Updating Again: Characters and the Writing Itch

I don't know if anyone else out there enjoys to write for fun, but every now and again, when the bug hits me, I take pleasure out of putting pen to paper or fingers to keys and getting a story out. It's not near frequent enough to call myself a writer or to be very good at it, but I enjoy it all the same. Anyway, as I was musing on what to write (blog-wise and story-wise), I came across a couple of my gaming blogs. Then it hit. I thought I would blog about some of the sources for my story ideas.

Many of my ideas actually come from three main sources: from the media, from my wife, and from RPG character creation. The media is pretty self-explanatory, and the ideas I get from the wife are usually during or after we've been talking about whatever new topic that comes along. She's a great source of inspiration for both intellectual and leisure pursuits in research and writing.

The last area of creative inspiration is via character creation for any of the various RPGs I have played or do play. In any RPG (roleplaying game), each player creates a character which they then play sort of like an actor plays a character in a show or movie, and I enjoy creating the character as much as actually playing. It's because, for me, the character drives the story and the plot. Without Harry Potter, it would just be and the Chamber of Secrets or and the Half Blood Prince.

I know that's a bit overexaggerated, but you know what I'm getting at. So much of our literature is character-based and whether we're describing people or talking about general human personalities, if we want to explain persistance and madness, we refer to Captain Ahab. If we're trying to describe altruism, we use Mother Theresa or Christ. There's a name used to describe practically any and every aspect of human nature. That's why I enjoy character creation so.

And after reading this, you still sit there asking what RPGs are about, I'll share links to a few of my favorites: Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, and Shadowrun. Enjoy!