This guide is here to help anyone who might need help with creating a character (especially people who are unfamiliar with Danganronpa and have no idea what I’m talking about whenever I mention Ultimates)! Most of this is just writing tips in general, but it does include what I like to see in Danganronpa OCs and what I look for when reviewing applications. 1) WHERE TO START It’s good to start with a vague idea, just including the character’s basic personality and their Ultimate talent. A character’s talent is something they’re the very best at and officially recognized for. It’s an important part of them, so it’s likely to influence their personality in some way. Ex: An Ultimate Gameshow Host with a loud and upbeat personality, an Ultimate Therapist with a calm and understanding personality If you need inspiration, search up “1170 talents” on Google. You’ll find a doc with— you guessed it— 1170 talents. 2) FLESHING THEM OUT Once you have an idea you like, there will be three main areas you need to work on: - Basic Info: Name, gender, age, etc. - Personality: Like what you did in step 1, but more in-depth - Backstory: What made your character who they are You can tackle these in any order, but I’ll describe them in the order I listed them in. a. Basic Info These are the first things anyone would know about your character. These are the first things on the application and they’re all pretty self explanatory, so I’ll just provide a few tips. - If you want, it’s always fun to give your character’s name meaning! Most baby name sites will provide one, which makes them a pretty good resource when naming a character. - Please please PLEASE have your character’s age make sense for their Ultimate. In some cases you can justify a younger age because these guys ARE super talented but like. No one is out here trusting a high schooler with their surgery. Come on. (edit: i realize this is danganronpa so you can ignore this because. its danganronpa) - For birthdays, you can use a random date generator. Don’t include a year, this RP isn’t set in a specific year. You can also give their birthday meaning if you search up “dates with meaning” or something like that. - With your character’s talent, would it make sense for them to have a name they go by online? Go ahead and put it in aliases if so. b. Personality Starting Round 2, personality will probably be what I consider most when choosing who to let into the cast. Personality is what REALLY makes a character. How they interact with other characters and with their environment is what I’m looking for here. A character could have the most interesting talent I have ever heard of, but there is zero chance they’d make it into the game if that’s the only interesting thing about them. So how DO you give your character an interesting personality? Let me introduce you to my favorite character writing tip ever: Traits should act as a double-edged sword. Characters are people, and people have flaws. People also have strengths. Your character MUST have both. So consider this: What is your character’s most prominent personality trait? How does it help them? What problems does it cause? A stubborn character might be really persistent. An honest character may come off as blunt and rude. A cowardly character will know when to be careful. A friendly character might be too forgiving. Find ways for your character’s good traits to be their downfall, and for their bad traits to be what saves them. And now for the second part of what I believe makes a good character: The parts of themselves they keep hidden. Who is your character behind closed doors? Do they act any differently towards people they trust? This can be as simple as “character talks more around their friends,” or it can be something really huge like them being a completely different person than how they act. Like that one guy from Despair Time. Go watch Danganronpa Despair Time. I’ll just end the personality section by saying that I don’t need your character to be incredibly complex. All I’m looking for is for your character to be more than just a few surface-level traits. c. Backstory This is either your favorite or least favorite part, no in-between. I’ll keep this bit short, since there’s not really anything specific I’m looking for in a backstory. Just make it make sense for the character and you’ll be set. Things to consider: - What is/was their family like? Who raised them? How did this affect their behavior? - What motivated them? Their talent? A person? Something else? - How did they get their talent? - Are they well-known, or are they a more obscure Ultimate? If they’re famous, how did they gain their fame? - Did they always act the way they do? What made them change? 3) EXTRA DETAILS Once you’ve done steps 1 and 2, you’ve done all you need to! However, you can always add more. Voice claims, random habits, and other fun facts are things that I personally like to see.
Danganronpa published by Spike Chunsoft yada yada yada I wrote all of this myself if you can believe that
