I’m sure we’ve been there all before when creating any of our characters. We want them to be unique, right? We try to add some unique name or some quirk that you definitely have never seen before or try your hardest to find a design or lore idea only to be disappointed that someone somewhere has done an idea either similar or near exactly like that idea before, look I get it, but PLEASE don’t stress over it.
Unique Names
Look, I’ll keep this one brief because there are only a few points needed for this, but please, it’s perfectly OK to have a common name for your OC. If you look in media plenty of characters have common names, even your favourite anime characters typically have common Japanese names which may not seem so obvious to a foreign viewer (Makoto is a very obvious example of this, being both a common male and female name, I’m sure you can find many Makoto’s in media).
This is coming from someone who is guilty of this exact thing in the past (I’ve got OCs named Shauntyl and Qiyra after all). It does become rather annoying having to constantly correct people when pronouncing my character’s names. People don’t tend to appreciate names being stupidly spelt as well (There’s a reason Subreddits like /r/tragedeigh/ exist, after all).
Outside of names intentionally spelt different, most of the time you don’t usually need to make up a new name anyway, there are plenty of unique or uncommon names you can use already which though you won’t be the first one to use, still makes them different enough so that they aren’t just another John Doe or something. Play around, do your research, one approach I like to do is go for more old-fashioned names that have slowly started dying like (I have characters called Penelope and Madeline after all). Even foreign names go well if it suits the character. So please, it isn’t that important.
Unique Lore
When it comes to lore, a lot of ideas and tropes after already done. Don’t be afraid to use common tropes in your lore and stories, there’s a reason they are used a lot, it’s because they work. Of course, if you have an idea that subverts expectations then feel free to use it.
People use common ideas from media all the time, I’m sure if you’ve looked at a lot of medieval stories or RPGs you’ll see the same J.R.R Tolkien’s modern interpretation of elves, dwarves, etc. being used everywhere and that’s fine. Most stories have common foundations, It’s what you do with those foundations which is how you create a unique world that you can create stories based off.
Unique Designs
This is the one I’m going to stress the most about. Unique character designs are hard, very hard. You’ll never have a 100% unique character, people will share some parts, and that’s OK. One of the main things I like to remember is that your characters only need to be unique within your universe. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of the stereotypical anime male protagonists that have similar hairstyles and hair colours, maybe even similar personalities, but the designers don’t stress too hard on the uniqueness of them. You’ll only start having issues when characters within your story start looking the same.
Characters are more than their designs after all, they are also full of different personalities, stories, memories, everything within your universe that you built are responsible for how that character is made. How unique you make the character design shouldn’t be the only focus, you should also make the design itself make sense to how the character developed in that universe. If your universe is set for example in the medieval era obviously your character shouldn’t be dressed like they came straight out of the 90s, it has to both make sense and also fit well. Standing out isn’t always the best option after all. Hell, some characters are intentionally designed to be bland to suit their personality or to reinforce their beliefs that they aren’t that interesting of a character (and also some are just self inserts). There are many reasons you’ll choose to design a character at the end of the day.
The Takeaways
Overall, I’d say the best way to approach character designing from a uniqueness perspective are these:
- Don’t be afraid to use common tropes/ideas
- Make the character not only look well-designed but also fit well within your universe
- Stress more about the uniqueness within the universe and not within every single piece of media
- Understand that it’s likely any idea you come up with has probably already been done, however you have the chance to explore it in your own unique way.
And that’s all from me today! Be sure to comment if you have any thoughts!
Zuiri Out~
