Ofnuts is correct,
in that it is more practical to do it on one layer.
The one layer,
with all the characters on it is how I would do it now.
I find that putting each character on it's own layer from the start,
is less practical and I would no longer do it this way at the start.
After all the effects or whatever was needed was done and merged into one layer.
I would use the DivideTransBG.scm,
which adds the Break Apart By Alpha filter to Gimp.
To break apart the characters into separate layers.
Making sure to incorporate things like the dot over the "i" and "j".
Back where they belong and anything not connected to a character.