Post by Tiffany Lestrange on Jun 20, 2013 8:37:33 GMT
Let us start in the beginning; body language. Like in real life, body language is very important, and is one of the things that will help other players get to know your character - how they are with others. When playing insane characters, however, there are slight differences from playing sane characters, and I’m here to help you understand them.
For example, when playing a character (like I did for almost six months) with Impulse Control Disorder - The failure to resist an impulsive act or behaviour that may be harmful to self or others. - your character will have to be much more uninhibited and free than others; they won’t be able to control themselves with the smallest things. The character I played, let’s call her Betty, was constantly touching everyone; pinching them, hugging them and seducting everyone, both males and females. She also had a funny way of moving when she was alone; dancing to no music on the hallways at night. Of course, she had other mental illnesses, not only ICD, but still, from her body language you could see she was not normal.
Read about your character’s illness and study what people with it tend to do, especially how they move. After that, and a bit of practice, you will not have any problems with an insane character’s body language.
For example, when playing a character (like I did for almost six months) with Impulse Control Disorder - The failure to resist an impulsive act or behaviour that may be harmful to self or others. - your character will have to be much more uninhibited and free than others; they won’t be able to control themselves with the smallest things. The character I played, let’s call her Betty, was constantly touching everyone; pinching them, hugging them and seducting everyone, both males and females. She also had a funny way of moving when she was alone; dancing to no music on the hallways at night. Of course, she had other mental illnesses, not only ICD, but still, from her body language you could see she was not normal.
Read about your character’s illness and study what people with it tend to do, especially how they move. After that, and a bit of practice, you will not have any problems with an insane character’s body language.
For this part, I will use a character I am currently playing as an example. We’ll call her Ruby.
Ruby has Hyperthymesia, a condition in which the individual possesses a superior autobiographical memory, meaning they can recall the vast majority of personal experiences and events in their lives. When writing her bio, I gave her illness a twist and used only the bases of it; Ruby often has attacks where she is overwhelmed by her own memories and goes into a state of pure insanity in which she does not sleep, eat or function.
This, of course, affects her relationships and actions with others, for she is terrified they will reject her once they see her in her (as she calls it) “bad place”. The only relationships Ruby has been able to maintain are with her sister, who she loves and protects like the girl is her own daughter, and her current boyfriend, who she loves but has not been able to be around when she has an attack yet.
My point is, when people aren’t stable, they will tend so shy away from people due to fear of rejection and, even if they communicate with everyone, they might not let anyone in as easily as a bubbly, girl-next-door character would. This is just an example, though, since there are characters who are not mentally stable and yet are as social as a piñata on party day (like the character in my first example, Betty).
Read your character’s bio everyday until you are able to really “become” them, and then, just put yourself in their shoes. It’s the most simple way to portrait a mentally unstable character accurately.
Ruby has Hyperthymesia, a condition in which the individual possesses a superior autobiographical memory, meaning they can recall the vast majority of personal experiences and events in their lives. When writing her bio, I gave her illness a twist and used only the bases of it; Ruby often has attacks where she is overwhelmed by her own memories and goes into a state of pure insanity in which she does not sleep, eat or function.
This, of course, affects her relationships and actions with others, for she is terrified they will reject her once they see her in her (as she calls it) “bad place”. The only relationships Ruby has been able to maintain are with her sister, who she loves and protects like the girl is her own daughter, and her current boyfriend, who she loves but has not been able to be around when she has an attack yet.
My point is, when people aren’t stable, they will tend so shy away from people due to fear of rejection and, even if they communicate with everyone, they might not let anyone in as easily as a bubbly, girl-next-door character would. This is just an example, though, since there are characters who are not mentally stable and yet are as social as a piñata on party day (like the character in my first example, Betty).
Read your character’s bio everyday until you are able to really “become” them, and then, just put yourself in their shoes. It’s the most simple way to portrait a mentally unstable character accurately.
DON’T: Use the psychopath stereotype for your character, unless they are actually psychopaths. Being unstable doesn’t mean you want to murder everyone.
DON’T: Assume that an unstable character is the same as an insane character, for though there is a thin line between them, insanity is far more complicated than mental instability. The first one is rather hard to “fix”.
DON’T: Make the mistake of thinking that a mental illness is an excuse for your character acting randomly and getting away with it; people in RL won’t tolerate (excuse my language) bullshit from anyone, and so won’t people in RP. After you research your character’s illness, make a list of what it can cause your character to do and how they are likely to react, and stick with it. For example, don’t go and act all sweet and fall in love after five minutes when your character is a psychopath.
DON’T: Assume that an unstable character is the same as an insane character, for though there is a thin line between them, insanity is far more complicated than mental instability. The first one is rather hard to “fix”.
DON’T: Make the mistake of thinking that a mental illness is an excuse for your character acting randomly and getting away with it; people in RL won’t tolerate (excuse my language) bullshit from anyone, and so won’t people in RP. After you research your character’s illness, make a list of what it can cause your character to do and how they are likely to react, and stick with it. For example, don’t go and act all sweet and fall in love after five minutes when your character is a psychopath.
Guide by Rapunzel
