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Interesting interests

Vragon

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So we all have characters we like and characters we make that we want to add some life to. An important part of 3 dimensionality (yes that's actually a word...technically) is having your characters not just focused on the plot but adding certain things to them. One of those things I try to do is add interest or hobbies to the character. For example,

my character Vragon (see what I did there hehehehe) from Shattered Crests has an interest in tactical analysis and putting his thinking skills to the test. He shows this in his avid love for the game chess and enjoys playing against tough opponents (or anyone that will do it with him). This I feel adds to his character, while not compromising his continuity.

So I'd like to hear what you all do to add something more to your characters. Feel free to leave a sentence up to a short essay (the latter if your like me). Or if this isn't the style you use for 3 dimensional character building what do you do for them then?
 
10,174
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  • Age 37
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Fortunately canon gives me some interests for six of my characters, so I play around with those more. Since the canon material tended to just pull something out of the air for some of them, I took what canon gave and made it better. For instance, when one character in canon revealed towards the very end of the season that he wanted to open a restaurant, I took that and gave him more of an interest in cooking in my story. So he's either experimenting with recipes, or (in a future story I have), he goes out of his way to make dinner for a friend.

For my original character, I just thought about the life that she lived and what she would do with her free time. So she likes generic random things like American sports (particularly basketball and some football), American music of the 1990s (thanks to her father singing in the car), and has a passing interest in the military (especially the United States Air Force).

Since slice-of-life is the genre that I like to write in, I spend a long time thinking of what my characters are doing in their regular lives. Like I'll stop and think of what a character would be doing if they're not running out to save an entire world. This leads me to think of hobbies that they'd fill their time up with, or even more of a role they'd have in their family like chores or jobs at convenience stores.
 

Bay

6,382
Posts
17
Years
Like Astinus, for canon characters I tend to expand on their interests more. For a more recent example, for Grimsley since he's into gambling I have his Pokemon named after gambling terms and stuff associated with gambling. WIth original characters, I would mull over their interests and backstory for a while.
 

Sonata

Don't let me disappear
13,642
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11
Years
As far as Pokemon goes, I haven't really delved into Jack or Lappe's interests much in NWO since there's really no room for it at the moment. The only thing I've really mentioned or paid much attention to in their case is that they liked to smoke when they had the products around... as for canon characters, I've expanded on their canon interests as much as I could but there's still not really been time to devote to their interests yet. Maybe in the coming chapters, but not at all right now since it's still basically just in the introductory stage. Once I get into the meat of it, I'll definitely be pulling some resources to make the characters more interesting.

Outside of Pokemon though it becomes so much easier. Canon characters have so much to offer in most cases and originals can easily be created into whatever you want. I try to make original characters as full and real as I can, giving them hobbies, interests and history even if they'll more than likely never get to show those interests.
 
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