Have you tried making original works? (Characters, setting, etc.)

[Yanrima~]

I wanted to ask this question because I'm interested in seeing if others here have tried to write up or draw their own "universe" (setting) and characters.

I do have 'completely' original characters (Leo and Ren) who are both protagonists and slight rivals (and they're mostly inspired by many traits I see in my list of favorite characters: wacky, had a mustache, mechanical, fantasy looking, mythology-inspired, etc.)

What are your original characters or world setting? And how much development do they have since their creation?

 

[xSuperMario64x]

oh I absolutely have!! I get so excited when I have a chance to talk about my characters/stories haha

I have a story idea that's actually been floating around in my mind for a while, but I just recently started to actually plot ideas for it. the working title is "Adventure and Curiosity", I plan on it being a book aimed at a juvenile audience so the title will likely not be so vague. I've actually already talked about it a bit in my art thread, since I've made drawings that utilize the characters within the story. here's a pretty basic plot, outlined from a post that I made in my art thread a few months ago:

I actually drew this with a certain context in mind! so the characters featured in this drawing are characters from a story idea I've had for forever. the guy in the middle is John Gladys, he's a zoologist who has a particular fascination with the strange creatures of the world. with him are his animal friends: Comet (a pure white felisiraptor) has been with him for many years--since he began his journey learning about hybrid animals--and the wolfsel had not yet earned his name, simply being referred to by his given species name. John had discovered and named a multitude of creatures in the past, but one had evaded him and the rest of his town for years and years: the toucat. this is a creature of legend, rumored to live in an area of the country where no one dare cross, lest they not make their return. this region is believed to be protected by a fierce dragon of dark matter. but being the courageous and daring explorer he is, John simply would not take that as an answer, and swore to be the first to find the land of the toucats (and perhaps bring one home for research).

this idea all started back in 2014, when I was a freshman in HS and I first came up with the design for the Toucat. from there, I started coming up with other characters, such as the Felisiraptor (which is actually a creature I came up with when I was very young, but didn't officially draw until about 2015), Flying Fox, Wolfsel, and of course John. I would later end up adding a few more characters to this list, like Arcanum and Ollie. after thinking for a while that it would be cool to write a story about these characters, I started brainstorming. I don't have much more than a basic plot right now, but I'm currently working on a fanfic to get my bearings since I haven't done any writing since at least 2016, and once I'm done (or at least mostly done) with that, I plan to start working on my own original story!

as for development, I really love going in-depth into a character's psyche to really get a grasp on why they are who they are, and why they do what they do. perhaps they have something to prove? or maybe something from their past influences their decisions and attitude, whether good or bad? or perhaps, they have some kind of moral compass and they feel like they have a calling, a desire to do good in the world? I've done a little bit of development for my characters, but I'm excited to start jotting down a rough draft for this story so I can really get to know the characters and see how all the pieces fit together. I'm pretty deep in this process with my fanfic and it's honestly really exciting stuff!

idk if there is a website specifically for the process of story-writing, but I may create a blog to document my progress for this, and so other people can see my creative process also been somewhat tempted to release my fanfic so other people can read it if they're interested hehe

 

[Kitsuragi]

yes i have, i have quite a few OCs and stories written but not published. my OCs are on their toyhouse and there's a story to go along with it, i just dont have the cheek to upload it publicly. my two "main" OCs have been changed around a lot, i plan on re-writing their synopsis and such

 

[Croconaw]

I haven’t. I call the art in my signature and profile respectively an OC, but I’m not sure it really counts. He’s just an anime-style version of myself with a different eye color. My eyes are green, but the darker blue matched everything better overall.

I wouldn’t say I’m creative enough to come up with original characters. I just draw what I see most of the time, which is the absolute opposite of creative, lol.

 

[QueenCobra]

I am a writer. While I blog about history and pop culture, my first passion was story-writing. So now I have written a lot of short stories and some novels. I write poetry as well, but the stories…they keep coming back to me.
It’s rare that I’m not in the middle of writing something, so I guess you could say I am always in a mode of creation. At least that’s how I think it is. My current characters now are updated, more complicated versions of the ones I created as a teenager. (Which makes sense.) I’ve created a lot more women than men, but that’s probably because I am a woman and most of my family are women. (so I understand them better) Nevertheless, I have some guy characters, too.
I’m working on a few things at once. I’m a little hesitant about sharing my novels because as some would say I am “soft”— but overall they’re fantasy. I have written historical fiction, but there’s always that little nudge of fantasy… time-travel. My current one has a bit more mystery, and is more political in the sense that we’re dealing with a fictional royal family— but it’s still fantasy.
If I answered it fully, I’m afraid you’d have a complete novel, so I’ll leave it at that…!

 

[ZeldaCrossing64]

I mostly write fanfiction, but I used to write original stories for journal prompts and assignments back in elementary school (in English and French). I've also written a couple of stories for English class in the 7th grade, but had to write responses and reviews onward.

I did, however, write an original story a few years ago. It wasn't anything special, though. It was basically about a girl who couldn't have pets because her parents were allergic, but meets a cat from an alternate universe that talks and wears fancy accessories. The girl takes care of the cat without her parents knowing, but I haven't thought of anything for the rest of the story.

I have a few OCs as well, but they're pretty basic and don't really have backstories. The ones I made from scratch were mainly used in fanfics anyways. I've made a number of Miis on my 3DS, but don't really consider them OCs since I made them to fill up apartment space in Tomodachi Life. But if I wanted, I could take one of those Miis and turn them into a fleshed-out character for any writing projects in the future.

So, to answer the question: Sort of. I'm more of a fanfiction person, but I'm also capable of and willing to write something original if I set myself up to it.

 

[skarmoury]

It's kinda crazy but like a few years back I had this entire universe about stars, stardust/star power, and star forms. Basically an excuse for me to have all sorts of characters based on stars. Idk if anyone would be interested but I made a little story/explanation here (a background on stars).

Essentially I made characters with different star powers and they have human forms yadda yadda.

Here are the several characters that comprise the universe!! I made some of them and adopted/commissioned some of them. :3c

Spoiler: hhh

Celestine, my baby girl, pretty much the one that started it all. I actually adopted her from a user here on TBT and I've been dearly attached to her. She's your typical star in the sky who fell to Earth for... some reason I forgot already. But she and her companion Corvus go on an adventure on Earth to complete different missions.

Oh man Corvus. The man, the myth, the legend. He's a specially-formed constellation who was given power by the Star Goddess to travel the universe and restore order to the many troubles in the galaxies. He was designed as a train conductor as he travels around and stuff. When the Star Goddess learned that there were shooting stars that fell on Earth, he designated Corvus to track down these stars immediately.

Mutton........ I struggled with writing him the MOST because of technicalities. He's a rather powerful star system and part of the constellation Aries (zodiac constellations don't get their own special form like Corvus, idk it's so hard to explain lmao). Essentially he ALSO fell to Earth because he didn't feel like he belonged in his constellation. I have nothing else for him I'm so sorry I didn't build him properly.

Um..... I barely have any art for the Star Goddess so take this design with a huge grain of salt. Also I drew this lots of years ago so um yeah. She's very pretty and very bright and very soft spoken, plus she gives birth to new stars and grants more star power to those she deems deserving, that's all I have to say.

Yes this is cheating because Chimecho is a Pokemon character and not an original character but I really wanted to give him a special mention. He's a very special companion of Celestine. Very pretty. His tail is the color of the afternoon sky.

I adopted this cool girl and inserted her into the star universe (kinda) because why not. She's the Goddess of Dimensions and she loves hanging around with the Star Goddess. Idk she's just chill and loves watching chaos unfold. Is she girlfriends with the Star Goddess? Maybe. Who knows.

I've pretty much left the series since I lost interest, but the characters mean so much to me, especially Celestine who started all of this.

Oh I almost forgot, I also had two demon OCs, I don't have a world for them or anything besides them just being your typical demons in hell. I think I made them some stories of being in Dante's Inferno but I don't have anything concrete rn. They're siblings and idk they're chaotic.

Spoiler: hhh

LILIN my beloved. I think I also adopted her design from here?? I forgot. Anyway, edgy demon of lust. Very chaotic. She loves her brother very much and she knitted him a sweater once aww.

Diabolus is the later sibling to be added, he's just annoyed with everything but is hella overprotective of his sister (even if he doesn't like showing his soft side to her).

Yeah that's all I have to show for now, I've almost forgotten about these characters but thank you for this thread, this took me down to memory lane. I will always cherish my babies.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I made a fantasy world that is like.. 98% water, with the main focus of the story being underwater towns/cities with merpeople/fishfolk/etc. It was for my homebrew D&D 5E campaign which my husband and I and a couple friends podcasted but it didn't get very far

World-building is a lot of fun though; I think the most enjoyable parts for me were coming up with gods/goddesses, map making, and generally just trying to figure out how things would work underwater -- especially tens to hundreds of feet deep in the ocean. I kinda miss working on it, I feel like there isn't enough underwater story stuff in general? But then again I'm not much of a reader so maybe there is!

 

[Ravenkitty22]

I have! I’m currently working on two different series’s, one fanfiction and one original fantasy (that I’m hoping to turn into an animated TV show in the future).

The original fantasy/isekai series is my first completely original work that I’m taking seriously, and it’s a lot more fun than I thought it’d be. I love world building and creating a new culture and magic system, and character design can be kind of addictive sometimes lol. I’m the type to create a cast of characters with complex backstories, a world, and a theme song and not actually start writing the story because I don’t know where to start. Without spoiling anything, it’s loosely inspired by The Owl House, with a couple of my own experiences tied to some of the characters. I currently have three OCs for the series figured out, the series is relatively new so I don’t have any side characters yet.

I really tried to write my own stories, and they can be really good sometimes (seen in the fanfic that I’m completely redesigning), but I’ve realized it’s a long and hard process, and it’s harder for me because I think of events as tv episodes in a way. Its kinda hard to explain. I’m excited for this new series I’m making though! (let’s hope this doesn’t age like milk)

(Edited for grammar)

 

[Snek]

Yes, I am! I'm keeping it secret what I'm working on at the moment but its been enjoyable and I've learned a lot from writing. Character development, worldbuilding, story structure, all of it is important when creating your own work. The most important thing is to do it every day and not pressure yourself.

 

[CoffeeAndCaramel973]

Character development, worldbuilding, story structure, all of it is important when creating your own work. The most important thing is to do it every day and not pressure yourself.

I agree completely with this Very well said!

 

[Seastar]

I pretty much tried to make OCs when I was much younger but they were all similar to Pokemon in some way and didn't really have personalities since I was actually making species rather than characters. I would later end up making actual OCs except... they're all linked to fandoms. I don't know how to make anything else.

 

[Beanz]

i had two OCs when i was younger but i have since retired them since they were kind of bland. i guess i do have an OC currently which is my persona, based off of myself (pictured in my profile picture)

i’d love to create more original characters and a story but im afraid to because i think i’ll make up something too cringey lmao

 

[LadyDestani]

Yes, I love to write so I create OCs, worlds, and stories all the time. Some of them still live solely in my head as I've never fully fleshed them out. Some have partial character bios written or snippets of a story drafted. But I have completed numerous short stories and poems, as well as two plays and two children's books that I self-published for my nephews.

Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of bouncing around between ideas too often. My lack of discipline has kept me from completing any of the novels I've started. My most complete novel is still in its first draft and that's only about 50% complete at best.

My writing covers many different genres including but not limited to: drama, fantasy, historical fiction, mystery/suspense, and horror.

One of the more developed worlds I've created for a piece I actually finished was my Hero's Journey story during the Enchanted Forest TBT Fair. I worked with existing fictional species of faeries and goblins, but I really went in depth on building their cultures, customs, heirarchies, and traditions. Even though only bits and pieces were used in the story, I created a foundation for an entire goblin language and their naming conventions. It was so much fun!

i’d love to create more original characters and a story but im afraid to because i think i’ll make up something too cringey lmao

You shouldn't be afraid to try if it's something you want to do. You never have to show anyone else if you don't want to, but we all start somewhere. I know I can't say that I'm proud of everything I've written, but I've learned and grown from each attempt.

 

[Corrie]

I usually stick to fanfiction, as I like taking existing characters and worlds and putting my own twist to them. It's like me making a new episode or season to a show I already love!

That said, in my current large project, I've ended up creating OCs amongst the other canon characters. The one girl I love who is a sassy deadpan snarker who has a sailor's tongue. She despises the main character for mooching off a boy who is her coworker, but the moocher girl's new friend. It's been fun writing sassy catfights between the two, hehe.

I have another OC that currently has no project. It's a character I bought off of a user here. She's a young girl who is a medium. She hides that fact though. I still would love to use her in an original work someday.

 

[Drawdler]

character design is not my passion, I don’t enjoy the mix messing around with shapes, anatomy, aesthetics and storytelling there- I’m more into composition and how things are framed, or even redesigning existing characters- which is why I’m more drawn to the idea of fine art I think. I wish I had character design chops, but I’ve tried, and I very rarely get a spark for it.

However writing original ideas, philosophy, themes, stories etc. I like a lot, though it’s a lot of random ideas stewing. Even a lot of my writing is fanfic. Unless I intended to make it a career I don’t see much problem tbh. What I find fun is exploring ideas more deeply than I usually see, rarely do I express that by making original character designs, more often with writing.

 

[dizzy bone]

For me not so much character design, but my friend and I have brainstormed a hypothetical "dream game" with locations and basic gameplay ideas over the course of 2 years now. While it's probably not possible to make the game itself a reality, I sometimes go back to the file for inspiration for things I want to draw, mostly environmental stuff.

 

[Flicky]

Absolutely, it's my main hobby.

I have around 3 novels that I'll maybe try to get published someday, and in those novels are around 80 characters (this is including side, named background and one-off characters that exist to make the world feel a bit more real), about 20 of which have full profiles with a DOB, family tree, quirks, backstory, etc.. The world they're in is mapped out, with various town and village names. They've got traditions that are rooted in their history as well. I've also got a half-complete timeline of events, because I can't do numbers very well and a couple of plot points rely on exact years being referenced.

I do have art pieces of some characters, but most of those are the animal/monster characters because I can't draw humans very well at all.

 

[FrostyAlmonds]

This is like, what I do (hobbywise). All my OCs and like 85% of my thoughts go into creating my own original world and fleshing out a story. The goal is to eventually turn it into a webcomic but writing things out isn't my strong suit, so I mostly just draw my kids an excessive amount instead.

 

[Midoriya]

Yeah, I've got my own fictional book that's around a dozen chapters and 50+ pages long so far. It's on the backburner though. Just haven't had the time to continue it!

It's an original idea though, and if I ever do continue it I'm hoping it could one day become an anime.