Personality



This part is deceptively tricky. You may think you've got a decent amount of information on your character written down, but then be rejected for too little personality. One way to figure out whether you've got enough detail on your character's personality is to check paragraphs- three to five is the usual standard these days.
"But Sailor Freak," you say, "That's too long! I can't babble about how my character acts THAT much!"
On the contrary- once you figure out how to organize things you'll find it difficult to STOP writing. I've had to pry myself away from the personality section quite often to keep from overwhelming people. ^_^; Here's a little outline of a few things you'll want to touch on in the personality:

I) Social
A) How does she react to strangers?
How long does it take to get to know her? How trusting is she of people she just met?

B) How does she act in groups?
Is she different around friends as opposed to other people? How outgoing is she? What does she do in social situations?

C) How does she feel about her family?
How's her behavior different at home as opposed to outside? What's she like around different family members? Who does she get along with? Who does she fight with? Who makes her question whether she's really related to them?

II) Internal
A) How does she act alone?
What does she do to occupy herself? What does she do alone that she'd never do in public? What would she do if people found out about it?

B) What is she really like?
What's her biggest dream? What (if anything) is she doing to make it come true? What's she most afraid of? How does she react when confronted with it? What will she never, ever do, no matter what? How would she react if ordered to do it? What makes her really angry? How does she act when she's angry?

C) What are her good/bad points?
What are her strengths? What are her redeeming traits- the things that make her a good human being (or whatever she is)? (Even villains have these.) What are her weaknesses? What are her bad traits- things that make her less than perfect? (Even heroes get these.)

III) Battle
A) What's her battle style?
Is she offensive/defensive? When's she at her best? Her worst? Does she lead or take orders? Is she a team person, or a loose cannon?

B) How does she feel about fighting?
What does she think of her enemy(ies)? What does she think of her allies? How far will she go for her cause? What might make her switch sides?

When writing your character's personality, try to give her traits that match up with her astrological sign. For example, if I had a Pisces character, I'd try to give her something related to endings (one of the main aspects of Pisces, since it's the last sign of the zodiac)- maybe a desire to get things finished quickly, for example, or a tendency to give away the endings of stories. However, try to avoid just copying the whole sign template. Give your character her own personality apart from her sign.
And under no circumstances should you cut and paste the astrological summary of your character's sign into the personality section. Ever. That's a sure way to get automatically rejected. Trust me, the reviewers will know.

Remember to give your character weaknesses and flaws. These are what make her stand out from the rest of the crowd. Is she selfish, or self-sacrificing? Is she indecisive? Flaws are the spice of a personality.
Same coin, other side- make sure your character has some redeeming trait. Sure, she's bent on conquering the planet, but maybe your villain has a soft spot for animals. These make the villains much more interesting and human (or at least three-dimensional).

Also, be sure you give your character motivations. This is especially important for villains. Why has your character decided to try to conquer/destroy the universe? Does she think she can run things better? Does she think that suffering will end with everyone dead? Or is she just looking for something to do after school? (Yes, if you put the right spin on that last one it can be accepted.)

The one thing you'll really REALLY want to avoid is a loner type of character. I don't mean people who are comfortable on their own, or shy people. I'm talking about the type who actively avoids or despises human contact. This is a BAD IDEA in a game where characters interact, as it'll just contribute to your character being anywhere but where the action is in a story. Always give your character a reason to interact with her group, other than just "Well, I guess I kind of HAVE to, since the GM is MAKING me." People will almost always ignore the (often hooded) person lurking in the corner because, well, they're more interested in their own lives and people that'll actually talk to them.

If your character is especially shy or otherwise has trouble interacting, you may want to give her an NPC or some other crutch to force her into interaction with the other PCs.

Useful Personality Links:
Weaknesses
RPG de Freak's article on the use of weaknesses, as well as a useful list of them.

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