Optimist said
Aunt Gail is a librarian and a bit of an introvert. She spends most of her life, among the stacks, Her friends are mostly characters from books, because she is too shy to make many. She does have a cat named Liza though. In the magical world, she can turn into a black cat, and back into a human, at will. She is still generally shy and reads a lot when in the magic world, but when in cat form, she takes on another persona, which is bolder. I am still working on this character. She is loving and open with her family though, because she has grown up with them. I have not determined her name in the magical world. I was considering calling her Storm, but that implies to much of an X-Men feel.I am also thinking of a brother, or her cousin, a very close male relative. He is still forming in my head, but I will get back to you on him. He is possibly bisexual or homosexual, unless that makes anyone uncomfortable. I am straight, but for some reason I like writing for gay characters.

If we go with something like this, I would love to make a character based off of one of the books, and yet is also represented by a close family member in real life. Also a characters sexuality doesn't offend me at all whether it be bisexual or homosexual, in fact I think those kind of characteristics add a bit more depth to a character than an ordinary heterosexual. So in other words I'm certainly ok with it.

Rune_Alchemist said
Hmm~I'm thinking of making a best friend for her, or at least a good friend, who is a bit of a tech geek who likes messing with computers and other electrical junk. In the fantasy world, I'm going to make her a mage of some sort who favors electricity or something, if that's allowed. If not, then I'm going to make her a crazy inventor in the fantasy world. Might go with that anyways, since that would be awesome xDGo right ahead xDI have no problem with this. My characters probably going to be attracted to the ladies. Might give her a bit of a crush on the main character person. :P

I was thinking initially of making both of my characters gay, but it seemed like overkill. If I did that, and you did too, it would start to be a very interesting game! Still, I am pretty sure that my librarian is straight. My male character is not talking to me yet, but my female one is.

Toaw said
If we go with something like this, I would love to make a character based off of one of the books, and yet is also represented by a close family member in real life. Also a characters sexuality doesn't offend me at all whether it be bisexual or homosexual, in fact I think those kind of characteristics add a bit more depth to a character than an ordinary heterosexual. So in other words I'm certainly ok with it.

The Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass books? It would make sense, since she would have read the stories as a child, most likely. They would be in her subconscious.

These are some nice character concepts, I'm liking it. Also I have no qualms with homosexuality in this RP. Just remember that these characters are going to be explored in depth because of the fact that they are part of the protagonist's (I refuse to name her until we can make a personality that makes sense XD) subconscious. Important traits such as that will most likely have to be manifested in a meaningful way. Especially for closeted homosexuals like what Rune was talking about. Or at least, I assume Rune's idea was of a closeted homosexual...

Optimist: Aunt Gail sounds pretty interesting. How obvious do you think the more outgoing side of her will be to the main character in real life? Knowing what that is might tell you how to execute the cat transformation. Assuming of course that the loving and open to her family part is still her shy side. If it is then you can make the bolder side a nice little secret that the protagonist may or may not have picked up on consciously and yet it's apparent to Gail's appearance in the coma.

Rune: I think inventor might be the way to go, just cause it's more original and more interesting. Just as a suggestion :P

Toaw: That could be interesting. Depending how much your character is influenced by the book perhaps it could serve as the narrator of sorts? Not sure how that could be executed but it sounds cool to me XD. And back on the subject on homosexuality I have to disagree with you just a little bit on the depth part. I think for a character, sexuality is just like any other trait they may have until you give it meaning to the character's arc. You could very well have a gay character who's arc is COMPLETELY unaffected by their sexuality, just like you could have a character that is or isn't affected by their race. Basically what I'm trying to say is any trait can give a lot of depth to a character as long as the writer gives it some meaning and sometimes context. (Race obviously doesn't need context unless you're an Elf born among Orcs, but that's exclusive to fantasy or sci-fi)

Let me think about your question and I will get back to you. Truth be told, I won't truly know my character, no matter how much planning, until I write for her.

@Closet depending on the personality we come up with I think that could be an interesting idea. Maybe a narrator who is based off both her Grandfather who used to read to her all the time when she was younger, and also the main protagonist from her favorite book, or maybe her grandfathers favorite book. Either way I could get into the idea of being a "narrator" of sorts, and still be an interesting character involved with the journey she takes. If the idea of being a narrator doesn't work out, I think that the whole grandfather thing would still be awesome :P

Closet Nerd said Rune: I think inventor might be the way to go, just cause it's more original and more interesting. Just as a suggestion :P

Mhm. Decided to go with that. I haven't played a mad scientist in awhile, so yeah. Time for some experiments!

And I wasn't planning on her being in the closet. I like playing flirty people, but I think it could make sense for her to not be too open about it.

Hum... An interesting idea but...

If all the players have collective control of the Main Character, won't that cause catastrophic inconsistencies in the character's personality? For example, if one person plays a Best Friend who helps, cheers on and brightens the Main Character's mood and thoughts, and another Player plays the role of an alcoholic, demeaning and controlling father who constantly berates, belittles and makes the character feel generally bad, this would cause the mood to plummet, even though she was previously happy and bright. This could lead to the situation known as a Personality Rollercoaster, where the character actually has no set personality and is instead just a ball of random emotions that go either up and/or down all willy-nilly-like.

I like the idea and concept, it's fresh and sounds fun, but I'm a person who enjoys consistency, especially in characters - that is, I don't like it when, as an example, a tough, burly and terse person suddenly goes all long-winded speeches and shows an over-abundance of empathy and softness/caring. I'm not saying a person has to follow their usual persnnality all the time, not at all - we all act outside our usual persona sometimes - but when it happens to such an extreme that is actually hard to perceive the character as the same person you're used to, that is they act so far outside and beyond their personality that you can't even identify them as their usual self, I get a bit eye-twitchy.

Still, it sounds like a fun idea and I would be interested to at least stay and see how things work out/proceed from here. :)

Optimist: Yes, I completely agree with that statement, no writer truly understands a character until they experience that character for themselves. That being said, it's still nice to ask yourself these kinds of questions in case there is an inconsistency or just something downright wrong about your character that usually you'll have to stick to once you've put in a good bit a writing for it. Consider the CSing process like ironing out a shirt whilst blindfolded, except maybe the stakes aren't too high if the shirt is $10 versus the $200 tux jacket you might call the protagonist.

Toaw: A nice way to work with that might be if she doesn't know this grandfather from any point after her childhood, she might fill in some of the blanks with his storytelling and thus imposing some of the books he read to her onto his dream representation. That could be fun for you to play around with because you could deliberately place blanks where you want and fill them with whatever literature you feel like.

Rune: I guess that depends on her environment, there are places that are welcoming to that idea, some that encourage it and some that abhor it.

Xalt: First off, welcome newcomer! Your spinny siggy is fabulous.

Second; I'm not going to be incredibly lenient with close family members, terrible inconsistencies in personality are hopefully not going to occur. If say, that father you mentioned was accompanied by Mary Poppins as a mother, I'd have to suggest changes to the characters just cause that doesn't make much sense. Unless of course Mary Poppins is secretly repressed and would just fold over at that kind of treatment but... Yeah that darkens the mood a bit too much. Her real life is going to have some grey or maybe even some very dark moments but the cancer is supposed to be the Big Bad here, too much else will distract.

Third; the protagonist's personality is going to be made after the immediate family is finished, plus whatever else comes within that time period. This means that inconsistencies will be ironed out and instead they'll become flaws that can make this character have a vibrant personality. Because of the number of influences here, she'll likely have many colours of emotion but not to the extent of the Bipolar Disorder that you describe.

Fourth; I hope you stick around and see for yourself how this is going to work out! If you usually pay this much attention to possible flaws then you should be a valuable member here.

Fifth; WHY WITH ALL THE NUMBERS!?

Hurrp-a-durrp, alright then, that answers my question.

Something else I'd want to ask was if the "representations of real life people from her pre-coma-life" has to be actual people, or if they could be like an imaginary friend from her childhood - seeing as influences of the Wonderland-like coma-fantasy world is based on just that, her childhood. I just imagined a funny, but evil, idea of this supposed old imaginary friend following her around and being supposedly helpful and on her side, while in fact possibly being a detriment to her growth and such. Iunno, it was just an idea I played with in my mind-hole.

And yes, I'll stick around to pay attention to see what you fine folks come up with.

Math is Mathilicious.

EDIT:

Oh, and thank you for appreciating my little Parsee-siggy. I'm sure she'll be jealous that you told me of its fabulousness first, rather than her, though.

Yeah, that could definitely work. Especially since she was apparently engrossed in fantasy during her childhood, she could very well have an imaginary friend even if she wasn't lacking physical friends. I'd say at this point that would fit very well considering that the thing that validates it as an option is the ONLY personality trait that we know of for certain before we get some characters out. Though I wouldn't say it would be a detriment to her growth, even though it very well could if we have her get too engrossed in the childlike world she's in but that was a danger already. It could be very good for her in the long run as well since part of maturing is embracing certain child-like things while still acting like an adult, one of the reasons why her coma throws her into that nostalgia. I might have ranted a bit, lol

I have no clue who Parsee is but the crazy I see in her face is amazing xD

Huhuhu... The possibilities of mind-warp are so fun~

And Parsee is a Bridge Princess from the Touhou-series of games. She has the power to manipulate and control jjealousy. She is also, obviously, quite jealous. Of Everyone. For everything. Ever. 'Cuz jealousy.

Got the OOC and the CS up! Not really any changes to it yet since no characters... hehe...

Can you post a link? I am at my hotel now, with wifi. I was not saying that I did not wish to further define the character, but I also don't want to over define her. Anyway, I just got in and am headed to bed. I will check in tomorrow evening.

Oh I thought i did in that post... hehe...

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/39841/posts/ooc