Booklet Theme

By booklet's theme is going to be Anime and Manga.
I want to incorporate that in to every one of my photos. (weather it be a costume or a pose, or an item of some sort)
I realize this is a broad theme, but i dont want to just focus in on figure photography. (But i DO want to do some)

Questions:
~How do I set up figures in an interesting manner, even if they do not have movable limbs?
~How do I make it look like the figures are interacting?
~How would I take intersting pictures of myself using the timer function, and still make sure they look good and don't cut things off(if i don't want it to)?
~How do i go about taking a figure photo and not making it look staged?(i don't want a white backdrop please!)