Non-threaded

Forums » Writing Workshop » Read Thread

Find proofreaders here, useful resources, and share opinions and advice on story crafting.

Question about character personality

5 years ago

       Hello, So I have a question. I am writing a story where I will have only a few choices but I hope that each choice has a major effect on the story. One way I am to do this is by having the mc have a slightly different personality based on the choice made. An example of this is early on I have a choice where the mc can either vent some anger or take a few deep breaths to try to relax. Both would drive the plot down their respective paths, however if the first option is chosen the mc will be more aggressive and combative. If on the other hand though the relax option is picked the character would be more weary and just generally done with the world's shit. The routes themselves will be different stories with the same people just in a very different series of events. But do I need to have him be exactly the same personalty wise but just in different scenarios or is it ok if I do go ahead and have the choices affect his mentality so to speak? Because I would love it if the player chooses to be more combative, that actually becomes a major part of the character. Yes the weary part will still be there but it would be put more on the back burner since odds are it won't quite fit with what i have planned for the paths.  Any help would be greatly appreciated     

Question about character personality

5 years ago
There's no one correct way to develop your story or your character, what you're describing here is fine.

I'd really recommend looking at how you're breaking up your paragraphs though, if the formatting makes the story unreadable the content isn't going to matter.

Question about character personality

5 years ago

Thank you so much I will also look into the formatting. What you said makes a lot of sense, I  could write the best story, which by the way I won't, but if no one can slog through it It would be wasted.    

Question about character personality

5 years ago
These sound like great ideas. Having user choices really affect the outcome of the story is a hallmark of the CYOA. There are many ways to implement this, from variables to simply using extra pages.

Good luck with it!

Question about character personality

5 years ago

Thanks, I'll give it my best shot, might not be a good story, but best shot at it nonetheless :)  

Question about character personality

5 years ago

I had considered something like this myself for a possible story.  For example, if the player makes choices that establishes the main character as brave, then later on, the player wouldn't even have the option of running away from danger, but if the player makes choices that establishes the main character as cowardly, then the player wouldn't even have the option of making a desperate head-on charge against an enemy.

Question about character personality

5 years ago

Yep, thought it could also help with immersion. If he did nothing but pick fights why would a mc talk about how he doesn't like fighting. That at least to me seems like a bit of a gap between the mechanics and the story being told in these types of games.  

Question about character personality

5 years ago
I'm planning something like this right now but on a ruthless / merciful scale. Go too far in either direction and certain options may just not show up.

Question about character personality

5 years ago

Mercy/Ruthless I think would work out quite nice. Maybe that is just a bit more due to the nature of both? It could be easy to say it just became a habit. Straying from one side would take a very deliberate course of action. which by that point would go seemingly against who the character is. Since they either were merciful or ruthless often enough for it to be ingrained.