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[MERGE] And then there was one

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The 10-12 range, in particular. Looking for advice on mannerisms, thought processes, voice, and whatever else.

It depends on the character. No two kids are going to act the same obviously. Every kid has a different maturity level and the class bully isn't going to react to things the same way the class clown is.

I guess in general though... don't play them too young. You are playing a preteen, not a toddler. I have seen far too many people play 10-12 year olds like they're in the 4-6 year range. A preteen is usually not going to be doing baby talk or overly cutesy shit unless their doing it on purpose. Maybe they mispronounce or misuse words they are unfamiliar with, but that's only on occasion.

This is also a time when kids start noticing the opposite sex and exploring sexuality. I'm not talking about makeout or other more intense stuff. But you know, like schoolyard crushes or an eleven year old girl putting up pictures of Justin Bieber because she thinks he's cute and she wants to marry him.

My best advice, watch some shows with kids in them and see how they're portrayed. I'm not talking about a show made for kids, I'm talking about an actual adult show, like a drama or even a sitcom that isn't too wacky. Find a few episodes that feature kids prominently and see how they're portrayed.

Please forgive me if this is kind of a mishmash of topics.

Thought Processes:

This is the age when social interactions and self-image start to come into play a lot more. Children get stronger opinions about what they like and what they don't like, and their opinions become stronger than just 'I like trains' or 'I don't like this movie'; they're more likely to fall out about it and it's likely to take more than a day to reconcile, if it's a big deal.

This age is more sensitive in a lot of ways and they are prone to taking criticism personally. This is also the age at which bullying (defined as persistent, repeated harassment) starts to emerge, because as children build more stable and meaningful social bonds, they also start distancing themselves from difference and things they don't like or understand. You see a lot of -isms crop up at this point, although that also depends strongly on the parents and what principles they consider important.

This age group is also starting to get competitive as they measure themselves against their peers. They can become easily frustrated by their failure and impatient with themselves and others, which is especially evident when they're working in groups.

By this age a child who's developing normally will also have a clear understanding of the permanence of death. They probably will have some clearly defined spiritual beliefs but, just speaking from my own experience, it's often informed heavily by what is cool socially.

Knowledge:

Reading and mathematical ability in this age group has huge, huge variance; a particularly adept child will be able to take their experience with phonics and tricky words and apply it to very difficult unfamiliar words - something we take for granted as adults that gets honed over many years. If the child is following the Curriculum, at the higher end of the 12 years they will be working with large numbers and problem solving. They'll understand decimals, division, and know their multiplication table by heart, as a starting point. They'll be able to read pie charts and bar graphs and answer questions about them, able to solve logical problems and work systematically, work in sequences, mentally reverse the order of their actions, and group objects by their likeness to each other and other generalised facts. They'll also know how to multitask and have better time management than younger children. However, there's a huge spectrum of ability at this age, and some kids never have a problem and some of them take many years more to grasp these things.

Their concentration greatly improves in general. This is when they're able to become absorbed in work and thrive off their accomplishments. They may get very eager and proud about things they know they're good at, which is a positive thing.

Voice:

At this age they have a pretty clear understanding of speaking in past and present tense, so there's less 'runned' instead of 'ran' but they may still be self-correcting and struggle to make their feelings clear if it's a complex issue. Their vocabulary is still somewhat simple, but they will probably recognise some complex words they aren't likely to use themselves. They tend to fall back on argument clichés and don't recognise contradiction until it's pointed out to them. This is the age when they also start to understand sarcasm, although it's probably not a good idea to be sarcastic with a kid of this age since they're generally pretty sensitive when they hear that shit from adults.

They will probably also really enjoy sharing their thoughts in general, talking about things they've learned, things they've memorised, or asking questions. At this age sometimes the questions can get quite personal, as well. You also get a few blossoming trolls who'll try to give you sass, especially when they're headed towards the 12/13 bracket.

However, this is all really, really general, broad stuff. I didn't touch on mannerisms or personality because that's really personal to the kid, from what I've seen, and it can be hard to generalise. Some of them are yammer-mouth clowns who thrive on any kind of attention, some of them take themselves incredibly seriously and are very easily wounded, some of them are what sometimes get called "ghost children" who tend to be very background in classrooms and just quietly get on with things, aaaand some of them are obnoxious little punks who like to grief their peers, teaching assistants, and sometimes even teachers. They sound like stereotypes, but you do encounter them.

Also, some kids won't demonstrate any of this or care much about socialising or how they're perceived, but if they go to school or otherwise socialise with peers, this could reflect their growing environment if nothing else.

Sorry it's kind of a mess of stuff, and it's just one person's experience, but I hope at least some of it's useful!

seconding to remember that you're playing a preteen, not a preschooler. your character should already know stuff like their colors, shapes, basic communication skills, etc. if you pay attention to children's media, especially aimed at 10-12s, you'll see a LOT of emphasis at this point in forming social groups and maintaining relationships (like what to do after a fight with a friend or if you're being bullied and whatnot). basically (and very generally), this is the age when kids start looking for a place in society and seeking to conform to (or defy) social and/or group norms.

this is kind of tricky to talk about because a lot of it depends on so many factors, but very VERY generally: your character will probably have some interest in dressing and acting to look 'cool' or 'pretty' (and even if they don't, they'll at least be aware that other kids are holding them to a standard). they may seek out someone to look up to and use as a role model, probably someone who is slightly older and (usually) of the same gender, and they may try to emulate them and seek validation from them. they may form crushes; idk if you want to deal with puberty, but some kids hit it around this age so that's another thing to think about. more value tends to be placed on gender-specific activities, dress, and friends (and again, even if your character is defying that, it's probably going to be deliberate rather than actually not understanding that this is the social norm).

specific hobbies and interests may be coming into the foreground. they may not know yet what they want to be when they grow up, but by this point they would probably know roughly what areas they're into and what they're
talented at.

an interest in appearing mature and "grown-up" may be emerging. they will most likely know common swear words, unless they're incredibly sheltered; they will probably be aware that sex exists, although they may not know the particulars (this is very, very dependent on parents, area, education, etc). they will probably not be hitting parental rebellion yet, but they might be embarrassed by or angry at their parents or family members if they feel they don't fulfill a social standard.

this is all more on the older end of things; a 10-year-old might not care as much as a 12-year-old, or your character may be advanced or a late bloomer or something. idk if you're thinking about a canon character or an oc, but remember that so much of this is dependent on so many different things, so don't worry TOO much, and don't be afraid to exercise some artistic license (since we are after all talking about pretending to be a fictional character in a game, not actual child-rearing).

and i know an above anon and i already said this but again, please, do not write them like a two-year-old who tawks wike dis, tee-hee. i don't know you but i know you're better than that, anon.

I think something that helps is looking up what grade that child would be in, in your country. 10-12 is 5th or 6th grade aged, in the USA - just as a reminder for how you might have been there. People tend to play kids that age as too young, almost - more in the 6 or 7 range than the 10 and 12 range.

thanks so much everyone, this has been amazingly helpful! :)

A character I want to write is kidnapped for a year, sees her husband shot before her eyes and believes he's dead, and during that year is treated as both a sex slave and basically a punching bag. After she escapes, how would you write PTSD? I don't want to use a bunch of cliches, but I also want it to be realistic. Help?

i find this series of personal essays a good resource for ptsd

http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/541123.html

this one is about triggering from sexual assault. the warning from it: Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery.

http://impertinence.dreamwidth.org/470578.html

OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-12 00:08 (UTC) - Expand

I'm still working out the kinks of how she'd communicate on a grander scale than just offering her bits and pieces of advice as she does in-game, but I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for playing her in environments where she would be without her powers or items to consult with, as well as a number of different cultures/species.

I posted this in the last RPanons Character Advice thread and someone requested details (which I gave) and then never actually gave advice beyond "it might just be your game" in the post asking me for more details.

Thread is here: http://rpanons.dreamwidth.org/26801.html?thread=79230129#cmt79230129

TL:DR Does anyone have tricks they use to add more deadpan snarking and sarcasm to a very sarcastic character?

This is...kind of difficult, because if it doesn't come naturally to you, I'm not sure anyone can describe how to do it more. I can't imagine playing a sarcastic character if I couldn't think of sarcastic responses right off the top of my head.

+1

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-12 00:17 (UTC) - Expand

I think your best bet is to play off really ridiculous, over the top character types. The kinds that often take everything so literally that it's easy to gently poke fun at them.

Something that always helped me when I played a similar character was that I'd think about things I wished I could say, but could not to people who were assholes to me. If you work in customer service at all, this will be easy to do because you'll have plenty of fodder to work from.

Then take that and come up with a way to word it so it doesn't sound offensive, but still gets the overall meaning across even if it is sarcastic. Often sarcasm is just saying the opposite of what you really mean or coming up with a special term to describe someone that sounds nice but in the way it is said, it ends up actually being degrading. For instance, at work we call out crazy asshole customers our special customers with sparkling personalities.

It's hard to explain, but overall that gets my mind and wit working to help me pull it off IC. It is something that often will take practice and you may want to try bouncing your character off someone for some test threads where you have an idea of the outcome and let that person give you some feedback on it.

Also, don't be afraid to add brackets describing things and if you have to, outright stating that yes, it is sarcasm. Remember that sarcasm does have vocal inflections to it to make it more apparent, and that doesn't translate as well into text so an issue may be that the players in your game read it as serious and truthful when it is meant to be sarcastic and miss most of the attempts you make. If you have to, describe that tone. If your character really has no special tone indicating it, mention that in brackets that it's definitely hard to tell if that really is sarcasm or not. That can help clue in the player that yeah, it is and they can react better. It may also help to have the players point out some examples where you did it right and where you didn't so you can get a better idea of how they are reading your tags as well.

Anon from last post sorry life got really busy for me. But going off of what you said:

It really sounds to me like you might just not have the right character types in your game to play off of. People don't usually realize unless they actually play a snarky character that the snark comes more from playing off character types than from the character having a real mouth on them.

Assuming that's not the case though since they're military focusing on differences between how a career soldier might see something versus how a civilian might see something is a great place to look for a source for sarcasm. It can be anything from expressing incredulousness that hugs will help another character to noting someone in the game is throwing a party to help people feel better, but not fixing the actual problem. Generally recognizing and emphasizing the gulf between feelings and practicality is a good place to look if you need more material for your character to comment on.

Other things that will help you are colloquialisms and euphemisms. This is where wordplay comes in and helps your character remain polite while expressing a contrary opinion. This would be saying things like something's all the rage or that someone's a real prima donna. If you don't know many google can help you out. Once you get a feel for them it's easy to recognize them in your daily life or even make up your own. Litotes are harder, but also useful if your character is the type to be roundabout. This would be things like instead of saying someone's cooking is terrible instead saying it's not unedible.

Another trick you can do is recognize other characters' main traits and play off of them. If the character they're talking to is always excessively happy your character can slip in things like "Yes and we'll all hug and make up afterwards" in response to a proposal. If they're a downer you could give a reply to a request along the lines of "Of course, as soon as I finish having a good cry". Even if the character doesn't comically emphasize their own traits your character can use their words to do it for them. A character doesn't necessarily have to be over the top for the most dedicated snarkers to have a poke at them.

Finally if your character is chatty you can bring a snarkable topic into a conversation that doesn't have much chance for snark. Take potshots at characters who aren't present or express discontent with by referencing other events in game your character found comparably stupid. Make a clear standard of what your character considers smart and what they consider dumb and make certain they let everyone know them through things like favorable sounding unfavorable comparisons. If there's not a lot of things in your game to make unfavorable comparisons too try hitting up your gamemates to get some negative CR going so you have more subjects for your character to make fun of.

thinking about taking her post-ascension, but I've never played her before at all so any pointers would be great.

read all her chat logs, and brush up a lot - and pay attention to all her interests and not just one or one facet of her personality.

op

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-12 04:02 (UTC) - Expand

da

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-12 05:15 (UTC) - Expand

Re: da

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-12 05:36 (UTC) - Expand

I haven't looked at Death Note for years, and it's something I've suddenly gotten into again. L's always been a favorite of mine, and I've thought about making a journal for him, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to do him much justice at first. His character seems so complex!

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-12 01:23 (UTC) - Expand

Re: L | Death Note

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-12 01:59 (UTC) - Expand

+1

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-13 01:28 (UTC) - Expand

So, how does one best approach the type of character with a lot of traumatic backstory without coming off as an IC drama queen? Their issues still affect them even if they try not to let on, but they're in the process of working through them.

I feel it'd be pretty awkward to bring it up in ooc narration every time the conversation heads toward any sensitive topics for them, but it'd also be awkward to just gloss over them like they didn't happen.

Re: over the top angst

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-13 18:20 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-14 15:34 (UTC) - Expand

Re: over the top angst

(Anonymous) - 2013-02-15 13:31 (UTC) - Expand

tips on voice especially appreciated!

From the manga, for what it's worth.

A character's love interest is not only dropped, but permanently dead in the game's overarching story line. How do I handle this without making it cloying?

Yeah, I...I don't even know.

But any tips would be great.

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CHARACTER ADVICE

Child Characters

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Re: Child Characters

op

PTSD (cw: kidnapping, assault, abuse)

Re: PTSD (cw: kidnapping, assault, abuse)

OP

Eiki Shiki | Touhou Project

Deadpan Snarking/Sarcasm

Re: Deadpan Snarking/Sarcasm

+1

Re: Deadpan Snarking/Sarcasm

Re: Deadpan Snarking/Sarcasm

Re: Deadpan Snarking/Sarcasm

jade harley - homestuck

Re: jade harley - homestuck

op

da

Re: da

L | Death Note

(no subject)

Re: L | Death Note

+1

over the top angst

Re: over the top angst

(no subject)

Re: over the top angst

GEOFFREY CHAUCER | A KNIGHT'S TALE

Ryuuji "Bon" Suguro | Ao no Exorcist / Blue Exorcist

Grieving their love interest?

Re: Grieving their love interest?

general: characters with no name

http://rpanons.dreamwidth.org/22758.html?thread=70259430#cmt70259430

Re: general: characters with no name

Edward | Cowboy Bebop

Kenneth Parcell l 30 Rock