Letting go?

• How do you handle revamps? 
  • It all depends with me, really. I had some early characters that I revamped completely when I was about 15-16 years old, and I never really thought that much of it, but that was because their story was underdeveloped. In my newest situation, however...
• Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?
  • I have a 2-year-old character whom I love to bits, but she started out as a fan character for a series I used to like. I really want to free her of being associated with someone else's property, but it's so difficult. I love her story, the way she interacted with the world, and the relationships she made. The setting she was made for is so intrinsically a part of her, I can't take her out without feeling like she's losing something. She was practically- almost literally- raised by the characters from the story that she was made for, and don't even get me started on her creator! Her creator's a member of one of the race's unique to the show! I'd have to change her entire appearance! I don't want to change my strong alien lesbian mom!!
    Still... I know I'll be able to go through with it eventually. I usually just wait these things out, and let my feelings fade... then I take what I had before and turn it into something I like even better. It's just a matter of time.
• What do you do with the old writing?/What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore?
  • Hoard. It. Forever. I like to remember how my characters originated, and how far they've come. Nobody ever stays the same, so why should I hold my characters to a standard of needing to be the same forever?
• Is there a way to cut this attachment?
  • I don't really know of any tried and true methods to cut an attachment. Everyone's different: you just gotta figure out what works for you. I mean, like I said before, waiting it out could work, but that can take years. For me personally, I think the quickest way to become detached from a character is to see them with someone new, and watch what that person does with them. It's always so different from what I had in mind, that it completely turns me off to the character. So... maybe try that with someone you trust?
• How guilty do you feel breaking up couples via trades? (Is it story related?)
  • So long as I live, I will never willingly allow for this to happen.
• Am I asking too many questions?
  • Yes. You, in your act of politely asking people to answer your questions solely of their own volition, have inconvenienced me so much that I have now laid a curse upon you. Your taste-buds will undergo another change throughout the next year, and by this time in 2019, your favorite food will no longer be as tasty as it once was.

• How do you handle revamps?

• Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?

• What do you do with the old writing?

• Is there a way to cut this attachment?

• How the heck can you convince yourself to trade off a well-loved character?

• What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore?

• Am I asking too many questions?

OCs for me can really be hits or misses! Sometimes I get overly excited and impulse get a design, only to realise that i can't draw it well (which is a big factor for me in to keep).
On revamps, which tie with outdated art/rewriting, it depends on how drastic the change is. I've ended up revamping my main OC so many times that she's become a completely new character. Any art I've collected of the older versions is kept, but hidden away. I try not to look at it so that it's easier to let go if I need to. I just see it as "concept work"-- doesn't get uploaded. For rewrites, story gets tossed usually without much thought. I'm a fickle writer, so I have trouble getting attached to any writing I put sometimes. If it's a concept I REALLY like then I'll make up a new character, work parts of it into a new or already existing character, or again, just stash it away as concept work.
As for small revamps that are still pretty much the same, just small tweaks... I have no problem making them, but the previous art...kind of drives me nuts tbh! I try to edit in the new features in if applicable, but I recently edited a characters outfit, leaving me with all this art of the older one... I put it as an "alt" outfit, with the new one being the main, but it still bothers me! My instinct is to hide it so it's out of sight, out of mind. I just hate to think of all the money I put into it, though. Hopefully as I add new art it will make it easier to let go of the older one. Until then, it's an alternative.

Some tips I use to keep myself in check are:
1. Take a step back before I get a new character. Do I REALLY want the design? Will I use it or be able to draw it?
2. Am I overwhelmed with the current amount of OCs I have already? Sometimes having too many gets me anxious. And the more anxious I am the more willing I'll be to make a tough decision to cut down my hoard on impulse. I'll regret it later, sure, but... I did it, can't go back!
3. "Out of sight, out of mind" if I know I need to get rid of something, I put my focus on something else to lessen the sting. Usually another character, or getting into a new series/game. It takes longer, but it's the best to feel less guilty for me.
4. Retire the character. Kinda ties into 3, but this is with the intent to keep. I still like the character, but they're more of a one-off. I won't use them in stories anymore unless I have a need. That way I can still collect art of them, or have the comfort of still having them, but without the pressure of...keeping them active I guess? Like the side character to a series.

If anything ends up being related to drama, then...well. it's got to go. Trashed. Even if it kills me, I cannot let myself keep old wounds open. It will only remind me of negatives and end up as a bad time. Either gift it or retire it into a black hole.

Hope that helps? I think the best thing would be to retire. It's kept, just not used. Concepts to a character? //also hopefully this looks ok, I'm on mobile ksksdldldsjs

Since I actually revamped one of my oldest characters recently, I'mna add to this discussion a slight bit, with the character in question!

• How do you handle revamps? Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?
  • I actually had quite a lot of fun revamping my character! Most of what I had for him, I had never written down, so he was a constant work in progress with several AUs. Over the years, he turned in my head from this predatory jerk to this kid who was stuck in a situation he didn't ask to be born in; an overbearing father deciding his life for him. I knew he would always have some sort of vampiric quality to him, but I only decided to implement him into my current universe because I was bored as all hell and wanted a new character. So, I snatched up an old vampire canon I had from a story I tried to write when I was twelve and rolled with it. Now he's in a universe with a story that fits much better than the unforgivable (and unrealistic) villain he used to be before. 
• Is there a way to cut this attachment? How the heck can you convince yourself to trade off a well-loved character?
  • Personally, I cannot trade away any characters that I have created myself unless I created them for the specific purpose of putting them up for adoption. However, as somebody that impulse-buys characters a lot, I will often sit on the design and think about for aday or two. What would I do with the character realistically? What use do I have for the character? Is this a character that I can develop and create a story for, or do I just want doodle fodder? Sometimes the most important question for me when putting my characters UFT/UFS even though I love 'em is would anybody cherish this character more than I would? I'm aware (and somewhat guilty) that I cannot cater to all of my characters, and most of the ones I have only have half-formed ideas in my head. That's why I have a lot of my old characters open for offers - if people put in effort that shows they really want the character, then they show they'd do better with the character than I could.
  • That being said, I've seen people give away and sell their characters for both this reason and because of things going on in their life that sours their attachment to a character. Not something I recommend going for on purpose.
• Am I asking too many questions?
  • Looking for understanding other's opinions and viewpoints is never a bad thing. No need to feel guilty or ashamed or "not in the know" - in fact, I applaud it whenever anybody asks others 'why' instead of immediately lunging at other's throats saying what they do is bad. It's just something you don't know about because you've never experienced it, that's all. You wouldn't yell at a baby for not knowing how to walk/talk/write yet, and this is the same kinda thing. New knowledge c:

• How do you handle revamps?
  • It depend if its a character that i created myself or if its a adopt. When it comes to my own characters, i handle it well, the only problem i have is to revamp them often because i end up not liking a thing in their design, or finding out somethings wrong. As for adopts... Im scared to revamp them because I'm so rarely proud to death with my own design in a long term that when i found a nice idea, and this idea was for a character I adopted, i feel like i'm a giving that nice idea to someone else (when its still own that character !!) and i'm scared to take credit of it because i still wasn't the original designer. its a bit of a weird feeling (and im aware its a stupid feeling), and its probably badly worded (im not a native english speaker) , but its harder for me to revamp characters i didn't created at first. i only do slight revamp for adopted characters.
• Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?
  • I think for me the question must be "Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?" and its a huge yes because I always feel unsatisfied with my ideas, im not used to it at all, so i end up having no character developped. but to anwser the original question, i think its the same as revamping characters. I have this one developped character i was forced to do for a RP group on dA, that i left, and i had to change him to unattach them from that RP group, and he his somewhat different now (story-wise, not design-wise), he is even going to be on a story i'm planning to do later (once I assume my ideas, which I think is another thing that makes it hard for me to write), so i guess its not a struggle for me to rewrite characters, not more than to write them at all.
• What do you do with the old writing?
  • Just like old drawing, i would keep them, always keep old thing you did, its always nice to see what you characters were back them, bring memories and moslty to see how you improved ! (if the old writing was made by you of course) !
• Is there a way to cut this attachment?
  • You are asking this question to a person that struggle to let a character go, just because they like the design, nothing more. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 
• How the heck can you convince yourself to trade off a well-loved character?
  • Well, if its a well loved character, why would you feel the need to trade them ? i kept my very first character that was cringy as fuck, and even now i don't use him anymore, i keep them because i loved them that time and used them a lot ! they are a part of my life, trading them would be like trading a part of me (but who would want a cringy douche like them ? xD) i just keep them scraped on a side somewhere... on the void... and let them here forever unless they inspire me one day or another... 
  • If i can add another point, i would like to start almost from scratch and retrade all the adopted character i've go in my side account (except the 3 on my main account) but the idea to retrade the design i love hurts me, when i do absolutelly nothing with the character, for some. I really want to do it, but i'm scared to regret it. i already get back character i've traded once because of regret, when they are useless for me >< I have a love-hate relationship with adopted character that i can't explain >> I'm attached to their design, yet i'm pretty sure i own none of my dream design, i'm not even sure i've got one.
• How guilty do you feel breaking up couples via trades? (Is it story related?)
  • I can't anwser this question :' ) I only have one couple yet, and i wouldn't trade the character in question.
• What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore?
  • I scrap them, put them aside, i have this character that have a tab specially made for his old design ! 
• Am I asking too many questions?
  • Never

How do you handle revamps?

I procrastinate a lot. Usually I want to revamp characters who are seriously old, like from 2011-2013 and since then my interests have changed a lot and I'm more occupied by characters I have created after that. It's only natural you get better as you go by and with me my worldsettings were stabilized only in 2014 so anything that came before that is a bit of a problem for me in terms of wanting to draw and play with them again. 

Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?

Yeah, but it's literally just about motivation. For most old characters, their stories have already been told in my head to the point I don't feel like trying to do more would do me good, if that makes sense? If I HAD to write them I don't think I would have much trouble, but my newer era characters just simply interest me more now. 

What do you do with the old writing?

I keep them saved! I sometimes like to go back to read them, but admittedly I started writing only in late 2013 anyway so most of my "old" stuff is still pretty decent, as I was already 18 back when I started. I probably would feel differently if I had any writings saved from before that when I was a teenager

Is there a way to cut this attachment?

Not for me, personally? But what has helped me a LOT is the fact I know I don't NEED to work on them? Like they have their own place to belong and that in itself reassures me that they can survive on their own, haha. It's like sending your kid into the world and they now have their own life and you sometimes call them or whatever but you ultimately know they are now independent and don't need you with them all the time. 

How the heck can you convince yourself to trade off a well-loved character?

I wouldn't trade a well-loved character in the first place? Even if I didn't do anything with them I feel like it'd just hurt me if I traded them away, because I have good memories and literally no good reason to trade anything in the first place ;; 

How guilty do you feel breaking up couples via trades? (Is it story related?)

I have never had to do this, I think? Or alternatively I just ignore the problem: I have one character I kind of like but he's supposed to be dating a character who belongs to a friend, but I kind of don't want to feel like my OC is dependent on them? But I don't want to break it off so I just... don't do anything lol. But I guess I would probably either wipe the relationship entirely OR I would just make them break up in canon and move on

What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore?

I'd probably keep it, but just put in the description it isn't a good reference / it's OOC. Only if it was NSFW art I would probably hide it if it didn't feel IC for my character or was somehow in bad taste 

• How do you handle revamps?

• Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?

• What do you do with the old writing?

• Is there a way to cut this attachment?

• How the heck can you convince yourself to trade off a well-loved character?

• How guilty do you feel breaking up couples via trades? (Is it story related?)

• What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore?

• Am I asking too many questions?

I know I haven't really been replying to anyone but I've been reading these as they come in, and I love how many of you keep the characters you've cherish even when you're done with them! When I'm talking about revamping, I mean re-purposing them for a (new) story/world, really. But also the design revamps are also nice!

And also by "well-loved" I mean that you worked on them, and played with them, and did all sorts of great things, but then your inspiration for them ran out so now you're just letting them sit. They have a lot of work and art, but maybe their adventure is done. I might edit these into the OP. Yeh.

I've finally manned up and redid the main one I've been struggling on and now that he's come together again, I'm quite happy! He still needs some filling out but that'll come with time and finishing up the bios of his family. This thread's been a good inspiration. Thanks, everyone! I'm still cool with future inputs, too, as I have many others to work on :>

How do you handle revamps? (by this I mean majorly dumping a story and re-purposing the design/personality into a new one)

I usually can just toss away old bits of characters and even the entire character themselves without too many hang-ups. Personally, I feel like there isn't much of a point to keep an old OC if they just don't fit anymore. With how interconnected all of my OCs are, having one that just doesn't fit anymore really hinders my ability to develop other ones.

Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?

Only the extremely old ones. New ones I generally don't have too much irrelevant/bad parts that I have to get rid of. And if I do, I have way less sentimental attachment to those bits to feel any sort of guilt for changing them. I will admit that I have been spending the last 3 years trying to update an OC I made waaay back in 2004 ish when I was a very young kid. She was my very first OC and there is just so much I have to sort through it's a real struggle. It doesn't help that she is tied really closely to memories of my best friend of 15 years.

What do you do with the old writing?

I keep some of it either for sentimental value or just to laugh at how bad it is.

Is there a way to cut this attachment? (to old writing/art/ocs, w/e)

For me, I just remind myself that I can't keep everything. And, if it's an OC with art, there is a good chance that someone else would show them a lot more love than I am.

How the heck can you convince yourself to trade off a well-loved character?

Sometimes the love for an OC fades. Just because they were loved years ago doesn't mean that you'll love them now. Also, sometimes you just need some cash and if you aren't using that OC anymore you might as well sell.

How guilty do you feel breaking up couples via trades?

I have actually never had any experience with this. I did get rid of one OC who I didn't even have any written info for and I wanted to scrap him because I just didn't like him anymore. I just let the person who owned the other half of the couple keep him. I do feel like that if you have a couple with someone and you want to sell your half, you should let the owner of the other half have first chance to buy your half of the couple. Funnily enough, I talked to this person a couple weeks back and it turns out that they recently totally scrapped both of those OCs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore?

I usually still post it with the OC but include the note to not use it as a reference. I especially do this for pieces I made myself or spent money on.

• How do you handle revamps? (by this I mean majorly dumping a story and re-purposing the design/personality into a new one): depends
• Do you struggle to rewrite old characters? not really idk
  
• Is there a way to cut this attachment? (to old writing/art/ocs, w/e) tell urself the changes are for the best; for giving away ocs i dont give away ocs, i only do the adoptables of my species
• What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore? still keep it but if i get a drastic design change i will probably put a "dont use anything after this as a ref" like ive seen some ppl do
  

How do you handle revamps? (by this I mean majorly dumping a story and re-purposing the design/personality into a new one)

I have a few OCs that have been through different things. I try to keep the personality similar, if slightly different based on how they might have been raised differently/other environmental. Like if in one story they're a figurative running from the law and another they're from a royal family, they've lived very different lives! I also like to try to do little nods to other AUs, mostly for fun, but it does create a cohesion. Sirix was originally given the power of reflection when I first made her (baby's first OC), and in her current witch AU I wan to give her a magic mirror to hearken back to her first design. Also since I made her when I was 13 she wasn't super developed so admittedly putting her into different things has felt easy from how malleable, though I'm really trying to solidify her now. honestly, it shouldn't matter how developed a character is, try new things out. Think how different they would be if everything was the same except "x". 

Do you struggle to rewrite old characters?

Uh it has less to do with that and more with finding their purpose. Where does this character's personality shine? What setting do they belong in? Are they a "serious" character or a "joke" character (a lot of my stuff is fairly lighthearted). 

What do you do with the old writing?

Keep it! Just don't make it the big thing about them. On toyhouse you can give characters different tabs, use them! Keep different stories together. I think there is still plenty of value in your old works, even if you don't wish to continue them. 

Is there a way to cut this attachment? (to old writing/art/ocs, w/e)

I don't think you should. Don't be upset to move on, but realize those past works are what got you to your current works. 

How the heck can you convince yourself to trade off a well-loved character? (by well-loved I mean someone with a lot of work and/or art put into them, but maybe their adventure ended a long time ago and now they're just sitting)

I wouldn't? Some people do it because they desperately need money and the over-saturation of adopts (characters are used as trading chips, wherein a few years ago I'd never seen an adopt). I don't think I could trade a character I made for myself. However if the design was made by someone else, it might be less of an attachment? I don't have many adopts, and the ones I DO have I generally design SOMETHING for them, so I still am very attached. Designing them is very personal to me. 

 Not saying ppl CAN'T be super attached to OCs they haven't made start to finish, but for me, personally, it's harder if I have not put myself into them. 

How guilty do you feel breaking up couples (where you own only one of the two) via trades? (Is it story related?)

Uh. I had some falling outs with friends a couple of times. Our OCs were dating... I didn't know what to do? I thought I'd have them date someone else but it felt weird so I just stopped using them. Luckily we made up eventually and I didn't have to figure out what I would have done with them. 

BUT YEAH. Trading them feels weird if you've developed the relationship well. Gotta try to talk to anyone who has character interaction with cause that could be awkward. 

What do you do with art that doesn't suit your character anymore?

KEEP IT. Maybe it's not the first thing I show. Maybe it's in a different tab. BUT ITS THERE! It's good to see where you started with them.