This is awesome! Make sure to be careful with online translators, though-for example I just typed in “I am bored” into the latin translator and got back “i, cibi” which makes no sense at all.
I’M JUST GONNA BE THAT ASSHOLE WHO REBLOGS AGAIN BUT, PLEASE! don’t use use ancient greek/latin translators. if you just want simple words or verbs (for latin at least), use WHITAKER’S WORDS — it’s a secret classicists keep.
i wasn’t aware of this but YES DO AS THE TWO ABOVE SAY :)
We all hate reading characters who feel forced and unnatural, but what can we do to write characters that don’t fall into the trap of acting in line with the plot rather than in an organic way?
The truth is, there is no one way to write natural characters. I did a lot of drama and acting growing up and I find that helps me get into the characters’ heads, but there are many other ways to improve the autonomy of our characters. It’s important to note that this does not just apply to main characters, but to all of your side characters, villains and antagonists as well.
Take a Personality Test as Your Character. Taking the 16 personalities test as each of your characters can help you understand how they would react in different situations as it gives a detailed report in how each personality type handles everything from work to romantic relationships.
Give Them a Backstory. For every character, it’s helpful to know how and where they were brought up, what lead them to be part of this book and what their history is with the main character (if they have one). This helps create a character that makes their own decisions, not just ones that benefit the plot, and this makes them feel more real.
Give Them Motivations and Goals. Every character should have their own motivations that are greater than ‘because it’s what their best friend, the main character, wants’. If their motivations and goals differ slightly from the MC’s, all the better and all the more realistic!
Make them flawed. Yes, every single one of your characters needs to be flawed and you should know what their exact flaw is so that you can accurately portray it. This flaw should cause problems for the characters and the plot and it should have a big impact on the story.
Choose their sense of humour. The most vivid characters I’ve read are those with a sense of humour, be that dirty, dark or witty banter, characters who make jokes (even bad ones) are great fun and jump right off the page.
Hope this helped and feel free to add below!
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We’ve all been there. Staring at our planning document with a long list of characters who are like our children. We love every single one of them, but what about the reader? Will they get confused? Will they be able to keep track? Will they care about any of your characters if they don’t get enough page time?
If these questions have plagued you, it might be time to think about who gets the chop. To help with the dilemma, I have put together a list of questions to ask yourself.
What does each character bring to the story thematically?
List what each character does to advance the plot?
Could any of these things easily be done by another character?
Do they all have distinctive personalities?
Do they all have distinctive mannerisms/speech/appearances?
If you’re struggling to answer these with a clear yes or no, it might be time to bin some characters. Bonus questions to consider are:
Is there potential to merge two characters into one?
Does this character need a name, or are they just an extra?
Hope this helped!
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July’s WritingTipWed! Every Wednesday I post a writing tip on my Twitter! If you want to see these weekly, follow me @/EmilyLaJaunie.
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#WritingTipWed 51 - Every writer has their struggles. Some have difficulty writing dialogue, others descriptions, others world-building. Write what you’re comfortable with first, then fill in what’s difficult. And always be kind to yourself.
#WritingTipWed 52 - It’s obvious, but it takes time to write a novel. It’s completely standard for a book to take years to finish, so don’t worry about how long you’ve been working on yours. You’re writing it, and that’s all that matters.
#WritingTipWed 53 - There are 3 types of character flaws: Minor, Major, and Tragic/Fatal.
Minor: Makes character distinguishable and well-rounded
Major: Impairs/restricts character in some way
Fatal: Brings character’s downfall
Minor ex: Childish, Clumsy, Lazy
Major ex: Arrogant, Envious, Short-tempered
Fatal ex: Greedy, Disloyal, Violent
Some flaws can be minor for one character, but fatal for another depending on how they work around it.
blog.reedsy.com/character-flaws/
#WritingTipWed 54 - Quirks are necessary to create a memorable, relatable character. These can include habits, beliefs, actions, style of dress, etc.
Ex: Always wears a wide-brimmed hat and taps foot when nervous.
Here are some things to think about when creating new characters that will help you bring them to the next level. Some of these questions are interchangeable, but answering them can really help you when writing/playing your characters.
1. What do they want the most in the world? How far are they willing to go to achieve it? Specifically define what they wouldn’tdo.
2. Who are they the closest to? How would they react if those people died? How would they react if those people betrayed them?
3. What is their worst fear? How would they react when faced with that fear?
4. What is the worst thing that ever happened to them? And what is the best thing? Define how it influenced them and/or their lives.
5. If they could change one thing about themselves/their lives, what would it be and why?
6. Are they addicted to something? From alcohol to the thrill of the hunt, define it and don’t forget to use it.
7. Did they ever kill someone? If so, how did they react after their first kill? If not, how would they react if they had to kill someone?
8. Would they ever sacrifice themselves? If so, what would they be willing to die for?
9. How do they react to meeting new people? Is it easy for them to socialize? If they were at a party, where and how would they spend most of the time?
10. What are their flaws and weaknesses? Is it something that they can work on and improve over the course of the story?
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Let me know if you’d be interested in more writing tips like this and what specifically would you like me to focus on :) See ya!
Give them a reason to stop running. Let them run until they can’t run any more. Give them a reason to turn back. Give them a moment to be brave, stand up for themself or someone else. Let them find somewhere to stay, somewhere they finally feel at home. You can keep habits, like having a bag always packed and ready to go, but give them a reason to stay.
Or let them be a vagabond. Turn their running away into a desire to travel, to see the world and all it’s beauty, to meet new people and experience different things.
1.- Talking too much. Specifically, with adults. I see this a lot with hyperactive children. But a lot of us don’t grow out of this and I want my representation! Plus, this can be very fun and useful! You can use it for exposition and world building. It leaves plenty of room to hide small details. It also can give a lot of context about other character’s around them.
When they start talking word after word for about a hundred words more than necessary to say they are happy, do the other character’s seem entertained? Annoyed but say nothing? Annoyed and say it? Do they look like they’re not listening? Do they look like they’re listening but later on we find out they’re just really good at pretending to listen? So many possibilities! And how does the original character react to this?
2.- Being terrible with names. I mean, as someone who once forgot the name of a co-worker I saw every day and had been working with for years, it’s kinda upsetting when character’s in books just hear it once and remember.
Especially when I’m just dying to be reminded this character’s name because I forgot. It’s not only a very relatable character flaw, it’s useful for reminding readers of who’s who! Something a lot of authors don’t do enough of (including me, I know my characters better than my co-workers, so of course it’s obvious to me).
3.- Hoarding. Not like to the point where’s it’s dangerous and a problem that needs to be solved, but to the point where you have a shoe box full of receipts from seven years ago for stuff that never had a guarantee. To the point where you have leaflets from concerts you went to at the age of ten and can’t throw away “because of the memories!” To the point where you have magazines because, “look at the pretty pictures! I can use that in scrap booking somewhere… some day.” Or stickers from when you were five years old that won’t even stick anymore.
Again, lots of people do this, it’s relatable, but also, it gives you lots of opportunities to show us stuff about the character, about their past and how they’ve changed with time. Natural exposition baby!
4.- Gets anxious when there’s too much noise, or too many people. Not as a plot point, not as a symptom of autism or something. Just normal, over stimulation. Because over stimulation can happen to anybody, and our ability to withstand it is different.
This too can be useful, it can be a good way to separate two characters from the group. “Oh, I’ll go with her, you guys stay, don’t worry!”
Also, it’d be nice to see a character realise the environments not good for them, communicate that calmly and leave before over stimulation. Like, you think after years of this shit I don’t know before things get too bad? You’d be right sometimes, but not all times. Sometimes I know my limits, and I never see that in media (if you know any media that does do this, tell me!).
5.- Having zero sense of direction. Because after four years I still manage to get lost on my own street if I come in from a direction that isn’t the one I use every day and again, I want representation.
Plus, you can have character’s get lost (especially in fantasy worlds with no GPS) as a way to discover new locations or send other characters to find them.
I hope you found at least one of these ideas useful. Or, they inspired you to think of other good and not often seen character flaws.
I want to state that I’ve used the word character “flaw” but that might not be entirely accurate for some of these I just can’t think of a more accurate word right now.
As usual, check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.
Which one of these can apply to one of you characters? What flaws did I miss out?
