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twilit-art · 1 year

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So you want to make an OC?: A Masterpost of Ways to Create, Develop, and Make Good OCs!

i made this masterpost in hopes that it helps you in making your own OCs ah;; it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! if you’d like to add more resources then go for it sugar pea (´ヮ`)!

EDIT (10/16/18): edited my disclaimer (below) before diving into the huge chunk of information here! also included new resources and links to writing disabled and nonbinary characters. happy researching! <3

1. i made this post when i was like 14? 15? so as such: the information researched here is very, very old. a lot of it, imo, is no longer relevant! especially with language use (ESPECIALLY if you’re reblogging the old version of the post that had links to an article about gender/sexuality. i’ve removed that. i’ve removed also the mary sue/gary stue chunk because my values have changed since) the point is, the resources here will not always fit in with what we need as time goes on.

2. these resources are not law!! i made this post because i was and still am very passionate about ocs. this resource was intended to be a sounding board for when u have ideas you want to further delve into and you’re not entirely sure where to begin. it’s not the only resource out there, and sometimes, the best sounding board will be you!!! follow ur heart. ocs are fun. this post was never, ever meant to tell you how to write your own characters but help broaden ur knowledge if u found urself limited in an area (this was first made with a white, abled, cishet audience in mind!)

3. i’ve gotten some great notes and commentary on this post and things i want to explore more since making this post roughly 5 years ago. things are very, very different. i have better resources for a LOT of these, and have more i want to tack on! but i simply can’t find the time for it, so until I do: i’ve removed a lot of links here that i found harmful and irrelevant to today, but i haven’t combed through all of them and can’t lead you to what i think is best. research yourselves! you’ll learn lots.

4. and in closing, thanks for reading! this a/n got off on a tangent so that’s that, LMAO. go forth and develop your ocs!!! and tell me about them!!! or tell me if you have fresh sources or a better perspective or just wanna call me out. this post is 100% open to criticism because it’s imperative to keep growing and learn as much as possible and be as whole and mindful as possible. this world is full of diverse, incredible creators who have contributed so much to telling their stories. let their knowledge guide you, not a silly post made 5-6 years ago. <3

How to Write Better OCs:

basic tips on how to make your oc even better

tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great

writing specific characters

a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character

kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME

Character Development:

how to actually make an OC

Q&A (to develop characters)

more Q&As

giving your character a backstory

how to write an attractive character

Diversity

adding more racial diversity

masterpost on writing more diversity into your story

cultures of the worldguides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)

disability resources: fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment: writing disabled characters, disability-writing-advice, actuallyblind, cripplecharacters

nonbinarycharacter blog! (huge thanks to @writersshock for this and the following resources to writing nb characters!)

6 tips for writing genderqueer & nb characters

writing nonbinary characters: a primer

Villains

villain generator

need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam

villain archetypes

what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?

Relationships

character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)

how to write strong relationships between two characters

8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others

OCxLove Interest Handbook

develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!

how to write realistic relationships

how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)

ARCHETYPES

12 common archetypes

8 archetypes for male/female characters

female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)

a list of archetypes

NAMES

how to name your character

random name generator

most common surnames

surnames by ethnicity

APPEARANCE

tips for better design

basic appearance generator

pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)

clothing ref masterpost

DETAILS

give your character better powers

a list of professions

proactive vs reactive characters

positive and negative traits

interest generator

skills generator

motivation generator

123 ideas for character flaws

list of phobias

again, this is to help inspire you or help establish your OCs! i hope you get a lot of info and help from this ahh ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

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