Forums » RP Discussion » Can you make a dynamic character in a rp?

I'm trying to get my imagination and confidence back since I haven't been roleplaying in forever. I was wondering how could you make more interesting instead of flat characters with basic personality traits. Any tips on doing that?

Character development is part preparing with proper motives and traits, and allowing the roleplay to progress naturally without forcing the character to do things that go against their traits. While no traits are set in stone and characters do change over time, it's generally a good idea to have their perspective be a stable one (ergo, if they're afraid of spiders, they will generally freak out and avoid them, not suddenly play the big hero who scoops one up and disposes of it without even a tremble; they can, however, grow to be more brave and deal with their fear in a different way as they develop). Consistency is key.

For Fleurette, I filled out a detailed character sheet on her profile. From that sheet I picked some basics and put them on a basics page for people to glance over. The details are mostly for my own reference to help me stay true to her as a character, but other people are just as welcome to read.

Some things aren't relevant to her so I left them out, but when I'm in doubt about making a believable, dynamic character, I fill out one of these sheets and it improves them drastically 9 out of 10 times.

There are different ways to bring a character to life, so I would suggest trying as many as you can find and seeing what fits. A detailed character sheet is a great way to do it, if it works for you. For me, I generally blend traits of people I know, traits of my own, and traits I think would just be interesting, and hopefully an interesting person comes out the other end. I also try to remember small non-verbal elements; some people flex their fingers more often than they shrug, while others tend ot smile in a lopsided fashion.

Think about yourself, your friends, or characters on your favorite television shows. Think about why someone says what they do, do what they do. What sort of personality it takes to have a certain view point, a certain paradigm. It might help to write a bit of fan-fiction solely for yourself, and see if you think you've captured the character well enough. Just a short, few-hundred-word thing to work on seeing about how to capture in text the person you see in your mind's eye.

You might also find these interesting:

The Highjinx method of character development
Advanced Character Development: Rekindling Stagnant Characters