1shimaru

[1shimaru]

Your OCs all are very interesting and seem to have a lot of depth! I was wondering; do you have any tips for how I could give my characters more personality? Thank you! 💗

FIRST OF ALL- thank u so much, im happy to hear tht!! but ALSO I had a wee think about this and I kinda think my character building in particular comes down to three traits that I don't see people ask a lot when making an OC!

[IMAGE TRANSCRIPT: "Parenting Style", "Who do you pretend you are?" and "Do something bad (really)"

I didn't want to make a whole post stretcher so these are the basic traits- but I will go in a bit more depth below the cut!

How did your characters guardian(s) parent them? How did this affect their personality? It's important to think of a characters guardian as a real person- even if the character themselves has a flat view of their parents. Parents that lie to their kids produce kids that don't understand the weight of lying, parents that give their kids everything often produce kids who don't understand the true value of things, parents that rely on materialism produce kids who do not understand the importance or idea of sentimentality. And so on. It's a common trope to give a character an orphaned childhood- this shouldn't X this trait, a mentor, a close friend, a surrogate parent, these people can all influence a characters ideas of wealth, human connection, morality, friendship, etc.

How does your character want to be perceived? Why do they feel it is so important to become that person? Many people give their character a "role model"- an idol that they build themselves off of, but I feel what's more important is what kind of person do they think they OUGHT to be? If a character wanted to be perceived as a cool loner type person it might mean that they feel that they are fundamentally unlikable personality wise so they rely on people to be intrigued by their mysterious energy, is this persona a way to encourage people to ask them about themselves first? So that they don't feel that they've "trapped" a person into a friendship?

Doing something bad is maybe the most important character trait for me. Everyone has done something horrible in their life. Something they regret- or maybe don't. But almost everyone has something reprehensible. And this is the thing- many people include something that their character feels is their fault but really isn't (like an accidental death or a family separation). Which is fine but in character building it's really just angst without any substance. If you wanna make something REALLY interesting- a character should do something (really) bad. This doesn't mean they are a bad person now- absolutely not- a good character will grow from a mistake and will live to repent it. But it means that their company might not feel the same. Did your character kill a family pet out of curiosity? Did your character bully someone for social status? Did your character destroy something important for attention? It can be any number of things- but it's gotta be something that they genuinely shouldn't have done. It means that their guilt is REAL, their morality IS a question. No matter how many years go by- your character may wonder "why did i do that? am i still that person?"

You don't need to do all these things to make a character have depth obviously! But these are things that I've thought about in reference to my characters and I think it makes them stronger for it.

[1shimaru]

girlhood is touching your necklace whenever you feel nervous

[1shimaru]

Projecting our period cramps onto Saja boys

[1shimaru]

Ranma 1/2 reference in Dandadan

[1shimaru]

her greed sickens me

[1shimaru]

I wonder what People Who Really Like Trains liked best before trains. the first sights of the first trains in history must’ve hit those brains like a galaxy going off.

[1shimaru]

some maomoa and jinshi

[1shimaru]

This is so wild — this guy, whose entire job (as the drummer of one of the most famous bands in the world) involves keeping time and doing complex math on the fly, has dyscalculia, and only recently got a diagnosis as an older adult who’s been a musician for 40+ years. It’s always exciting to see folks raising awareness of dyscalculia, which I’ve struggled with myself my whole life and which has definitely impacted my own relationship with playing music and with my work.

[1shimaru]

from this

to this

[1shimaru]

healing song ✨🐚

💫 limited edition print 🌟

[1shimaru]

Piece of Asian media: *has a title that's obviously not in English*

Fan Translators: hmm taking into account the intention of the original and the rules of both languages, plus the tone of the story, the best title would probably be something like Adherent of the Blade of Duality, but probably an official translation would want to shorten it to Blade of Duality, or perhaps Double-Edged Sword to borrow a popular turn of phrase that also fits thematically--

Official English Translators: Master of Double-Penetration

[1shimaru]

jiraichi miku

my hatsune miku x pokemon concept

[1shimaru]

weird comets

[1shimaru]

Old people were right! Handkerchiefs! Silk scarfs! Under shirts! Lockets! Post cards! Good handwriting!

[1shimaru]

I can't believe I have more work to do tomorrow.. and the emails/DMs piled up a 2nd time. sisyphean task

now that I'm Back I got a lot of work emails and stuff to get through so let's get to work, let's goooooooo...!!!

[1shimaru]

do you use your irl name on tumblr? ie, either your government name or the name you go as in real life. if you use a different name that's not related to you irl here on tumblr then vote no

[1shimaru]

now that I'm Back I got a lot of work emails and stuff to get through so let's get to work, let's goooooooo...!!!