Do your characters change you?

[Colonel_Masters]

(Note this thread was originally a post for the quotes thread however I felt there was enough in it to justify a discussion)

I have been reading my old characters... not much else to do at the moment but it was nice thinking of all the fun I had with some of them.

A particular character touched my heart and made me realize what a potential he has for independent projects of story telling. Originally I had decided the character was too burdened by personal history to function in a Roleplay however I now know I was wrong and this character had so much left to offer besides that very history which I now plan to utilize.

Before his death this character transmitted one last message to his comrades and I thought out of probably misplaced idiotic and illogical sentimentality to share it here... I do not know why i feel that way considering a character is just an invention of the imagination.

Then again, our characters as creative writers are by a manner of speaking an extended part of ourselves. Maybe it is the recognition of this element which creates such a feeling but I wonder if maybe there is a more direct reason.

While Scrolling down looking at my characters I have noticed that from begging to end each character represented a different period of my life. A lack of a journal or dairy have left me with no other way to connect to my previous self other then this. Horrible as some of the writing may be I can't help but feel the characters not only as these characters but also as myself and my thoughts... so long forgotten now partially remembered as if an echo over a vast ocean of the shapeless currents of the mind.

Some of these characters of course are useless, pure technical creations of no purpose other then a function however some seem to posses a flame or at least the darkened remains of wood long burned and left to decay in the earth rain and mud. My real point here... that is if I truly have one is to share our thoughts of long abandoned ideas and concepts.

Have you ever went through your old characters? If not I suggest you do when you can. What where your thoughts as you did so? did you see a hall of skeletons? did you see a fire glittering among the eyes and ether whispered or shouted Halleluiah! This idea may yet be of use? or did you feel an old familiar presence of your own being... lingering on without memory remembered for a short moment before drifting away to shores unknown?

Its only been about a year or two since I joined however already it appears this site has greater uses other then interaction with others, to me it seems we also end up interacting with ourselves.

... And I almost forgot to put up the quote I had intended to! well here it is: "carry on Fighting, carry on crying, carry on smiling but for heaven's sake carry on living" - Unit Commander Peter Ray Davidson, deceased.

If I am just ranting/ trolling nonsense be sure to criticize me so that I may feel ashamed of my self for having wasted my time and worse still yours. However If you to feel something similar to these ideas us roleplaying writers seem to create and then leave behind, do please share your own experience. We may gain nothing out of this at all... but who knows, maybe there is something.

[dealing with it]

Writing directly is difficult, especially if you are intending to write fiction. It has to come from somewhere. Certain metaphors are more appealing than others, and thereby reveal your mental state.

(Sorry for the short reply.)

[The_13th_Doctor]

Some do, some don't. Some characters are from my heart, really expressing something I feel/want/need, while others are... stage dressing.

There is one though... one character I made for a D&D game way back in the day... that character, and the things he went through during those campaigns really crept into my heart, and since then that character has been at least peripherally part of every serious story I tell. The character wasn't me... but I so loved the character he was, and the man he became, that, in essence, that character became my role model. Instead of taking my life situations and applying them to his life though writing, I more than once learned valuable life lessons while writing his stories. The effect is even more profound when others are involved.

[Aniihya]

I cant really say since most of my characters are creepy, homocidal or just strange. If there is a character that had changed me, then I dont remember him. I have made like 1000 roleplays because it would be nice to be constantly occupied, but sadly the other players roleplay do not interest me much since they are either social interaction chit-chat highschool roleplays or fanfic roleplays.

[Bosch]

Not really but maybe that's because I'm a poor writer. I prefer GMing so I guess some of the stories and situations I develop could be reflections on what I feel.

I don't "like" my characters, for example the Doc said a character crept into his heart that doesn't happen with me and I'll kill them the second it makes sense plot wise. I think some of them are cool like there is the big bad in an RP I'm running now who's called Gretch. He's completely insane and writing him is fun but he's gotta die some time, I haven't decided which of my RPers will get to do it. I guess the point is the longer you have a cool character the more opportunity there is for you to screw it up and for them to become lame or a parody of your original intention. Like I said I'm not a great writer.

Sometimes though I'll hit on a setting or character I think can be adapted into an original story but most things I come up with I just RP because I like being creative with others.

[cucumbersome]

I think every story we read may contain something we learn something from. Stories we write are also stories we read, especially when we write them together with others. So it’s only natural that some of our characters change us.

I think some of my characters have sides that are consciously or subconsciously inspired by things I have been thinking about. Other characters are simply designed to fit a role in the story and/or to be a bit crazy, but many I would put in that category were in RPs that didn’t last long enough to develop them.

[The_13th_Doctor]

I don't "like" my characters, for example the Doc said a character crept into his heart that doesn't happen with me and I'll kill them the second it makes sense plot wise.

To clarify, that character actually has died three times, because the story he was involved in required that he die in some way or another. It's like this... you know the theory about alterate realities, and the idea that there are copies of you in each of those realities? That's the way it was with this character... he stays dead in the 'world' in which he died (mostly... you know D&D can be), but it's not the character, but rather the character of the character that crept into my heart, so he keeps popping up in other worlds, with a different life, but always the same qualities that make him 'him'.

I will admit that upon two of his deaths, I shed some tears.

[TCDinNYC]

I believe that writing certain characters does impact you, to an extent. If you am a writer then creating every little piece and researching (hopefully) how certain things work together, I believe it can make you wiser. Although, a lot of it would come down to the genre you are writing, romance would make you sappy, while comedy would make you light hearted. I think writing and reading a book do affect your personality.

[riddle_me_thisx]

I find my characters do tend to leave a mark on me. For instance, one of my characters tends to used a lot of slang ('munted', for instance, is a favourite word) and sometimes I'll find myself using such phrases in real life.
Another of my characters adores red jelly tots. I've always liked them, but now I find it especially difficult to walk past them in a shop, haha.

[Black Hoodie]

Just seeing anything happen for a second changes you, thanks to neuroplasticity. In that regard, technically all of our characters change all of us.


In a more sensible and non-hacked answer, for me, no. There are characters I really enjoy. I could write volumes about each and every single one of my characters. I can put myself in their shoes, I can feel what they feel. But do they change me? I broaden my perspective when I learn to be somebody else maybe. But do they alter my core values any? Nope. Once I walk away from the keyboard, I basically forget everything about them until I am ready to write again. Maybe I have a few daydreams about the what's going on with them, but that's only when I'm bored and have so much time on my hands I have nothing better to do than imagine the interactions my character has with other PC's and NPC's.

[TCoS]

No, mine don't. They are a figment of my own mind. Others, if well written, can however.

[chrian.]

My characters reflected some of my personality, and some features that I've never showed to anyone. So yeah, I guess they don't really effect me or stuffs like that

[broheim]

Yeah, they all have something from me, mostly my desire to have fun, and what i believe would give me an adrenaline rush, i'll give ya a quick list:

Luce and Ombra: Female and male respectively, Ombra was a shamman that focused on destroying everything just cause, and Luce was his partner, later on, they were imprisoned in an alternate dimension on request to a death lord, throughout the story they had little character development, other than "hurr they fell in love, how cute" Ombra lost his magic, had to earn it back, Luce was imprisoned, Ombra was a bit depressed and kicked everything between them to hell and back, and a bunch of other stuff that is way too long, the setting was a magical earth.

Atrocity: mad as fuck, real name unknown, did everything just cause, was knocked out for a while and got jailed and escaped with his cellmate, his cellmate later wanted to undergo the same treatment Atrocity went trough, the story was never finished, the setting was a very advanced earth.

there were three more, but i don't remember them too well.

[blackrider]

not at all honestly, just a role