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[schrocko88]

So, I'm writing a story, and I need more characters. Make one up for me? Give them some quirks, a unique personality that I can try to write a story for them. It's a fantasy story, set in a middle age land, inspired by Middle Earth, and Alagaesia. Thanks for any help you can give me. Peace out homies.

Characters should suit the purpose of your writing, not the other way around. Making up characters in a thematic vacuum is meaningless. We have no idea what you're trying to do with your story, therefore trying to make up characters for that undefined purpose is fruitless.

Well, I figured it would be a good challenge, and might take this story in new ways that, even with my masterfully trained mind, I haven't thought of. With characters designed my the good people here at Bay12, it could go where even I don't know yet.

[schrocko88]

Character: Alana Rhysi
Physical Description: Fifteen years old, medium height, red hair, green eyes. Usually smirking. Shows tooth when she smiles.
Background: Alana grew up a butcher's daughter in the backwater village of [VILLAGE]. As he had no son, the butcher spent much of his time and energy teaching Alana his craft, so that someone might carry on the shop after he retired. From puberty, Alana took an unusual and perhaps unhealthy interest in the inner workings of the creatures her father showed her how to cut apart. She began to spend much of her time secluded in the woods, killing and dissecting animals, not always in that order. It wasn't long before someone discovered her secret hideaway and convinced the village Alana was a witch. Her father managed to smuggle her out at night, and now she is on a cross-country trip to her uncle's with nothing but a pony, a knife, and thirty gold pieces.

...After having written that: feel free to use her, but I reserve the right to use my medieval teenage sociopath in any future works of my own.

Very nice, she will be in the story. Thanks bro!

[Nospherat]

Name: Nikolaus "Tinkerer" Vorn.
Friends may call him Nikky. If you want to be an ass about it, you may call him "Tink", but he won't mind.
Race: Human, for all purposes. Although, judging by his appetite and culinary habits, he may just be a half-troll.
Age: He's in his early 30s.

Appearance, settings, atmosphere and so forth:
Before you, there is a rather large fellow, hunched over a cluttered table. He is mumbling and fiddling with various bits of metal, trying to piece together an unidentified yet complicated device. His bald head shines into the light of his table-lamp.
As you approach, there is a sudden "twang" noise while springs and sprockets fly in all directions, bounce and scatter, vanishing around his hodgepodge workshop.
He mutters a hushed curse under his breath and turns to greet you.

You can hardly contain your laughter as you see that a metal spring has entangled itself in his coarse beard. He does not seem to notice.

He's wearing some hand-made goggles with magnifying glass shard insets. His clothes are faded, torn and patched, but they do seem to have an impressive amount of pockets, most of them hand made, and bulging with unknown doodads.
Standing at about 6ft. (1.85m) tall, with a stature over 200 pounds (100kg), this joyous man smiles broadly while giving you a strong handshake.
His hands are rough, and his fingers have been hastily wrapped in (now dirty) band-aids. It seems that he cuts and bruises himself a lot while working.
He listens to you carefully while you explain the nature of your quest, and after some careful considerations, he cheerfully agrees to join you. You do, however notice that his eyes brightened when you mentioned gold coins. But hey, who doesn't like gold coins, right?

He grabs his old traveler's cloak, his broad hat, his trusty metal hammer, a short crossbow, and -oh boy- a rather large bag, with an overwhelming amount of exterior pockets, probably filled with all kinds of nonsense. You begin to see a pattern.

After you walk outside his workshop, he spends about 5 minutes locking and securing the door with multiple devices. You sigh, wondering who in his right mind would even dare to rob a grimy old workshop, with a rusted, wheezing, creaking, moving, metallic grim reaper above its door. Sharp scythe included.
He catches up with you, walking fast, and whistling a happy song (and terribly off-key)
You notice that he must have patched his heavy boots with metal soles... You sigh yet again. "Well, good thing this is not a stealth mission..."


Further character traits an' facts.
-Light source? Thread? Rope? Tools? Picks? Pry bar? Grappling hook? Nails? Tinderbox? "Aye, I must'ave one in me pocket somewhere!" he announces happily, sets his fat bag on the ground and dives in.

-"A spear? Pshaw, what are'we lad, savages?
A bow? Do we look like wee folk hiding 'inna tree?
A sword? Expensive!
A staff? Worthless! Fake-tits-'onna-zombie-worthless, lad! It's a glorified walking stick, fer' heaven's sake!
Now... mallets and crossbows, laddie, mallets and crossbows! Tools of the trade! Even axes be good, ye can chop more than wood with'em, if ya kno' what I mean...."

-He's terribly afraid of dogs. During his youth in [Big, ugly, dirty town name] he had to dodge packs of ferocious dogs multiple times. He can "detect" canines at great ranges.
-He's really at home in ruins, run-down buildings, undergrounds, corridors and passageways, abandoned cities.
-He can speak a little bit of many, many languages. Nothing fit for brilliant conversation, but he can at least say "don't kill me please" and "I can trade/work for food" in most tongues.
-He's always got a joke or a story ready, even 'tho most of them are horrible puns and offensive limericks.
-He can walk for days at an end, without stopping, but he absolutely detests running.
-He thinks horses [or your replacement rideable beast] are dumb and filthy creatures, but if he really must do so, will ride one, unless, of course, walking is an option (And unless the rideable beast is a canine. Like the Wargs in LoTR).
-He can't see well without his goggles, but he has a sharp ear and a keen nose (especially if you're looking for food)
-He will absolutely, positively, undoubtedly NOT leave his hat behind.
-Unconditionally loves cats.
-Not afraid of undead creatures and other such manifestations.

[Grakelin]

even with my masterfully trained mind

lolwut

Why is it so rare that someone has a happy backstory?

I saw "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" the other day, and the bumbling, carefree journalist who has exactly one problem in his backstory was so much less endearing than the horrifically broken Girl.

[Capntastic]

And?  A single movie can't be used as the sole example to justify anything.  Further, I'm not the slightest bit familiar with the movie or book, but I am assuming the journalist is a Joe Everyman who is intentionally bland to be a relatable cipher, and the 'broken girl' is the interesting person what draws him into the plot.  That's pretty generic stock stuff, which isn't to say it's bad, but rather that it simply indicates that yes, it is exceedingly rare for writers not to pack a character's backstory with sad stuff.  The appeal is that it's instant drama beyond the core plot of a film, or a button that can be jammed on to crank out emotion.  I get that, but that doesn't mean I have to appreciate it.

You can have a character who has led a happy life until the events of the story, or even a story that isn't just "the character gets sad and then fixes it".

[schrocko88]

Name: Nikolaus "Tinkerer" Vorn.
Friends may call him Nikky. If you want to be an ass about it, you may call him "Tink", but he won't mind.
Race: Human, for all purposes. Although, judging by his appetite and culinary habits, he may just be a half-troll.
Age: He's in his early 30s.

Appearance, settings, atmosphere and so forth:
Before you, there is a rather large fellow, hunched over a cluttered table. He is mumbling and fiddling with various bits of metal, trying to piece together an unidentified yet complicated device. His bald head shines into the light of his table-lamp.
As you approach, there is a sudden "twang" noise while springs and sprockets fly in all directions, bounce and scatter, vanishing around his hodgepodge workshop.
He mutters a hushed curse under his breath and turns to greet you.

You can hardly contain your laughter as you see that a metal spring has entangled itself in his coarse beard. He does not seem to notice.

He's wearing some hand-made goggles with magnifying glass shard insets. His clothes are faded, torn and patched, but they do seem to have an impressive amount of pockets, most of them hand made, and bulging with unknown doodads.
Standing at about 6ft. (1.85m) tall, with a stature over 200 pounds (100kg), this joyous man smiles broadly while giving you a strong handshake.
His hands are rough, and his fingers have been hastily wrapped in (now dirty) band-aids. It seems that he cuts and bruises himself a lot while working.
He listens to you carefully while you explain the nature of your quest, and after some careful considerations, he cheerfully agrees to join you. You do, however notice that his eyes brightened when you mentioned gold coins. But hey, who doesn't like gold coins, right?

He grabs his old traveler's cloak, his broad hat, his trusty metal hammer, a short crossbow, and -oh boy- a rather large bag, with an overwhelming amount of exterior pockets, probably filled with all kinds of nonsense. You begin to see a pattern.

After you walk outside his workshop, he spends about 5 minutes locking and securing the door with multiple devices. You sigh, wondering who in his right mind would even dare to rob a grimy old workshop, with a rusted, wheezing, creaking, moving, metallic grim reaper above its door. Sharp scythe included.
He catches up with you, walking fast, and whistling a happy song (and terribly off-key)
You notice that he must have patched his heavy boots with metal soles... You sigh yet again. "Well, good thing this is not a stealth mission..."


Further character traits an' facts.
-Light source? Thread? Rope? Tools? Picks? Pry bar? Grappling hook? Nails? Tinderbox? "Aye, I must'ave one in me pocket somewhere!" he announces happily, sets his fat bag on the ground and dives in.

-"A spear? Pshaw, what are'we lad, savages?
A bow? Do we look like wee folk hiding 'inna tree?
A sword? Expensive!
A staff? Worthless! Fake-tits-'onna-zombie-worthless, lad! It's a glorified walking stick, fer' heaven's sake!
Now... mallets and crossbows, laddie, mallets and crossbows! Tools of the trade! Even axes be good, ye can chop more than wood with'em, if ya kno' what I mean...."

-He's terribly afraid of dogs. During his youth in [Big, ugly, dirty town name] he had to dodge packs of ferocious dogs multiple times. He can "detect" canines at great ranges.
-He's really at home in ruins, run-down buildings, undergrounds, corridors and passageways, abandoned cities.
-He can speak a little bit of many, many languages. Nothing fit for brilliant conversation, but he can at least say "don't kill me please" and "I can trade/work for food" in most tongues.
-He's always got a joke or a story ready, even 'tho most of them are horrible puns and offensive limericks.
-He can walk for days at an end, without stopping, but he absolutely detests running.
-He thinks horses [or your replacement rideable beast] are dumb and filthy creatures, but if he really must do so, will ride one, unless, of course, walking is an option (And unless the rideable beast is a canine. Like the Wargs in LoTR).
-He can't see well without his goggles, but he has a sharp ear and a keen nose (especially if you're looking for food)
-He will absolutely, positively, undoubtedly NOT leave his hat behind.
-Unconditionally loves cats.
-Not afraid of undead creatures and other such manifestations.

He's very interesting. I'll have to find a way to meet him, but I can get it done. He'll be in there.

[schrocko88]

even with my masterfully trained mind

lolwut

I don't know. I thought it sounded nice. Although I've never been trained in writing any more than what they give me at school, which isn't much considering I'm still a freshman in high school.

[UltraValican]

Why is it so rare that someone has a happy backstory?

Because angst is a literal chick magnet. Just ask these guys.

His name is STRIFE!!!

See the beginning of one of his games.

He is ze master

[Darvi]

There's actually many examples of characters with un-angsty backstories, but those cases often don't mention said backstory much.

[G-Flex]

Why is it so rare that someone has a happy backstory?

Because tragic backstory is a really, really cheap and easy way to give someone motivation and explain their behavior without really saying much about the character himself. For instance, say a protagonist is after the antagonist because the antagonist, I don't know, murdered the protagonist's sister or lover or parents or something. That would be a pretty easy to get conflict and motivation, but it really tells you nothing about either character (who wouldn't be mad about that?) and doesn't make either one particularly interesting. Giving a character valid motivations without relying on backstory as a crutch requires that character to actually be interesting in their own right, in the moment, as they are, and that's apparently further than a lot of authors are willing to go.

[JoshuaFH]

Why is it so rare that someone has a happy backstory?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Because angst is a literal chick magnet. Just ask these guys.

His name is STRIFE!!!

See the beginning of one of his games.

He is ze master

Who is the last one? He looks familiar but it's on the tip of my tongue and I can't name it.

[Capntastic]

Why is it so rare that someone has a happy backstory?

Because tragic backstory is a really, really cheap and easy way to give someone motivation and explain their behavior without really saying much about the character himself. For instance, say a protagonist is after the antagonist because the antagonist, I don't know, murdered the protagonist's sister or lover or parents or something. That would be a pretty easy to get conflict and motivation, but it really tells you nothing about either character (who wouldn't be mad about that?) and doesn't make either one particularly interesting. Giving a character valid motivations without relying on backstory as a crutch requires that character to actually be interesting in their own right, in the moment, as they are, and that's apparently further than a lot of authors are willing to go.

Those are pretty much the same reasons I gave to my own rhetorical question above.  The core issue is that people, especially in genre fiction, assume that anyone who is worth writing about has to have had some bad experience in their life that is driving them. 

[Bdthemag]

Name: Aelek Orivon
Race: Human would be more fitting, but can be changed to pretty much anything you want to change it to.
Age: Mid to late 40's

Appearance, settings, atmosphere and so forth:

You notice a loud uproar from a nearby table where a large group of burly sailors seem to be playing cards, at a second glance you see a tall fragile looking man with graying hair wedged between a few other sailors at the table. He lay's down his cards and grins, and the sailors groan in frustration as he shows a winning hand. The sailors grudgingly hand over their coin, except for one sailor who seems clearly outraged that this man won yet again.

The man yell's something back at the sailor then smiles, the sailor seems to not like what he just heard and delivers a punch to the man's face. The man fall's over, his nose bleeding profusely and the tavern bouncers come by to break up the fight.

You mind your own business after that, after an hour the man walks over to you. He leans in towards you to speak, and you can clearly smell alchohol on his breath. He say's "You there, care to play a game of cards?"

You shake your head and politely decline, he sighs with and sits down next to you. "I used to be a bard you know, a mighty fine one at that. I'd preform all over, I was a master story teller and hundreds would come from all over just to hear my tales!".

You slowly move away from him, to leave him to his drunken muttering. He then grabs you by the collar and pulls you towards him "You won't believe the thing's I've seen out there, ever since those damn men came by in their group looking for..." You push him away and he scowls at you and walks away.
---------------------------------
Aelek is about 5'9, and 130 pounds. He was born in a small wilderness town of [INSERT NAME HERE], and lived there until he was of age to leave. He had a knack for story telling as a child, often making up stories of brave knights fighting evil wizards and telling them to his father. As soon as he turned 18 he left his small town much to his parents dislike, and began traveling throughout the country for a few years.

After that there isn't much record of what he did during those traveling years (Feel free to fill this part of the backstory with whatever.) but he emerged a competent traveler who knew a few things about fighting. He then worked as an entertainer in the nearby city of [INSERT CITY NAME HERE], and eventually found his way into a small traveling circus group.

He lived once again on the road for a few more years, until one day a group of strange men came by the circus asking for volunteers for a a certain...task. Aelek agreed to this task, which is unkown at this time but what is known is that he was gone for a few years. He came back and refused to talk about it to anyone.

He has been living his latest years living in the city, and gambling everyday at the nearby tavern. Oddly enough he seems to win most of the games he play's. and can afford to live in a room there everyday...

(There's some obvious holes in the character, but feel free to fill in/do whatever you want with this character.)

Further character traits and facts.
-Has an extreme dislike of being underground, sometimes outright refusing to go underground at all.
-Seems to be abnormally lucky in some situations.
-A talented story teller.
-Can bluff his way through a conversation rather well.
-Has a wounded leg which didn't heal right, so he walks with a limp.
-He's getting old, and his years are starting to catch up with him.
-Has a good amount of knowledge of things that one wouldn't expect a normal person to have (Magic, or whatever you think fits.) but refuses to tell where he learned this.

(This is really just a character concept that I haven't gotten around to writing in a story yet, I'll probably never write about this character so feel free to do whatever you want with him. The concept is basically an old bard who suffered an odd tramatic event when he was younger.)

[G-Flex]

Those are pretty much the same reasons I gave to my own rhetorical question above.  The core issue is that people, especially in genre fiction, assume that anyone who is worth writing about has to have had some bad experience in their life that is driving them.

To be fair, backstory isn't bad per se, it's just... cheap, and not a substitute for making a character legitimately interesting in their own right. And yeah, the idea that a super-tragic past is necessary is just ridiculous. A person can even have an interesting past without that, never mind simply being an interesting person.

[Capntastic]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with backstory, but it's super delicate to take care in how it's expositioned and dealt with in the story.  Inigo Montoya's driven by revenge for his father, but he's not a mopey dude.  He's actually got a day to day life dealing with present issues, he has a job working for Vizzini, all of that.  His past isn't an emotional button that the writer pushes to make us feel sad, even though it is a sad backstory.  What it is, most importantly, is something that gives context to who Inigo is, and what he's about.