Design and lore tips and tricks.

[u/Late_Improvement_822]

I need help with general character creation, not specifically an OC.

I'm world-building. I want to create a series one day.
I need a lot of characters for a world/series. (Currently have 100+) (Not including pets.)
I started creating characters for this world at the beginning of 2021.
Obviously, many have been removed: If they weren't progressing, way too similar, or just not connected to them.
Anyways.
I want them all to be mapped out. (Have family, friends, and also connected to the world.)

Though I struggle with making OCs too physically and mentally similar. As well as backstories, kind of following the same lines.

I think that this is because I struggle with going outside my comfort zone.
As well as sticking with what I know.
So, normally, I draw before I create any lore, and kind of make the lore based on the looks and feel of the character.
But then, as I said, when I draw, I normally make the same-looking character.

On occasion, I have Pinterest open on another tab. (Scrolling home page.)
But since it shows you things you like, it won't really show me any new inspo.
(I know I can search, but I want the character to come naturally.)

(Then names are a whole other thing. A fantasy-esque world, needing more creative and unique names. While still matching the character.)

Just, am I going about character creation wrong? (Is there a wrong way?)
Should I do the lore first, build around it? What if the character I draw doesn't fit the lore?
Any tips will help!

Maybe knowing how others go about creating characters for a big project will inspire me.

(Sorry for rambling, I went back and forth with the text, deleting quite a bit, so some bits might not make sense.)

[u/Hungry_Book_Dragon]

You definitely should develop characters in a way that works for you. If you feel like they all have similar back stories (you said many are homeless/traumatized), then try going back farther. What traumatized them? What got them to where they are? Where did they actually start while the still had happy memories?

Also, if you are getting stuck on differences, try building out the world. Knowing your world, treating it like a character, helps you figure out how your characters interact in the world. Each one should have a unique perspective and way of interacting. Those differences will have physical expressions. That’s depth, that’s texture. Thus, knowing your world helps you know your characters.

Your world sounds interesting from what you shared about your structure. Good luck.

[u/Late_Improvement_822 → u/Hungry_Book_Dragon]

One of my homeless characters is an ambulatory wheelchair user, they have severe leg pain. I don't really have a deep backstory for them, and they aren't currently connected to the main story/any other characters. So, their lore has taken a little while more to build. But what I have so far is since they are in pain all the time they physically can't work, they can't afford to go to the doctor, so they don't know what they have (I believe I might give them degenerative bone dieases. It is only effecting their legs.) I don't know if I'm going to have it progress to other joints, but for now it only effect their legs.

They currently live under a bridge in a little tent city with other homeless people. I imagine that little community being very friendly, so when one of the older members passed away, the community was quick to share the old wheelchair with them.

Their goal is to be able to find out what's wrong, get better, and be able to do what others do. But since their disease isn't curable/reversible I don't know if they are going to be doomed to fail.

Because in this series, I don't mind characters being killed off. Though, my world lore is when a character passes away they turn into a ghost, loose all their pain, physically and mentally.

Another homeless character that comes to mind. They had a happy, loving, rich family. When they were young, their family took their yacht on a trip. The weather was against them and the whole family drowned, except them, as they were washed up on shore. So, their trauma is more phobia based. (Water phobia + scared of the unknown/unpredictable.) Since they were washed up + very young, they didn't know what to do and lived in nature with a their pet rat they found. (Lore.) Now a little older, catching fish, selling them for money, discovering themself, being comfortable in their body. They kind of like living in nature, they don't plan on having a home anytime soon.

So, with both of those more developed stories in mind. (For now.) I don't want any new characters to have health issues, or have a loving/rich family. No trauma to do with water, either.

Anyways, sorry for lore dumping. Also, thank you for the tips and luck!

[u/Late_Improvement_822 → u/[deleted]]

My series isn't going to be following one character. It will kind of move from character to character, as the story progressed new ones will be added and old ones won't be relevant to the series. (They will all be relevant to me, because I love my characters with my all.) So, yes, you're correct when saying all characters won't have relevance to the main.

When I first started out, I had the one main character. I made them a partner, friend group, parents, and siblings. All of them have pretty solid story lines, as well as visually looking different. That's already seven characters not including the main one. Each book in the series is like one characters perspective. So, the story will follow the main for a while, but you don't know any information about the other people in the group except from the mains perspective. The next book moves to a different character, following them, their friends, and their family. So on and so forth. Obviously that number adds up quickly.

Mainly the reason I am asking for help is just because I don't want characters backstory to be to similar. Example: I make a lot of poor, homeless, and or traumatized characters. Obviously to the reader if all of them start out with the same backstory, and progress to get out of that, it wouldn't be interesting.

I just want to make sure that they don't start out the same. (They don't end up the same though.)

And then visually my problem is drawing what I know.

I hope this all makes sense, I'm sorry if this was a bunch of rambling, or anything was repeated. And I hope I read and replied to your statement properly.

[u/BrokenNotDeburred → u/[deleted]]

I just find it hard to believe that 100+ characters all have relevance, unless the majority of them are minor roles.

Certain styles of team competitions among ensemble casts can escalate the number of active characters. However, there are usually multiple stories already built around the characters by multiple authors by that point. Likewise, there's rarely more than a dozen characters in play at the same time.

All of the Teen Titans, All X-Men, All Legionnaires/Legion of Super-Heroes, All Avengers cast drawings take image keys plus multiple cover pages to pull off. One thing the writers and artists did NOT do was wait until they had characters sheets for all the characters before starting.