I read Laila's post differently. Just a little, though. What I thought she meant by that was you can interweave your character's lives with one another, just be careful not to do so in a way that's going to cut yourself off should that other person stop RPing.

Cause I think that it might look and feel a bit unnatural if every character strayed from romantically inclined relationships with one another. Cause, like you said, It's what humans do. If I've understood where both of you ladies are coming from with this then I feel like I agree with you both. But that said I do find it really frustrating when the arc of a character is dependent upon the activity of another. Am I wrong if I state that I really think we're too creative as a community for this to be the result each and everytime this situation occurs? At least for that much longer. Cause I think we're learning stuff as time passes and we keep up with our writing.

Advice? I like Laila's tip for diversifying with your relationships. But I also think continuous character development helps. Getting to know your character outside of his or her relationship can help us envision what their lives might be like without his or her significant other. I feel like you must've done this or something like this (possibly in your sleep? O_O) with Anastasia because she feels like such a strong character on her own, ya know? Both she and her husband would be just as interesting with as without their others. I'm glad you and Con collaborated, though.

I feel like I'm mostly in the same boat with you, though. Because Xana doesn't have time to RP his wife or the children, Claudian isn't really as present. It can be a bit tricky to RP for that character or characters who have personalities that make them particularly family or relationship-oriented. Because there's the chance that there would be events that the character would tell other people or think about, or change their perspective on something. Relationships, especially very close ones do have potential to change us and I would imagine that could also be true for a character as well. That said, though, I don't stop developing Claudian. I don't stop letting him get things off his chest, or work on his career, or interact with others. There's just a slight limitation on it, because he is very family oriented.




On a sort of related, but kinda more on the discussy side...I don't know if it's because I somehow always end up with dudes, but I find that even when they are involved with someone their thoughts aren't always on the ship. Sometimes directly over dinner, she'll be talking and then he'll just drift off into thoughts about work or the last debate he lost with a mildly-familiar associate and how he's gonna best him the next time they cross paths.




Jasper used to worry me with this fade-away thing, but after considering all he's been through I'm not worried anymore. As one of my friends here put it, "That cat has nine lives." I feel reasonably sure that he'd survive anything. I'm not too worried about Cutty either. His personality is so clearly defined and etched in my mind that I don't think I could find a reasonable IC reason for him to quit.





This makes me so sad, T. For all the reasons you mentioned. But, I'm glad you brought it up.

I want to say that I have probably lost a muse for some character or another at some point, but my memory is ugh, and I can't recall any specifically at the moment. I usually try and flesh out everyone I've played, even my special ops 1x charries. For me having a strong grasp on the character works well, though I've had it happen where the character was kinda loosely defined and grew more rooted the longer I played him. Also, I think the only thing I might add to the prevention suggestions that hasn't already been said is: Treat that thing like it's your child. If you want to see it grow up and be successful, nurture it, feed it and generally never really leave it alone for too long.

Maybe, I'd also add that when I'm establishing a character I generally nudge my SS friends and say something to the effects of: "Look...Look what's happened."

Oh, oh, and also, revisit the world in which your character lives whenever possible. Whether she intended it to or not, Rowlings world stands so strong as a thing onto itself that it can quite feasibly support stories outside of Potter's. I also personally find it very inspiring, especially since I still consider my Wiz World knowledge to be minimal. So it literally feels like a discovery to me and I start thinking about character 'what-if's'.