User blog:QueenOfSwordsandStars/Character Conception and Creation

Hey y'all, it's Liza aka QOS here and boy has it been a while. As the title suggests, I'm back again with a blog in my ongoing series Queen's Writing Help, where I try to help y'all continue to develop y'alls writing skills (wow that's a lot of y'alls within 2 sentences/can you tell I'm southern?).

Anyways, today I wanted to talk about creating characters and what you should have figured out about them before you even make their page. Yes. That's right. Today's the fun one. Where I'm going to show you how to make a decently thought out character concept in about an hour or less.

With that, let's get into it.

'''Disclaimer: These are my personal views and tips on writing. You may take them with a grain of salt or as serious as you'd like.'''

Basics of a Concept
Well first off, what is a character concept?

A character concept is the basic traits, purpose, and features of a character that set you up to develop them more.

There's no such thing as a complete concept, in my opinion. Their concept is the essential "first draft" to their character, and as such, there are a few parts you need to develop before you can make their page.

Right now I'm going to take you through the steps of making a concept with a character I dreamt up the initial idea of yesterday and concepted today.

Steps in Conception
1. First you have the idea. This initial idea can be anything. Some examples of initial ideas I've done were, "I want to make a religious character coming to grips with their sexuality" or "A water-based mage whose favorite spell is bitch-slapping people with tentacles of water" (I kid you not).


 * Initial ideas can literally be anything and in this case, my initial idea was "I want to make an outcasted elf because he broke the taboo in the elves traditional style of using magic by becoming a slayer."

2. From the idea you then begin to develop other ideas about them. What Magic do they use? What natural attributes do they have? What is their personality like?


 * These are simple questions that don't take too much thought into them in the initial process. For this character, his magic is primarily Water God Slayer Magic, with my traditional Elvish style of magic on the side from before he became a slayer. He was a hunter, meaning he has strong instincts and relatively boosted physical statistics, along with skill in archery. I also threw in swordsmanship because I like swords and he's a warrior Elf man, of course he uses a sword too. His personality came to me later when I developed him but I knew that he would most likely hold shame for what he became.

3: Then there's into more complex, difficult questions. What is the point of their creation? What is their purpose? What is their history like?


 * Generally, you can connect history to things like their natural attributes and magic and personality traits and in his case, it was fairly easy to figure and flesh out. He is an outcast from Elven society because he came into contact with a God's Scripture/Grimoire and became a Water God Slayer. Now how did that happen? He came into contact with the Silver Lake and Sinnan. Which means he could also use Daoine o Ceo.


 * He was made to show some of the logistics and mentality of my Elven society and how because of their seclusion and style of magic, they find Lost and Slayer Magics to be unreliable and beneath them and tend to outcast those who stumble upon them. And his story will revolve around finding love for himself in himself and outside of external validation, even as an outcast in both his own society and race as well as the "human world".

4: The last major thing is really to come up with a name and reference. Why is this last? Because honestly, a name and an appearance really shouldn't be the first thing on your mind unless their appearance has something to do with their concept. Like a disabled character becoming a leader or etc.


 * Gilan, last name still unchosen and his reference is some more tasteful fanart of Sasuke Uchiha.

5: There's not much to say on five besides, it is keep asking questions. Keep asking yourself questions about the character and continue to flesh them out.

Example of a Basic Character Concept
So, I pulled in some of the details of Gilan's character concept into the basic question sequence, but now I'm going to give you what his character concept now looks like in full after about a half hour of developing post the initial idea. - Outcasted Male Elf - Water GS - Got his magic from a grimoire given to him by Sinnan (protector of the Silver Lake). - Who also gave him Daoine o Ceo (Blessing of the Silver Lake) - Gilan is very intuned with the Ley Lines and uses them to travel. - Archer - Scimitar Swordsman - Prolly Capoeira and Muay Thai for Hand to Hand - Strong Physical Stats, - Emphasis on Strength and Agility/Reflexes, - Decent Speed, Decent Stamina, Average Slayer Durability - Water God Slayer Magic (w/ fancy welsh names) - Daoine o Ceo (Silver Lake Stuff) - Elvish Misc Spells - Laifswyn (plain + electroblade and ice and water) - energy magic arrows for bow - Shikaku - Familiar (eagle/hawk) - Give him some earth stuff - ground to mush to sink things - along with hardening it back - fortifying his body with earth/mineral manipulation. - mount fuji - plain energy barrier

Final Thoughts
Your concept never has to be pretty. Really it's your own, you can put as much detail into it as you like or not. And remember, things in your concept also don't have to be final. It's the first draft of your character and characters go through revisions. Remember that things can change and also don't give up.

Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comments section, on my talk page or on discord. ~Liza (Queen of Swords and Stars)