Feedback How Do I Handle an Incomplete Bio? Advice Welcome

[Kitter Bitters]

I started the character Katarine Ryiah in 2007. Her story has remained fairly consistent and every single time I try to reboot or change it she naturally falls back into her history. I think because of this there is no sense in trying to wipe the slate clean. I'll just keep her history incorporated into who she is.

The problem is that her legacy was built over two decades on several different communities. I cannot track down all her relevant threads because some of those communities are gone now.

The second problem is that in the past I struggled as a writer and developed the unfortunate habit of deleting character accounts or even thread replies when I felt the character was worthless. This means there are a ton of "guest" accounts that were at one time actually Kat.

These two problems make it very difficult to incorporate all of Kat's story into her bio page. I love seeing all the arcs and thread tracking in other bios, and in all my other characters I have done this system. I like it. I think it adds value and highlights history.

But how do I do that with Kat? I love this old gal and I'm not done with her yet, but when I think of all the incompleteness I cringe.

 

[Connel Vanagor]

The only complete bio is of a character who is dead and you don't write anymore.

 

[Sibylla Abrantes]

Just don't track down the threads and make a summary bio.

It doesn't need to be complicated. Heck, half of my bios I don't update at all unless i really want to cover the arcs on there or update it cause I've done loads of neat char dev.

If you absolutely need the threads -- you will be deep diving into the search history to try to grab those threads and not sure if you will get all the bang for your buck.

Just start tracking them starting from the ones you can actuallyl easily find by going to "Threads with your posts"

 

[Darth Solipsis]

Hey there,

Honestly, I think the incompleteness is part of what makes a character's history authentic. Your character has existed for nearly twenty years across communities that no longer exist, through different eras of writing and different versions of you as a writer. There was never going to be a perfect archive of all of that, if I were you I wouldn't worry about accounting for every thread and instead build it around the major eras and defining moments of her life.

Link the threads you still have, summarize the stories that were lost, and perhaps include a note that some surviving posts appear under guest accounts or whatever, because the original accounts were deleted etc. You know those stories happened, and the people who shared them with you know they happened. A dead link or missing post does not erase their influence on the character, just tell the story you want through the bio you want.

 

[Galen Tagge]

What I did during the Imperial Reclamation Authority thing, Is I wrote my BIO and wrote it as my character developed, like the battles Galen was in, his character development all that. But the story line just kinda died, along with my interest in SWRPC until recently.

 

[Aether Verd]

Just don't track down the threads and make a summary bio.

Wanted to pop in to second this. For characters that have been around for a long time, it can become a herculean task to track down everything and to reconcile it with the current era you're writing in. A detailed, summary bio gives a nod to the story you've written over time, but gives you the freedom to paint it done.

 

[Kitter Bitters]

Thanks to everybody who replied so far.

I think summarizing her key arcs is a good idea and maybe just not trying to collect or save her threads. Or maybe JUST saving the new ones. I dunno.

 

[Novac Lyrikal]

i'd say put down what you remember even if you dont have links

if you have a link then link it, if not say what you remember with out a link

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Don't stress about leaving things blank. If you feel the pressure to fill something out, just leave a summary of what you think people might know. Prioritize that, the info you want others to be able to know going in to writing with you. Your character's past arcs and such can come up naturally in the RP itself, so those are less important for a character sheet, and you can always go back to fill that in when you feel up to it.

Just don't force yourself to fill it out. Once it becomes a chore it'll be that much harder to get done.

tbh I never bothered to finish Kahlil's profile or any of my character profiles. Valery Noble ended up getting me to with Kahlil and did the formatting and such for me cause she's nice like that. So take my advice with a grain of salt.