Thread:Admiral Benjamin Church/@comment-26193148-20151126005227

Okay, besides the Manuel of Styles stuff, I'm going to teach you how to make a sandwich. When I say sandwich, here is what I use as my meat and veggies. So first things first;

1)Power comes with time. My best characters all started as Chuunin or Genin in some project. And then the fucking project fails and I end up working on the character while everything else is forgotten. Zenjou, I made as a Chuunin for a Site Wide Chuunin Exams not too long ago. The reason why this is important is because children are the best starting point to build anything. We are at our most vulnerable/knowledge seeking when we're young. And we also are the most easily influenced. So making a character as a chuunin first, then using your imagination (See 6), you end up with a solid story. I find that making characters young, and then beefing up their age as you add more makes the process easy.

2)Power stems from personality. Shounen series don't really portray this well...But Naruto has done a pretty good job. Every character has a certain trait you can connect to their personality. Think about it? Why is Orochimaru based off of a Snake? (Removing the Yamata no Orochi motiff) Why did Friend Killer Kakashi have a technique which cuts everything in it's path? Or Naruto possess a concussive technique whose sole power depends on the spiralling motion? Your character should have powers revolving around them. How do you do this? Develop personality. Although it seems random, Zenjou has powers that stem from our personalities.

3) Personal Connection. For some reason, this is a big nono for Mary Sues...But I think that's a stupid rule. It is easy to write about things you know...And hopefully, you should know yourself more than anything else. Everything Zenjou is, is a mirror of my own perspective, beliefs and how others have viewed me. I've been called a heartless bastard who'd kill a friend to progress forward. Yet people know me as a kind hearted peace lover who only makes sacrifices to protect the whole. So writing for Zenjou around those topics made it that much easier to develop him as a human. Another personal connection is even in the abilities. In Real Life, I have practiced Archery. And now, I've gone back to my childhood love of Fencing. So implementing them into a single character becomes that much easier.

4) Knowing when it's too much. Yes. Zenjou is overpowered. And that's okay, because every series has those characters that cannot be stopped. Being Over powered is like being Gay. People complain about it but we all got it in us somewhere...And the people who complain about it the most are usually the biggest offenders/faggots. Anyway, there IS a limit. And that limit is A) Having powers that are just add ons and stacked B) Adding too many powers. There should be a focus on your character, and you should refrain from like....just adding shit. Like on your char I see a looooooooooot of unneccessary stuff. Things where I'm like "Shit, what is he NOT a master of." Another way to look at it is where is the fun if your character cannot be beaten? If Zenjou fought Kei Yotsuki I honestly don't know who'd win...Because Zenjou has weaknesses that Kei overcomes. And vice versa.

5) Focus. Focus on a character is important. And when I say focus, I don't just mean power wise. I also mean story wise. Your character should have a dream, goal and ambition. Without it, Characters end up all over the place. And making them too strong ends up with Characters that are just power list.

6) Imagination. Add some pizaaz to your char.

Now, I will say this....You're fucking good. You have that skill in writing that shows me you've been doing this for a while. And you have the attention to detail that is pretty rare these days. But I want you, well to try yourself, try making a character that isn't a god. And then develop them into one! 