The Struggles of Character Variety

I don't think there's anything to be concerned about, if that's the implication. No one is obligated to create starkly contrasting and uniquely memorable characters time and time again. The most obvious case of cloning would be, well, a self-insert, but it's the environment that you put your character in and the other players with whom one interacts that will shape your character beyond whatever is the perceived typicality of their traits. You may even find that over time, your character is developing beyond what is stated in their initial profile from the different kinds of exposure.

But I suppose that, in actuality, is another topic.

Most people write characters that have traits the author can personally relate to, which makes it easier to write as that character. One may be making the "same" characters for that reason, and for those who are still learning how to create different characters of a more nuanced nature (as opposed to, say, writing characters that are complete opposites or nearly blatantly archetypal), it may be because it's hard to express something that may be difficult to observe in other people, especially if you are lacking in ways to properly convey it should you see it. Then it may just come off sounding like another character in which you confused a trait for that trait, and it's so on and so forth.

Otherwise, we write what we're comfortable with. I don't think I can analyze myself properly with how absolute the original question comes off to me, but I'll relate in a smaller scale than to say "all characters": I think for most of my "villainous" characters, I give them some degree of nihilism. Some sense of utter disregard for the life of man and the "bigger picture" when it becomes relevant, and some degree of a brooding quality in their dialogue, no matter if the tone is apathetic or carelessly lively. I think it's always there, just packaged differently. But it's a philosophy I like to explore, regardless.

The only other thing that would be consistent for all of my characters, maybe, would be some appreciation of dry humor. But no one can take their sense of humor out of their writing, nor is it some kind of handicap. Unless it's really bad puns.

I do this all the time, but I've been working on changing it up. I typically make characters that are, to be very brief: Nerdy, thin, and shy. Lately I've been creating a character, and then going through and changing anything that matches with the last few characters I've made. Usually I end up adding back in a few of my "normal" traits, making a character that's borderline uncomfortable for me to write for, and then quickly find that I love writing for them.

I think I struggle more with an aversion to making characters that may have similar traits to ones I've already made. I end up having trouble coming up with characters the more I use because I want every single one to be unique. Unfortunately, this runs the risk of making unrealistic characters, which is another thing I can struggle with. In reality, we aren't all that much different as people, a big part of who we are is based on our environment and our actions (past and present) and as an RP goes on, I almost never have a character that accurately reflects that of my SU.

It's likely that every aspiring writer out there discovers some sort of niche, like when an artist adopts a certain style out of personal preference . But I could totally empathize with those that always felt like their personal affinities could be mistaken as a cookie-cutter formula and devoting themselves to such a banal practice could be terribly dull at times.

But while broadening one's horizons and experimenting with new themes is a commendable goal, it can be quite disastrous if you recklessly deviated from your usual norm just so you can avert feeling like some sort of one-trick pony. Honestly though, you could always strive for versatility rather than just disparity. Go and deconstruct your character archetype to get a better idea of how this type of character truly functions as a whole. Maybe seeing them from different perspectives could even them feel like entirely new characters to you, which could invigorate some new interests that could even help you branch out to other territories more seamlessly.

As for my personal preferences, I've used to enjoy using very effusive and ardent characters who are always on the move, since that sort of eccentric demeanor helps motivate me to write for them. I also tend to give them a snarky side, just to add a little something silly to their banter.

I think the easiest trick I use to avoid "writing the same character" is using characters of different genders, or giving them completely opposite personalities.

But specifically, using characters of different genders forces you to change your mindset before writing, which makes it much easier to "write different characters".

All of my characters fall under two catagories; Comic relief or Villain. I try and mix things up, but generally its a goofy pale teenager who generally wants to be a good guy, or am absolutely crazy villain who is out to ensure his own goals come to fruition no matter the cost.

While i'm not an insane villain who will murder his entire crew just because they screw up one mission, Nor am I a Pokémon trainer who studies the ever mysterious Mega evolution while derping around with an obsessive Shinx, a baby charmander and a prankster Riolu, I do feel like these characters are based on what I would be like if I wasn't also the other thing. My Delta for a Krall, a Gosu for every Sheog.

Wait am I talking about Yin and Yang without realizing it?

Djobi Djoba said:

I think the easiest trick I use to avoid "writing the same character" is using characters of different genders, or giving them completely opposite personalities.

But specifically, using characters of different genders forces you to change your mindset before writing, which makes it much easier to "write different characters".

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I don't think writing for a female character has ever changed my mindset at all to be honest. I never really bought in to gender being a huge part of personality.

As for the actual question, I have a few characters with similar traits I guess but in general I like to think that they're all distinctive enough from one another. I will say though, that write long enough and you absolutely will end up crossing into characters who are similar to others. It's inevitable and merely a matter of probability so it's pointless to beat yourself up over it or view it as your biggest flaw or anything negative like that.

Djobi Djoba said:

But specifically, using characters of different genders forces you to change your mindset before writing, which makes it much easier to "write different characters".

Click to expand...

I'd like to hear you explain how you find this forces you to change your mindset.

As I see it, a player may just be influenced by, and therefore imposing real world cultural sex/gender roles--or to a broader extent, facets of the stereotypical--into their character through that method as is.

The danger of using something as arbitrary as sex/gender to determine character traits in role-plays, especially in these made-up worlds where none of these predetermined notions necessarily have to apply, is that now the question of "What are your consistent traits across all characters" may be answered, "Well, all of my male characters have this trait, and all of my female characters have that trait." Even worse, the problem becomes apparent if you go by the more "gender-inclusive" terms of "masculine characters" versus "feminine characters", which ironically reinforces the idea of sex/gender roles.

The problem is now bisected by a discretionary factor.

Djobi Djoba said:

I think the easiest trick I use to avoid "writing the same character" is using characters of different genders, or giving them completely opposite personalities.

But specifically, using characters of different genders forces you to change your mindset before writing, which makes it much easier to "write different characters".

Click to expand...

I don't think that's necessarily true. Gender isn't a character trait and therefore isn't really a changing factor. Unless the setting calls for different treatments of different genders, it really doesn't decide anything. If I decided I wanted to make a big burly barbarian who wears only fur and smashes things with a club, I could assign them either gender, and both would be the same character in essence. No traits would have to change because I've changed the gender from female to male, or the other way around.

A feel like age is a good factor to create differing characters, though, and play against expectations with that. If all your characters are teenagers, they will share similarities, even if they're very different people. Life phases just bring certain characteristics with them. I've yet to see a well-written teenager act like a 35 year old businesswoman for example. Things like culture, heritage and upbringing are also really good things to play around with.

Basing characters on existing pop culture characters can also be off help. If you decide that your one RP character is going to be taking elements from Spider-Man, and your other RP character from James Bond, they're not likely to be close to each other character wise. Of course they might share traits, but there is nothing wrong with that. Even repeating past characters in different settings isn't bad. Some elements just keep working, or might be very fun to write. Repeat them if you wanna repeat them, change them up if you wanna change them up.

Jauntier said:

I'd like to hear you explain how you find this forces you to change your mindset.

As I see it, a player may just be influenced by, and therefore imposing real world cultural sex/gender roles--or to a broader extent, facets of the stereotypical--into their character through that method as is.

The danger of using something as arbitrary as sex/gender to determine character traits in role-plays, especially in these made-up worlds where none of these predetermined notions necessarily have to apply, is that now the question of "What are your consistent traits across all characters" may be answered, "Well, all of my male characters have this trait, and all of my female characters have that trait." Even worse, the problem becomes apparent if you go by the more "gender-inclusive" terms of "masculine characters" versus "feminine characters", which ironically reinforces the idea of sex/gender roles.

The problem is now bisected by a discretionary factor.

Click to expand...

gimmepie said:

I don't think writing for a female character has ever changed my mindset at all to be honest. I never really bought in to gender being a huge part of personality.

Click to expand...

What I meant to say is that guys and girls have to undergo wildly differing experiences growing up simply for being of a different gender, these events will obviously shape their personality.

For example, if I want to write about a strong character (male stereotype) and I choose to do so with a female character, I can focus on outside resistance to her "unladylike-ness", and how she reacts and opposes this resistance, or I can place her in a background where that would have been an encouraged trait.

A character's personality is defined by his or her experiences, and stereotypes play a big part of their experiences, which influence the formation of any person. I guess I just don't like the idea of placing my characters in unrealistic, antiseptic backgrounds, but to expose them to both the positive and negative aspects of being part of a society, and their gender will determine not how they react to the world, but how the world acts towards them.

EDIT: To emphasize, yes, it is absolutely possible to write the exact same character as a guy or girl if you don't tie in his/her backstory and previous experiences to her personality. Also, yes, gender is not a personality trait or quirk, I didn't mean to say it was, it is just a huge aspect of how the world treats us as people, and therefore a huge a influence to a character's personality, at least the way I write characters.