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I'm about to app a side character to a game for the first time and was wondering if anyone had any tips? I'm used to playing main characters with lots of background and screen time, so depending on headcanon for most things is going to be really new for me. Any kind of advice would be appreciated!

I'd like to see this too, but I'll give you what I can!

Studying a character you want to play really thoroughly is a good idea in general(I personally take notes on every single trait I notice and what every action they take--even the most mundane things--could possibly mean about them when I canon review), but it's especially important when you want to play and build on a minor character. You don't have as much to work with, so make sure to use it to its fullest. This is especially helpful if you don't want to/can't go too far into headcanon for an app.

keep a journal entry of headcanon, with justified reasons for why it makes sense.

Not sure what kind of material you're playing from, but if it's something with visuals (or lots of description), my advice would be to take a look at their surroundings to get a good feel of their environment. What sorts of things are laying around (what things aren't), what kind of city/town/random spaceship/etc did they grow up in, who all might they come in contact with on a daily basis, how is their room or house decorated? Etc.

I play a minor character from a video game and what I did was tried to incorporate those sorts of things in my headcanon to make it more believable. (Like, for example, mine lives in a city with lots of machinery going all the time, so he finds it hard to concentrate when there isn't some kind of background noise.) Even stuff like how a character dresses or talks can tell you a bit about their personality or how they were raised. Another thing you might want to look into is what other characters say about your character (if they do). Sometimes they can throw out hints, too.

Compared to a main character, it's kind of like working backwards sometimes, but that can also make it a lot of fun. Hope that helped at least a little!

When playing a minor character, examine what you know of the canon world, and details surrounding not only your character, but the characters they are most frequently around. Examine the character's reactions to things and the character's behaviour. In the case of one of the characters I play, her sibling gets a decent amount of backstory and screentime, but my character is very minor with only a few spoken lines. However, since I know more about the sibling, I can make some reasonable headcanon for upbringing and I can note contrasts between her and her sibling's experience.

Also, never do anything based on fanon. It's fine to look at what other people have done with the character and look at what aspects of the character they develop, but make sure to canon review and make your own decisions on what you're going to do.

Best thing to do to start with is to go through and consider what we know about the character. Write down all the facts that you have if that helps. Then look at those facts and figure out things you can infer from them.

For instance, let's say your minor character is a scientist. That already gives some ideas of what their life was like, for instance it would be reasonable to assume they were well-educated and won some science fairs as a kid.

Do research on their profession, keep an eye out on their canon for what things are like where they live and work. Also keep an eye out on their personality and remember that people act like they do for a reason. A weird quirk could be a clue on something in their backstory and help you with some headcanon.

So basically what you want to do is take the facts that you have and extrapolate on why the character would do that stuff or act that way? And keep in mind that their backstory is likely more on the normal and boring side with maybe some accomplishments to make them important enough to be a part of the story as a minor character rather than one of the nameless masses. Use that stuff to flesh them out and make them a person rather than a plot device.

[D] Not safe for work

GENERAL: MINOR CHARACTERS

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Re: GENERAL: MINOR CHARACTERS

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