Character Creation Guide (WIP)

One of my other sites had this, and I thought it might be useful to have here as well. So I'm going through and modifying it to fit our site, but it's probably going to take me a bit. I thought I'd post it here as I'm working on it, so you guys can give comments as to what you think of it so far, and suggestions as to what to add/take away. Or feel free to edit it directly yourself!

(Borrowed and modified with permission from Creating a Character, for Idiots, written by Lynn for Corus.)

Note on Using this Guide: You probably don’t want to read the entire thing, since it’s fairly lengthy. I tried to make it as in-depth as possible, so that you won’t be left with any questions. That’s the point here; to answer your questions, and keep you from making mistakes that a lot of people with less experience make. I’d suggest going straight to the section that you’re having trouble with; either you don’t understand quite what’s expected, whether it applies to you, or you’re having trouble meeting the length requirements on a certain subject. If you’ve already submitted a profile, and someone referred you here, they likely mentioned one or two area of your profile that you could look over. While reading the entire thing might be helpful for some, it is rather time consuming. ^_^

If, after reading this guide, you still have a question, PM Misha (Lucy Pevensie) or one of the other admin / mods. If you were sent here, and after reading this guide, you still don’t know why, PM the person who referred you here.

Finally, note that the "Things to Avoid" are not necessarily "Things that are Prohibited". However, you should think very carefully before including one of those aspects in your application, for the staff has the right to reject your application for including one or more of those aspects, particularly if they feel your reason for not avoiding the aspect is not strong enough. Besides, you don't want a cliché character that no one else wants to post with, right?

About You
Name: If you have trouble with this one, you shouldn't be here. Tongue

Age: How old are you? If you don't want to share, how old would you like to be?
How did you find us: This will help us recruit more members in the future, so the more details, the better!
Rules Password: Read the rules, find both parts of the password, then put it here!

Character Basics
Full Name: This should be really straight forward, but, oddly enough, there are some people who make some very odd mistakes in this section. As a general, sweeping rule, try to pick a name that matches both your character and the forum you're playing on. Since characters on Into Narnia are so darn diverse, you'll also have to be careful of picking a name that matches where your character is from--Humans living in Narnia and Archenland have names that sound English (though typically their names are not completely original, and not common English names). A character from Narnia would not have a name like Aniss'er'at. Likewise, a character from Calormen would probably not be named George and Mary, but rather something that sounds Arabic. Animal/Creature names are more difficult. Keep in mind the species and the sounds they would make (e.g. a horse named Breehy-hinny-brinny-hooky-hah), and you might also want to consider the names of characters of the same species in canon (Narnian centaur names, for example, tend to be a combination of two nouns, like Glenstorm).
Things To Avoid (mostly applies to humans):

Names that are more than five syllables long.
Names that composed of seven or eight different names [Lady Victoria Lucretia Anna Louisa Sabine Penelope Diana Maria Hannah]
Names that are generally impossible to pronounce.
Names that are misspelled nouns [Rayne, Embyrr].
Names that are nouns [Sapphire, Cloud]
Names that sound suspiciously like famous people / characters [Angel Jolly, Chad Pittsburg, Enu Yashi, Edward Kullem]
Names that are ridiculously overdramatic.
Names that do not fit with the rest of the family tree [i.e., Mother is Mary, Father is John, brother is Luke, sister is Kate, and the main character is Fealitania].

Alias(es)/Nickname(s): Your character may have a nickname, if you so choose, and if their full name isn’t convenient to write out several times per post. Other characters may opt to bestow yours with a nickname, as well.
Things to Avoid:

Nicknames that sound nothing like the original name [name, David Tailor, nickname, Jay]
Nicknames that are ridiculously overdramatic [Shadowchild, The Hawk, Night Rider]

Gender: Yes, your character should be either male or female, not both. And no, no one gets the power to magically change form whenever they want to, including gender. Sorry.
Age: Most people like playing young characters. What can we say? Youth is a good thing. You may want to keep in mind your character’s background here, though; it is very unlikely that your character has fought in two wars, gone on an epic quest, saved their loved one from the brink of death, etc., all before their fifteenth birthday. In many cases, it’s better to have an older and more experienced character than a unrealistically talented young one.
Species: See Wikipedia for information on available races. Avoid nymphs of any kind (dryads, naiads, etc.) as they are asleep at this point and won't wake up until Aslan arrives. Also try to avoid half-humans, for while these are possible, with the current attitude of humans towards non-humans, it's unlikely. (Plus, it's rather overdone!)
Status/Title: What does your character do? Try and make this realistic; it should be easy enough. If its way out there, or its completely impractical that your character would have gotten to this spot already [ie, General at seventeen], the person looking over your profile will let you know.
Things To Avoid:

Characters who are so rich they never have to do anything, including manage their money / source of income / estates.
Characters who are the absolute best at what they do, and recognized by everyone for it.
Human female soldiers. Sorry, most women did not fight in battles at this time, and females are not allowed in the Telmarine army!

Affiliation: Who do you support? Most humans in Narnia will support Miraz and the Telmarines, though perhaps not actively, simply because they're Telmarines and have always thought the Old Narnians were a myth. Most Animals and mythical creatures will support Narnia, for the Telmarines have tried to extinguish them, or be Neutral. Calmorenes will support Calormen, if only by default, and Archenlanders will support Archenland. If you are going to go against the norm, you better have a pretty good reason. There's also the "Neutral" option, if your character's allegiance can't be neatly categorized.

Character Appearance
Hair/Fur/Feathers: How long is it? Is it fine, coarse, dirty, silky? What color? Avoid colors that wouldn’t naturally occur in Narnia!
Eyes: Avoid colors outside the normal spectrum for your species!
Overall: As long as you have an avatar, you don't need to do anything else, right? WRONG. This section is where you fill in the details. Be realistic. If you want someone to be particularly tall or short, skinny or obese, go for it, but not to an extreme. Keep your character’s age in mind, as well. Ten year old humans generally are not 6’9”. What are their facial expressions like? Their eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears? What type of body do they have? Are they muscular, weak? What kind of clothes or armor, if any, do they like to wear? Is there anything about your character that stands out? What would someone notice first, upon meeting them? By the time we're done reading this, we should have as clear a picture of your character as you do--without even looking at the avatar. Note: Where your character is from should have an effect on this section, so keep that in mind.
Things To Avoid:

Characters who are drop-dead gorgeous.
Females who may not be drop-dead gorgeous, but are impossibly thin with disproportionately large breasts.
Aspects that logically wouldn’t occur in Narnia, ie. neon pink hair.
Birthmarks / scars that are overly dramatic or just plain weird.
Any eye color outside the normal spectrum.
Characters who are buff and muscular for no particular reason, and manage to stay buff and muscular even though they never do any physical activities.
Characters who look fantastically older / younger than they actually are.
Characters who look just like you.

Portrayal: Optional. You may use any person, drawing, photograph, cartoon, or anime or manga character, to portray your character, provided it suits your character and isn’t already in use. Post the image here, and if possible, include the person's name. If you need help finding a suitable portrayal for your character, just ask!
Things To Avoid:

Portrayals who look nothing like your description of the character.
Portrayals who look significantly older/younger than your character.

Character Personality
Likes: Think about activities, foods, colors, people, certain attitudes, etc.
Dislikes: See above
Strengths:
Things To Avoid:

Characters who are amazingly talented and just sweep everyone off their feet with the sheer amount of skill they have.
Characters who can inexplicable do things, like read minds or have visions or even do magic.
Human women who are good with weapons, particularly swords. Most human females at this time would not have been trained to fight!

Weaknesses: What kinds of things are your characters bad at, but wish they weren't?

General Personality: The main rule here is to be realistic. Every character has some good things about themselves, and every character has some bad things. Include both. Try and add things like how your character interacts with different kinds of people: people they like, people they don’t, smart people, stupid people, etc. What kind of assumptions does your character have about the world? Why? How do others perceive them, how do they perceive others? This section is so rich; it tells us the most about your character, hands down, so go all out!
Things To Avoid:

Characters who are perfect.
Characters who are so brilliant and genius that they outsmart everyone.
Characters who are so suave that everyone just can’t help but like them.
Characters who are just naturally talented at nearly everything.
Characters who are brainy and shy; there’s nothing particularly wrong with this kind of character, but in my experience, it’s slightly overdone, and hard to play, since you have to think of very odd excuses to have your character even talk with anyone.
Characters who are over-the-top jerks to everyone they meet.
Characters who get “gut feelings” every now and then that are never wrong.
Characters that you will get tired of playing and leave for dead.
Characters who are a slightly different version of you.
Characters who are you.

Character History
Family: First, consider your character’s species. Rabbits likely have many siblings. Dryads’ families would not be a matter of biology, for they are born with their tree and their seed could land far away from the mother tree. Instead, the dryads in their grove would be their parents and siblings. Two other important things to keep in mind are your character’s name and age. Name, because, as stated in the name section of the profile, their name should fit with their parents and siblings, and age, because generally, by the time your character has reached eighty (or the equivalent, for species other than humans), their parents are dead. It's also impractical to have your seven-year-old little boy an orphan, because his parents died of old age. Aside from death, which is a slightly morbid subject, keeping your character's age in mind will help you determine how old their siblings [if they have any] should be, as well as significant others and children [characters who are twenty don't have eleven-year-old-children, typically]. Remember, also, that we're in Narnia, which is the equivalent of medieval Europe, not our modern culture. It’s not uncommon for people, especially among lower classes, to marry and have children at a young age.

General History: Typically, this starts at the beginning of your character’s life, and ends where your character is at right now. This is where you get to play the storyteller, and just tell us straight what happened, with the focus, of course, on how it affected your character. Include any large, impacting events from their life, such as the death or birth of family members, marriage, getting their first job or becoming an apprentice, being sold into slavery, moving to a new area, or getting a promotion. Aside from that, you may want to give us a taste of what your character was like during each stage of their life [infant, toddler, child, teenager, young adult, etc.], and how they’ve changed over the years. What events or relationships essentially made them who they are? Background should be the longest section of your profile, or very, very close to it, as it is, arguably, the most important.
Things To Avoid:

Human characters who have grown up learning of Old Narnia.
Female characters running away from home to avoid an arranged marriage.
Characters running away from home in general.
Female characters disguising themselves as males and joining an army.
Highly illogical or overdramatic situations surrounding your character’s birth. For example, being abandoned in the woods as a baby and raised by a troop of wolves, being born in a storm and having the top of the house struck by lightning just as your character was born, etc.
Illogical or overdramatic relationships; ie, a princess falling in love with a slave she met once on a street corner, a forbidden relationship between two rival families, etc.
Playing anyone whose greatest goal in life is to find someone who wronged them and take revenge. Monte Cristo has already been written, you’re a few centuries late.
Illogical diseases for either your character or someone near them. If your younger sister was born with brain cancer, she probably isn’t still alive.
Playing anyone whose greatest goal in life is to keep said younger sister alive despite her impossible disease.
Having relatives die for no apparent reason / illnesses that no one quite understands (unless, of course, you have a particular reason that they’ve died in that mysterious manner).
Having a tragic and grief-ridden past that still brings tears to your character’s eyes whenever they think of it.
Having an event in the character’s past that s/he feels guilty for [whether it is his/her fault or not] which will bring tears to your character’s eyes whenever they think of it.
Playing anyone whose greatest goal in life is to atone for some past wrong.
Your character having to fight their way out of an impossible situation, and doing so unscathed, or other inhuman feats.
Anything that reminds the person reading your profile of a bad movie remake.

Other/Notes: Is there anything else we should know about your character?

Sample
RP Sample: A sample post can either make or break your profile; if done correctly, it can show the person looking over your profile that you have a good handle on playing a character, and that you'll play your new character well, bringing in creativity and activity to Into Narnia. If done incorrectly, it'll say just the opposite; that you're not ready to join the ranks, and that, if approved, you'll be naught more than a headache. You really don't want to send that message. Try and pick a situation, place, and time to write about that shows off both your abilities as a writer, and how your character can shine. It's easier to make this impressive if you pick an important moment for your character--show us their emotions, a piece of their history or background. You may use a post you’ve written in the past for another character, but make sure that it shows you at your best!
Things to Avoid:

Sample posts that are not 300 words in length, and do not meet posting requirements: that is, are not written in third person, past tense, etc.
Sample posts that are mostly dialogue. There will be times, when starting threads or posting in them, that your character will have no one to talk to--show us that you don't need dialogue to meet length requirements.
Sample posts that are bare-bones or minimalistic as far as detail goes; you generally want to leave as little to the imagination as possible. Paint us a picture, show us exactly how it was.
Sample posts that include lots of other characters. We want to know that you can write a quality post without god-moding or bring in a lot of NPC’s!
Samples that are unrealistic or boring.