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Topic : Re: I feel like most of my characters are the same, what can I do? If I think about the characters I came up with in my mind so far, I usually get a pretty big list: (Gyvaris (ENTJ), Martha - selfpublishingguru.com

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I completely agree with Bakers post, just wanted to add on it for a bit.

You say Horus and Gyvaris are unique because they're stolen, but I don't really understand that sentiment or why that should even be an issue.
Simply based on what you've written in this post, the other characters don't seem terribly original either. I've seen enough anime to recognize them, but that's not bad or anything - it only becomes an issue when you decide to make it one.

The question of 'what is original' is not the most ideal if you want to create something amazing or even decent.

Writing is crafting an illusion. Tyrion Lannister isn't half as deep as the average reader believes he is. Because he doesn't need to. He's not a real person. You don't have to spend months to fledge out this character when all he has to do is to fulfill his role in that illusionary world you are crafting.

So focus on that.

Example of your work:

Say, Ryn and Iris are basically the same character. Thats fine, just give them different situations to deal with. Maybe one is a thief, solely focused on obtaining some artifact that can save her brother from whatever. She hides her pain by making jokes at inappropriate times, kind of like Spiderman (stealing is okay, don't be afraid of that).

Maybe the other is a sellsword who accompanies 'the hero' and slowly grows more attached to him, while her evil(?) sorcerous sister is trying to stop her adventurous ways. She hides her pain by completely focusing on her duties. Following some kind of moral code for example, she doesn't need to overthink everything. Whenever she is mentally weak, she can easily switch on 'autopilot' and simply do what she's supposed to do, following her moral code.

Even when their base characteristics are eerily similar, who's going to notice? They're two completely different characters.

"Creating a fantasy is a team effort, where author and reader combine their
powers in order to create some great imagery. For every line you hand
them, they will create ten more lines in their own mind. You tell them
how this character supposedly looks, they will fill the rest and might
even overwrite whatever didn't seem
interesting enough for them to remember.

They're like a final endboss editor."
-me, right now

So don't focus too hard on making them different. Start with the basics, which is as Mark Baker wrote, their relevance to the plot. Characters are fickle creatures who adapt and change at basically three points:

When you first create or rework them
When you throw an obstacle at them and they either fail or overcome it
When the reader combines what you wrote with their own mentality and imagination

You need to make sure to put your effort where it counts.

So instead of working too much on these characters, maybe you can figure out what would need to happen in order to force decisions upon them. Put a sweet child in front of the villain and see if he really kicks/kills it. Maybe he finds a reason to save/keep the child. Suddenly the reader sees a whole new character in front of themselves, even though all that really happened was an obstacle, a decision and a result.

Don't overthink everything. Writing is supposed to be fun for you too.


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