Post by ALEX on Jan 10, 2011 22:28:59 GMT -5
Overly-Used or Unrealistic Habits and the Alternatives:
---Carrying a knife, gun or other weapon "just in case", unless your character's life is constantly being threatened, this probably isn't very sensible; INSTEAD give them a background in Scouts or camping and have them keep their mini-swiss on a key chain of their backpack because they never got around to taking it off after they quit.
---Drinking heavily because things just aren't going so great. Really? C'mon. If everybody and their brother (and/or pregnant sister) did that what would even be the point of AA? INSTEAD use comfort foods! That's why they call them comfort foods. Break out the left-over Halloween candy and hohos. If he or she really needs to get wasted, give them a reason. Are they celebrating a birthday and get caught up in showing off with friends? Or perhaps they're just trying to get some peace and go for a drive to buy some beer, but all they sell are six packs so he/she buys it only planning to drink one or two but just keeps drinking and drinking. Whatever it is, keep it logical.
---The old pack-a-day but no addiction trick. Don't even try. Sure you can illustrate how your character doesn't think he/she has an addiction, but don't you believe that heap of codswallop and mush. INSTEAD give them a gum addiction. Seriously. Maybe they tried to quit and got addicted to the Nicorette junk. It's a lot more interesting, you have to admit.
---Using violence when he/she feels pressured. Right, 'cause that's how everyone solves their problems in today's judging society. Please. If you did that at your school/work would you get away with it? Unless you're outside of the Union I think not. INSTEAD make him/her kick walls or chairs and stub their toe. Make their anger humorous. Handlers aren't going to want to role play with you if you keep beating up their characters (no matter how sadistic) and no matter how good your style is, if everything is angst, angst, angst in your fiction you're not going to have a big fan base. Comic relief is a good thing. Granted, a character is going to lash out at times if s/he's a physical type of person, but not every time things don't go their way.
---Stealing because they're just so poor and no one ever taught them any better. Aw. That's so sad...do they live in an alternate universe? There are laws for a reason. INSTEAD spice it up a little. The best example I can think of is in Hilary McKay's "Permanent Rose". Rose was always great at Jenga but it got too easy. One day Rose decides to try to get a candy bar from a store without making any of the other bars move. She always put it back, but when that got too easy she tried taking it out of the store, and it just never stopped. It's bittersweet angst and still intriguing. You want to check out the book now, don't you?
Odd Habits That Are Actually Odd:
---Nail biting. I know it's a pretty common trait, but have you actually seen it in role playing or fiction? If you have, it's probably not that often.
---Hair chewing or twisting. Personally, I always twist a strand of hair when I'm thinking hard. I can't think without making a figure eight between my ring and middle fingers. Again, it's not something unheard of, but it's a humanizing factor.
---Scratching of the head. If you think no one does this, you are sadly mistaken. The back of my head gets red and raw when something's bugging me and making me nervous. I can't help it. It just itches, and I have to scratch it. It doesn't have to be the head either. It can be anything. A leg, a finger, behind the ear; you've got a whole body to pick from.
---Pulling hangnails. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I can't stand hangnails. My fingers bleed sometimes because I pull them too soon. It's a habit I can't break.
---Loosing things. I know at least a sixth of the population has this problem, but everyone seems to know where everything is in role playing. Handlers and writers probably just don't think of it, unless it's in a thread. I can tell you, it's a real problem. I've lost three house keys in one week. That's no small feat.
---Cutting up and using cheese cubs instead of slices on sandwiches. No joke. One of my friends does this. She can't eat slices of cheese, they have to be cubed.
---Tearing off the top of the crust and eating the rest.
---Going through a bag of crisps/chips and only eating the broken ones then going back and eating the unbroken.
---Eating the tops off candy corn, eating the bottom and eating the rest.
---Eating pizza backwards, folded in half (there are two ways to do this) or taking one piece, turning it upside down on top of another and rolling it for five more slices then eating it. Yes. I've seen this done. It is oddly stirring. (Whether it's my heart or stomach that's doing the moving is a different matter.)
---Running fingertips over lips —pinklemonade
---Pulling on earrings or ear lobes when nervous —pinklemonade
---Drum fingers on thighs —JE M'APPELLE DELAH !
---“…people who have no sense of direction whatsoever and don't fully know it. Like, maybe they know they have a little trouble with directions, but they trust themselves too much. I know a lot of people with that problem in real life, so I'm surprised at how rare it is in the RP-verse.” —whatIF?!
---Pushing lasses up a lot when nervous —mew
---Cutting my nails much too short “”
---“… people with chapped lips cause they lick their lips excessively whenever they're nervous or something--so habits could be like licking lips all the time and putting on chapstick a lot too, because if you lick lips a lot they get painfully chapped.” —ANGEL OF DEATH
---Knuckle grinding, popping, sliding, pulling, etc. Gross and rumoured to cause arthritis at an early age, but people do it. —& love in c major
---“talking fast when anxious/excited. I personally do this, and I think it’s quite a fun habit when it comes to RPing, cause it can be pretty amusing and can embarrass your charrie (which is always good).” —* FAIRY LIGHTS !
---“… people play with their rings on their fingers by bringing them up and just twiddling them around in their hand if they always have to have something to do with their hand.” —JE M'APPELLE DELAH !
“When I don't have my ring on I play with my ring finger as if I did.” —HISTORY, I’M STRANDED
---“people tapping their toes and fingers against surfaces when they're anxious” —MAYA DOES IT BETTER
---“puffing their cheeks like a blowfish when they're mad” “”
---sniffing constantly “”
---“I also squint my eyes and make a 'tsk' sound at the end of most sentences.” “”
---“ If you've ever noticed, most people cannot stand straight. I figured this
out in Theatre the other day when we had to stand tall with our hands
motionless at our sides. So you could add how people stand?
---People always pull at their shirt, hold on to something, play with their
fingers, or cross their arms over their stomach if they're standing in front
of a person or doing something with people watching.
---Someone who is wearing jewelry, especially if they don't do so often,
will play with their jewelry, sometimes even chew on it. I've broken
many necklaces by chewing on them and whenever I wear a necklace or
a bracelet or something I'm constantly playing with it! It's the same with
most other people.
---People say "um" a lot? Or "uh". "like", "and", and so on. But um, uh,
and like seem to be the most common. :] and it's even worse when
people are nervous. I know very few people who can carry on
confidently when they're nervous!
---And laughing? I know a lot of people that make weird noises when they
laugh. When I laugh, I hiccup, and I laugh very loudly. My friend snorts.
Another friend barely even laughs, just goes "heh heh", and yet another
friend sounds like she's screaming. But many people don't add this too
their character's quirks? Hell, I even know people that change their
laughs!” —I AM THE RUMOUR
---“When people first get their braces off they run their tongue along
their teeth ALL THE TIME. my best friend just got his off last week.
---Some people have nail polish issues, like to the point that their
nail polish only lasts two days because they pick it off COMPLETELY.
---I wear at least 5 hairties on my right wrist every day, just in case.
---In An Abundance of Katherine’s the main character chews on
the fleshy part of his thumb, and so does his final (oops spoiler!)
---Some girls tuck their hair behind their ears when they get nervous.
---I knew a girl who wore her socks inside out because the seams
annoyed her that much. ( I could make a whole character off this)
---I flip open and closed my phone a lot when I’m waiting for a call/test.
---I touch my hair a lot when I straighten it, but not when its curly.
---I doodle on my wrists, but only on the upside part (by my palm).” —HISTORY, I’M STRANDED
---Specific candy preferences; like rainbow lollipops, certain type/brand of chocolate, strawberry twizlers, sunflower seeds, you get the picture. —HEY! SAY! KENA!
---Preferred reading material. We all love our crazy, spastic bookworms with the great, sarcastic comebacks we steal from our hilarious besties, but is it enough just to say she/he likes to read? Eheh. Start with a genre and match it to their personality. If they’re the curious type give ‘em mystery novels, if they’re (secretly) a romantic through and through obviously romances are the ticket, or maybe your character loves a good scare? may I suggest thrillers, or maybe your character use to love to read but lately doesn’t have any time and only reads the reviews in magazines. Next step is to get familiar with the genre. Yes, this will take a little research, but it will also give your character more depth, and you more understanding of your characters likes. You might never mention specific authors or books, but if you ever need to, you’re prepared. I’ve also found that this helps quite a lot when having writer’s block; just pick up one of the books your character would like and start reading it—just be sure not to copy write the author. You might also want to look at music, movies and magazines. “”
---Writing on hands. I think I may have already added this to the list, let me know if I’m repeating, but this is really good. I don’t do it as much as I use to, but in middle school I thought it was too much work to get out my assignment notebook and write everything down so I’d write all my assignments on my hands, arms or legs. “”
