Post by Ron Weasley on Jul 11, 2008 4:03:54 GMT -5
Writing the history of any application can be the worst part of the process for a lot of people. So, in order to help with this and to get people to write the minimums as well as cover a lot of information, I have written a guide, yay!
This is a little different for students and adults, since one is in school and the other might have lived life for a while, so there are different parts in their history to cover. I'll note what is for students and what is for adults, or both.
Students
Part One - Childhood same for students and adults.
Everyone who is not a child has had a childhood - this is pretty common sense, yes? Don't just say that they were born and had an ok childhood, dive into it. They were children a lot longer than they were teenagers, so there should be at least something about it. Where were they born, to whom, and what was the reaction of their parents? You could describe their parent's relationship up to the point of them having the character, but really your history should be about your character, and primarily about your character. Background info is nice and all, but stick to your characters history, unless you want to explain your character's parent's relationship in the family section, since it's not the character's history.
There are several stages of being a child, and you should at least try and cover all of them. Being a baby, what was it like, even if they can't remember it? How did their family deal with them being a baby? Toddler - we learn more during this period than at any other point in our lives. Walking, talking, being able to feed ourselves, it's an important time. How was life when they were a toddler? Did they play, or were they read to? You can say what mom and dad were doing at this point in their life, but try and keep it related to the character and how it might have affected them. After you're a toddler, you're at that 5 year old stage, where you ask a million questions and start the more 'advanced' learning of reading, writing, and coloring within the lines. Such youngsters are always managing to explore too, and it's about this time that as teenagers and adults we start to remember what happened in our lives.
The next period of our lives spreads out across a few years, ages 6 to 8 or so, when we should really be playing and learning and just enjoy being young. We fall down, bump our knees, cry, and have mom or dad or whoever was there kiss it and make it better. Toward the end of this age we start to be very creative, and pretend a lot of things in play, mostly things that we see adults do. The next age group is the 'time before Hogwarts' - but for normal folk the ages 9 and 10, where we realize that we're growing and getting smarter and developing into our own person. We see things and instead of pretend, we emulate. We realize that we're about to become teenagers, or even pre-teens, and how that thought affects that age differs with each person.
This whole period of time, from birth to the letter of Hogwarts, your character should have memories, fond and bad, should have experiences and feelings and connections, and this is when we really develop our personalities, and it's this period of our lives when the basis for who we become later in life is built. Major events in our childhood deeply affect our personalities, so keep this in mind when you write not only your history, but also your personality. This is why people who were repeatedly abused or who grew up around arguing adults as children don't end up perky and happy all the time, and likewise, how kids who had a pretty decent childhood aren't sulky and moody, though hormones can affect personalities at that point, but those would only be temporary setbacks.
Part Two - Family Relationships same for students and adults.
This next section should really dive into how the character interacts with their family, and if they have none, what and how they managed it. Since I encourage characters to have surviving relatives (since the dead-parent thing is SO old), you should use this part of the characters history to explain specific situations with family members, and how those situations affected their relationship and emotions. Relationships and moments are generally what our memories are comprised of, and rather than a text-book description of what their every step was before they were in school, this should dive into the actual persona of the character, and be personal to their past as though they were remembering. How was mom, dad, brothers, sisters? Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas are also important, if they were present often in the past of the character. Moments, feelings, these really are the key points you should touch on with each of the family members of your character. There don't need to be much, if you can't come up with anything, but it's as simple as "Her mother was a kind person but not often at home, due to her being away at work trying to keep food on the table. Whenever they got to spend time together, it was very memorable, but those moments were far and few between."
Such is what I am looking for, and anything more than that for each family member is wonderful.
Part Three - Early time at Hogwarts
The only characters exempt from this portion of their app are first years, and even then, they should be very detailed in their childhood, since it was the time right before this. All other students are expected to give some sort of details on their time before their current year.
Keep in mind! Your character has attended school the same time Harry was at school, and they experienced the same situations he did at some point or another. Your character should have a perspective on those events, and feelings, and memories - what are they? How did they take his discovering the Philosopher's Stone, or being entered in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? How did they fare the news of Voldemort returning, or the death of Dumbledore, who would have been very dear to everyone up to this point in our role play.
Other points to consider are classes, homework, grades, friends, vacations home, personal time away from school, and how all of the above affect your character. What's their favorite class, teacher, friend? How have they developed from their childhood during their time at Hogwarts? Surely they must have grown up - boys would get taller, broader, their voices would have dropped, perhaps. How did that affect them - though perhaps that is a question for personality, though it helps to explain in the history when it happened, and how it was embarrassing, and then explain in the personality how it affected their self-esteem or image. Girls would also get taller, but would fill out, start their female cycles (sorry gents, but it's part of growing up for a lady) and would swing emotionally from cliff to cliff - not all of it has to be mentioned, since most of it can be assumed, but it's nice to know when they noticed that they were really emotional before a period, or their first one and how it was scary, and if they went to see Madame Pomfrey about it - this can also be something to mention in personality.
Again, there doesn't have to be much here, but a sixth year should have five years or so to consider when writing history. The years vary from there, but keep in mind older students should have more about their time before their current year.
Part Four - Current time at Hogwarts
The summer before your current year - the actual current year; these should be apart of your history. Talk about how current events have affected your character, what their hopes and aspirations are, or what they are planning for. This I don't expect to be too long, since you obviously won't know much about their current year until you've played it out, but a start on it will not only help you figure out the direction you want to take with your character, but it will help others learn about your character too, and where they might interact with them in their current year.
Adults
Part One - Childhood same for students and adults.
Everyone who is not a child has had a childhood - this is pretty common sense, yes? Don't just say that they were born and had an ok childhood, dive into it. They were children a lot longer than they were teenagers, so there should be at least something about it. Where were they born, to whom, and what was the reaction of their parents? You could describe their parent's relationship up to the point of them having the character, but really your history should be about your character, and primarily about your character. Background info is nice and all, but stick to your characters history, unless you want to explain your character's parent's relationship in the family section, since it's not the character's history.
There are several stages of being a child, and you should at least try and cover all of them. Being a baby, what was it like, even if they can't remember it? How did their family deal with them being a baby? Toddler - we learn more during this period than at any other point in our lives. Walking, talking, being able to feed ourselves, it's an important time. How was life when they were a toddler? Did they play, or were they read to? You can say what mom and dad were doing at this point in their life, but try and keep it related to the character and how it might have affected them. After you're a toddler, you're at that 5 year old stage, where you ask a million questions and start the more 'advanced' learning of reading, writing, and coloring within the lines. Such youngsters are always managing to explore too, and it's about this time that as teenagers and adults we start to remember what happened in our lives.
The next period of our lives spreads out across a few years, ages 6 to 8 or so, when we should really be playing and learning and just enjoy being young. We fall down, bump our knees, cry, and have mom or dad or whoever was there kiss it and make it better. Toward the end of this age we start to be very creative, and pretend a lot of things in play, mostly things that we see adults do. The next age group is the 'time before Hogwarts' - but for normal folk the ages 9 and 10, where we realize that we're growing and getting smarter and developing into our own person. We see things and instead of pretend, we emulate. We realize that we're about to become teenagers, or even pre-teens, and how that thought affects that age differs with each person.
This whole period of time, from birth to the letter of Hogwarts, your character should have memories, fond and bad, should have experiences and feelings and connections, and this is when we really develop our personalities, and it's this period of our lives when the basis for who we become later in life is built. Major events in our childhood deeply affect our personalities, so keep this in mind when you write not only your history, but also your personality. This is why people who were repeatedly abused or who grew up around arguing adults as children don't end up perky and happy all the time, and likewise, how kids who had a pretty decent childhood aren't sulky and moody, though hormones can affect personalities at that point, but those would only be temporary setbacks.
Part Two - Family Relationships same for students and adults.
This next section should really dive into how the character interacts with their family, and if they have none, what and how they managed it. Since I encourage characters to have surviving relatives (since the dead-parent thing is SO old), you should use this part of the characters history to explain specific situations with family members, and how those situations affected their relationship and emotions. Relationships and moments are generally what our memories are comprised of, and rather than a text-book description of what their every step was before they were in school, this should dive into the actual persona of the character, and be personal to their past as though they were remembering. How was mom, dad, brothers, sisters? Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas are also important, if they were present often in the past of the character. Moments, feelings, these really are the key points you should touch on with each of the family members of your character. There don't need to be much, if you can't come up with anything, but it's as simple as "Her mother was a kind person but not often at home, due to her being away at work trying to keep food on the table. Whenever they got to spend time together, it was very memorable, but those moments were far and few between."
Such is what I am looking for, and anything more than that for each family member is wonderful.
Part Three - Time at School
If you've read the part about school for the students, then you should know a little about what to write about for this section of history. Explain your character's time at school. Sum up if you want, or, dive into every year, it's up to you. We want to know what school life was like for your character, not only how they did in classes, but how their friendships were, how they were developed or broken apart. Events in the wizarding world might have affected them depending on the year. Adults who might have gone to school with Harry for a few years can recount their time being with Wonderboy, or older adults can relate the times before that. Anyone who went to school between 1981 and 1991 might recall that nothing out of the ordinary happened, since there was no more war and no Voldemort, and might have had a perfectly normal schooling time. Adults before that time might recall the war during their schooling, or the development of the war, or even before that. It depends on the age of your character.
Relate to the world how your character went through school, and of course, the outcome. Did they do well, drop out, or what? Then consider how their time at school has affected them as an adult, and then tell us. Surely, being the most popular or most unloved student affected them in some way.
Part Four - Life After School
After your character graduated from school, what happened next? Did they get married, have kids, get job? Describe it, and spare no details. How much time has gone by since they were in school? Adults live a very boring life, much less exciting than students, since it's mostly work, in order to pay the bills. Sometimes it can be mundane, but also consider the current events in the wizarding world, surely that must have affected their life in some way. What is their take on the first war, the second war? How did they come about being on the side that they are on? What drove them to it, does it relate to their earlier history, and how? How do their choices make them feel? (That can also be apart of the personality.) Do they have any regrets, hopes, wishes? What are they?
In Close
The biggest thing to remember when writing a history is that for however old your character is, they have that many years experience, which means events, people, emotions, and all those years not only have fact, but leave an impression. Your history should be a blend of the facts of their history with the character's memories and impressions of the facts, and can with every right be bent to the point of view your character has on the world, or what they remember. History books, even though they contain information on the past, do not always tell the whole story, and all we want to see is the history of your character.
This is a little different for students and adults, since one is in school and the other might have lived life for a while, so there are different parts in their history to cover. I'll note what is for students and what is for adults, or both.
Students
Part One - Childhood same for students and adults.
Everyone who is not a child has had a childhood - this is pretty common sense, yes? Don't just say that they were born and had an ok childhood, dive into it. They were children a lot longer than they were teenagers, so there should be at least something about it. Where were they born, to whom, and what was the reaction of their parents? You could describe their parent's relationship up to the point of them having the character, but really your history should be about your character, and primarily about your character. Background info is nice and all, but stick to your characters history, unless you want to explain your character's parent's relationship in the family section, since it's not the character's history.
There are several stages of being a child, and you should at least try and cover all of them. Being a baby, what was it like, even if they can't remember it? How did their family deal with them being a baby? Toddler - we learn more during this period than at any other point in our lives. Walking, talking, being able to feed ourselves, it's an important time. How was life when they were a toddler? Did they play, or were they read to? You can say what mom and dad were doing at this point in their life, but try and keep it related to the character and how it might have affected them. After you're a toddler, you're at that 5 year old stage, where you ask a million questions and start the more 'advanced' learning of reading, writing, and coloring within the lines. Such youngsters are always managing to explore too, and it's about this time that as teenagers and adults we start to remember what happened in our lives.
The next period of our lives spreads out across a few years, ages 6 to 8 or so, when we should really be playing and learning and just enjoy being young. We fall down, bump our knees, cry, and have mom or dad or whoever was there kiss it and make it better. Toward the end of this age we start to be very creative, and pretend a lot of things in play, mostly things that we see adults do. The next age group is the 'time before Hogwarts' - but for normal folk the ages 9 and 10, where we realize that we're growing and getting smarter and developing into our own person. We see things and instead of pretend, we emulate. We realize that we're about to become teenagers, or even pre-teens, and how that thought affects that age differs with each person.
This whole period of time, from birth to the letter of Hogwarts, your character should have memories, fond and bad, should have experiences and feelings and connections, and this is when we really develop our personalities, and it's this period of our lives when the basis for who we become later in life is built. Major events in our childhood deeply affect our personalities, so keep this in mind when you write not only your history, but also your personality. This is why people who were repeatedly abused or who grew up around arguing adults as children don't end up perky and happy all the time, and likewise, how kids who had a pretty decent childhood aren't sulky and moody, though hormones can affect personalities at that point, but those would only be temporary setbacks.
Part Two - Family Relationships same for students and adults.
This next section should really dive into how the character interacts with their family, and if they have none, what and how they managed it. Since I encourage characters to have surviving relatives (since the dead-parent thing is SO old), you should use this part of the characters history to explain specific situations with family members, and how those situations affected their relationship and emotions. Relationships and moments are generally what our memories are comprised of, and rather than a text-book description of what their every step was before they were in school, this should dive into the actual persona of the character, and be personal to their past as though they were remembering. How was mom, dad, brothers, sisters? Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas are also important, if they were present often in the past of the character. Moments, feelings, these really are the key points you should touch on with each of the family members of your character. There don't need to be much, if you can't come up with anything, but it's as simple as "Her mother was a kind person but not often at home, due to her being away at work trying to keep food on the table. Whenever they got to spend time together, it was very memorable, but those moments were far and few between."
Such is what I am looking for, and anything more than that for each family member is wonderful.
Part Three - Early time at Hogwarts
The only characters exempt from this portion of their app are first years, and even then, they should be very detailed in their childhood, since it was the time right before this. All other students are expected to give some sort of details on their time before their current year.
Keep in mind! Your character has attended school the same time Harry was at school, and they experienced the same situations he did at some point or another. Your character should have a perspective on those events, and feelings, and memories - what are they? How did they take his discovering the Philosopher's Stone, or being entered in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? How did they fare the news of Voldemort returning, or the death of Dumbledore, who would have been very dear to everyone up to this point in our role play.
Other points to consider are classes, homework, grades, friends, vacations home, personal time away from school, and how all of the above affect your character. What's their favorite class, teacher, friend? How have they developed from their childhood during their time at Hogwarts? Surely they must have grown up - boys would get taller, broader, their voices would have dropped, perhaps. How did that affect them - though perhaps that is a question for personality, though it helps to explain in the history when it happened, and how it was embarrassing, and then explain in the personality how it affected their self-esteem or image. Girls would also get taller, but would fill out, start their female cycles (sorry gents, but it's part of growing up for a lady) and would swing emotionally from cliff to cliff - not all of it has to be mentioned, since most of it can be assumed, but it's nice to know when they noticed that they were really emotional before a period, or their first one and how it was scary, and if they went to see Madame Pomfrey about it - this can also be something to mention in personality.
Again, there doesn't have to be much here, but a sixth year should have five years or so to consider when writing history. The years vary from there, but keep in mind older students should have more about their time before their current year.
Part Four - Current time at Hogwarts
The summer before your current year - the actual current year; these should be apart of your history. Talk about how current events have affected your character, what their hopes and aspirations are, or what they are planning for. This I don't expect to be too long, since you obviously won't know much about their current year until you've played it out, but a start on it will not only help you figure out the direction you want to take with your character, but it will help others learn about your character too, and where they might interact with them in their current year.
Adults
Part One - Childhood same for students and adults.
Everyone who is not a child has had a childhood - this is pretty common sense, yes? Don't just say that they were born and had an ok childhood, dive into it. They were children a lot longer than they were teenagers, so there should be at least something about it. Where were they born, to whom, and what was the reaction of their parents? You could describe their parent's relationship up to the point of them having the character, but really your history should be about your character, and primarily about your character. Background info is nice and all, but stick to your characters history, unless you want to explain your character's parent's relationship in the family section, since it's not the character's history.
There are several stages of being a child, and you should at least try and cover all of them. Being a baby, what was it like, even if they can't remember it? How did their family deal with them being a baby? Toddler - we learn more during this period than at any other point in our lives. Walking, talking, being able to feed ourselves, it's an important time. How was life when they were a toddler? Did they play, or were they read to? You can say what mom and dad were doing at this point in their life, but try and keep it related to the character and how it might have affected them. After you're a toddler, you're at that 5 year old stage, where you ask a million questions and start the more 'advanced' learning of reading, writing, and coloring within the lines. Such youngsters are always managing to explore too, and it's about this time that as teenagers and adults we start to remember what happened in our lives.
The next period of our lives spreads out across a few years, ages 6 to 8 or so, when we should really be playing and learning and just enjoy being young. We fall down, bump our knees, cry, and have mom or dad or whoever was there kiss it and make it better. Toward the end of this age we start to be very creative, and pretend a lot of things in play, mostly things that we see adults do. The next age group is the 'time before Hogwarts' - but for normal folk the ages 9 and 10, where we realize that we're growing and getting smarter and developing into our own person. We see things and instead of pretend, we emulate. We realize that we're about to become teenagers, or even pre-teens, and how that thought affects that age differs with each person.
This whole period of time, from birth to the letter of Hogwarts, your character should have memories, fond and bad, should have experiences and feelings and connections, and this is when we really develop our personalities, and it's this period of our lives when the basis for who we become later in life is built. Major events in our childhood deeply affect our personalities, so keep this in mind when you write not only your history, but also your personality. This is why people who were repeatedly abused or who grew up around arguing adults as children don't end up perky and happy all the time, and likewise, how kids who had a pretty decent childhood aren't sulky and moody, though hormones can affect personalities at that point, but those would only be temporary setbacks.
Part Two - Family Relationships same for students and adults.
This next section should really dive into how the character interacts with their family, and if they have none, what and how they managed it. Since I encourage characters to have surviving relatives (since the dead-parent thing is SO old), you should use this part of the characters history to explain specific situations with family members, and how those situations affected their relationship and emotions. Relationships and moments are generally what our memories are comprised of, and rather than a text-book description of what their every step was before they were in school, this should dive into the actual persona of the character, and be personal to their past as though they were remembering. How was mom, dad, brothers, sisters? Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas are also important, if they were present often in the past of the character. Moments, feelings, these really are the key points you should touch on with each of the family members of your character. There don't need to be much, if you can't come up with anything, but it's as simple as "Her mother was a kind person but not often at home, due to her being away at work trying to keep food on the table. Whenever they got to spend time together, it was very memorable, but those moments were far and few between."
Such is what I am looking for, and anything more than that for each family member is wonderful.
Part Three - Time at School
If you've read the part about school for the students, then you should know a little about what to write about for this section of history. Explain your character's time at school. Sum up if you want, or, dive into every year, it's up to you. We want to know what school life was like for your character, not only how they did in classes, but how their friendships were, how they were developed or broken apart. Events in the wizarding world might have affected them depending on the year. Adults who might have gone to school with Harry for a few years can recount their time being with Wonderboy, or older adults can relate the times before that. Anyone who went to school between 1981 and 1991 might recall that nothing out of the ordinary happened, since there was no more war and no Voldemort, and might have had a perfectly normal schooling time. Adults before that time might recall the war during their schooling, or the development of the war, or even before that. It depends on the age of your character.
Relate to the world how your character went through school, and of course, the outcome. Did they do well, drop out, or what? Then consider how their time at school has affected them as an adult, and then tell us. Surely, being the most popular or most unloved student affected them in some way.
Part Four - Life After School
After your character graduated from school, what happened next? Did they get married, have kids, get job? Describe it, and spare no details. How much time has gone by since they were in school? Adults live a very boring life, much less exciting than students, since it's mostly work, in order to pay the bills. Sometimes it can be mundane, but also consider the current events in the wizarding world, surely that must have affected their life in some way. What is their take on the first war, the second war? How did they come about being on the side that they are on? What drove them to it, does it relate to their earlier history, and how? How do their choices make them feel? (That can also be apart of the personality.) Do they have any regrets, hopes, wishes? What are they?
In Close
The biggest thing to remember when writing a history is that for however old your character is, they have that many years experience, which means events, people, emotions, and all those years not only have fact, but leave an impression. Your history should be a blend of the facts of their history with the character's memories and impressions of the facts, and can with every right be bent to the point of view your character has on the world, or what they remember. History books, even though they contain information on the past, do not always tell the whole story, and all we want to see is the history of your character.