Suggestions are always fun

[Sophie]

Well, Nobillis has posted this pdf in the past. It's informative, but rather dry and technical.

 

I don't thing it really matters what you write, so long as it's about her and it's fun. Dialog would be good because it helps to establish her speech patterns. Roleplaying as her can also work -- you don't have to do full-scale D&D or anything -- a chat room or forum RP would be fine.

 

Think of her as different from yourself. Whether you're writing or roleplaying, don't think of it as "This is what I would do if I were here." Think of it as "This is what she would do because of her personality and what's important to her -- even if I'd do something completely different."

 

I've bee writing fiction for years now, and I've had one character who I'm absolutely sure is sentient -- she could be a tulpa if I wanted her to be. I think the difference between her and all the others is that she's the most interesting and exciting, both for me and for readers. I've written stories about her riding an elevator, sitting and reading a book in a cafe, or buying groceries, and she makes the story more exciting than my epic fantasy or science fiction -- without even having to do anything interesting.

 

So make Miri the sort of character you have fun writing, and I think she'll become sentient far faster.

 

When you're writing, a sign you're doing well is when the character doesn't do what you want her to do. Maybe for the story you need her to go off and do something, and she couldn't care less, or absolutely refuses, or there's just something far more important to her that she'd rather be doing.

 

For roleplaying, a sign might be that you're like a different person when you're playing her. I've heard of people who said that other players didn't even recognize them when they were playing D&D -- they adopted their character's mannerisms, accent, and personality, and virtually became that character. Not that you have to be playing around a table -- if you roleplay with someone, and then meet them as yourself, even online, and they can't believe it's you playing the character, that would be a very good sign.

 

I don't know how helpful this is, but I know there have been other threads on here about writing to create characters. Maybe they'd be more useful.

[Guest]

Well, I generally (meaning when my friends' finals and studies aren't ruining everything like these past couple weeks) have DnD every Saturday night.

 

But.. Well I mean, I'm a guy, and I don't suppose I'd get off Scott-free in playing a girl, haha.. That's not to say I wouldn't jump at it, but I already have the gay jokes flying at me left and right, and I'm not keen to make it any more weird.

 

And oh god, Internet role playing. No thanks. Noooo thanks. I frequented, then modded, a chatsite for near two years, and there was too much very bad RP. Like, ugh. I'm ruined for it.

 

I'm still not sure about writing.. I'm actually working on a little story right now, with a character whose form I was thinking about giving Miriam, and I'm not sure how their personalities would really match. Granted I'm not sure how Miri's general personality is anyway, so meh. I still might want to give her the body, but as it stands, I'd really rather not diverge from what I'm doing with the character..

 

As well as that, the notebook I write in is at my DM's place. Forgot it yesterday..

 

I don't know. I'll read Nobillis's thing here in a little while. I'm just not sure exactly how to write her. Or if I do, I'm afraid what I'm doing might be different than what she is so far, and I'd end up with a different Tupper or something.

[Rootbeer128]

Hmm...

 

If I were you, I'd talk to your tulpa whenever you can, and try to actively force once or twice a day during the weekends.

 

Actively forcing has different interpretations, but usually refers to paying most of your attention to your tulpa; that is, visualization, or just focusing and talking, without focusing on other things.

 

That's just my suggestion, though.

 

EDIT: Woops. This was in response to the earlier one you posted. Didn't see the new responses.

[Guest]

My focus is shite. I don't know how to improve it. I've been trying to find something, that's actually within my power, to make this whole Tupper thing fun, so I might be more keen to work, but I'm not really getting anything yet.

 

Sigh. Idunno. Ohwell. I'll figure something out at some point. I've thought about giving up countless times, but I haven't yet, so I doubt I will. She'll be done whenever, if ever she's done.

[Rootbeer128]

Okay. Glad to hear that you and your tulpa are still continuing together.

[Sophie]

I know where you're coming from with roleplaying. I wouldn't do it in person, unless you have the least judgemental friends ever, but there are alternatives. MUDs and MUSHes can be good sometimes, but they're crap sometimes too.

 

I think the best way to roleplay online is to get a group together like you would in person, to meet one night a week. Any private chatroom works (a dice rolling mechanic is nice, but you don't need it -- two players can shoot for it via PM to the GM). If you'd rather not use a regular chatroom, there are dedicated websites for this sort of thing, like Roll20.

 

Granted I'm not sure how Miri's general personality is anyway, so meh.

 

...

 

I'm just not sure exactly how to write her.

 

Exactly why I suggest writing or roleplaying. They're two of the best ways of building up a character's personality. With your background, I'm sure you know how much more developed a character can be after you've been writing or roleplaying as him, compared to before you started.

 

And I've totally been there: "I can't write a story about this character because I don't know how to write this character." Ironically, the solution is to write a story about that character.

 

If I'm writing a character-driven novel, I usually write a short story about the character first. That way I'll know exactly who she is when I get to the real thing. If the short story is crap, so what? it's not canon. And if it's really crap, I'll scrap it and write a new one.

 

It sounds like Miri doesn't have much of a personality yet. She's defaulting to your own personality, which you see as being you, so you don't work on her, so her personality doesn't develop. So you're stuck in a catch-22.

 

Write to get to know her.

 

And yeah, she's probably going to end up different from what she is so far. Is that a bad thing, considering that you're practically denying that she is anything so far?

 

As well as that, the notebook I write in is at my DM's place. Forgot it yesterday.

 

A grievous setback. In my day, (back when dinosaurs ruled the earth) we did all our school work on paper. We would carry around a different notebook for each class, a few dozens sheets of looseleaf, a bunch of folders, textbooks, and if we were really desperate, we'd scribble dirty messages in the margins of library books, or the class dictionary.

 

In this modern age, you kids just make video presentations with your phones and text them to the teacher, so paper is pretty much obsolete. You can download digital textbooks, you get "library" books through a Kindle app, and "dictionary" is a web site to you. So paper can be hard to come by.

 

Fortunately, all is not lost!

 

You can write on:

• the insides of cereal boxes
• tissue boxes
• napkins
• tissues (clean ones -- don't press down too hard on the pencil)
• toilet paper (same advice as tissues)
• toilet paper rolls (your story can loop back around and become neverending)
• toilet seats (use a good quality marker, or you'll have to do your editing in reverse on someone's butt)
• character sheets
• D&D rulebooks
• that little manual that explains how to set up your TV
• the undersides of drawers
• the bottoms of tables
• the backsides of cabinet doors
• walls (drywall works best -- for exterior walls, you may need spray paint, and someone to watch for the cops)
• floors
• ceilings
• sidewalks (they make special chalk for this)
• passed out drunk people (sharpies work well)
• matchboxes (write really tiny)
• Google Earth (write really big)
• plates (especially paper ones, but ketchup will write on any of them)
• coffee filters (unused ones -- don't use them afterward)
• car doors (use a car key)
• clothes and shoes (with a sharpie)
• the sky (use government planes and mind-control chemicals)
• business cards (just go into an office building and introduce yourself to everyone -- and then do it again with a fake mustache on)
• religious pamphlets
• phone books (you may not know what they are, but people still make them, in spite of everyone throwing them away unopened)
• grocery store bags (ask for paper, not plastic)
• grocery store receipts
• grocery store checkout clerks (pick the really stoned ones -- you can punctuate your sentences with their pimples)
• and hey, if you're in the grocery store anyway, pick up another notebook.
  

Oh, and if all that fails, try typing.

[Guest]

Ohhhkay Ser Smartass. I see how it is :l

 

I'd just really prefer to keep it within a single notebook. If I start writing something, I'll wanna keep it going for a while, and it's hard to do that unless I have a set place to do so.

 

I worked on personality a LOT over the first few weeks of this, I'd always figured maybe I was laying down a base, and she'd be more apt to build something on top of that. I haven't seen that so far, but I guess that's not to say she still hasn't. And I don't really deny that she's anything. I'll deny that she's much more than a very base Tupper, but even then, I don't know, she doesn't speak,

 

And regarding the writing again.. I mean, Miriam's based off of a pre-existing character. Writing something completely unrelated to her base, with the form still in mind sounds weird. Like I said, I have an original Whose body I've been thinking about giving her, but I'm still early into a story from her, and I don't wanna give it up just yet. Maybe if I were to take the time and change Miriam's name to the character's, I'd feel more comfortable, but I like her name, so..

 

Idunno. I don't really feel so keen to write her a backstory, or anything.. I've worked on characters for very lengthy amounts of time, and their actions are very much still according to my whim. I just don't feel like I'd be able to give her reign, or whatever. Room to develop. It'd just be all business.

 

Or so I think, anyway, I don't know. Whatever the case, I really don't have the creativity to think up a new form, and then write who knows what about it. Writing definitely doesn't helpe understand my characters any more. The one I write for the most is still pretty flat, even after a couple years, and any new characters are still meh. That's why I don't share anything I write. Nothing at all. What I do have set for any of th is what I took a kindof irritating amount of time to think about, and plan ahead.

 

So I don't know, I don't feel it would do much for me..

 

RP - I don't have the Internet for weekly sessions. It's awfully slow, and can go out at a moment's notice. I don't even have any friends online that enjoy RP. And I'm not at all keen to make friends with random people for the sake of it.

 

I'll probably just keep narrating until she talks, I guess. See how long this takes, haha..

[Sophie]

So you can't write because you don't write very well?

 

Do you give up and throw away your video games the first time you lose a life?

 

Most people do get better at things as they do them more. Now I'm not going to say it's just a matter of "try hard and believe in yourself" -- although that is a part of it. But reading about writing will help. Try this or this to start. Work at it.

 

Showing your stuff to other people helps a lot too -- in the right context. I didn't do it for years, and then my mother took me in as a guest to her writing class, and I signed up for the next one and have been doing it since.

 

I take in my absolute best writing because I'm still ashamed of people seeing my worst crap. And initially I was seeing lots of criticism as nitpicky or stupid, but gradually I started to see their points, and even to internalize their advice. It's been really helpful.

 

But as to roleplaying, have you tried the library? In spite of my joking in my last post, public libraries still do exist, and you can get on the internet there. They usually let anyone with a card use their public terminals for an hour at a time, but sometimes they'll extend that time if the library isn't busy. If you bring your own laptop, you can use their wifi as long as they're open -- and laptops don't cost too much either. I'm writing this on a laptop I bought for $10 on ebay.

[Guest]

Public libraries don't exist here, actually. I live in Arkansas. The only thing within five miles walking distance is a gas station. If there's a library within a hundred miles, I don't know about it, much less have any way to get there.

 

I'm sixteen, not allowed to drive because my GPA is so low, and I can't afford to give anyone money to take me places. So yeah. And again, I just really don't like online RP. It's pretty dead for me. I've never personally witnessed one that didn't make me cringe, plus I don't even know what we'd do.

 

When did I say I wasn't a very good writer? I'm pretty alright, I would think. My teachers love what I write for school, and I've practiced a very fair bit. That's not to say I can just think up, and write for a character I hardly know anything about. I know her personality. I can't exactly do much else without taking away what creative freedom she might want in herself, can I?

 

I'd prefer she winds up how she wants in the end, not hold her hand up until vocality, only to find I've influenced everything about her. Even if narrating is slow, I guess that's the most comfortable way for me..

 

And yeah, the character I like writing is still flat, relatively speaking. Not to say he's not well-rounded enough, but planning out characters is so boring for me. I have his personality, backstory, interests blah blah, but he's not so individualistic that he "writes himself" or anything. All of that took enough thought. I like writing him. Writing him doesn't tell me more about him, though.

 

And I have not, do not, will not share anything I write. I don't plan on making any profession out of it, it's just something I do for me. I like writing cute stuff, and fun stuff, and I don't care whether or not there's anything for anyone other than me to enjoy in them. Screw other people.

 

Also

 

>10 dollar laptop

 

>Implying I have more than a dollar bill and some dimes, let alone some debit/credit card to buy a cheap computer online.

 

If I'm buying a computer, I'm building one from scratch, and it has to be able to run music production stuff. Not settling for less.

 

Anyway, again, I'll just narrate til she's done, and try and practice visualization. Be done at some point.