Happy little accidents that happen when you're writing multiple characters

[Thirteen]

I saw this thread last night, "about writing multiple characters" viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1358, and I thought it was due a continuation since most of us present in this game now actually do write multiple characters.

We did it, yall, we got rid of the weird taboo, lol.

OKAY NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE DIFFICULTIES OF WRITING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS AND THE HAPPY LITTLE ACCIDENTS.

Last night I was responding as Yawa to Marquis in this thread, "Anecdote from an Immolator," viewtopic.php?f=41&p=61873#p61873 and as I was reading, I realized I'd typed it up in pure Robert voice, which is, like ...

Pretty neutral sounding, em dashes, semicolons, yadda yadda. Whereas Yawa, in comparison, sounds like this: viewtopic.php?f=32&p=61869#p61869 (this link leads to the "inquiry" thread, Yawa's post).

I was embarrassed for a second, then thought about editing, but - yanno - kind of hard to edit something someone already read, when it comes to rping the IC forum comms stuff, and I was like SHIT. Okay. Maybe I just eat this mistake. Maybe no one will notice.

But then...

Then I realised that I could canon-stamp that Yawa asked Robert to write that post for them, since they were having A Moment. "Hey, thin lips, write this for me, make it diplomatic." Supported by the fact that I'd written Robert shading Yawa for being super undiplomatic and editing something they said to be more diplomatic-sounding in brackets.

Now an oopsie is making me laugh and is a source of joy for me. I'm going to lean into this dynamic. I'm glad that I can; at least these two are connected enough that it all makes sense, retroactively.

So, people who write multiple characters (connected or not) -- anything like this ever happen to you?

SHAAAAAARE PLSSSSSS

[Azeara]

I mean, about anytime Az is being sane or reasonable its because I would rather be writing of of my other character. >.>

Probably not the answer you are looking for though.

[Mika]

I write a lot of characters, (this is the way), largely because if I focus too much on one, I put too much emotion into them. I noticed it with my first character Riko and it wasn't exactly fair to those around me or myself.

I then began writing a book on werewolves and vampires, focused more on the werewolves (you don't saaay). This was Y e A R S of work that inevitable became what all first books do. Ferreted away into the shadows to never see the light of day. First attempt at a book, so all my embarrassing authorussy was in it in a highly... not so great way except for myself. However! This birthed Gealach and eventually after some more years... Gold Moon. It got to be their backstory for why they came to good old Ravenblack and I got curious how they'd be after a book closes. Turns out many adventures, connections and even more traumas.

I then branched off the pack when I noticed things being too connected to everyone knowing everyone. I don't think the high connections is a bad thing, mind! My confusion just comes in less about the voice and more about 'who knows what'. Who heard what.

I live with aphantasia, sadly the one where I can't picture a single thing. Not even lines or dots. But I can feel through words. Theatre is something I enjoy because you act out the lines in the songs and I can knit the emotion into the character to hear them and know them and their motivations. Character building is like acting on a stage for me, without all the scary bits. So their voices are especially distinct to me. Mannerisms too. I sometimes have to fact check myself and be like 'No, actually, Koj was NOT the one who knew that, it was Mika!' Because... I can't picture who was there. I have to pause and look back over archives OR try to recall the feeling of who it was. And I can argue that sometimes they do talk to each other, because pack they're very close, but I like to be fair and realistic on what kind of info my characters share with each other - I don't be sharing everything with everyone, so why would they unless it was important?

Which is why they live all over now and not exactly in the same spot anymore, to save my sanity of them in the same space all shouting at each other and me having to find who said what. I've started creating outside of one group too, making it much more manageable for my brain. I use pinterest to keep them all in order, so my brain doesn't have to. But I also have a little writers corner in a private server that I can connect some dots more easily and keep all the ducks in their baskets. (Sounds exhausting but I genuinely love it. I thrive off worldbuilding and character building.)

It's key that I write with someone who loves writing just as many characters as me and we can always talk about or agree to set rules for new brain babies that the older ones won't have to do. Specifically, and as an example: If we're not writing a said group, set friends, set couple then it's everyday as normal for older more established connections. But if we're writing a new connection? That 'normal routine' has not been established for them. So if we neglect it, the chars can feel neglected too. (It helps to talk ooc about muses, so no one's being forced to write if they can't. Aka the pause button is always a valuable option in arcs and narratives.) That in itself can be fun to explore if either of us just forget or get busy ooc but don't want to pause that button, we'll share a convo then be like "DRAHMAAAA!" and the characters get their moments to see how they'd handle the situation. That's an oopsie that grew into a very real thing that happens between people when they feel uncertain about their position with someone, and we got to write them going through it and getting stronger from it.

It can be confusing but I enjoy various characters to explore different personalities to my own. Different psychologies, different cultures even. Part of it is just genuinely the love for learning, because I love different myths. I love other cultures, so I get the added benefit of getting to spend hours upon hours in research learning new things. I think expanding into multi-chars can be a big adventure for various reasons and it can open the door to a bigger world. (If you're inclined, fully get it's not for everyone.)

[Hiram]

I love this so much. I feel like most of the canon characters I have are happy little accidents in themselves. the number one rule for myself is: if I don't want to have a new character, don't give an NPC a few vibe pictures, because inevitably they will end up with a backstory and motivations integral to whatever plot I have going on, and now they're a permanent fixture in the roster, lmao.

Ohana started that way, actually. she was supposed to be an NPC in a scene I was writing to showcase how awful my BBEG was. and sure enough, he killed her, and sure enough, I was fascinated by who she was and why she was trying to stop her allies from doing what they all wanted to do, but what made her so afraid of the consequences? what did she have to live for that made it so terrible now that she was gone? it turned out, it was Luciano, and Luciano later became corrupted by grief, which only made me even more fascinated, so we decided to plot in ways to have them back, to give them a chance at a life. sure, it's all canon, but their deaths and their resurrections are also part of their story now.

another fun thing aimee and I like to do is randomize our characters names. it's a good way to help flesh out the cast of characters and pull in some much needed diversity. idk if that's a happy little accident, but sometimes a random name is so strong, the character just takes shape from it.

if I come up with any more, I'll leave them here. I'm a big fan of casting the die and letting them fall where they may. we can spend time later making sense of it, putting the analysis on it. i try not to overthink too much (when I do, I end up getting ahead of myself and that doesn't work out for anyone), and let the "characters speak for themselves" wherever possible. I'm sure a lot of my characters end up with the same voice because of that, but that's okay. they're different to me, even if some of the roles they fill in their individual stories and plots are similar. and I'm having fun. isn't that the point of all of this? to have fun with what we're writing and what we're making with other people?

[Yuna]

This actually happens to me a lot. So and so's Quirks and antics will bleed into another one of my characters, not intentionality. Or respond, like you, in someone else's voice.

[Thirteen]

Follow-up question: how do yall pick the language/voice of your characters? Do you make conscious punctuation and word choices? Based on what? How do you practice that "voice"? And do you find that that voice carries on into the narrative style, or does it stay in dialogue only? Personally, I try to do the former, but it's hard as hell to stay consistent lmfao.

In narration, I try to write down what the character's noticing and how they translate the world around them. What they see and smell, what senses they use the most, etc. It's a lot of fun trying to figure out what would be important to a character or what their worldview is like based on the language they use.

How do yall differentiate your character voices and povs?

[Mika]

The funny part is the character voice turns out to be my happy little accident. It took a few of you telling me you could hear their voices that I even recognised it was something I'm good at.

I just try to get in their heads, because obviously I can't really see them, I use visuals through aesthetics to catch the general vibe I'm going for. The voice is always the interesting part cause I can't hear them either. I don't even have an inner monologue I can hear, so everything I think has to be born through feeling alone. I may practice accents (badly) outloud or look up clips to hear audio feeling. I know typing doesn't always convey it, though. I had Cateye, a character who would drop the 'g's when typing and speaking. Someone saw the inconsistency with his Somethin and Somethin' and mentioned it in public to him that adding the g would take the same effort as him typing the ', he got embarrassed because he's never been smart academically, he's a drop out biker gang member being told his grammar doesn't make sense. It would switch up instead of be consistent because the character himself was sometimes lazy, and sometimes typed just how he spoke. He didn't put the thought into it until someone pointed it out, and then he was angry about it because it felt like the stupidest shit to get hung up on or police him on.

I've had some bumps where I just never understood, like if my characters speak languages I myself don't. That one I'm still learning how to do properly, it's a learn as I go thing. I still get stuck using the words I do know without properly thinking if it makes sense, which I've started correcting a bit and think more about why they have their slips. Language is tricky though, because example: Mika is Scottish but I don't have her type in slang a lot. I don't like battering it over the head. I don't have her type or write how she speaks because she's surrounded by people who talk proper and she's learned to speak in ways they can understand. So I'll only have her go full Scots if she's around people who get it/make her accent thicker or if she gets excited she'll just not police herself. (Or I'll just emote her accents got thicker because I've seen BADLY written Scots that makes me internally die used and even though I myself am Scots it's a hurdle of maybe shame?? Because I know it's not the most understandable speech.) But she fully writes how I do, there's just a few hints to her accent in certain words she uses. (That's a learned thing from me, too. I speak a little posher so my American friends can understand me - even though they still can't a lot of the time. But if I were to speak how I do normally I'd need subtitles.) I genuinely suck at writing accents, though, as a whole. It's something I need to work on.

In narration, I try to write down what the character's noticing and how they translate the world around them. What they see and smell, what senses they use the most, etc. It's a lot of fun trying to figure out what would be important to a character or what their worldview is like based on the language they use.

This. I'll focus on what they'd notice first. It's very different depending on character, their upbringing, their biggest worry, their demeanour. Wholly agree. Sometimes I struggle to describe it proper.

[Hiram]

i agree with Keo entirely on their last point. and I agree with the direct quote of yours, Nikki, because dropping in prose the things a character notices is exactly how I try to write. hiram is Mr. Krabs 'money, money, money' so he'll notice things that are expensive and things that pleases. and even tho he's very manners-oriented and loves rules when presenting in public, he very much likes breaking those rules in private, and his outlook is far more dirtier than the clean aesthetic he surrounds himself with, so I don't mind using "dirty" words when writing for him, even in prose, because I often try to write from my characters direct outlook.

ohana, meanwhile, is a sentimental diplomat who very much relies on paying attention to small details. when I write from her point of view, I try to narrow down or approach something from a romantic's POV. kellan (driskoll) is an Irish-american traveller who thinks about things in terms of loyalty and community, but he also did a hefty stint in prison and therefore is very much behind when it comes to cultural references.

in lieu of trying to convey accents, I may use some choice selected words or phrases that my characters say often, related to their background, the place they were raised, or if it's the image they're trying to convey. for example, hiram acts like he's from that 'special breed of english upbringing' like robert, and he damn sure was not. not him signing correspondences like 'respectfully.' boy, shut up.

[melanctha]

Follow-up question: how do yall pick the language/voice of your characters? Do you make conscious punctuation and word choices? Based on what? How do you practice that "voice"? And do you find that that voice carries on into the narrative style, or does it stay in dialogue only? Personally, I try to do the former, but it's hard as hell to stay consistent lmfao.

In narration, I try to write down what the character's noticing and how they translate the world around them. What they see and smell, what senses they use the most, etc. It's a lot of fun trying to figure out what would be important to a character or what their worldview is like based on the language they use.

How do yall differentiate your character voices and povs?

For the POV The most obvious is when I write solos

Sapph insists on using second person. The more informal, gritty, immersive. Mel typically will express herself in third person more easily through me.

I try to use more British English spellings/pronunciation for Sapph because the english she would have learned was Crown English. Mel's English is through an Italian accent because she learned Greek, then Italian, then English (and this was from an Italian)

More later when I have a coherent thought