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Character Development Threads are a series of roleplays that mainly serve as a writing exercise for all sorts of writers of fiction. Originating from NaNoWriMo and thrived in TVTropes, these roleplays invite writers to pitch in characters from works they author, and have them interact with characters of other fellow writers.

No, not at all! The threads are open for any type of character from any type of literary fiction. Whether you're just starting out or have ten published books makes no difference. However, for the mutual comfort of all participants, you are required to adhere a set of rules and standards. Don't worry, those aren't particularly hard to follow. Common Sense and Decency 2015™ should mostly cover your bases, but give them a read anyway.

No. Sorry about that. Only characters from an original work (as in, a thing you legit wrote) can participate. And no, you didn't write Harry Potter.

If you have the time, the rules listed in the link above cover all your concerns already. However, to summarize:

• Write properly. Punctuation, grammar, syntax, nail them down. Nobody's perfect, but this roleplay is a writing exercise first and foremost, and you should seek to improve yourself as much as you can.
• Fancy formatting is a no go. You don't see those in a novel and you should think of yourself as writing for one as you post in this roleplay. You know what I mean: fancy colors, big post headers. Let your character's actions speak for themselves.
• Unless it's something you draw yourself, no images of your characters. A good writer doesn't take a fancy-looking image from the internet and say 'This is how my character looks'.
• Length of an IC post is a non-issue, but you folks with common sense should know how rude it is to reply to a thoughtful multi-paragraph post with a (often hard to reply to) one-liner. And this being a writing exercise becomes a moot point if you're not doing at least some writing.
• There are no limitations on what kind of character you can bring, but keep in mind:
  
  • Keep everything non-smut. Any NSFW interactions should be glossed over with a fade-to-black.
  • Do not bring in more characters than you, and your oh-so-busy real life, can handle writing for.
  • You are free to bring in a demigod a from high-fantasy work or a doctor from a medical drama novel, but the former should respect the latter's wish should he want his character to remain unharmed. We're not trying to prove whose character is the strongest. There are many other roleplays that can host your power-wanking fantasies.
  • Have some sort of plan for your characters. This is called Character Development threads for a reason.
  • When your character(s) doubles as a walking distraction (bearing some sort of unignorable characteristic), err on the side of caution and prepare to reply a lot. Do not disturb large parts of the thread. Do not alter the nature of the thread without majority consent.
  • No fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans (addressing the 'audience' or 'readers'). Characters normally capable of making the stunt will mysteriously have this characteristic vanish.
• No autohitting, no controlling other player's characters, no assuming how another character's power works. Keep OOC a civil place, and we're cool.
• In a situation where your character is involved with two or more other writers, give both time to reply. Don't leave out someone just because they're not online at the time.
• Any qualms, reasonable complaints, suggestions and deliberations are very much welcome in the OOC. A bit of discussion can go a long way.

Advancing the time of day, the weather and the like. Also participating and weeding out jerks. Beyond that, nothing. This RP is a sandbox for you and me both to develop our characters, terminated only by inactivity or majority vote. Feel free to add new locations, plot hooks and the like as long as they didn't disturb the big picture.

It really helps if you include a location tag (where your character is at the time of the post) on the top of your posts, and (optionally) followed by the list of characters they're currently interacting with. Also, for extra bugging, mention the poster of the characters you're interacting with at the bottom of your post.


Feel free to post your characters in the character tab. A paragraph-long description will suffice, although more doesn't hurt. Your character shines in the IC, not in the character tab. Give the OOC a hello, then you're welcome to join in.

Note: The upper-right corner is West, and the bottom-left corner is East. Forgot to add in a compass rose.

While I'll write short descriptions for each area, it will be barebones, and more specificity is up to you, the writer, to fill in as needed for the purpose of developing your characters. Maybe they encounter a plant unique to their world, maybe some cute critters.

Formerly known as the red planet, Mars, Aqua is a planet whose surface is almost entirely wrapped in water. Thanks to the terraforming efforts made by the entirety of the human race 150 years ago, it has become a wonderful planet where humans can live comfortably. There are several key differences between Aqua and Man-home (formerly known as Earth), one of them being Aqua's solar revolution period, which is twice as long as Man-home's, meaning there are twenty-four months in a year, and each season lasts twice as long. This leisurely slow changing of the seasons, combined with the calm oceans of Aqua, made it into a popular destination for those seeking respite from their usual busyness.

Upon this planet is a city constructed upon a port, as if celebrating the harmony between humans and the water-laden planet, it is modeled after a certain watery city in Italy, Venice. Constructed upon water and a small piece of land surrounded by the Neo-Adriatic sea, Neo-Venezia is the city's name. Within this city, many seemingly coincidental, yet oddly comforting, encounters has happened.

And it will continue to happen.
There are four major occupations that are associated with the classical elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind. Each of them has a place within Neo-Venezia and Aqua, and are inseparable parts that aid in everyone's daily lives.

You are a trainee in of one of the four unique occupations in Neo-Venezia. This might be your very first day in the job, and you just arrived on Neo-Venezia from some other place. Or maybe, you're already used to it, born and raised in the tourist city. As you live, work, and sleep, the unexpected, and wonderful encounters Neo-Venezia has to offer will become the color of this roleplay.

Yes, this is a slice-of-life roleplay. The ultimate stopping point of the roleplay is, of course, the moment your character matures into an acknowledged professional in their jobs (a Prima Undine, a fully concerted Gnome, etc...).

To enrich the roleplay experience, participants have free reign to create named, recurring secondary characters to support their main character (the trainee) as well as nondescript characters, all within reason. My participation as the GM will be limited to shifting the time of the day, skipping to important events, providing information on the setting, and resolving OOC conflicts that may occur.

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Thus what remains on the to-do list are:

• Character sheet template and example
• Post requirements
• RP progression