Character development; A look back into over ten years of writing.

Hello g*mers, your silly old friend here, you know, the one that used to make jokes about cheese and, as time went on, became boring and eventually vanished entirely. Things are as they are, people grow old and lose the "I'm so random" non-sensical humor of their youth, often exchanging it for sarcasm and the like... Alas, that is not what I am here for. Rather, I've been looking back into the stories I've written so far, my own original universes and fandom-based universes. I've been wanting to talk about character development within those universes for a while, but I find myself short on friends who're interested in even hearing about it. So, to this land I briefly return. . I shall spare ye of having to learn about the universes I've created and the fandoms I've treaded, this is a MLP roleplaying site after all, thus shall I focus on that part of my writing: The characters that came directly from me writing and roleplaying within the My Little Pony community. I shall spare ye even further, by not having you meet all of them! Rejoice! Mostly because I fear I'll grow bored midway through writing this and wander off to continue playing Zoo Tycoon 2 (2004). - Waste. Waste was a sona, a self-incert most blatant. Through it, I've learnt a lot about myself, including my very nature as neutrois. The character itself was created as a joke some time before Pony² was killed, but after the site's demise it was left floating in the white noise that is my imagination. A story, personality traits, a goal, all was given to it in time. Waste shared my personality back then; This lighthearted joyous visage of the world, full of love and pride. It was random, chaotic, happy in ways that would spread a smile to those who accepted it. Amidst all of that, there was a lack of.. Purpose, translated into the character as a goal. This small robot was born into a world where everything could be within its grasp if it really pushed itself into it, yet it couldn't. It lacked meaning, a reason to do anything other than exist. . Waste's primary goal in life was to find that meaning. It looked up and down, searched every nook and cranny, all in the hopes of finding its creator. And when it finally did, it would ask "why am I here". Erian's response? "Because you are". It's not very deep, mind you, but it was a conclusion that both it and I came to at the same time. It is what it is, things are the way they are because they are. If you do not like the way things are, you put your mind into it, you work and you do your best to change it. Waste did exactly that, it did all that it could to help those around it, but in the end, it found out that its way of doing things wouldn't really help the situation. Rather than stubbornly press on, it accepted things as they were, and moved on to other methods. Eventually, with its goals reached, the Waste found peace with its environment and faded to obscurity. - Adeena. Adeena was the product of a failing relationship with my now ex. I shan't disclose much about that situation, specially seeing how long ago it happened, but I would like to share with you a few very important traits that were given to this characters; Some of which also represented my own. Keep in mind that this is a running theme, I've always had an easier time relating to characters I write if we have at least one personality trait in common. . Upon first being created, Adeena felt very obsessive over the so said "love of her life", despite the obvious hatred this other character held for her. She would be constantly demanding attention, even if sometimes negative; She pitied the other character for what she had done to him... But most prominently, she pitied herself. She adored the hate she received because it felt right, because her mind told her she deserved it; She hated herself, when others treated her poorly it was as though they agreed with her thoughts. That was our shared trait. However, she's changed. Over the years, those that once hated her (herself included) began to understand; Through understanding, tolerance; Through understanding, love. Adeena learnt to forgive herself over her past mistakes. Even if she couldn't fix her wrongs, she'd learn from them, understand how they came to be, and do her best to never let them happen again. . When others showed her she could be loved, she found in herself the strength to love herself. She didn't need others around anymore, she -wanted- to have them there with her. - Zerathur. Zerathur was my very first character, and has gone through so many rewrites over the years; From a confident leader to a sly and joyful young adult, all the way down to the broken depressed wreck he'd become post-mortem. Truth is, I never really considered the post-reincarnation Zerathur a proper character; It was a downgrade, both in story and concept, one I only took up on because of consistent requests from an old roleplay partner to bring him back. To me, Zerathur died... When he did. Originally, the character's main trait was his accepting nature. He was born with a disease that would kill him in early thirties, and he knew it from the moment he was able to comprehend the term death. . Death. Final, with nothing beyond, to simply cease to exist; And it's always there, calmly staring at our faces. His life would be cut shorter than most, but he didn't fear it. He simply accepted it as it was, for there was nothing to be done. However, rather than spend his time trying new things and partying, the man chose to live a much simpler life. He helped those he could however he could, taught first aid tecniques to Mercy Guard recruits, lived alone in an old house. He'd sit by the window, alone, watching the day go by in absolute silence. Alone, but in peace. And when the time came, he bid farewell to those he loved and watched his last sunrise in a valley not far from home.