Post by Orochimaru on Mar 22, 2008 9:36:05 GMT -5
This guide was written by Rina, player of Orochimaru. That means me? xD
Anyway, it was originally destined to Sasuke and written roughly around a year ago. He's recovered it for me from a forum that has long been closed, and so I've decided to post it here for everyone to be able to refer to it.
Anyway, it was originally destined to Sasuke and written roughly around a year ago. He's recovered it for me from a forum that has long been closed, and so I've decided to post it here for everyone to be able to refer to it.
Stage 01;; Are you truly willing to play a canon properly?
I will start by saying I don't believe in people being such things as 'able' or 'unable' to play canons. That is, allowing me to be blunt, pure bullshit. Excuses, and more excuses. Let's not get into why people come up with lame reasons like that. They're just being human, so we can't blame them.
Now, for what 'properly' means. When you want to play a canon, and I mean the actual canon and not your slightly less appealing replica of it, you have to be willing to stick to what you're given to work with. If you agree with stuff like "because the situation is different, I'm entitled to make my character act completely unlike itself this once", then you fail as a canon player.
When you pick a pre-made character, then everyone should and would assume that you actually intend to play that character. Whether you like it as it is or not, you have the duty to portray that character accurately, and try to alter as little of it as possible. If you think it's okay to toss changes around because you just don't like this or that about the character, or because you can't be bummed to think what the character would do (instead of what you would do) in a given situation, then you'll be OOC (out of character). It means you don't get the point. That's what making your own characters is for. Canons are playable in order to allow you to experience being somebody else that not only isn't you (your own made-up isn't you, either), but also doesn't think like you at all.
If you get this and you're willing to stick with it, then and only then are you capable of playing a canon that'll actually feel like itself. See? It's not about skill, it's all about just being willing to do it like you should. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's not piece of cake and an easy resort for lazy bums who just pick canons because they don't want to make OCs. This is honestly a LOT of work and effort.
Stage 02;; Choosing your canon.
Everyone says that you should pick a character that's somehow similar to yourself, because it will be a lot easier to play. Well, actually, I say it depends on the person. Let's have a closer look at the options.
The main point is that, when you personalize your canon, you begin to fail at playing it. Now, personalizing is a natural tendency for all players, so don't be ashamed when you find yourself doing it, but do try your best to reduce the phenomenon. You'll never be able to reach zero because we all see things through our own perspective, but down it to the best of your ability and you'll get a very good result anyway. Also, why is it bad to personalize? Because when you do that, whether you like it or not, you make changes. And making changes in canons is bad, as explained above.
All right, so. If the character was similar to you to begin with, the degree of possible change when you personalize it will be reduced, whereas for a completely different character there will be a lot more room to shift things about to your liking, which is bad. There is danger in this, too, however, so from a different perspective, things look like this: it's easier to think you're doing well when the character is similar to you, because it's more difficult to spot the differences between the original patterns and the ones you created with your changes. They'll be smaller in that case, while with a character unlike yourself it will be easier to realize when you've gone too far in personalizing and you will (usually) be able to stop in good time.
Here is my advice. If you're not good at analyzing personality and general traits of characters, then pick one that's nothing like you at all. That's because if you start personalizing, the changes will be more noticeable, so you shouldn't have that many problems spotting what you could be doing wrong. It'll put you at an advantage. On the other hand, if you are good with psychology at its best, with all its small details and nitpicking at the smallest reaction or thought pattern, you might want to try something similar to you. That's because you're probably able to apply your own pattern to the character and figure out which bits are actually not like you in it (there will often be more than you first thought). You should then be able to focus on those differences and branch out from yourself and onto the correct path, while also having a solid base to start from.
Stage 03;; After choosing.
Great, so you've decided which character you would like to play. You now know which one you need to be paying extra attention to. I guess you could probably pull it off just from memory as well, if you're really determined and careful (and you're confident you do know the character well), but this is my advice (and also what I do).
Review the canon material and keep your eye mostly on the character you picked. You can even ignore anything that doesn't have something to do with said canon character. Look at it really well, take note of even the smallest change in their expression, the way they move, the way their tone changes when they speak to certain other characters, and so on. Take in every single bit of detail that you can find. Trust me, this will be extremely useful later on, when you actually start playing the character.
Good. By now, after doing all of this (or not, if you chose not to), you should already have a clear idea of where the line between yourself and your character should be drawn. Examine that with great care and attention, and formulate a psychological profile for the character in your mind. Just enumerate the basic features and patterns in its personality and mindset. If it were a real person, you'd be in a little more trouble, but we're talking about characters, so remember most of them are linear. Look for major dominants (things that make them act the way they do in general), and only afterwards place the small details that are under the influence of the former.
When you think you got a big rough draft you could refer to at any time, you're set.
Stage 04;; The role-play starts.
This is where it gets even trickier. If examining the smallest details of a character was difficult, wait until you get to this part. Not only will you need to remember everything you've done so far at all times, but you'll also have to deal with situations. Due to the interference of other characters (maybe made-ups that will differ from the usual cast of the canon material and pretty much make your canon-player life miserable), you won't be able to pick your own terms and conditions in which to place the character. So you're stuck trying to think what it would do or say in those very specific conditions that other people have set.
If you go by the draft as much as you can, you'll always be accurate enough. Just review your character each time you're looking for the right reaction to something, and try to weigh in all the small details of the situation. Then, toss them in under the weight of the major personality dominants you found while analyzing. Figure out what the character is thinking at the time, what its goals are, what approach it has to things of the kind it's faced with right now, and so on. It helps a lot if you can think of a similar situation that actually came to be in the canon material. What did the character say or do then? How will the differences between those times and your present situation change that?
Once again, the less you alter the thing from canon that you're comparing to, the more successful you'll have been at keeping in character. So aim for that and you should be doing very well. It'll stress you a lot, trust me, you'll want to curse whatever made you choose to play a canon (especially if it's the first), but it's worth the trouble.
Next thing is, second-guess yourself. After you've written your post, read through it again and try to imagine the character actually moving in such a way, or speaking what and how it did in your post. If you can almost visualize or hear it coming right from them, then you've done a good job. That means it's accurate enough and you can post it. If it doesn't feel right on the spot, it will feel close somehow. Repeat it in your mind and figure out which bits ruin the feel. Work on those and eventually you'll get there.
Stage 05;; Final touches.
So, I mentioned personalization, and said why it's bad. Then I described the whole process of role-playing a canon. This doesn't mean your writing style won't be good enough! No matter which it is. I'm going to give a more concrete similar example to compare with, and see what I mean.
Imagine two painters whose styles are nothing alike. They're both told to paint the same vase, which is sitting in front of them. The end result will be that, although their paintings will be different, each suited to its respective creator's style, you'll still be able to tell it's the same vase they were trying to paint. And not because they tell you that was the deal.
That's precisely what you're aiming for. To write your own little way, while the canon stays what it is: a canon.
