User blog comment:Silver-Haired Seireitou/RPCQ Exam Starts... Soon!/@comment-5020614-20140308115859/@comment-2089817-20140308185105

Alright, well, Stylx. I know the 25,000 bytes is a little much for a character of such level, but it isn't impossible. There's nothing you'll have to force. Just look at mine: Iyori Mochizuki. It has a basic appearance section, alittle bit lengthy personality section, a standard length history, and a rather specific powers and abilities section. You have to view this as a challenge to explore a character down to their lowest levels rather than come up with a one-dimensional character that'll just "grow over the course of the story". If the byte count is daunting, I can come up with a guide that'll help you and others struggling with the byte count to easily make it all work out.

Consider that a blank character article, with the infobox, property template, maybe a picture or two, with a simple introduction, is roughly 2000-3000 bytes on its own. Then a simple appearance section, that should add another 1000-1500 bytes right there. Personality, which should definitely be lengthy, should be about 3000-4000 bytes. Then there's history. History can range from nearly anything, but at the most smallest amount, a decent history for someone that has lived to at least their young adult life, should be roughly 4000 bytes. Using the smallest ranges, we're already at 10,000 as it is. Then there's a simple powers and abilities section, maybe a Zanpakuto, which'll add another 5000-6000 bytes. This? This should be the length of a regular Gotei 13 member, or a regular Fraccion, or even a Quincy like Uryuu when he was first introduced. That is 15,000 bytes roughly, right there, for a character even less powerful than what I'm giving you as a limit to use for the exam. Understanding that, reaching the 25,000 byte count isn't much of a problem at that point.

I'm just reluctant to lower the byte count at this point. Originally, it was going to be 30,000 bytes, but I decided on 25,000 bytes because a well-rounded character at the fourth seat level should make it to that length when you pull out all the stops. The powers section, most of all, shouldn't just be about what they can do. But what they have potential to eventually learn, what they want to improve about it, what their weaknesses currently are, their short-comings with such skills, and so on. Once you answer all these questions, 25,000 bytes is child's play, it really is.

Appearance section should essentially be the smallest, in my opinion. A simple paragraph which answers:
 * "What are their physical traits? Eyes? Hair Color? Hair Length? Musculature? Et cetera?"
 * "What clothes are they wearing? What clothes are their wearing in the image you provided, if any? What clothes do they wear or did they used to wear?"

The Personality section should, in turn, be one of the most lengthy. Answering some of, if not all, these questions:
 * "What were they like as a younger person?"
 * "What is a general description of their characteristics? Are they polite people? Why are they? Are they rude and cruel people? What made them that way? Are they arrogant and haughty?"
 * "What makes them that way? What events in their lives have caused them to become such people? What effect has it had on them?"
 * "What are they like as warriors? Passive? Aggressive? What kind of fighters are they? How do they view fighting? How do they view war?"
 * "Do they admire anybody in particular? Do they look up to anybody as a hero? Likewise, is there anybody they strongly hate?"
 * "Is there SOMETHING, rather than someone, they love? Or they hate?"
 * "Do they have a motivation for doing what they do? Do they believe they have a purpose? Or are they searching for that purpose?"
 * "What are their hobbies? What do they do when they have "me time"? Or are they so involved with their work that they simply don't want free time?"

History should answer these, and somewhat tie together with the personality, using this section to demonstrate what events caused certain aspects of their personality to develop.
 * "Where were they born, if known?"
 * "What was their childhood like?"
 * "How did they become the person they are?"
 * "How did they develop the skills they possess?"
 * "What people have had an impact on their lives? How? What happened?"

Powers & Abilities should answer these:
 * "What is their current power level? Why? Were they born with a high power? Or did they have to work for it?"
 * "What are they capable of doing now? What skills are they proficient in?"
 * "Likewise, what skills are they terrible at? What can they work on and fix?"
 * "What are their weaknesses in each skill? What can be improved?"
 * "What is their Zanpakuto? Or Spirit Weapon, or whatever, depending on what kind of character you're making? What can it do?"
 * "What is their relationship with the Zanpakuto, if they are a Shinigami? Most likely they have a small relationship, as the Shinigami probably just started learning to speak to it."

Once you answer these questions thoroughly, you'll see yourself probably going past the 25,000 bytes, trust me. If even after all that, you still can't make it, then come to me again and we'll see what we can do.