make up a lot of stuff ourselves. Either the canon doesn't dwell on the romances and leaves us lacking in detail, or the two characters never got together in canon (or, cough, never even met), so we have to figure out how they would work in a relationship by our lonesome. How do you do that while keeping people in character?

Step 1: build up each character's sexuality, their relationship with their sexuality/sex in general, their taste in other people, and how they react to feelings.

Example using canon reference: Ada Wong has a canonical soft spot for Leon Kennedy. You can then look at Leon's character traits / actions and use that to figure out what Ada's tastes are. She rarely expresses this softness openly, and enjoys teasing him and running off. From this, we can guess that she's probably not the type to settle down as a domestic housewife and invest in a serious, traditional long-term relationship. Example without canon reference: Vergil Sparda managed to make a son, but we've never seen him in a relationship of any kind and we know very little about Nero's mother (other than she was in a cult that worshiped Vergils' father so…there's some interesting implications). Instead, we can make guesses about Vergil's tastes based on what he values, as well as his own character traits. Vergil's a proud perfectionist who values power above all things. He is constantly driven to prove himself. So, it's a safe guess that he would be drawn to people who are strong fighters or otherwise highly skilled in their field, or people who boost his ego (again, see: one night stand with a woman from a cult that worshiped his father).

Building up what two characters' tastes are, as well as what things they might hold in common, is very useful for the 'getting together' stage. If you're shipping two characters, you probably already have an idea why you think they would work together. Just invest that into their characterization as they encounter each other.

Step 2: staying themselves while staying together I think it's tempting to start following a "this is what characters in love do" playbook once you've gotten your lovebirds together, instead of considering what the characters would really be like in a relationship. I see so many of those 'headcanon' posts going around that just sound like generic lists of behaviors instead of things a specific character would do based on their history and personality. I'm going to point back up to the 'emotions' paragraph and say that this is a really big thing to keep in mind when writing romances. Emotional expression versus repression and emotional intelligence play a huge role in how two characters will act and react to each other. Do the characters even realize what they're feeling for each other? Once they've accepted it, how do they act on it? Are their feelings more important than other goals in their life? Where does their new partner rank on their list of priorities?

By all means, let characters change a little around their partner. People have many facets and often shift what face is showing depending on who they're around, so someone who is loved and trusted will get to see a different side than Joe Nobody on the street. However, the change can't be so drastic it's unbelievable. Any really significant change in characterization needs to have work put in for it to happen. Also, try to avoid the tired trope of the magical healing cock. Relationships don't solve people's problems. If anything, they can add a lot of new complications.

Step 3: getting spicy As someone who finds 90% of written smut so boring I skim over it, let me just get up on a soap box for a minute and point out that using it as a form of character study makes it so much more interesting. Not every sex scene has to be about two characters doing everything right and having totally optimized sexy as possible sex with their flawless bodies. Let them goof off, let them mess up, let them banter, let them be weird and gross and human. Kink, especially, has a deep psychological aspect that is fun to explore with different characters. I keep a little file with some general characterization notes for my major players, and part of that is a list of what they're into, what they're 'meh' about, what is a hard "no" for them, and why. It's a fun exercise.

#writing advice #writing fanfic #characterization #this is mostly for people writing fanfiction