Hello, folks! Bellosh101 here, and today I think I’ll finally start a blog for the first time… like, ever. For a while now, I’ve wanted to do a sort of commentary on my RP characters; how I came up with them, why I picked the cast ponies I did, how well I think I did in select RP threads, and so forth. For each article I write in this series, I intend to focus in-depth on one of my characters. As each blog article I write will be fairly comprehensive, I only expect to write one or two of these things a month.

I hope that anyone who reads my blog will come away with some insight on how to better improve their own character applications past the bare minimum standards of Mane RP. If anyone has any feedback on my commentary series and how I can improve my articles, let me know down in the comments. Gushing praise will also be accepted. So without further ado, I’ll now introduce the first of my spotlight characters:

(Image drawn by Satohai)

Note: each section title contains a link to another thread.

Development Process: Well, we might as well begin with the first character I’ve ever created for Mane RP. I have to confess that in many respects, Spin Tale is the OC who is the closest remotely to what I’d call a ponysona, although I’d say that Spin’s only 10% based off me (NOTE: never try to base a character too much off yourself, lest he or she turns into a Mary Sue). To be more precise, he resembles the sort of person that many of my old high school buddies thought I’d become after college; a professional historian. Additionally, Spin Tale’s coat is covered red, and red is my favorite colour… so there! XD

As for who else I’ve based Spin Tale off of, 25% of him is basically a stock historian/orator character (abet a very competent one), another 15% a stock “drowning in debt” college graduate, and the remaining quarter I envisioned as a classic-style antihero in the vein of characters like Bilbo Baggins. Spin’s app doesn’t really convey this well (see below), but I actually intended the guy to serve as a reluctant adventurer, who’d go on a journey out of some sort out of pressing need only to find himself way out of his depth. While I did have a RP idea in mind where I planned to convey this aspect of Spin’s character, that plan has since been superseded by the Staff of Fate adventure-RP series.

Name-wise, I wanted to give my first OC a name that would sound good with the prefix ‘doctor’; after sometime, I settled on Spin Tale as his name since historians like spinning yarns so to speak and because I liked how the name ‘Dr. Tale’ rolled off the tongue. Spin’s design is pretty basic, with no real bells and whistles other than a simple blue tie which shows that he’s part of Canterlot society (even if he ain’t part of the elite). Since Spin was my first character, I wanted to make sure that nothing in his application could raise any objections.

That means that on paper (ie. the character application), Spin Tale is essentially bland and inoffensive… which is actually a good thing if you’re just learning how to write apps for Mane RP. RPers can try more novel things with their Mane RP character apps once they know all about what boundaries not to cross. Getting back to the point, this means that this character has the least developed approved app in my entire character portfolio. Back in those days, I was afraid that the RP Helpers would be turned off by long OC apps… since then, I’ve learned that it simply isn’t the case. Not only that, but my short app also means that whatever I didn’t decide for Spin Tale back when I apped him, I’d have to decide on the fly in actual RPing, which could potentially lead to inconsistent-portrayals if I’m not careful. If I wanted too, I’d go back and redo his app so it’d fit the high standards of my character log… but I prefer spending my creative energies on RPing and apping new characters.

(Image drawn by BrainedBySaucepans)

Fudge Frolic: Spin Tale’s first RP I put him in… and the first RP experience I’ve had in many years. For a slice-of-life incident, my character didn’t do anything of any real consequence. As I was just getting into the grove of Mane RP back then, I essentially let Spin drift in that thread without any clear overriding purpose for him. Consequently, he just sort of orbited around the other characters, acting all bland and inoffensive. Once Spin Tale got his fudge, his part in that tale was essentially over.

Mending Hearts: I thought this RP thread was a good fit for Spin Tale, as I implied in his life that he didn’t have much of a social life. Featuring one of my first major collaborations with my trusty associate Lux, I thought I wrote Spin pretty well here. I may not have summoned my A-game writing for this thread, but I’ve found in my experience that multi paragraph-long posts are not always needed in every situation. Ironic fact: at the same time Lux and I RPed in this topic, we played out the same basic ‘seek-advice’ scenario in a different thread using different characters, except our characters’ roles were reversed from this story.

100 Country Kisses: Aside from the bare-bones nature of Spin Tale’s app, another little flaw I’ve come to identify with it was how I mentioned how he was distant and snarky towards his close acquaintances. Of course, if nobody else played one of these acquaintances, then whom would Spin show his snarky-side towards? Fortunately, 100 Country Kisses is where I first had the opportunity to exhibit the less-savory side of Spin’s personality.

Not only did I place Spin Tale in a situation that he wholeheartedly despised being in (everybody hates long lines, after all), but I was able to craft additional backstory details for my character in conjunction with the illustrious BrainedBySaucepans. Being able to play off with his character (his OC Smirk is the other stallion you see in the pic above), I feel this was the moment where Spin finally started to display some moments of snarkiness. Not long after I started RPing with BBS, I tracked him down to his livestream thread and soon became a regular viewer of his Saturday drawing sessions.

Historically Accurate: If the last thread showed how Spin Tale reacted under less-than-ideal conditions, this RP demonstrated how brilliantly he’d behave on his very own home turf. I relished the chance to participate in FermataTheBasse’s interview series, as up until then I hadn’t had the chance to describe the museum that Dr. Tale operated. In many respects, I consider this thread Spin Tale’s signature RP. When Fermata returns from hiatus, I hope this thread can be resurrected.

(Image drawn by LovinMoonlight)

The Library Fine of Doom: The second RP idea that I’ve helped bring to life (the first was with a different character). In the interests of full disclosure… Twilight Sparkle is Best Pony, and I really wanted to do a RP featuring her (played by Helix) and one of my characters. I chose Spin Tale to be the character I’d use for such a thread, since he is an academic-type like Twilight and all that. This story may have proceeded a bit more slowly then I would have liked, but hey; real life stinks sometimes.

(Staff of Fate) From Stormy Skies to Roaring Waters: If Twilight is Best Cast Pony, then SteelEagle’s Pathfinder is Best OC Pony. With this thread… I can RP my character interacting with the two of them at the same time (and Trixie too)! Better yet, I can put Spin Tale through all sorts of nasty trouble out in the middle of nowhere and make his life a total and complete wreck. Why you ask? Because schadenfreude is funny, that's why! Along with Library Fine, I’m bringing along the best of my RP writing to this story. Seriously, SoF is going to be awesome; everyone should read the first installment in progress now.

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If you enjoyed my musings today, tune in next time when I discuss my next character, Ingrid Marie!