You do have a point...but I guess it's just kinda annoying to me sometimes. I mean...*tries to explain better*...what are the Professors there for if most everyone knows everything already?

I think what I'm trying to say...is that I like it to be explained and for the background information to be legit/match up. *is weird and lame like that* I have a charrie who is now struggling and I have to say...it's SO much more fun to me, if that makes sense.

This is a really interesting thread and I've really enjoyed reading through everyone's responses so far.

I think I agree with pretty much what everyone's been saying. There is kind of a degree of what's "realistic" for a first year and older, but a variety is also realistic since there are so many different people in the world with so many different personalities that it's hard to say that someone at such-and-such an age would never ever do this or that. It may not be common and it could be problematic if taken to the extreme, but for the most part, people can be very different from people their own age as they grow up.

I think what gets me sometimes is that I get kinda caught up in what I feel like an eleven-year-old (or however old) SHOULD be, not what they actually are in real life. Like, in my opinion, eleven-year-olds and such shouldn't have boyfriends/girlfriends yet, but it's clear in real life they do, as Anna said, even if it's just them saying they have one and that's it. Not all have/want boyfriends/girlfriends, of course, but some do. And even for those that don't have them, they may have a little crush on someone. I know I had a crush on a boy in my class around that time. I was too shy to do anything about it, and eventually I got over it, but...yeah So I guess I sometimes just need to get out of my head and remember what it actually is like to be these ages, and maybe that's just me I dunno :3

I think that was where I was going with that paragraph... I'm not sure if that made as much sense as it did in my head o_O

But also, about the knowing/not knowing answers thing, I do also think that varies too. And not always just whether the kids were shielded from learning magic or not, but also just in the amount of effort the kids want to put in. If they love to read (and/or just really love the class subject), then it makes sense that they might know a lot of answers because they would've been willing to pick up a book and read and research and things. But if they don't like to read (and/or don't like the subject), then it makes sense that they probably wouldn't know as many or know any answers so they wouldn't speak. Like with Penelope, she doesn't always like to put forth any effort in some things, so she sometimes still doesn't know the answers and doesn't get all the spells quickly, even though she's an older student now and not a first year, which I personally find kinda fun, in contrast to my first Hogwarts charrie Vashti who did like to know/read all kinds of things and cast spells relatively easily. Both ways I think worked for their personalities though, so it definitely varies with each individual character and their RPer. All depends on what the character is like and what their background is like and such

And...that's all I can think of to say right now. I feel like I rambled too much and probably just basically repeated what others have said but...yeah. That's all I've got for now. :3

It has been really interesting reading through everyone's posts! I know sometimes I feel like I have a harder time remembering what it was like to be an eleven year old, which is why I usually start my charries in their fifth year or later . That being said, I do think there is a wide variety of characteristics and personality traits that you can give the first years and second years without making them sound unrealistic. I think the variety is great because when you look at kids that age in real life, there is such a vast range of difference in maturity levels. I happened to be one of those kids that matured quicker than most of the kids in my class, which I think I strongly attribute to the fact that I had started playing tennis competitively then, and being able to handle failures and pressure situations was just something I had to learn to do in order to do well on the tennis court. Not to say of course that if you didn't play a competitive sport at that age you couldn't be mature! Totally not what I am suggesting!

I babysit for a couple of families, and it is really interesting to see how different they all are. I mean some kids it feels like you are talking to an adult when they are only ten years old, and then other kids it makes you want to just go and build a tree house in the middle of the woods with them, since they still have that playful, childlike characteristic to them.

So…yeah…I don't think any portrayal is wrong per se, and I think that everyone has their own experiences and memories that help them shape their characters. I think that's what makes RPing so enjoyable

I know I keep saying this, but you guys are awesome. These have been great ideas and I'm hoping it's helping other RPers even if they are just reading an not commenting, because I think everyone has had fantastic things to say.

I don't have much to add, but thought this was funny tonight. On the relationship thing.. I was at a preschool and yes I said preschool concert and my four year old told me I had to meet this little girl. He then proceeded to tell me it was his girlfriend. I asked him what happened to the other one and he said he was over her. A FOUR YEAR OLD.... SO it happens at any age. I just found it so funny and it made me think of this little chat and one of the topics of the first years thinking the other has cooties or they want all the relationships.. I do agree it does depend on individual, but I do think there is an extent of it. I don't think it's realistic that they go screaming the other way just because there is a boy in the room and that the boy has cooties and that kind of stuff at eleven years old, but again just my thoughts and opinion on that.

^Oh yes, I TOTALLY agree. I've never played a Hermione-type smart charrie before and I don't think I ever will haha. It would be nice if some people gave a bit of background, like their parents were dragon tamers OR SOMETHING so that's how they know about dragons or whatever. Extreme example but you get my meaning haha.

It's really fun having them struggle though, it makes it more fun and kind of feels like they're really LEARNING? Maybe I just like to inflict pain on my charries WHO KNOWS haha

Ugh. Brigette. You are my FAVORITE, did you know? All of this. Agreed.

I definitely play a character as how I feel they should be acting for their age group, not based on how they realistically do. Even if we play a character totally different from us in age or in attitude who says and does dumb things we don't always agree with (I know mine does), some of the morals and ethics they base their decisions off of DO come from us. It's only natural for charries to have a couple of common traits with their RPers, since they come from our brains and all. That's probably a reason why our characters differ so much, because we do too.

*insert inspirational music here*

As for the answering in classes bit, I know there are some super witty characters who always know answers to posed questions and those who struggle with studies, but I just love to see some growth in this area, you know? It's my favorite to notice a student not understanding and having a tough time in a class, and then watch them become more confident in their smarts as they progress and grow older and expand their knowledge in a field.

Before Alice's third term, I was pretty inactive, so I'm not exactly sure how I played her out. I'm almost 100% sure I didn't do it right, though. I think this thread is a really good resource, not only a place to discuss, and I'm glad it was made, because even though we all have different opinions on how kids of a certain age should act, these are some really helpful tips for people who don't know where to start. Definitely hope this thread is going to be beneficial to those of us playing first years!

*agreeeees* Just gonna quote these for... posterity. Ahem. Yeah.

Oooh Oooh I tried to do this! *points at Botros* see, West is super good at Runes and whatnot and even was when he was itty bitty, and Botros knows that West is advanced and its because West's father is a curse breaker (former Head curse breaker at Gringotts), and so West has always been exposed to these things, AND took an interest in it. Conversely it also means that at times West doesn't try as hard in that class as he probably could because he's so comfortable with the material he doesn't need to push himself... and this means that quite often other students end up 'top' above him in Runes, even though for all intents and purposes he is Botros's best student.

I tried to balance this circa first year by having him really good with theory from reading and studying based on his interests, but not really have a knack for wand work (he got bogged down in theory and overthinking it a lot). He's really only just now up to the level he should be and its because he worked REALLY HARD studying and having older students teach him stuff (Including Sierra, Kurumi, Vivi, and Dylan at various points)

I suppose in a sense I did that with Cela too? Aside from being a Ravenclaw which explains some of it, she knew plenty already because she was MADE to learn by her very strict, very hardline pureblood parents. But she was completely mystified (and soooo soooo eager to learn) about Muggle things, because she'd had no exposure really.

I don't think age means that someone isn't capable, just like Lissy says its about exposure and experience as with all things, and its really lovely coming across other people that have the explanations there that justify learned strengths (as opposed to innate ones and being 'natural' at something)

Speaking as someone who has been on both sides of the SS classroom as a former professor and all, I think its lovely when people RP their character just quietly listening, or reflecting on someone else's answer, or elaborating on an answer, or just taking a stab because their charrie hasn't really got a clue. I used to give as many points for this as I did for answers, as long as the RPer showed that their charrie was engaged with the class and participating then it was all good to me, and all about the fun and I felt flattered they were even there tbh XD. I don't mind 'straight from textbook' answers if they are RPd as straight from the textbook, like 'Joe Bloggs repeated the textbook verbatim' or whatevs, I think it shows a lot about a character XD I just don't like seeing the itty bitty ones spitting out knowledge that it doesn't make sense for them to have... its just that sometimes I think its easy to fall in this trap, particularly for those of us with second or third charries since we often have done the same topics in older lessons and therefore WE have learned it XD

TL;DR I tried/try/etc to balance strengths with weaknesses in all things, but that goes as much for firsties as it does for students in general. I love it when knowledge of any kind, learned or innate, is justified somehow.

First off, I love the idea of this thread. It's amazing. Yes. <3

So I have more thoughts on this (I tend to ramble a lot too) but not the time to write them down right now so all I have is this:

Yes, I agree with whoever said that it's hard to go back to remembering what we were all like at the age of 11/12. I think it's even more than that for me personally because when I went to school I went there for an average of like 8 hours a day, then went home to my parents. Our charries don't have that. They're at a new place 24/7 for almost 4 months until they get to see their parents/family again (for Christmas break). Yes, they have friends at school maybe, they have a new "family" at Hogwarts but obviously this is not the same.

I feel like this is somewhat important too. They're separated from their parents at the age of 11/12 so this could go either way. They might be more insecure/childish/whatever than we were. Or they could be 'forced' to grow up even faster, being more mature than we were at that age. I don't know. Of course this could have no impact whatsoever on their maturity/behavior but personally, I feel like this is also an additional difficulty for me when RPing. Because I don't know what that's like.




....and now I'm officially scared about playing my charrie after Olly. xD

Basically this whole thing is what I was trying to say. Tegan is better at coming across with words, though.

Justified. That's a great word! I can totally understand some children knowing things before coming to Hogwarts because of their parents, reading (like Hermione did), and their own deductive reasoning...but I find it hard to relate to them as characters if they don't make an effort to justify it.

My most recent charrie, Vesper, is a prime example. She's 16 and still struggles with magic, but I've explained this with the fact that she is a muggleborn and kinda has ADHD. Yes, she's observant, artistic, and musical, kills Muggle Studies, but everything else is a little difficult for her to wrap her head around. Charms and Potions seem to be other strong subject areas. I guess because there's just something about Charms that she gets...and Potions because it's basically cooking (and she cooks with her mum when she's home). Or, that's her distinction, anyway...but again, she's 16 and going into her sixth year where she'll continue to struggle until she can find a way to relate the material to things that interest her.

It's definitely so much different from Dylan, whose one purpose in life (apparently) was being the best. Getting Captain pushed him to a strange level of thinking at the age of 14. I think that was with the realization that he was now a role-model and needed to get his 'stuff' together. Though, he did struggle with Herbology A LOT.

I guess I'm doing compare and contrast here. Vesper continues to struggle at 16 while most things came easier to my previous OCD character whatever his Hogwarts age.

Ahem

That concludes my post.

You have no idea how BADLY I want to read all of your post, but I'm lazy at the moment.

Also I love this thread too.

What I can add so far just from skimming the posts is that I felt like I may have played on the edge of a little to immature for Oakey when I started. Was I RPing him more like a 7 or 8 year-old as opposed to 11? Maybe I'm not sure (I'll have to go back and look up my first RPs as him...which may be painful to read). Although what I can say about this in general is that while some kids at that age may be above their grade level others, like myself may have had learning disabilities and needed the extra push to pass their classes. I'm not saying we should suddenly begin making some of our students dyslexic, or have ADHD to be more realistic but we should also consider the other side where some aren't as learned as the others.
Oakey was Muggleborn, but was brought up in a Pureblood household so he knew more than most Muggleborns when he started. It could be used in another way. Where a Pureblood might have had something that held him/her back from understanding 'What is Magic and why does it do what it does.'

As for Model choosing. I'm not sure why I chose who I chose for Oakey, but I'm glad I did. I shaped a lot of his personality around the appearance.

I think that those of us that are still in school or who have younger siblings (or children!) have an advantage here.

I myself know several 11 year olds who are incredibly intellectual and say the most insightful things... while still having the mind to play. I also know from experience that the maturity level of a 12 year old and a 13 year old is huge. I mean HUGE. Or at least it is where I live. People mature at a super fast rate from age 12-14~15 and I've been trying to incorporate that with Tora (my school charrie) as she gets older.

I know I moved a bit away from 11 year olds...

I always found Oakey endearing, not grating, if that helps to know? XD like it was always more about character quirks with him than him seemingly acting off in age or maturity, or at least that is how I took it. And I always loved the model choice, not just in general but for OAKEY. Very Oakey. Yes. *satisfied*

You did not get off topic with going away from eleven year olds though. I it was for all ages why I made this discussion. I wanted to hear how everyone felt so I'm super excited you gave your thoughts. It's been great hearing everyone and how they feel!

Oh wow! I love reading everyone's opinions about how eleven years old should realistically be portrayed on here and I agree with all of you. People tend to forget that a eleven year old is someone entering middle school or junior high....not kindergarten. They have all experienced the angst of going to school for the first time, making new friends and losing old ones and attending classes. The only difference may be attending a boarding school like Hogwarts.

To be honest, it wasn't just the eleven year olds but also the twelve, thirteen and fourteen year old partly because it's been AGES & AGES since I was one, and from what I remember of that era, the things we did back then have now changed with the passing of time and the age of computers and what not.

As for examples, I wish I was as lucky as some of you to have the opportunity to be around them. I can't even remember a time where I spent long periods of time with any 11 year old, except only recently, and that's with my niece.

Even then, she didn't behave like a typical 11 year old because of parental separation issues. I think when that happens the child sadly grows up too fast. So maybe we might have to consider those who are RPing eleven years old who come from broken homes. Their charries might be a little more matured than others or insecure like Lisa mentioned earlier.

But I'm digressing.

I have to admit that there have been some children who showed their brilliance even at an early age like Tegz's West. But that has already been explained why. Maybe if the role player elaborated more about their upbringing in their character biography, how they behave and answer questions may be more acceptable.

However, having a firstie being able to set fire to their arm and yet not feel any pain...which was what happened one term, is something that should be avoided at all cost. That's just not possible even if they were a savant.

As for choosing the model. I've always admired Alyssa Milano. Being popular actress, it was easy to find the suitable aged pictures for her. It is definitely easier picking a child actress who continued acting as she grew older.

It does get definitely harder picking a child actor/actress who is the current age as your charrie. As our terms are spread out 3 in one year, our charrie will eventually grow up faster than the real ones, and there's where finding suitable age applicable pictures get harder.

For Madison, I picked Emily Alyn Lind. She is currently 13 and my Madison will soon bypass her in age. However, Emily has an older sister, Hailey, with whom she bares a close resemblance too. So I'll probably switch to her as the terms go by.

I usually don't choose a character model until my charrie is older, that's what I had done with Carigan, and what I will do with Hawthorne. That's because there is limited child actors. I think that some 11 year olds DO act like children, but some THINK they are mature enough for a relationship, but its all in the way you play them. I play Hawthorne as head strong and kind of mature for her age, but it's because of her back story... she had to grow up fast.

Just agreeing with a few people here saying that charries personalities are shaped by a variety of factors. (also, one gets better at RPing with time, I cringe when I think of how I wrote Sarah as a first year). Backstory is important too. Sarah's personality was largely based on the home she grew up in, as being part of a large family, the second youngest and only girl, made her who she is. (There are studies in psychology indicting how birth order and family size influence how a person is). Her value system mainly came from her home and the things she has read. As she had older siblings, she developed a mature self and acted older than she was as they were her playmates. She was book smart as being the only girl she had few playmates and spent a lot of time reading. However practical work was not that easy for her. Potions used to and still does, stress her out as she has milld ADHD/ADD which means that she overconcentrates when it comes to following recipes, wanting to know exact things. She also struggled at first with incantations, having a slight speech impidiment in the past, her tongue used to get twisted when exposed to new words. But as the years go on she is overcoming it, although when she learns new spell she still does not get the incantation right the first time.

Few people are born all rounders, some become all rounded due to work and background. I kept Sarah off the quidditch teams for a few terms as IC she was working on improving her quidditch skills, as she was not born athletically inclined.
Also, the way a character acts in class is also based on themselves, family and personality. If Sarah was not allowed to participate in lessons she would fall asleep, and she asks a lot of questions as in her family EVERYONE is encouraged to do so and she is inquisitive.

Regarding knowing magic and muggle things.. Sarah’s mother is muggle born and her father was a pure blood, and both parents brought elements oftheir upbringing into the upbringing of their children. Sarah’s mothers side is very close, so Sarah is used to muggles and the muggle way of life, in fact their house has the appearance of a muggle house when muggles are visiting. Sarah also attended a muggle primary school,, so she knows a lot of muggle things. Her home, however, was a wizarding one. In their garden there were both magical and mundane plants, their story books and library contained elements of both worlds. So Sarah is fairly knowledgeable in both

I like to see how charries progress over the years, in her first year, Sarah had a few temper flair ups, but she has worked on herself. Sarah may have been born clever, but she did learn for her OWLs. Also, when she answers questions, I tend to show a bit of her thought process that indicates how she learnt that piece of information.. was it a class or book etcc.

Model choosing is my worst as I am so indecive. Until Sarah’s third year, I did not have a set model for her, and than I took a list of brunettes that might fit her and placed them in a hat and picked one. Truth is, Sarah’s appearances are more Emma Watson like, but I did not want to bring a HP model into SS, as after her first year I realised that Sarah was less of Hermione then I initially thought.

I think at the end of this, each charrie is different, but there usually is a cause and effect. If you want to have a babyish first year, maybe read up on the causes of that, if your first year acts more mature... what caused it? Even take little things like socio-econmic status or birth order and see the influences on charries. Just remember that there are exceptions.

This is a really difficult discussion, and i think that here never really a good answer for is, but it's interesting what others are thinking...

I think that playing a realistic first year is really difficult, most of the time is it just fun to play a really cute and small firsty, but the most difficult part about it is to NOT make them too childish.

Kids from 11 year are indeed not calling their parents mommy or daddy, they can do it when they are home or alone with their parents, but it's just not cool to do it when others are hearing it. My little brother is almost 8 year, and even HE calls my mom just 'mom' instead of mommy when he is playing with his friends from school.

But... even now that they are *trying* to act mature, they still are young and the whole world is new for them, especially Hogwarts, so i think that they can act excited, hyper or even shy, but not all the time.

It's normal that, if a first year has a pureblood family, he or she already knows something about the wizarding word, but it's just impossible that they know everything about this world. I also think that a 11 year old can't have a boy/girlfriend, maybe when they are 13, but not younger than that...

But what i like the most, about a first year, is that when you let them be a little shy or unsure about this whole new world, that they can grow, every year they can change and i like it to see how that happens!

*peaks in here* So I've been wanting to give my two knuts about this page, but then I basically read through everyone's replies and realized what I have to say has already been said before a number of times

The whole idea of justification is BASICALLY what I believe.

I think that the characters history is important to shaping how they will act, and that that's more important than how their peers would generally act? With that being said, I also think it's important to understand where your character lies in terms of maturity (this helps to not to get offended if someone calls your character immature or too mature or something of that nature).

I just played Kyroh as a first year and I fully understand/know that he's really immature. He doesn't go through the whole 'ew girls have cooties' sort of thing but he's still behind as far as twelve year olds go (considering he was closer to 12 than 11 for most part). This is mostly because of how he was brought up. He is an only child, he didn't have that much interaction with other kids until he really turned about seven (which is why he's so thrilled with the idea of having friends even though it also could have made him anti-social), and generally speaking he was just really spoiled.

His perception of himself to other people really hasn't been a thing, and he hasn't really found the need to act older until recently because of reactions from his peers. And I think that it's this interaction that will ultimately be the driving force for him to act older/more mature because otherwise he hasn't had any reason to.

In terms of knowledge and what charries know. Kyroh for example has parents who were both professors so you'd THINK he'd know like everything right? Well no not really. He knows important historic events and he knows subjects, the differences between them the point of some because of what they taught him. But he never actively sought out things to learn.

Personally my understanding of Hogwarts is that parents send their kids there to teach them about magic, plain and simple. So to teach them everything beforehand is kind of useless. Even canon Purebloods went to Hogwarts with little knowledge on what they would be learning. I don't think an 8-9-10 year old before Hogwarts would really want to study up on Transfiguartion when they don't even have the means (the wand) do perform the spells. It wouldn't be interesting. Though there ARE some. There are those few who know everything simply because they DID find it interesting and they did study from a young age.

But Kyroh isn't one of them. In terms of class, he usually answers how he wants to answer and it's usually something completely off because as stated, he hasn't studied it before. And in the unusually times that he is actually correct it's because of facts that he has stored in his memory without even realized from being in the wizarding world.

I do think that 11 year olds nowadays act older and all of that but really it's their history and their background that really shape who they are character or even real person.

So I think as long as your characters history makes sense to how they act, then go ahead, play them mature, immature whatever, super smart, really, however you please

Okay, so I've tried to only quote the parts of previous comments that I'm commenting on. Tried too..... *deep breath*
THIS. Okay, I come from the middle of the countryside in Scotland, a mile from my tiny tiny village, seven miles from the closest town (at that time, small town - its bigger now), and about 27 miles from the City. The City wasn't somewhere we went often, maybe a few times a year for shopping for Christmas and the like, and maybe to go to the cinema or bowling if it was my birthday or something. In general though, we just used the small shops in the small town, and that was it.

So that, for me - transfers to an eleven year old who isn't used to too much diversity. Everyone from my village was generally born and raised in a 10 mile radius and my school had roughly 60-70 students over 4 classes, ranging from 4/5 to 11/12 years old. Like Liam, I then went on to our local Academy which has roughly 16 classes of 19-21 people with roughly 13-1400 people ranging from 11/12 to 17/18. It's an insane feeling. Especially when you have 7 others in the whole school that went to school with you, yet some of the other Primaries had 30-40 pupils in the same year. It is overwhelming, and large and that - I think - is the feeling of moving to a 24/7 school that is SO unlike where you grew up.

To add to that, I draw inspiration from my University experience. I moved to Edinburgh for Uni - and as I said, I only went to the city a few times a year growing up, and to suddenly be in the Capital, in a hugely diverse and amazing and cultural city with SO many people was even MORE overwhelming. I don't think that is an age thing, simply a change in atmosphere and surroundings and what is well known and familiar. My Degree itself in my first year in the umbrella classes had between 300 and 600 people in most of the lectures. That is a LOT of people.

BARBIES! YES! Also, I was very mature but barbies with my best friend? Couldn't beat a full day gaming! XD
Also – this though. I grew up with my parents and my Gran in the same house. My parents both worked full time and both had a part time second job on top of that – so I spent A LOT of time with my Gran. With no more children around my outside of school, I think it definitely made me more mature over my friends at school who had lots of siblings or grew up with close access to a lot of children around their age.

I think this relates to what I learnt at primary haha. I was part of a group of 4 in my year who were ahead of the other 5 in maths and reading - but they were all fantastic at other things, such as sport, music, art, etc. Everyone has their own quirks and abilities

Also - I'm also terrible for characters. If I'm not going to be physically playing them, I'll just pick an adult FC that resembles the rest of their family. Then if I do decide to play them, I'll try to find someone who can be the same person but younger. .

Hahaha. This comment made me laugh SO much. XD. Not because of what you said, but because of a memory it invoked. My Mam was one of those four year olds. She had her first kiss, at five years old beside her primary bike shed. It always amused me when she told me, though I was all "ewww" at the time (I was probably about 7 when she mentioned it first). While apart from kissing female friends as fun/friendship I was twelve/thirteen. I think it comes with personalities. She was the youngest of three and was always trying to keep up and be as "seen" as them... me on the other hand, lived with three adults and no children and didn't have to play catch up etc.

Cai: And you forgot an amazing God-Father who was your Tutor while Dash was teaching. Duh

But yes! History and how they grew up, and what they were surrounded by is totally important. It helps with not only values, ethics and personality but it gives an idea of what they would have learned just by being at home. Like I learnt about Weddings and baking and how stressful being a post man is in a Scottish Snowy winter around Christmas time XD.... But yes, history!


..... I swear I didn’t mean for this to be so long but there were so many fitting points I just had to comment.... Even though it’s been a while since anyone else has posted.

....its longer than it looked to me honestly...*noshame*

I think as Liam, Tori, and many others have stated every person’s childhood is different. I was a very mature yet still young at-heart-child at times really when I was ten/eleven. I was also a mixture of both shy, awkward, brave, and outgoing. Because of reasons I had to grow up quickly – those reasons being that when I was nine my dad nearly died and my mom rather than sugar coating it told me that his transplant was hit or miss he might not have survived it. He did though.

But because of this I’ve noticed that when I was younger while being imaginative I was very guarded. This was more because I didn’t realize how many people my dad knew so I would have a relative stranger walk up to me and ask how he is. But that is beside the point.

With my characters I try to play them as realistically as possible while also giving each one their own identity. Or in some cases having them find their own identity. Most, I’ve noticed have tended to have a sense of whimsy hidden in them that sometimes is hard to spot except for with Amelia – her whimsy she wore on her sleeve.

I also, like Tori and Liam went from a relatively small school to a larger one but it was quiet different for me. As I switched in 2nd grade to a private elementary school the Waldorf school system where you have the same teacher for eight years. My grandfather offered to pay for it as he was trying to help me reach my full potential as a child and he had also paid for most of my cousin’s educations as well. Still, I went from a class of maybe 20? Children to a class of 10 where I was immediately accepted. I did have a group of friends at the public local school but in all reality they weren’t true friends as I came to realize later (will get to that later). Waldorf though fun wasn’t a good fit for me so half way through my fourth grade year I switched back to the previous school (worse time to switch I must say) and with that felt a little ostracized mainly from the previous group of “close” friends I had honestly kept in contact with but not as well as I would have had I been going to a public school as we had different breaks. One of the previously called friends came up to me and actually said “We don’t like you and aren’t your friends” or something to that extent – needless to say I was friendly but never invited them to anything again in the history of that school…or high school really.

I did make other friends sort of quickly one in the fourth grade really and then more in fifth that I’ve mainly kept until now. Still, I’ve noticed that a lot of my characters are very shy, reserved, and sometimes have a hard time admitting if someone is a friend or not because they don’t know if the other person really accepts them as a friend or not. This is more obvious with characters that are transfers I’ve noticed. But I think this is a preference I have of writing a character with complex faults that aren’t exactly visible at first unless someone really talks to them and gets them to open up to you. Right now I know that Puck has major relationship and trust issues but this is entirely a part of her character and build and it really is how she came to me filled with her issues that she will eventually work on.

I’ve also noticed that lately I have had characters come to me and unfold their family, world views, values, and personality long before I am able to unveil them. For example with Puck she came about actually during Amelia’s third year? I never told anyone about her and just kept her like a little quiet (not so quiet really) thing in my pocket waiting to be released into the world. Another that I’ve been ready to unleash is my next 1st-7th character (hopefully) Melbourne Johanson – the last of the Johanson girls. She has been around in my head since Amelia’s fist year I think because she is turning 8 this year I think? I don’t remember off of the top of my head only that she’ll be a first year in 2088.

Some interesting contributions in here! but don't forget to relate what you say to the thread's questions:

I think all beginning first years can be played differently, according to how the RPer wants to portray them. As well, Dani brought up a good point.



Each new charrie comes from different backgrounds and beliefs, they all act differently with people depending on their home life or how their parents, or family, brought them up. So I think a lot of that can, as Dani said, shape the charrie a bit and makes up a part of how they get their personality.

There can be an firstie who is really shy/quiet, or really innocent, or really hyper because thats simply their personality. So, I don't think there's one extreme right way or one extreme wrong way to play a firstie, or any aged charrie. As an RPer you kind of just go with the flow and see what you like, and if you don't, you try to figure out a way to play them the way you would enjoy playing them.

I think people do play the charries realistically through the years. As they get older they go through a lot more, whether it be friends, relationships, family issues, or even education, their personality may change in reaction to that. Tag, had always had trouble with school and magic, so sometimes that frustrated him, but he tried to keep his positivity up and do better each time he practiced something in class. So seeing any of the charries overcoming some sort of obstacle is always nice because it's something they're proud of doing, whatever the obstacle was, and it can definitely strengthen them as a person. So I like seeing the realism in that. And, even not being able to find a solution to their problem is realistic as well, because the struggle is evident in their life, but you can see them trying to deal with this.

If I know what year/aged charrie I'm gonna be playing I try and find a model that's a little bit older than that, because you kind of want them to grow into that more 'mature' look. Or sometimes you decide you want to play a 'shy' charrie, you might suddenly come across a model who gives off that sort of impression, and if you like them overall, they can be the perfect match for the type of charrie you're going for and you end up using them. Other times you choose a model because you like them as a person, in RL, and would like to use them as a face claim. (I do this a lot).

This is just kinda my thoughts on this!

Honestly, I really don't have a method for finding character models really. Generally it is based simply on who seems to fit the character as a whole. With Amelia (Mika) I never really felt right with her being Elle Fanning, but when I switched to AnnaSophia Robb it felt like a better fit especially with the way that ASR looks very bubbly and outgoing as Mika tended to be. Then after her graduation I happened to see a TV show about fashion-stuff and saw a face that was a perfect age-up for ASR and would fix the "everyone has her face" dilemma I was having.

With Puck she basically had been formed without a face and then I saw a photograph of Frida in 2012 I think it was? And suddenly the elements fell into place and I chose her face right then and there. Sometimes really for me the faces that I choose are based on how they fit with their immediate family as I try to make the direct siblings and children look like their parents in some way or another.

With character faces lately I have been trying to use and/or find photographs of the 'older' model and then find images of when they were younger. If not I simply go and try to find if the elder model is an actress or model-actress someone who played the elder model/actress as their younger version. I do at times look to see if the model/actress has siblings who are younger than they are or older and check if they would be a good fit. For example I have planned on using Vera Farmiga as a model for a while and a perfect fit for her would he her little sister Taissa.

((I think a reason i left this bit out was because of the over all length of the previous post.))

I played my firsty like well, not good. Until I learned the terms and policies. Lol. Then over time I did get better though. I think that you could play your first year as a confident witch/wizard in training. I mean, if he/she is a pure blood or at least a half blood, I think he/she would be more confident. Or if he/she was a book smart muggle born like Hermione, then they would also be confident. Unless they are half bloods like Harry or Tom...who grew up in the muggle world, then they would be less confident. Then again, Tom I think would probably already be confident, too confident for his own good because he already had some what of a handle on his magic.

I just saw this and found it interesting. As I recall, when I was 11, I thought that I was so mature for entering middle school. I mean, I definitely thought about boys and stuff. But I also acted like a kindergartener at times. The thing is, I think that there is a very wide spectrum. Some kids I knew wanted to grow up fast. They shopped at malls and wore "teenager" clothes and all that.... Others seemed desperate to go back to elementary school! I was definitely in-between, though possibly more the former than the latter. It's been a while, but I'm still sure there's no one right way to roleplay an eleven-year-old!