User blog:Famotill/Making a Fan Character

Making a fan character should be a fun expierence for all. It allows you to travel into the depths of your imaginations to see what you can come up with. Here is my formula to making a good character.

A Base
Okay first things first, you want to make a character! Good for you. At this stage you probably have a general idea, probably from something you saw or heard, or even just came up with. At this stage it is best not to make an article just yet. Let your imagination wander, and add to the character.

Gender
Okay so now that you've got a base idea, it's time to think of the gender. This is pretty simple. It really helps when it comes to design.

Personality
Okay now this seems strange to come next right? Well not exactly. The personality can help to determine the species, the name, and/or even the design! The personality is the second most important part of a character in my opinion. Make sure to stick to the character's personality in any RP's or stories!!! Make sure to try your best to describe this when actually making a page for the character.

Back Story
The personality is interchangeable with this because the back story can help to determine the personality. Try not to be too cliche, and try to come up with your own ideas. Read about other stories, and use them as a base. The back story is a story in it's own right, and is arguably the most important part of a character. The back story makes up alot of the character. Try not to make them to heavily dependent on the canon characters as well.

Abilities
These are usually hard to come up with for most people, There's always the god-modding thing. A simple thing for this is to weigh out the strengths with weakneses. The problem with abilities is that there are so many fan characters and not enough powers. Try to base powers off of everything you've already taken into account. This is a good sight!!

Name
After doing everything above coming up with a name should be pretty simple!! Just base it off personality, abilities, origin, etc. It is completely fine to make up a name, or base it off another character. Also you can use names from other cultures, and even mash together two different names! Look for meaning or just a regular name, the choice is yours, but try to make sure the name fits the character. A great sight for names!!

Design
Now that you have everything else, try sketching out a design. It can be simple, and it doesn't have to be good at all. As they say practice makes perfect!! It is fine to use doll makers and things like that. Just try not to depend on them too much as they are other people's works. Use doll makers to practice drawings!!! Designing a character can be fun, and cool!!

''Remember whatever works for you is completely fine. You don't have to do things in this order at all. Do what works for you to make the best fan character you possibly can. Hope this helps, and if I forgot anything tell me and I'll try to add it. This was NOT made to criticise anyone, and this is just a simple layout. No one needs to follow it. Thanks for reading, and hope it comes to use for you.''