rpanons | chortles fatly

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not sure this is the best advice/ymmv character to character but in my limited experiences a depressed character still has a personality, so try working with that in tandem with their depression.

look at the events/external canon factors that may have caused the depression or trauma. was it a character death? maybe they cope with extremely morbid jokes or a fascination with death, or speak with a very frank open-ness about it. maybe they get really into ghosts or supernatural. stuff that seems normal at first conversation but you slowly side eye after they spontaneously inject it into conversations more frequently than not. stuff that might make another character go 'hey you ok bro?' slow-broiling ptsd from an epic battle? maybe they're afraid to fight, become passive in any confrontations, or hyper-paranoid to perceived threats. maybe they pick up a sword and train with it every day but not necessarily to get better but because it's become a mind-numbing habit and a form of excusable escapism. a magical curse? maybe they put on a front of being very grumpy and acrid in personality but their bark is worse than their bite, and when it comes to actually doing anything about it, well, depression. and magical curse. fuck it, why bother trying, etc.

also think about what changes if they stop being depressed--are they the same character? would they grow and change radically or be more or less the same? depressed people can function* and engage with others, they just do it either poorly/much less proactively and/or while still feeling bad and numb about themselves.

*if you're picking up a character that is non-functionally depressed consider how long you want that arc to go on. i've written myself into a corner before with a non-functionally depressed character to the point i really didn't have a choice but to drop them. it was all very ic! but ultimately it became unfun to write after a while.

chortles fatly

Re: CHARACTER ADVICE