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Forums » Smalltalk » Question of character development and backstory

I'm just curious about how people like to keep their characters here - do you alter their bios and backstories with the roleplays they do, adding on and including other people's chars based on what happens, or do you keep your characters relatively static with a solid and generally unchanging backstory?

Personally, I find the latter much easier, and I can always alter bits and pieces to better suit a RP. I feel like the former would make things too complicated, especially when moving on to other partners, but what are your guys' thoughts on it?
Hmm! Me, everyone's backstories will always remain the same throughout. That's the one thing my RPs with other people will not ever change; they're a part of a series I'm creating with ideas already set in mind for each character. I'm just RPing them to get a better feel for their personalities as I write and plan.

However, that doesn't stop me from adding small tidbits and stuff to my characters as a sort of shout-out to each person that's helped me flesh out my characters. For example, a RP I just finished had one of my more immortal characters receive a gift. That gift is now part of her main outfit, but she doesn't remember where she got them from because it's been so long (or at least the design of them; by now they must be broken unless the material is as immortal as her).

I like doing things like that to show my appreciation for everyone who's RPed with me that I truly enjoyed, but I can't go so far as editing their initial backstories to fit in every RP I've ever had with someone. Their initial histories makes them who they are in the first place; revising an event in their past (especially a big one) means modifying bits and pieces of their personality that once made them unique to my playstyle. Also, like you said, it's too messy to try and keep up with it all. I commend those who do, because it must be a lot to edit and revise as a RP goes on.

However, there are exceptions: if someone really, really speaks out to me and likes my work and ideas, we get along fantastically OOCly, and if our characters mesh well enough to make sense, I'm willing to change my "canon" in certain areas (i.e. adding them to the present day in my story line, or as a side story in the recent past. Nothing like their childhood gets changed.)

Tl;Dr: I keep all of my backstories the same and only add certain RPs that speak out to me and my muses to my characters' present day events.

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