tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586301806456122785.post5329019550177611546..comments2023-09-13T14:36:22.613+01:00Comments on The AGS blog: Character DevelopmentSSHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00325663006745584986noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586301806456122785.post-3820740065131141142011-11-03T05:21:24.289+00:002011-11-03T05:21:24.289+00:00I feel compelled to point out that the stages of g...I feel compelled to point out that the stages of grief were never intended to be used the way you and most other people use them. They are not in any way, shape, or form supposed to be a checklist of the "proper" emotions to go through after a loss. They are simply an observation of common reactions. Everyone will react differently, both in what stages they experience and what order they experience them. So, no, "the character, to be believable, should follow a staged and set path of dealing with this event" is not accurate. The character should react according to his or her personality and his or her relationship with who/whatever has been lost. (Sorry, took a Death, Dying and Grief class and ever since then I've not been able to see someone talk about the stages of grief without correcting them.)<br /><br />Otherwise, a lot of good points! I especially like your observation that the character's backstory should support the game, as failing to do that almost always makes the backstory feel tacked on and irrelevant.Savannahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586301806456122785.post-12356325444715381752011-11-03T02:35:09.122+00:002011-11-03T02:35:09.122+00:00Fantastic post. I've never really thought abou...Fantastic post. I've never really thought about it explicitly, but you're absolutely right about the importance of backstory. I find that I almost create entire lives for my characters, and then I choose what to reveal for this particular story/game. The story then becomes a window into their already established lives. It really helps to give the character depth.<br /><br />On the other hand, I've had feedback that this method really creates confusion sometimes, because the character might do something that in my mind makes perfect sense - but might be utterly baffling to my audience. This is usually because I'm holding some nugget of information about that character that I either neglected to mention in the story, or gave insufficient hints about. Show, don't tell doesn't always work out the way you want it to... but I guess that takes practice, and that's what separates the mediocre character writers from the really great ones.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com