: Re: Resources for character development I'm weak at building characters. What resources are there to create rich characters? I'm thinking beyond name generators: Quirks, biography, diseases like allergies,

@Sent2472441

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I have found character sheets for online roleplayers in MMOs to be very helpful for fleshing out characters; after all, the main thing that their writing is based off of is their character and the world.

Obviously some points have been added to the character sheets to accomodate the peculiarities of the fantasy/game world, but they're easy enough to delete/change when copying the sheet over into Word/Open Office.

Forcing myself to fill these out--and fill them out extensively--has always been very helpful for me to invent a well-rounded character whom I know well.

Obviously a lot of this has to come from your own creativity, too. It wouldn't necessarily occur to me to list "narcolepsy" under random quirks without a lot of practice in thinking outside of the box.

Unfortunately, I can only post two links because of my current reputation, so I had to cherry-pick out of the many different resources for roleplayers (and therefore character-building) I found.

A player character description template and interview for the game of Aion
I am not recommending this necessarily because of the quality of the character described here, but because of the templates and interview, which can be borrowed for personal use and filled out for your own characters.
A "30-Day" Questionnaire covering most aspects of a character which can be filled out in far less than 30 days.

At the end of the day, loves, hates, motivations, and a distinct voice and "feel" will make your character stand out to the reader, and I assume that's what you're going for. These are just tools to maybe help you figure that out.

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