^^ Cool! It’s true that spontaneous character creation is great! More than half of my characters were made that way… but sometimes effort is needed for some, catching and creating a character can be very beneficial for creative processes…XD But Samuel sounds so very cool! I like the sound of him…
Thanks~!
-Talon
Ahhh! She seems cute…^^ If you have a good mental picture, that’s all that really matters! ^^
If you like though, I’ve done this for others before-- You can give me a specific description of her, and I can draw her for you… I can’t guarentee it’ll be great, but I can try!
It’s quality is as good a webcam could do^^ Especially if it keeps crashing-- AGH!
I look forward to your response!
~Talon
Hehe! ^^ Please put any progress in here? And if you have questions…Me or people who understand this well I’m sure, can answer! 
By the way! Schizophrenia would be if you confused your perception of reality… That wouldn’t be any good!
Make sure you keep the thought solid in your mind that the characters will never exist on the same plane as yourself-- It is important not to warp your perception of reality!
Good luck! ^^
-Talon
Thanks for the encouragement, It’s what keeps me going.
And these are actual accents right? Not languages. Do they in anyway reflect onto what accent you have? or are they completly made up, If so, that’s quite an amazing acomplishment, Makes them even more personal towards you, as though no-one else can understand them 
(Me and my friend in Junior school had our own made up language so only us knew what we were talking about, but it was mostly something similar to pig-latin xP)
Well, I’ve put alot of detail into the picture, and Rendering that in my mind is hard with all the detail, like I always seem to forget her watch when I picture her.
wow, I really do appreciate it if you could, thank you so much 
Description:
Medium size, I would say about 5ft 6
Slim
Long brown hair (I wasn’t sure how to do it in my picture so i just did curly short brown)
An elf (Want some origonallity about her )
Clothes she’s wearing, well, nothing too fancy.
If possible, could you do it in black & White, It’s less to render in my head
Thanks again, I really do appreciate it
Just a question while I’m here, When I create her history and personality, how do I actually apply it to the character?
With great appreciation
~Al
Well, I must say, you certainly are a busy girl on this thread, Talon ^^ I much appreciate your ready replies. All of us do, I’m sure.
It’s interesting - I would say the majority of the participants have created characters of opposite gender from themselves. (In the case of you, Talon, because your characters are predominantly males, you no less apply.) This occurrence reminds me of something of Jungian philosophy commonly known as anima/animus…
However that may be, I believe my DC is better defined by the “shadow aspect”… The dream account for which this character first debuted is below, at better convenience than directing you to forage through my DJ…
…In a familiar dreamscape I step up into a schoolbus, on my way to school. Sitting in the front seat, behind the driver, I feel a slight dose of femininity and become perceptive of a shadowy existence looming over my shoulder. (I felt like I had become female, while still retaining my masculinity… Now, I believe it was the powerful, yet subtle presence of the shadow girl that imposed such a feeling.) Though I cannot see her, I am omnisciently aware of her appearance: Ling Xiaoyuesque girl with long, black hair and mischievous eyes of an indefinable color. (Her hair was similar to that of Feng Wei’s alternate hairstyle in Tekken 5. Her eyes, though, are what intrigued me the most. Seemingly an undefined color - an amalgam of emerald, sapphire, ruby, amber and fuschia… Different from simply taking the mentioned colors and blending them with an art medium or lights or even defining the sight as a rainbow in effect… I could see all the colors, but they were one.) Apparently, I’m the only one who can sense her… She’s whispering in my ear. She wants me to do something. She can sense my frustration and encourages me to hijack the schoolbus. I’m hesitant; conflicted. The bus stalls at the next stop - the school. The bus driver gets up disappears toward the back of the bus. I decide to listen to the strange ghost of a girl and steal the driver’s seat, putting the gears in drive and joyriding with all the school students and the bus driver still aboard. Down familiar streets of a previous dream I pull into a convenient store parking lot and abrupty stop the bus when I see a police cruiser, lights flashing and siren blaring, appear from a cul-de-sac. I exit the bus and run between a sports utility vehicle and a sedan, making my way to the convenient store. But I stop and rush back to grab my backpack and wipe down the steering wheel of my fingerprints - to keep from an records being used to track me. (Interesting. How many people would even consciously think to do that?) The shadow girl is fanatical - she’s enjoying the panic. I kidnap the bus driver as she urges me to and sexually assault her. The shadow girl becomes aroused, near orgasm…(My anima? Maybe. At first, I thought back on “shadow aspect”. The shadow girl certainly fit the general description - she emanated negative vibes, but she was also hypnotic. It was like she was in my mind - inside me. And she fed off my inhibitions and negative thoughts/emotions. The definition of anima doesn’t quite fit the personality of this particular dream entity. So, I believe this was shadow aspect in effect. I’m especially intrigued by her schizo attitude toward the event and her indirect orgasm from my… coitus…)
So, you can probably decipher why I chose to build a… “relationship”… with this character; because of her nature. Maybe I’ll draw her later - when I’m not feeling so lazy. I’m content with my mental image already, so it really doesn’t matter. Though, I don’t think a penciled sketch - no matter how artistic I make it - would do her justice… it will be mainly for everyone else to view.
As for my progress in communication, I pretty much practice it daily - mainly because I do it with any character I’m developing. (I become meticulous in how they would behave under certain conditions - specifically what I may be doing at the moment or what we would be doing at the moment had they been of corporeal form. I simulate such situations in my mind, then. Because of such, creating characters and bringing them to a certain level of “life” really is only a matter of doing it - nothing difficult for me… but you, Talon, do this on a different - almost schizophrenic - level. That’s what interested me.)
My DC has no name or real background yet, but it does not detract from her real character…
Do these characters of yours interact with you independently of your requests? Or do you have to initiate a conversation for them? In other words, how limited are their interaction capabilities - aside from their obvious nonphysical existence…
Ah boy~! Here we go Stretches
Benefits of Character Creation.
In this, we will cover benefits of characters, both independent and not.
Characters who are independent will react without forcing the creator to make the response for them “free will” if you please. Dependent character, obviously, will seem much more puppet-like, but can be very much more useful for visual release of pent up emotion. You may draw a dependent character in any way without insulting it if it has no life of it’s own. For a tutorial on how to create independent characters, please go here:
https://community.ld4all.com/t/character-assisted-lucid-dreaming-cald/25286&&start=30
Anyways, this ‘tutorial’ will be split into the following categories,
Independent and Dependent characters.
It is advised to have a small skim through the tutorial listed above to allow a more thorough understanding of the independent section. This tutorial is based off of how I apply my characters to my own life, this may require considerably more work on other’s parts to make work…so questions are definitely encouraged.
Dependent Characters
Creating characters in itself can be very fun, and mentally stimulating. Their entire existence would rely solely on you– as you create their bodies, personalities, histories, anything, really.
When in a state of stress, sometimes it is better just to let your mind focus on something else, character creation is a good example of this. Once you start to create a character, you can immerse yourself in the process of creating that character’s world. Their friends, family, entire life and culture is at your hands. This can be very amusing, and can give a sort of feeling of freedom once you go about your creative stride. Character creation and development can be a great way to defeat boredom!
Afterwards, after your character has been established, what else is there to do? Well certainly, you can draw them if you quite like to visually release emotions. When overcome with joy, a good quiet outlet for that can be to draw your character in a happy situation. A more simple way of expressing your own emotion is to express it through your character’s facial expression or body language. It can be a challenging task to do this, but rewarding in the end.
A common venting method for anger, stress, and other negative emotions visually is to draw your character either mauling something else, or being mauled. It may seem cruel, but it is better than taking out frustrations on others. Also, dependent characters generally don’t get offended– they have no life of their own to do so.
However, not everyone enjoys drawing– So how else could one express themselves? Music and literature is just as good as an visual means of expressing one’s self.
Characters can be an inspiration to write about in songs, once you know their history, put your empathy to the test, and see how they feel about their lives. This can help develop a character well as a further understanding of them is made. Besides that, it can make it easier to write songs that don’t actually have to do with your own life– this is the same for poetry!
Writing stories can be very fun– while many do not enjoy writing formal, well anything really, stories just for fun can be involving and amusing. No one ever has to see the stories you write, it can all be for you– and all stories need characters! After you have made characters, just putting them in situations with each other, and writing a story about it is a great productive way to beat boredom.
Dependent characters are great ways of venting, and simple things to help beat boredom.
Independent Characters
Considerably more complex than dependent characters, independent characters can be much more helpful than dependents. With a life of their own, Independent character will be defined in this tutorial as characters who can act on their own– At least mostly– independent of the creator’s will. A link to a tutorial on how to create these characters is available above.
Before we continue, it is important to remember at all times with the occurrence of independents – Characters are not on the same level of existence as you, and never will be. Make sure not to let your perception of reality ever get warped.
With characters that speak on their own, a whole new level of complexity is added. Benefits that can come from them can include such things as:
Somebody to talk to,
Moral Support,
Making personal decisions, an even
Controlling emotions on an inward level.
After a bit of practice, characters who have been made independent will start to speak freely. After that, since they reside purely inside yourself, they can become valuable sources of advice. Talking with a character can be a good way to work things out inside yourself. If the matter is a personal one, this is a good method to work things out by yourself, as the answer to most personal questions can be retrieved this way, like a sort of personal guidance councillor
E.g:
I don’t know if I want to go with [person 1] or [person 2]
Character: And?
Well, who should I pick?
Character: Well– [person 1] is very nice to you, but [person 2] seems sort of…distant.
[person 2] is very nice- just quiet!
Etc., etc. etc.
Characters, however, should not ever be considered a first-choice way of handling serious subjects. People around you can provide insight and different views on subjects you could have otherwise not have thought of. Characters can do the same, but are more you-oriented.
In cases where one does not have a lot of belief in themselves, independents can be very useful then as well. It may be more difficult to grasp the idea of “inner strength”, with characters the idea of having someone else rooting for you can be much easier to hold onto, especially since the character would be a creation from you, so bonding can be much easier, and less intimidating. More complex versions of this, can be to establish a system for your characters to help control your emotions, E.g:
Say I have 3 characters:
Talon, Naknus, Kazurai.
I want to control my emotions more effectively, so…
I put the happiest one in charge of my happiest emotions, and ask that she keep those up… When I am heading towards a stressful situation, I can ask her to remind me and keep my state of mind positive.
For my most negative emotions, I’ll put my most negative character in control of that. That way, he assure I vent what ever I am feeling negative about, and can help me pinpoint the sources of that, then help me eliminate it through talking about it, then having him suggest an appropriate solution (e.g. venting).
Then I have a character to make sure that I stay at least fairly neutral most of the time, so I put a very calm relaxed character in charge of that. He keeps me mellow in times where I should be stressing, by assuring me that things will pass by.
In this way, characters are very useful.
Practical things you can do with your characters, can even be to help you study for test… by having them remember also, they can remind you of facts and such that one on a conscious level wouldn’t normally be able to.
E.g:
In science tests, I often have trouble remembering all that information! So, I just remember the number of things to list, and ask Talon to remember them specifically. That way, I just need to number them off, and she can supply an answer.
With an understanding that your character lives solely in your mind, you can ask that they do things for you…Personal examples of this, are to ask my characters to wake me at a certain time, design my dreams, or even to help me go lucid… Usually this involves more convincing yourself that they are indeed separate from your conscious control, and then convincing them to help!
I hope that this helped you think of ways that can make your characters much more beneficial to you than before!
Questions and pointing-out-of-mistakes are appreciated, as long as the mistakes are grammatical and not content related.
~Sweet dreams and Good luck!
-Talon
Whew! I will try to get to that as soon as possible… She seems nice, I’ll try hard to get her right…
My characters speak languages! Yes… I have made up their own language, but they speak english well…And when applying the history and personality to the character, just visualize her acting the way you want her to, and seeing her in the situations of her past… eventually, just know that IS what she is and has gone through… Willing her to be what you want her to be!
whew I am really rushing!
She seems so…devious! O_o; And she is rather interesting… Very detailed, and I like that.
Well-- I am comfroted by the fact that you are intrigued with how I work with my characters, but I don’t know whether or not to take offense to the -schizophrenic- level comment… Perhaps I should just leave that…
For the most part, interacting with my characters requires me to talk to them first-- with the exception of commentary on some shows and conversations I have with others, mostly that have to do with them or interest them… My boys and Talon are all rather self-abosorbed…O_o; Mostly, the furthest they can initiate a conversation with me is with a short comment on things… Our conversations don’t last very long when they start it up, as I usually don’t feel very motivated to speak to them at that moment… But I usually have to convince them to chat anyways, as Talon and Naknus are my most indepedent, and Talon is angry with me- while Naknus just is… grumpy all the time! My characters have never been able to cause any physical damage to me, but once Ghost did soothe a pain of mine inwardly-- I was having mysterious nerve shocks, where when I would get much too stressed, I would get overwhelmed and freeze for a moment - all in an instant where it felt like the air was knocked out of my lungs. That eventually stopped–
I do know a girl, whom I roleplay with on a daily basis, who automatically has independent characters, though! She lets them talk right off the bat, and when she aggrivates one particular boy of hers, she tends to get beatings for it-- she claims it hurts cause she says Oww. However… I feel no concern for her, because she’s so simple… She has no serious signs of mental illness, so I’m convinced this is all a part of her rathe vivid imagination.
As always~!
-Talon
Wow, Excellent Tutorial (Once again). Just out of intrest, Where did you learn to do all of this? Did you just hear about it, or did you randomly start creating characters and rping with them?
You’re a very lucky person, not everyone gets to have a Real, close friend at a young age, I would of loved to off been in your position when I was 7-10 (wasn’t the most happyist days of my life I can give you that). Which is why I would encourage you to write a book about it, You defintly know how to write guides well (How hard could a book be 
), and I would think that many people would find it Intresting and helpful towards their life.
Oh… no - the “schizophrenic” term wasn’t meant offensively. I’m sorry. I was speaking generally… lack of a better term. I meant, you interact with them on a different level than “just-a-character” basis. You treat them as… well… real people - just in your head, you know?
I’m sorry. It was just difficult for me to effectively describe the level at which you work with your characters. I didn’t mean “schizophrenic” literally - I meant it… decriptively. Sorry. Not my best choice of words -.-
Wow thank you ~^^~
I am so flattered… XD and umm… all of this sort of just-- Happened… I never read anything involving how I create my worlds and characters… I’ve never heard of such things. XD I think I might just document this stuff-- and how I think and process stuff as well. It’ll take a very long time, but I can try!
Maybe, if I can finalize some stuff, I could publish something small… Maybe…
Thanks so much for the complements and comments!
I am flattered and very happy… XD I am so glad you liked the tutorial!
With much love~
-Talon
Awww, don’t worry…offers a digital hug I understand the predicament, it’s all rather complex, isn’t it? Mmmm… Perhaps I shall term the level of involvment with my characters, second plane involvement. A plane of non-physical interaction between two or more of those of different levels of existance.
I am sorry if I startled you-- if I had worded myself badly and thought I had offended somebody else, I would be very downhearted. I can definitely see the connection between schizophrenic and the level of which I interact with my characters-- it’s much past any sort of ‘just my creation’ involvement. :3 It’s probably what I would’ve used as well, since otherwise I’d have to use a long phrase or something…
Did you see the tutorial? Your last reply is on the last page and I can’t quite remember if you’ve seen it or not quite yet…
It’s not quite entirely complete, I failed to mention the use of them as language learning tools, since I make some of my characters speak Cantonese words I can remember, and am trying to get them to speak it fluently to me (since I can UNDERSTAND it fluently, but can’t quite speak it well…)… But yes~
As always, with a sense of admiration and curiousity,
-Talon
Okay! I’m done!
I’m sorry that the quality of the picture is bad!( so pixelated!) I would have done it alot better, but I had no pencil about, so I did it in pen…
I tried not to make the dress too fancy, but I failed. I made it as plain as I could without making it flat XD
If you want, I can do it again! But forgive my carelessness in all this…It’s so rough!
Anyways-- Here ya go!:
img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/T … scan-2.jpg
I really hope you like it…I made it in about 10 minutes, so I didn’t really put very much detail in it, as I wasn’t sure about her… I don’t know her personality or history, so I did my best to make her look like the picture you posted!
Ok!~
-Talon
…I’m procrastinating so much -.-
All is fine, Talon ^^
And yes, I did see the tutorial, actually…
Now, I feel I really need my character to begin acting on a level akin to yours, Talon… I believe giving her a specific purpose - as you seem to have done with your characters - will help in better animating her. Primarily, I would like for my character to assist me in lucid dreaming, but the possibilities seem more broad. Maybe she can help in a little of everything… Your idea of having them “remember” information that you would not consciously recall chiefly caught my attention. I think it’s ingenious, actually. I really wish I had known about this sooner. A lot sooner… like six years sooner.
My character… my character is devious, you say? Yes… maybe. But if we make a lot of assumptions - most referring to Jungian psychology, self-interpreted dreams and other factors - then she is my shadow aspect… and the mechanics of how she worked in the dream - it reminds me of how you described your characters, Talon. Perhaps within her “psychedelic” eyes each color represents a specific aspect? In that case, I would really only need one character for the time being.
Yes, this could work.
Talon, when you speak to your characters is it vocalized or internalized?
And doesn’t the level of existence between you and your characters shift when you enter a dreamscape? You are both inside your subconscious at this point. I think it would be pretty obvious who possesses the most potential, it’s the creator, but still… wouldn’t you both be as close to similar as possible?
^^ Haha Thanks! I am so happy you enjoy the ideas so much-- I had no clue it would impact anyone so strongly, it was all really meant to just be suggestions and such…And yes, giving specific purposes to my characters really did help.
At one time, Talon represented my voice, Naknus my anger, and Takone my joy. It all worked fairly well too! ^^
I didn’t mean to be insulting, by the way, by calling her devious, I suppose I just jumped to conclusions… I’m sorry! If you concider her your shadow, then that means she needs the same amount of respect from me as I hold in mind for you.
Mmm,when it comes to communicating with my characters… When I speak to my characters, it can be either vocalized, writen, or internalized! More often than not, it is within myself. When I have time and I want suprises, however, I empty my mind of any distracting thoughts, then go about a paper-and-pen conversation with one character at a time. If I am in bed, and I am being distracted with my drowsiness and my lack of ability to clear my mind, I might just try to talk to Talon and rudely trail off into sleep. Mostly though, verbally speak both on my part and hers until the conversation is done, then I sleep! It can all be very good if I sleep right after I get either Talon or Naknus to agree to help me do something sleep-related…Not so much if it ended in argument with the threat of a nightmare!
Well-- as for the dream question… When I am in normal dreams I have never seen any of my characters-- it’s always been a lucid sort of thing. Once I summon them though, we pretty much are on the same plane, and they can be a bit intimidating ( especially since my boys are taller than me…and so…realistic!). In my dreams is the only time I have ever been able to reach out and touch my characters… and let me tell you–
Being lucid with Naknus Arana is like nothing I’ve ever felt before, the aura I had equip him with for his defense is a very powerful one once I was in his presense. It was almost as though, now that I was on his level, he had the upper-hand…
His eyes were intense
I wasn’t even able to stare at his face for longer than a moment before I was overcome O_O;. He was the most beautiful boy, I can’t even imagine anything more captivating then that look on his face…-- Ah! I am getting off-subject!
So! I suppose yes, the level of exsistence does shift quite a bit when I dream… However, I have never felt fear with any creation of mine-- All of them know that I hold the power to destroy them close to myself, at any sign of danger to my health, mentally, emotionally, or in any other way. In fact-- Talon and I have had intense arguments related to that.
In dreams I may be closer to my characters, but it seems as though I will never be fully on their level.
:3~ I hope that has answered your questions! If I seem sluggish it’s cause I am tired… XD haha…
With a slow sort of enthusiasm,
~Talon…
Hmm… okay, okay.
I didn’t take offense, Talon… I was merely considering your opinion. I wouldn’t say you jumped to conclusions, but derived what conclusion you could from the information I contributed. Nothing wrong with that - it’s the exact same thing I thought upon first awakening…
Of course, it would seem in the dream realm, my character holds the upper hand… for now. I actually could exploit that to my advantage and have her assist me into an LD…
Still…! Ah well-- I am glad you didn’t take offense…
I think, a part of what makes the differences between the power levels between creator and character must derive from origin then–
My characters were created in waking world, so once we enter dreams, I still hold power…( as I assert my upperhand in waking world) while yours was created in dreams, and without really any consious input from your brain…, perhaps that is why she holds the upper-hand. As well, it maybe a part of the fact you never went through a creation process for her so that level of control is not as fully there. I really do hope that your shadow and you get along well enough that she can help you go lucid!
The things she asked you to do… I worry!
Ah well-- I’m sure in a situation where it is needed you will take control.
With much joy,
~Talon
Yes, well…
I really must see how this… CALD… exactly works. Making some assumptions - as always - she could very well not cooperate. Why should she when she could more easily manipulate me whilst I unconsciously dream? Of course, over time that could work against her and begin working to my benefit… dreamsign.
I really don’t think it will become too big of an issue I can’t handle… like tulpas, which I’m entirely skeptical on anyway.
The things she asked…? I’d say “induced”. But maybe it’s her complex schizo/devil-may-care nature that attracts me to her…
I’ve talked about this so much. Perhaps I should actually apply CALD tonight.
Haha, CALD was concieved just barely over a week ago-- it’s all so new, I don’t even think I know how it works entirely-- And I MADE it. XD I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon if I think hard enough on it, though… I guess this will all turn out to be beneficial for you in the end right? And that’s all that matters… She seems very interesting-- not tame in any way from how I’ve read about her-- but intriguing indeed…
Well! I wish you sweet dreams, and I hope you have a lucid!
Bed well this night~
~Talon
Pictures don’t seem to work at school, but from the sound of it, It sounds good. I’ll check it out when I get home I’ll also write up a progress report on how my charater is developing.
~Al
