Does anyone get those chain mail things that say "REPOST THIS IN THE NEXT 3 MINUTES OR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!"? Or those ones where people send around those quiz things that have 100 different completely random questions about yourself that touch on every detail of your personality? Delete the ones that have no meaning whatsoever, like the ones that tell you that you will die or you will have bad luck if you don't repost and forward and all of that crap. I usually save the Quiz ones though. Copy and paste them into a word doc. or whatever (I use One Note), and pretend to be your character and answer the questions. I think I even searched for ones you can put on your myspace, and those work too. If anyone else does this, tell me if it worked for you. =D
I got one of these once... About 2 years ago... I didn't repost.... And i'm still waiting. That questionare thing sounds like a good idea. I'm of a school of thought where I like to let my characters develope of the course of the story/ book however, as I find it's their actions and reactions to situations that makes them the characters they are, so I find that listing exactly how tall, and what their favourite colours are a bit meaningless. BUT I can see how this will help lots of people with their characters, so it's a good suggestion. Nice one.
I always get the chain email which is creepy. I've never received any of the tests you are talking about, sounds interesting though. I had found a website with a few personality / IQ tests but after spending a ton of time answering questions I got to the end to find out I had to pay to get the results. *smacks herself in the head.* I did find the below site and liked it because there were only 38 questions with two answers each that chose between. I took the test for myself in about five minutes and the result was spot on, then I took it for a couple of my characters and found out *whoa, wait a minute, they're exactly like me. At least it helped me recognize that, if nothing else. http://www.9types.com/rheti/homepage.actual.html
I must admit my characters are all shades of myself. The two main characters in my novel are either what I think I am, or what I want to be. And who in their right mind sends out a email, cursing people with death if they dont send it on? Why not just attach a virus to it, you mass murdering... person...
I like to do something similar. When games offer a bunch of questions to determine what class the character will be, it's fun to act like one of your characters and see what they become. Most of the time I get results similar to what they are (a noble gunslinger becomes a knight,or a magic user becomes a mage). Except for the time an evil sniper became a priest. Still can't figure that one out.
Yeah, I've tried that too. It is hard! Also, I tried making a house, and then I just ended up playing sims...oops. =D
I hate when you have to pay for stuff... ...I've also found that I'll be making my characters a little too like me than I wanted, it's easy to do because you know yourself the best, even when we try to make them different, sometimes they're still too much like us.
Alex, Yes this is the most difficult thing for me, mostly in dialogue. I'll bang out a chapter, seeing this guy plain as day in my head and hearing his voice. Then I go back for the read through, and he's saying "Hold it right there, Daisy. I am NOT saying that. No guy would ever say that! That is a girl talking!. Delete it," he orders me and of course I do. But then he goes all silent and won't tell me what a guy would say in that situation. Any good books out there for women on how to be a guy?
Probably not because if it was written by a woman it would be 'make sure he's horrid and rude and spills curry all over himself' and if it was written by a man it'd be like 'chicks love it when guys smack their asses, so if you have a male character in your novel, make sure that's how he says hi to all the female characters'.... lol.
Thanks for the tip! My main character has his own myspace! hehe He just filled up a quiz and put it on his profile... it was fun!
Oh my dear, if my male MC even thought about doing something like that, then my woman HERO would simply open his throat with a mere flick of her wrist, slapping his behind to make sure he fell over. And I'd never make my male MC horrid and rude, only his friends.
I have a quiz book for one of the personality systems...I can't recall which. Myers-Briggs, I think. The book is outdated by now since they keep changing the test, but the basics are probably the same. It's very detailed with lots of multiple-choice answers and you add them up at the end to come up with a personality type. I did this for my characters, and also tried the Enneagram on them. It was pretty interesting to see what types they were. I haven't done that in a while, should try it again sometime. I've been doing this for my characters for ages...in fact I find such tests more interesting for them than for me personally. If somebody sent me such things in my e-mail though I'd want to smack them for Spamming me; I can find personality tests on my own.
None that I know of. But it would be pretty cool if there was. I think it would be hard to write about the opposite gender just because they're too different.
That's a great idea. I can see myself making one for my MC and all of her friends...that would be a ton of fun
That's quite a good idea actually Alex, it is like charector profiling. I might try it myself at some point.
Just to clarify, this isn't how I greet my female friends lol.... some of the male friends on the other hand..... only kidding.
I'd hope not, but I knew what you meant...though it is something I've seen stupid guys at school do and I'd kill them. lol.
I've tried this before. Only, I made up the questions, like you would for an interview. I, the author, interviewed the characters. I've also collected a variety of questions from such surveys and used those for interviews as well. I like this form of characterization a lot. Especially when the questions are something to the effect of, "What are your ten commandments?" It doesn't mean the ten commandments from the bible, but the ten commandments for that character, the ten rules they have set for themselves over time and that they think of as law, that they will try their best not to break. No character has the same set of rules. After you put down their ten, you find yourself asking how and why these rules came to be, and so on. With the right questions, you can do a decent job of fleshing out your characters by time you're done.
Oooh, good one, hadn't thought of that......and the myspace thing sounds good, too. I should try these.....I guess for the commandments one, I sort of have it non formally in my head, but should really write these things down....thanks, Dreamer.
Tried that once, on the PS2. Went downstairs for a drink, came back, and my MC was making out with his brother Anyway, I've done the quiz-thing a couple times. There are a lot of good ones on xanga, if you know where to look. I like doing those quizilla personality tests for my characters, too. I'm just really dorky like that
*laugh* I can see where that could be a problem. Sims don't always do everything that you want them to
