Iso's OC Question of the Day

Q16. Do you use the links feature between your own characters? If not, why not?

I don't use the links feature because I already had most of the relationships sections of my bios done before I realized it existed and I was too lazy to delete it all. I like the way my bios are set up already, and I don't like the idea of the links being off to the side? idk I'm weird. It's pretty cool though.

OH JEEZ i thought i asked a question earlier but i guess not whoops

Q17. At what rate do you tend to create OCs? How has this changed over time?

I come up with new OCs really quickly and really easily; I have over 1,000 OCs (the vast majority of whom have at least personalities, designs, and abilities planned out, but plenty of them are also fleshed out with backstories etc etc) and even though I've been trying to "delete" old OCs I've done nothing with (AKA I isolate them to a corner of my character list file and plan to maybe make them exist again someday) the void gets filled up fast. I'm really easily inspired, so it's hard for me to not make OCs. I'll make OCs based off of dreams, based off of whatever theme I find (seven sins, days of the week, months, zodiac, soil types...), one time I even made an OC based off of someone's boots! I've started adopting recently too, so the rate at which I create OCs is pretty high at the moment. Luckily the massive influx of characters hasn't really drained my creativity at all; my more recent stories/universes are some of the most complex yet and the ones I hold dearest to my heart.

I've always made a lot of characters, but the most active period of my life was probably the 2009ish area. Long story short I came up with an idea that gave me an excuse to make, like, 16 new stories/universes, and of course plenty of characters came with that. Unfortunately for most of them I just planned vague concepts that I wasn't really passionate about, so most of the OCs I created during that period are the ones I'm planning to "delete" since nearly all of the involved OCs were literally just names. I'd go on baby name websites, look up cool meanings that related to the story, and slap them on my character list without ever actually thinking about what the character was supposed to look like or do. Now I just keep a list of names I like instead of slapping them on to character lists without any context gg

Q17. At what rate do you tend to create OCs? How has this changed over time?

Very slowly really, in all honesty I don't make new ocs as much as remake old ones, make their personality/backstory/story better. I like to focus on one group at a time mainly and it really helps me flesh out their characters and that is what I like about ocs. I don't take as much pleasure from having a collection as much as focusing on what makes them an individual. For a while I was actually making a lot more ocs more frequently but I took less enjoyment with them. I have a few ocs already and honestly I make more by expanding on current characters, their family, their friends, ect. I don't like cranking out characters a lot because it ruins a lot of the fun for me and as time has gone on I get slower and slower with new ones.

Q16. Do you use the links feature between your own characters? If not, why not?

I love using the feature! It's a very useful way to link characters together without messing up or cluttering the profile. Not to mention it gives a very quick visual reference for which characters know which ones.

Q17. At what rate do you tend to create OCs? How has this changed over time?

Too often :'D Earlier this year I made more more easily, but it hasn't slowed down yet. I'm at 80-something at the moment and it looks like more characters are on their way. Sometimes in a story or a RP a background character gets lots of attention and they end up becoming a character of their own, sometimes I make new stories and the people characters encounter are new characters as well, and sometimes I just have a design idea nad decide 'Fuck it, let's go with it'. In my beginning days of 2009-2011 I had about 3-5 OCs, 1 of which was completely alone for two years. Definitely sped up a bunch since then and I no longer feel scared to turn random ideas into characters. 

Q16. Do you use the links feature between your own characters? If not, why not?

Oh yes. Currently have 25 pages of links between my babies. All of them (I think) are in character as well, so you get to hear from each person themselves what they think of the other person. It's kind of a fun little character development exercise, and it helps me keep track of all these little dweebs. XD I got rather behind on it early on, but now I think I'm all caught up so when I add more of my characters waiting to have profiles, then I'll just have to add those and won't get too swamped with forgetting to link some together.

Q17. At what rate do you tend to create OCs? How has this changed over time?

I've definitely slowed don making OCs because I have far too many that I already need to revamp, so why make new ones when I need to make new versions of the old ones already? ^^; But I still can't help it sometimes, I came up with a new OC concept a few days ago and was like "NOOO WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT MAKING MORE BABIES" I'd like to say I created the most characters (and story ideas in general) when I was in the 2nd-4th grades, which is when I started writing stories and making characters. 5th-6th grade is when I started making a system for keeping track of them with physical files for each of them, and then 7th-9th grade is when it really exploded for me, mostly because my art style had changed quite a bit from my doofy kid drawings, so I felt more confident designing them rather than just visualizing them and drawing them as little cartoon characters all over everything I could get my hands on. Although I slowed down a little bit from 10th grade to now, the quality and development of each character has been deeper rather than just making lots of characters. However, even though I made lots of them back then, almost all of them are important to their stories, so I can't really scrap any of them and have to revamp... almost... all of them... TT_TT WHYYYYYYY 

So that's why I've slowed down. Because if I keep creating these darlings at the same rate I used to I think my brain will melt. It probably has already and I just haven't noticed yet.

Q17. At what rate do you tend to create OCs? How has this changed over time?

I've made a decent amount of OCs, but I've slowed down. The problem is, all of these OCs are used in the same RP and most of them come from different universes, so it's sometimes kinda hard to keep track of them all. Often times, I'll have brought in one character, then that character will get others to adventure in his/her universe, then BAM! I suddenly have five new OCs because of the original OC indtroducing the others to his/her friends. I've kinda tried to slow this down a bit ever since I wound up with eleven more characters because of the Runner arc. I HAVE made new characters since the Runner arc, but they were loners. Apoc Man and Minera are the main examples.

Q17. At what rate do you tend to create OCs? How has this changed over time?

Ah, well. I don't really create OCs at a rate, I think? It's more like I get random bursts of inspiration. Before I joined TH, I had a couple, only because I didn't know if I should put them on dA or somewhere else. I started creating lots more once I joined TH because I finally had a place to put all of their info and art. I love developing characters, which is surprising because not many of their bios are filled in. They are developed, but all of their info is still in my head. Most of my OCs are in one of the two major worlds I have, and those worlds usually have a bunch of different stories that I can put my characters in. I've kinda stopped creating more now, just because I realized the giant pile of bios and stories I have to work on...

Q17. At what rate do you tend to create OCs? How has this changed over time?

WELL when I make a bunch of OCs I tend to create them all at once-- like all of my mafia boys I created in the one sweep. Like, literally five of them within a day. Once I figure out their appearance and basic personalities, I get to planning their backstories. But, I'll also pick slowly at making them. Like my yokai crew, for example, but their cast is gonna be huge so it'll take me a while anyway. I can have lulls of months or even years between making new characters, it all depends! What I'm into at the time definitely also influences what I'm doing. Back in the day, I'd churn out new characters not in any specific universe just constantly... but these days I need a universe to stick 'em in, I don't like having them just floating off in the ether somewhere.

Hey guys, something bad just happened IRL so this thread might go on hiatus for a day or two; if I feel like I'll be away any longer than that I'll send a friend my question list to ask stuff in my stead. Either way, here's a meaty question that can probably be interpreted a few ways and will hopefully tide you all over until then!

Q18. Which of your OCs is your favorite, or who are a few of your favorites? Why?

Q18. Which of your OCs is your favorite, or who are a few of your favorites? Why?

I try not to pick favorites really, but the ones I like to rp with is usually Adie and Griffin. I hope I make them bounce off each other well and they make a decent pair in my eyes. Griffin is really outgoing and Adie can hold him back from going too far out.

Griffin in general is also the favorite among my friends, I suppose his personality is more original than most and after my friend expressed interest in him he developed a lot. I like him for his general attitude which actually differs from mine in that he is very social and can easily talk to others which makes him great to interact and get to know ocs when rping. I have also found I give him more of a noticeable speech pattern of as proper english as I can muster. I've been told he's cool which makes me spend a lot of time developing and thinking about him.