So, I have been thinking. As much as we might try not to, or real-life personality often leaks into our characters. This can be an easy way for newer roleplayers to get into it, but when we become more advanced, we often try to make characters that are significantly different from or real-life selves. As beneficial as it is to step into the shoes of others qnd expand our horizons, sometimes we need to take a step back and develop our own personalities a little more.

My three main characters, Mary, Lyra, and Joan, all seem to represent a different part of my own personality. This is partially a result of then being my first characters and me being a newer roleplayer. I have recently been digging deeper into this. As a result of my exploration of these connections, I developed all three characters significantly, while also managing to learn more about myself in real life.

Mary, my first character, is the most obvious part of my personality, what most people around me see. She is shy and introverted, often having problems making small talk, even cracking up and running away from people. I do this a lot, to the point where i'm afraid to go up to the deli counter in the grocery store without my mom. This is why I enjoy Role-playing so much, because it's so much easier to make small-talk when you have as much time as you want to plan and revise what you are going to say. But the thing about Mary, is that she sometimes makes decisions on a whim and sort of momentarily forgets about the anxiety. Some examples of these moments are when she spoke out at the rubbish bin in Diagon and when she hopped into Odaline's boat at the start of the term.

As for Joan, I was trying to make her a bit more outspoken, so she turned out a lot more like me when i'm with my close friends. The main traits that define her are a love of reading, a little bit of intelligence, and most of all, intense and passionate curiosity. I am often like this, as I enjoy all things science and engineering. I can read through pages of nonfiction books without getting bored, I stick NASA stickers on everything I own, and I can spend hours researching something just because it interests me a little bit. Joan is like me inside my head, always eager to know more, to find the answers, to share her knowledge with the world.

My newest character, Lyra, represents my desire to reach for the stars. He is always trying to gain do more, reach goals, and will just generally do anything to succeed. I am always dreaming about the future and I will work day and night to get something done. I have always wanted the best, the things that only the smartest, the most intelligent, the hardest-working, and most driven can get. Lyra is like this to the point where he spent several years floating around looking for a job, simply because he wanted a job that would satisfy his need got achievement. I spend almost my entire week outside of school doing other activities, mostly competitive after school activities, because I want the achievement. It gives me life.

It also seemes that all of my characters have a knack for Astronomy, which is significant, because you might recall that I am obsessed with NASA and space. This little connection is really just a little quirk, but it kind of makes the characters a bit more relatable for me.

I would recommend trying this method of digging deeper into your characters. It helped As a general guide, try to answer some of these these questions in about yourself and your characters.

• How does your character relate to your own personality?
• If your character does not relate to your personality, what makes you able to roleplay them?
• Do you share interests with any of your characters?
• How is your playing of the character improved by the personality connection?
• Why do you think you portray the character the way you do?

Anyway, basically, this was just a really long and super deep post. If it helped you, you can post some super deep stuff too. If you have any recommendations for the question list, you can also tell me about those. This kind of thing is why I'm a Ravenclaw.