Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 1068120" data-attributes="member: 5203">You mention that you don't want to go the route of &quot;do the opposite of what I would&quot; - which is sensible, because as you say it often comes off as false.&nbsp; However, I think this is because most people just do the opposite without really considering the why of it.&nbsp; I tend to see character backgrounds that are lists of events in the person's life with no real indication of the emotional/psychological impact of those events.A good exercise to develop a believable character is to take those aspects that you want Lily to have that contradict your own values.&nbsp; Then sit and think about how someone could have developed that point of view; what circumstances would lead to it?&nbsp; Take, for example, your own love of animals.&nbsp; You want Lily to have a disinterest or dislike of these things.&nbsp; One obvious reason would be that she grew up in an urban setting where the only &quot;animals&quot; are sewer rats.&nbsp; Or perhaps she grew up on a farm and learned to see animals like tools.&nbsp; Whatever reason you decide, once you have a &quot;why&quot; you can build on it.&nbsp; Not only will Lily's indifference toward animals come across as more believable, but you can build on this background element; if Lily was raised on a farm, how else would it affect her outlook?&nbsp; What other values might she reasonably have acquired?&nbsp; How would that have led her to her current path?&nbsp; Perhaps Lily sees animals as tools because that's how she's learn to judge everything - in terms of their worth to her survival and prosperity.&nbsp; She's a good person, but struggling to eke out an existence on a tiny farm taught her to not waste time on things that don't contribute to providing for herself or her family.&nbsp; This version of Lily likely has few or no hobbies or outside interests, and more likely has a few close friends (the kind that will be there for you no matter what) rather than several acquaintances (who are less dependable).&nbsp; She'd tend to carry around a wide variety of tools and equipment, because &quot;you never know when you might need it&quot;, but not to the point where she'd get overburdened (because now those things are interfering, not helping).Edit to add a little more and correct a minor error.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 1068120, member: 5203"] You mention that you don't want to go the route of "do the opposite of what I would" - which is sensible, because as you say it often comes off as false. However, I think this is because most people just do the opposite without really considering the [I]why[/I] of it. I tend to see character backgrounds that are lists of events in the person's life with no real indication of the emotional/psychological impact of those events. A good exercise to develop a believable character is to take those aspects that you want Lily to have that contradict your own values. Then sit and think about how someone could have developed that point of view; what circumstances would lead to it? Take, for example, your own love of animals. You want Lily to have a disinterest or dislike of these things. One obvious reason would be that she grew up in an urban setting where the only "animals" are sewer rats. Or perhaps she grew up on a farm and learned to see animals like tools. Whatever reason you decide, once you have a "why" you can build on it. Not only will Lily's indifference toward animals come across as more believable, but you can build on this background element; if Lily was raised on a farm, how else would it affect her outlook? What other values might she reasonably have acquired? How would that have led her to her current path? Perhaps Lily sees animals as tools because that's how she's learn to judge everything - in terms of their worth to her survival and prosperity. She's a good person, but struggling to eke out an existence on a tiny farm taught her to not waste time on things that don't contribute to providing for herself or her family. This version of Lily likely has few or no hobbies or outside interests, and more likely has a few close friends (the kind that will be there for you no matter what) rather than several acquaintances (who are less dependable). She'd tend to carry around a wide variety of tools and equipment, because "you never know when you might need it", but not to the point where she'd get overburdened (because now those things are interfering, not helping). [SIZE=1]Edit to add a little more and correct a minor error.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

Verification