Character Sheets

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Character Sheets

Postby Konsaki » Sun Jan 20, 2013 2:45 am

Just a general question to those of you who write or have written fanfiction before: Do you have a separate file in which you list out all the characters in your story along with all pertinent details to those characters? Like this:
    Name: Ranma Saotome
    Race: Mithra (changed human)
    Gender: Male/Female
    Eye/Hair/Other: Crystal blue eyes, long black hair (mid back), black tail (70cm) with white tip (5cm), white ears
    Age: 17.5
    Height (cm/in): 167/65.7 (male), 155/61.0 (female)
    Relationships: Hiroshi (friend), Daisuke (friend)
    Skills: Anything Goes Martial Arts Master
    Title/Job: High School Student, Martial Arts Master
    General: Jusenkyo curse (changes gender with hot/cold liquid to male/female), was changed from human to mithra race during transformation magic event during Chapter 1

I'm just asking because I've found myself needing to create one instead of just holding the information all in my head due to the amount of OC's I've had to create for my current work and have started having trouble keeping small details straight, like eye color for example.
If you do use one, please post an example of one of your character detail lists for comparison. :)
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby Spokavriel » Sun Jan 20, 2013 2:55 am

I haven't written anything I've put online but yeah I have done things like that. Technically its more than just the characters though. I tend to put in notes on expressed opinions for them in addition to the basic stats and what not along with pages for anything that has been pointed out in case I might want to keep it straight if it comes up again. Don't want to say always take a left turn to Furinken and then later on say they left the gate and turned right to go the quickest way to school kind of thing.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby PCHeintz72 » Sun Jan 20, 2013 3:02 am

I do not write fanfiction myelf... well, nothing I've ever placed in an archive on-line for general viewing at any rate...


For the more comple or multi-season shows I do not make character sheets per se... I make episode notes... whatever details catch my fancy or come to mind as I watch... I still have my old handwritten notes for Sailor moon and Ranma, and typed notes for several series.

A few years ago... there was a thread on TFF asking users for input on Ranma... I placed everything I could think of into a single file on the computer for upload... still have it in fact. That was not so much characters physical identifiers as their plot points, and my own personal views on hot topics.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby uragaaru » Sun Jan 20, 2013 3:18 am

If the story is long enough (a rather vague designation, I know) I tend to have fairly extensive notes with character info, plot notes, random bits of dialogue I've played with. It's all subject to change, but it's a way of remembering the mindset I have going into the story or, if I've put the story away for a while, what needs to be fixed/changed.


Some Examples:

Balance
Understudy
One More Time, One More Chance

For my longest stories, I've moved a lot of this to yarny, which is fitting for novels or other works that utilize notes like that. Here's an example of one of my Character Groups for Balance in yarny
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby mondu_the_fat » Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:17 am

No. I remember OC for their role in the story, not things like hair, eyecolor and whatnot. Unless they're plot-relevant, I tend to forget (and dismiss as unimportant) things like that.

In DeviantArt, where threads like "how can I make my OC more memorable?" are common I try to disabuse them of the habit, because many, many artists/writers will rather concentrate on how their character looks rather than their role in the story. They're come up with incredibly detailed characters sheets, and even long (often tragic) backstories, but they're empty and flat despite that. I suppose its fine if you've already written a substantial amount of story and using it to keep things consistent. In DA I just happen to see many, many character sheets with absolutely zero story to go with them.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby CRBWildcat » Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:16 pm

Tried it once. Things in-story went off the rails and made it irrelevant, so I stopped doing it.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby Ellen Kuhfeld » Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:11 pm

Konsaki wrote:Just a general question to those of you who write or have written fanfiction before: Do you have a separate file in which you list out all the characters in your story along with all pertinent details to those characters?

Only if you're going to make a series of it. If you can't keep your characters together for one story, you probably can't keep the story together either. But if you start another story with the same people, you'll be in a different headspace. After a while, you need the notes, especially if you're introducing new characters along the way.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby Noy Telinú » Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:25 pm

Nope! The only notes I've made was about one oc that will be important far in the future of one of my fics.

I SHOULD keep notes since I mixed up fics one time and had to cover it up with a crossover offscreen... ^_^'

But I keep them in my head. One Ranma is a catgirl, another is a girl that has a cat curse, another is a mutant catgirl with 4 forms, another is just canon Ranma post manga, another had the curse all his life, another is a were girl(kinda), and one has Ukyo as a sister.

But there's a reason why I don't name ocs that aren't important. I don't want to screw that up.

And that's not even getting into the other characters...
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby Spica75 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:39 pm

Just a general question to those of you who write or have written fanfiction before: Do you have a separate file in which you list out all the characters in your story along with all pertinent details to those characters?

The longer the story, the more stuff like that i write yes. Both for canon and original characters, though mostly for OCs i borrow individuals from other series, more or less completely, anything from just the rough appearance up to everything but any part of their background and story that doesn´t work in the current storyline.

Like this:

No, not really like that. I make minimal notes on mostly skills, uses and what they might have, events they may cause or be involved with, usually many more notes than i will ever use, with question marks after those i feel might not be suitable, a "*" after those i´ve already written into the story, a "+" for those i have something planned for or will use somehow and a "-" for things rejected.

Description of appearance, i tend to copy paste whatever i first wrote when describing the character into the file, if i extend on it later, i copy paste that as well.

And for my big Naruto story, i´ve taken the canon datasheets, added more categories and listed all my characters at one point in time(i will have to make another version once i get out another 5-10 chapters or so)...

Overall, i usually write up an "Include" file, where i list events and sometimes characters with only minimal relevant data. If needed i also make an "info" file where characters full info is written.
If the amount of worldbuilding information is vast, i start adding "diverse xxxxx" files for each part.

And then i have a "Snippets" file where everything that is story text and doesn´t go into a specific chapter ends up.

With the exception of my little oneshot already posted, i always start with the snippets or include files or both and then cut and past into chapters from the former.


One thing you might want to remember, noting age alone is useless unless the story covers very little time, so make it normal to note age relative to somewhere in the story to avoid messing it up.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby Konsaki » Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:50 pm

Ellen Kuhfeld wrote:Only if you're going to make a series of it. If you can't keep your characters together for one story, you probably can't keep the story together either. But if you start another story with the same people, you'll be in a different headspace. After a while, you need the notes, especially if you're introducing new characters along the way.
I've only need a char listing for Crystal Memories and that's mainly because every character aside from Ranma is an OC. Even Daisuke and Hiroshi I consider OC because of the lack of any real personality in the Ranma universe outside of the jealous everyman roles they had as his school friends. Really, CM is the closest I’ll probably ever get to writing a true fiction story, which is unlike the other fanfic’s I’ve written which I can always research specific characters from websites or the original source.

Spica75 wrote:One thing you might want to remember, noting age alone is useless unless the story covers very little time, so make it normal to note age relative to somewhere in the story to avoid messing it up.
I'm really just noting ages to assist in predicting how some of the characters will interact, as a 27 year old man will interact differently with another 27 year old vs a 17 year old teen, for example. I do understand the need for a 'date' if I planned on skipping months/years at a time, but all I'm looking for is a relative age difference at a glance between characters, especially as I've stated above to Ellen, most of my characters are completely OC.

I also seem to be alone, and probably a little OCD, in the fact that I want to keep smaller details straight for inclusion into the story (eye color, etc). I just figure that these details just add a little more character to the writing.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby Spica75 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:05 pm

I also seem to be alone, and probably a little OCD, in the fact that I want to keep smaller details straight for inclusion into the story (eye color, etc). I just figure that these details just add a little more character to the writing.

It´s not that i wont keep track of such details, it´s just that i wont always state such in a story. It depends on how a character is part of the story.
A pretty girl talking a lot with a male main character at a very close distance, eye colour is a must, but for let´s say the mother of the same girl, she might be around just as much, but eye colour will probably not be relevant to state.

I'm really just noting ages to assist in predicting how some of the characters will interact, as a 27 year old man will interact differently with another 27 year old vs a 17 year old teen, for example.

Of course, it was just a note in case you hadn´t thought about it.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby PCHeintz72 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:13 pm

I guess it would depend on needs... I generally remember physical characteristics so unless it is particular to an episode I do not bother... but nicknames or growth sputs I would note when in a series they occurred...

As stated, I mostly go for plot points or rare character background detail oddities (In Sailor Moon Anime series for example, Makotos mom is specifically mentioned as alive in dubbed but presumed dead in subbed, ditto a name for boyfriend exists in dub but not sub), when attacks introduced, annoying ticks, details of the 'monster of the week', plot inconsistencies, school grades (Usagi in anime had grades so bad her fellow senshi were worried upon her ability to even get into high school), uniforms (Makoto could not wear the standard one in anime while in middle school, they had no size to fit her) even personal feelings or thoughts upon first watching a particularly imortant scene can be helpful...

In some ways, this is *better* than specialized websites devoted to such things like timelines, as they try to take it all into account, but personal ntes trap your own impressions, thoughts, and views for you to peruse without rewatching every time attempting to make an arguement.
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Re: Character Sheets

Postby khammel » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:20 pm

Konsaki wrote:Just a general question to those of you who write or have written fanfiction before: Do you have a separate file in which you list out all the characters in your story along with all pertinent details to those characters? Like this:
...
I'm just asking because I've found myself needing to create one instead of just holding the information all in my head due to the amount of OC's I've had to create for my current work and have started having trouble keeping small details straight, like eye color for example.
If you do use one, please post an example of one of your character detail lists for comparison. :)


I usually make a character bible to discuss differences from canon, if I deviate. Not so much for physical details, I rely on SM/Ranma height charts I have found for height... except when I continue a fanfic that specifically overrides canon EG: In "Lines of Destiny", Ranma's female form is the same height as the male one. So I make note of that as an exception for "The Daughter of Terra". I also collect data non-character from various sources and paste into a document for future reference. EG: For "Honor and Love", I gathered astronomical and mythological details of the large moons of the Solar System.

Sample for "Honor and Love":

Sailor Io: Saotome Ranma (AKA Saotome Kikuko), 16, Student, Juuban High School
Color: Skirt: Light Green; Ribbon: Yellow
Mentor: Kino Makoto
Attacks: Tempest Flare
Skills:

And here is one from long-abandoned "Cascaded Universe"

Natsume: She loves three people and the Art. The
people are her mother, Kurumi and Happosai. As
stated earlier, Happosai would NEVER harm Natsume or
Kurumi. She has no knowledge of her mother's past, and
Sayuri will not willingly tell her. Of course, she loves
her sister Kurumi. She is one of Kunou's new "trinity"
(Ukyou, Natsume, and Kurumi), but I hope she doesn't
marry the loser like she did in Sunrise! Her new
half sister Ranko fascinates her. She had not seen
a Jusenkyo curse until now (she thinks!) and she is
amazed. She isn't quite sure how they can be sisters,
as Sayuri and Nodoka couldn't have children, could they?
She also likes Akane, the four of them can often be
found together shopping, working out, sparring,
practicing, learning new Kendo, Kempo, Anything-Goes
techniques, etc. Akane's sisters seem nice, but
they aren't martial artists. Ukyou is becoming
a good friend, and Natsume would like to learn more
about those cool spatulas! I would say that Natsume
is the embodiment of the canonical Ranma in this
series, Brash, bold, socially maladjusted, good at
sticking her foot, if not an entire leg, in her mouth.
Kurumi stands ready to mallet her if she gets too
far out of line. Genma's son OOPS! Sayuri's
daughter through and through!
She practices Anything-Goes-Martial Arts, with an
assist from a staff which generates a cold wind.
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