Making up characters on the go

[celestialsquared]

Does anyone else go into rp threads without a premade charactrer? I've been doing this lately and I've been generating all kinds of personalities based on how I was feeling or what the situation demanded. Usually I go find a random picture of a cat on the interwebs, make a name for said cat, and have at it.
I find it more fun for a number of reasons:

1. I didn't have to make a character page. (I'm lazy)
2. I could never get "bored" with a character I had made up as it was different every time.
3. I got to expand a bit on my characterization skills instead of just sticking with the kinds of characters I tend to like the best

In general, I think the characters I make up on a whim are actually better than characters I have with a set background and personality.

[mistytail]

I did it when I was younger and could blend in with RP groups better. Now that I'm older I don't do it as much, but when I did it was tons of fun because I kind of got to discover the character as I played them.

[Lady Ten]

I've used this strategy before on the neoboards. As for one on one roleplays, if the plot and genre are something I've done before, I might reuse an old character, but just as often I like to develop new characters for new situations. Not really sure which way works better for me.

However, I don't have much respect for roleplayers who have one or two characters they try to fit into every situation, and who refuse to participate in roleplays they don't already have characters for (thus, refusing to create new characters to adapt). To further illustrate what I'm talking about, these premade characters usually come complete with cruddy, skeletal character pages and a "play-by"/photograph of some celebrity or model. Their personalities are never, ever well developed, to facilitate the "stick 'em anywhere" approach. I see these sorts of pages on onexone ads and immediately go "nope". Come to think about it, I could write a whole thread about all the "nope"s in onexone advertizements.

[leah]

There's one character in particular I always like to use for Warrior roleplays (Spottedflower) but that's because I use her so often I've pretty much gotten used to writing her. But I still put in other characters. In one roleplay in particular, I grabbed a completely random cat off my cat list (I have a list for my FF, which is actually now a list from only one book of the whole FF, but that has nothing to do with this) and I started roleplaying with him. It's fun to try new characters, because it challenges you. If you use old characters all the time, you know how to write them, and there's no challenge. And, as Ten said, trying to use new characters can allow you to roleplay in situations your "main" character wouldn't be in.

[claire]

I prefer to make a new character for every roleplay, personally. I like to read up on the plot and start to get ideas about their history and personality based on the events that take place at that particular board. I have this entire folder saved with unnamed cat photos. If I come across a free stock photo of a cat I like, I save it for a later date. I like to be able to challenge myself to come up with something new and unique for every board. I still shudder to remember my first character.

Her name was - brace yourselves - Fadinglight. And she became a leader. Fadingstar. Yeah I know, I was nine. If I had stuck with that ridiculously named mary-sue through every roleplay, I would never have improved. I still have a lot improving to do and I don't consider myself advanced or anything of the sort, but because of changing characters for every site I have been able to come the literate and realistic (as realistic as you can get with feral Clan cats) I am today.

I most certainly believe that changing characters for each roleplay is a positive thing.

[cloudbat]

I love making new characters, but I like re-using old ones too, just because it's fun to see how they behave in different situations and how their personality alters. Plus, character development.