And I’ll end this spam with this drawing I did a few days ago of my characters from Monster Hunter World while waiting on Iceborne to release. Been playing it since though and It’s super fun.

artattemptswriting:

I’m currently writing several of my characters through their own grieving processes- some of whom, due to the nature of their community, have never experienced loss before. Despite having lost close people myself, it surprised me how hard it is to do. The mistake, I realized, was that I was following the five stages of grief for each of them, and what an easy mistake it is to make. Here is what I’ve learned from this:

Firstly, two important things to remember:

There is no such thing as grief being “done right”

Everyone is different: different psychological makeup, different nature, different nurture, different levels of emotional development, different states of mental health. Some know grief, some don’t; some, despite knowing grief well, are beaten down by it every time. Pain is relative, and this means that there is no way to write grief that is strictly correct. The point of this post is to show you how different people react in different ways, and give you pointers on how you might write that, depending on your character. At the end of the day, you know your characters- who they are and where they came from- and so you can take away the skills from this to apply to them.

Grief is not linear, compact, or constrained by time

Someone might not start the grieving processright away, or rocket through the “steps” that we consider today.  The five stages of grief we know and use as a model were intially constructed for application to patients who recieved news of terminal cancer; it was then applied to the relatives who recieved news of the death, and finally on to grief in the way we use it today. Although a good place to start, it’s too general and too structured; too focused on five ideals that actually change, depending on the person, or in this case, the character. Grief can lie dormant, for ages, and jump out five years later; your character could have lost their dad two years prior to the plot, and only start to experience the grieving process due to a move of house or some other life change.

Secondly, dismantle their characterization

This is mainly instinctive, especially when you go through revisions and redrafts, and by that point your character is like a close co-worker or business friend, just with a more intimate twist. Personality, however, is important- but not always the most accurate measure of reaction.

Grief is a game-changer

A fierce, proud character could be brought low by the grieving process, or they could rely of bad coping methods. A little denial is healthy, but this character, who has always taken everything in their stride, might suddenly be unable to cope and so burrow inside themself entirely.

In the same way, a character with poor mental healthy might not necessarily break. That is an assumption I come across a lot, and as someone who has had shitty mental health for years, it’s so wrong. Yes, I have anxiety, depression, disorganized thoughts, intrusive thoughts, I dissociate- but did that mean I broke down over a family friend dying earlier this year? No. I coped with it becuase the grieving process is seperate from mental health, and mental health is seperate from personality.

Grief can strengthen the weak, or break the weak. Weaken the strong, and in weakening, teach valuable lessons. Proud characters may not ask for help and so struggle, but they might also realize they have to swallow their pride and get help to process their loss.

Look at the core, fundemetnal characteristics that define how your character acts and consider whether grief will exacerbate these fundementals, or alter them. However, remember that your character’s personality is only the surface consideration.

Finally, Consider the aspects around your character, not justof

This means more than looking at their personality. You also need to consider:

Culture and Religiosity

What are the cultural or religious views around death? Does your character believe them? Is death considered the end, or does reincarnation- or belief in something similar- help bring comfort? Is grief considered a weakness, or death a curse that sticks to everyone affected? Are there sacrificial rites? What rights are afforded to a dead person, if any at all? Life expectancy, mortality rates? Young or ageing population?

Community and attitudes

Is it supportive? Do they all band together around the grieving person? Is the loss shared? Or do they shun people who are struggling with grief? How experienced is this community with loss and greif? Is the community close-knit, or made up of insular families/people? How common is death? (old Cults, new cults, small islands, travelling communities, new communities- they will all have different experiences and attitudes, whether your story is set in a fantasy world, ours, or anything else).

Character roots

Early experience with grief? If yes, has this given them resilience, or was it too much? Supported childhood, or neglected? Good social upbringing? If not, this might make it harder for them to find help or understand that they need support. Stable childhood, or unstable? Accostomed to hardship, or not?

Who was the lost one to your character?

In the grand scheme of things, you’ll be surprised how little this impacts in some ways, and how massively it impacts in others. Your character might mourn a beloved teacher deeply and manage the death of an uncle.

Were they close? Distant family? How much regret is attatched to their death? How often did they see eachother? What part did the lost one take in the character’s formative years? How did they influence your character’s life choices? How long have they known one another? How close did they become in that time? How old was the person? How does your character feel about dying young- unfair, tragic but inevitable?

riona-is-writing:

Finding your character’s voice is one of the most important things you can do to make your character more fully developed. It can often be the thing that sets your character apart and makes the reader easily able to identify them. Creating your character’s voice breathes life into them.

What to think about:

Formal or informal

Can be shown with:

• sentence structure/complexity (shorter vs. longer sentences, number of clauses, etc.) 
  
• contractions(e.g. y’all versus you guys, I am vs. I’m)
  
• word choice (simple or advanced; more poetic vs. more practical, blunt vs. subtle)
  
• word order/syntax (can indicate dialect and/or formality)
  

Things to ask yourself:

- If my character speaks formally/informally, is there a reason?

- Does it indicate their status?

- Or is it a rejection of their status? (e.g. does your highborn character prefer to speak informally because they hate their position in life, or does your lower class character speak more formally to make themselves appear higher class?)

- Is the way they speak normal for their society? In other words, if your character is, say, an alien from a highly formal culture, they won’t think of themselves as speaking abnormally. But if they visit another, less cultured planet, they’ll stick out like a sore thumb.

Catchphrases

When done well, this can be amazing. When done awfully, it makes the reader sigh and roll their eyes in exasperation. So, be careful not to overdo it!

Catchphrases can include:

• slang (e.g. wicked, if your character is from Boston, like Faith Lehane from Buffy: the Vampire Slayer)
  
• exclamations/swears (”Hell’s bells!” - Harry Dresden, “Zoinks!” - Shaggy, “Holy ___, Batman!” - Robin at various times)
  
• automatic responses (such as in response to how they are, e.g. “Five by five.” - Faith Lehane, or in response to a question they don’t want to answer, e.g. “Spoilers!” - River Song)
  
• greetings/goodbyes (”Hello, sweetie.” - River Song, “What’s up, Doc?” - Bugs Bunny)
  
• introducing themselves ( “The name’s Bond. James Bond.” - James Bond, “Trust me. I’m the Doctor.” - the Doctor, “Denny Crane,” said repeatedly by Denny Crane)
  
• an explanation/repeat phrase of some other classification (”Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a ________.” - Bones, “Your mission, should you choose to accept it…” - Mission Impossible, “Live long and prosper.” - Spock, “Same thing we do every night, Pinky! Try to take over the world!” - the Brain)
  

A lot of times, these catchphrases can become inside jokes, and merely referencing them is enough (think: “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” or “Holy _______, Batman!”).

But sometimes, it can feel a little forced (like Miss Martian’s constant use of “Hello, Megan!” all the time in Young Justice). You want to use these catchphrases sparingly, and when they make sense. While you and I might say “fudge” or another such exclamation any time we trip, the reader does not want to read that twenty times in the same chapter because your character is a klutz. This is the art of writing, not the hyperrealism of writing. You want it to mean something, so use it only when needed.

Things to ask yourself:

- Does this character really need a catchphrase? How will this help establish character?

- Does the catchphrase come from the type of place they live or things they do? For instance, Harry Dresden is a wizard, so when he swears he says, “Hell’s bells,” which reminds us of his job and difference from those around him. This wouldn’t be the same if he simply said, “Dang it,” any time he swore.

- Is there a reason they have a catchphrase? Is it deliberate or unconscious on their part?

- Is there a way you can flip the catchphrase and use it to signal a shift in the story or an unexpected twist (e.g. signifying that somehow your character as switched bodies with another person, like Faith from Buffy: the Vampire Slayer; alternatively, that something isn’t right with the character, because of certain events, and they’re not saying their usual catchphrase)?

Verbal Tics*

Verbal tics are sounds that are not really words, more like filler, that get used almost unconsciously in everyday speech. Words like “ehm,” “uh,” and so on are all verbal tics. (Various internet sites assure me that throat clearing and sniffing can also be included here, but I leave that up to you.) For this section, however, I am also including words, but only those words that are filler. I am also including alterations to the text that represent how someone is speaking.

Now, I know that in any writing guide you read, they want you to NOT, NOT, NOT use regular tics like these in dialogue. It’s annoying, repetitive, annoying, serves no purpose, annoying, and so on. In a sense, they are very much right. Don’t use verbal tics for every character! But using them to distinguish one character (or a couple, in different ways) can work very well if done right.

Verbal tics can be:

• words (examples: “You don’t wanna mess with us, see, ‘cause we’re dangerous, see,” or “So, I went to the mall yesterday, and there was this dress, so I bought it, so…” or even “Like, I’m not even sure what Vanessa was, like, wearing at that party last night?”)
  

• filler sounds (e.g. “eh,” “um,” “uh,” “er,” “hrrgh,” “urk,” and so on)
  

• messing with the letters and format of the sentence (e.g. dragging out the letter, making every word separated for a slow speaker, running words together to indicate speed, etc.)
  

Examples of verbal tics (this is a section in which examples are very helpful, so here you go):

• Damian Wayne, the current Robin at DC Comics: uses the distinctive sound “tt” in his appearances to express his emotions, even - tt - other comic series that he guest-stars in
  
• Asmodeus from the Redwall series: drawsss out the letter ssss becaussse he isss a ssssnake
  
• The Flash, at various points in DC Comics: speakswithallthewordstogetherbecausehe’stalkingsofast!!!
  
• Canada, from the Hetalia anime: ending every sentence like a true Canadian, eh?
  

Things to ask yourself:

- What purpose would a verbal tic have for my character? Do they really need one?

- Is the verbal tic connected to an emotion, or is it involuntary? (Generally, in real life, it is involuntary, but once again, this is art, and so it can have meaning, if you so choose!) What emotion might it be connected to?

- Are they aware of it? Are they embarrassed by it? Do people make fun of them for it?

- Is it part of their dialect/culture?

- Is it a recent thing or have they always done it?

- Where is the balance between making it seem like a realistic tic and annoying my reader with the repetitiveness?

*I am not referring to any medical diagnoses here, although if you want to go right ahead and use medically diagnosed tics for a character, please feel free to! However, this section does not deal with those, as I am not an expert, although I understand there might be some confusion due to the terminology I have used. Please let me know if there is a different term I should be using instead, as I couldn’t find one anywhere. Thanks!

Ways of addressing others

The way that your character addresses other characters says a lot about how they view and respect those around them, in addition to their personality. In addition, if you establish a character addresses others in a certain way (say, by last name only), then when they break this pattern, the reader knows it is important.

Different ways of addressing others:

• nicknames (either a shortening of someone’s name, even if it’s not usually shortened, or a name reflecting some characteristic of theirs - e.g. “Jane” to “Janie,” or “Shorty,” or Tony Stark’s brand of nicknames, like “Capsicle” or “Rock of Ages”)
  
• titles (similar to nicknames, but more formal - e.g. a character referring to people by their rank, job, familial relations, etc.)
  
• last name only 
  
• full name only (never shortened, includes first, last, and middle names)
  
• no nicknames (never refers to a character by anything other than what’s printed on their birth certificate, can be combined with others on these lists, especially the previous two)
  
• familial referencing (e.g. Aragorn, son of Arathorn)
  
• insults (ranging from harmless to aggressive, can be combined with the first one on this list, not always swears)
  
• by physical/personal characteristics [epithets]** (e.g. by gender, hair color, eye color, traits - for instance, “boy,” “you, redhead!” or “the only one of you with any spine”)
  

** This one tends to work best in stories set in older times or in sci-fi/fantasy. Epithets can be insults, but the epithets I am thinking of are more Homeric in nature.

Things to ask yourself:

- Is there a reason behind my character’s decision to address people in this way? Does it indicate a lack of trust? A need to crack jokes?

- What does this say about my character’s background? Is this the normal way to address people where they come from? Is it abnormal to do so in the place they are now?

- Does my character evolve from speaking this way? Do they start speaking in a different way, either deliberately or unconsciously? Why?

Accents

Accents are tricky. There are several different ways to write accents (I’m currently working on a post that explains them further), but basically no matter how you write an accent, there are a few things you can do to portray the accent.

• slang (e.g. barbie = barbecue in Australian slang)
  
• word order/syntax (e.g. “I’m after going to Mary’s” = “I just went down to Mary’s” in Hiberno-English)
  
• contractions(I’ve versus I have, or y’all versus ye vs youse vs you and so on)
  
• idioms (words or phrases that do not have equivalents in other dialects/languages/places)
  
• diction (words meaning different things, like “chips” in American English and in British English)
  
• verbs (e.g. “ain’t,” “be,” “runnin,” or mixing up tenses)
  

Keep in mind:

- be RESPECTFUL of whatever accent you’re trying to portray, especially if it’s not your accent

-don’t overdo the accent because it might end up sounding stereotypical (and that is not respectful - see above)

-you should get a feel for the accent you’re trying to write. Listen to the music, read something in that accent, watch/listen people talk in the accent until you hear the rhythm and way people with that accent talk. 

Things to ask yourself:

- Is the way I am portraying this accent as accurate as it is within my power to make it? (In other words, have I done my research?)

- How does my character feel about their accent? Are they in a place where their accent is normal? Are they in a place where they stand out because of their accent?

- Continuing on that thought, how noticeable is their accent? Is it the equivalent of someone from, say, Boston going somewhere else in Massachusetts, or the equivalent of that person from Boston going to California, or the equivalent of that same person going to London? Each one becomes more and more noticeable the farther the person goes from their home.

- Has my character made an attempt to hide their accent? Deliberately intensify it? Or do they just not care?

- Does it get stronger or weaker based on their emotional state?

Emotion

The emotions your character normally expresses when they’re speaking say a lot about their general emotional state. In addition, if there is a change in their emotional state, readers will be able to know that just from the way they talk (though context and body language are always useful!)

You can show emotion in speech through:

• speed (if they’re easily excited, they might talk fast! and with a lot of exclamation points! But if they’re sad a lot…well, they might talk a bit more slowly and take their time…kind of like Eeyore.)
  
• word choice (is it generally positive? negative? Or somewhere in between?)
  
• reactions to other characters’ dialogue (are they generally patient and wait for the other person to finish? Or do they jump in because they’re so excited about something the other person has said?)
  
• volume (are they loud? Quiet? Are they normally quiet but get loud when they’re angry? Or vice versa?)
  
• understandability (not necessarily stuttering or stumbling over words, but can be; are their procession of thoughts/logic easy to understand? Is their conclusion sensible? Are they understanding others easily or do they need clarification? For instance, if your character is easily excited, maybe their dialogue comes in a jumble of words that is hard to understand. Maybe they’re so angry they’re not listening to anything the other person is saying, and their dialogue reflects that.)
• punctuation/capitalization (are they unsure of themselves and what they’re saying a lot, so they use a lot of question marks like this? Are they aggressive in their emotions and so THEY SHOUT LIKE THIS!!! Are they…kind of thoughtful and take the time to…express themselves correctly…or are they - well - I mean are they - like - the kind of people who - you know, backtrack and correct themselves a lot?)***
  

***Again, you want to be careful not to overdo this, as it can get annoying AND lose the effect it has on the reader. If one of your characters SHOUTS. EVERYTHING. THEY. SAY. THEN WHEN SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT HAPPENS TO THE CHARACTER AND THEY GET VERY EMOTIONAL AND SHOUT, IT’S LOST A TON OF EMOTIONAL IMPACT ON THE READER. Like the end of that sentence. Did it make a big impact on you? It should - it was the entire point of the sentence. But it was lost amidst all of the other capitalized words. The same thing goes for any type of repeated punctuation/capitalization for a character - you want to make sure it counts.

Things to ask yourself:

- Why does my character express this emotion generally? 

- What does it say about their outlook on life?

- What does that say about how they view other people?

- Does their dialogue rely on these techniques too much when trying to show their emotions? How can I combine these with their body language?

Focus/Fixations

This is a pretty simple one. Focus can be organization of thoughts - basically, what idea(s) can they or want to focus on. A character that is very focused might be a practical person who is focused on the here and now, and their plans for whatever situation they’re in. A character that is less focused might be someone who thinks of several things at once, which reflects in their dialogue. 

Fixations are the things that their minds keep coming back to. So for example, if a character is worried about how they did on a test, throughout the story their dialogue might keep returning to that subject or referencing it. For instance: “Hey, when do you think we’re getting that test back?” or “Wow, this is pretty hard. Almost as hard as that test we took.” You want to make it less obvious than this, of course! (A good example is Anya from Buffy: the Vampire Slayer and her obsession with making money.)

Ways to show focus/fixation:

• number of ideas/topics in their dialogue at a time
  
• relevance of topics to the present
  
• relevance of topics to the past/future
  
• how they react to people who do not share their focus/fixation (e.g. a focused person finds it annoying when a person who is not focused keeps interrupting them, or a person who is less focused finds it annoying that a person who is focused is paying too much attention to one thing) 

Things to ask yourself:

- How focused are they when talking?

- Do they think of a million things at once, or just one at a time? 

- What are some short-term fixations they might have? Some long-term?

- Why might they be focused/not focused? Why might they have these fixations? What do these fixations say about their character?

- Do the focus/fixations change over time? How? Why? Does it reflect a change in their character?

- Am I making my character too focused/fixated on something? Is it detracting from or adding to the story or the character arc?

How others see them vs. how they see themselves

This one is probably the broadest one on the list. There aren’t specific things you can do to get this across (it’s more of a general thing), but it’s a cycle that you should keep in mind.

Your character sees themselves in a certain way. For instance, they might think of themselves as helpful, or kind. 

• The way that they see themselves can influence why they do things (e.g. if they see themselves as a person who doesn’t go on adventures, like Bilbo Baggins, they will refuse to go on an adventure.)
  
• The actions that they take influences howother characters see them, but the other characters do not necessarily see your character’s perception of themselves (e.g. in the Hobbit, Bilbo sees himself as helpful and averting war by giving the Arkenstone to the Elves. He thinks he is being a good friend. However, Thorin sees it as a betrayal and thinks Bilbo is disloyal and not a good friend. Both of them at the time of their actions think they are right.)
  
• How other characters see your character influences how they treat your character (e.g. Because Thorin thinks Bilbo has betrayed him, he threatens Bilbo and rejects him as a friend. Bilbo escapes with his life, but only through the help of the other dwarves. Again, to each character, their own actions are justified and so their dialogue reflects their belief that they are right. So, when they talk to each other, both of them think that they are right and the other is wrong, and you can see this in their dialogue.)
  
• How they treat your character influences how your character sees and reacts to these people, and can influence your character’s perception of themselves (e.g. Because Thorin rejected Bilbo and called him a traitor, Bilbo is bewildered and believes for a time that Thorin cannot be saved, and he feels like he failed).
  
• The cycle continues.
• All of this is reflected in their dialogue to each other.

Knowing how each of your characters see each other and themselves will influence their dialogue and reactions to each other. Characters can misunderstand each other, underestimate someone, or help someone feel better about themselves, just to name a few things. 

Things to ask yourself:

- How does my character see themselves? Why? Are they one hundred percent correct?

- How do other characters see my character? Why? Are they one hundred percent correct?

- Does my character have any idea of other people’s perceptions of them? If so, do they care? Is my character correct about what they think other people think about them?

- Will my character’s perspective of themselves/other people change? Why and how? Will other characters’ perspectives of my characters change? Why and how?

- How do all these reactions to each other influence the story?

---

Hope this helped! Let me know if there are any questions.

- Riona

bucketsiler:

writeouswriter:

I need realistic small town name ideas because I keep creating WIPs and towns and OCs and can’t be stopped

Glendale. Burnside. Perkins. Deer Creek. Dernsville. Edgewood. Fern’s Grove. Based on nothing; they just sound right to me.

This link here: https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator allows you to create your own towns and it gives you names for them, too.

This link here https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com is a smorgasbord of names for all kinds of things/places/people/races, etc.

Have fun!

firebirdeternal:

You know what’s more fun than worldbuilding that makes some fantasy races EEEEVIIIIIIILLLLL!!!!?
Worldbuilding that gives the different races cultural differences that help explain why there’s a lot of conflict between them:

Goblin culture doesn’t have a concept of “Property”. A stick on the ground and a tool in a locked shed are equally up for grabs if a thing needs doing. They casually take and leave things all over their communities, eat from communal pots, and genuinely Do Not Understand why the Core Races are so Angry and prone to Violence all the time.

Consequently Goblins who live near Core communities develop a reputation as “Thieves” despite not even having a *word* for that. (The closest word they have is more like “Greedy” and it means a person that hides things so nobody else can use them, and it’s a surefire fight-starter to call a Goblin that)

Common Orc Spiritual beliefs hold that a Soul can only grow stronger by overcoming Challenges in life, and see intruding on another person’s Challenge unasked for as not just Rude, but Deeply Harmful. You’re Stealing their chance to Grow. Asking for help is deeply personal and doing so can be both a way to grow closer with them or a too-personal intrusion, depending on your existing relationship with them. An exception is Children, as far as most Orcs are concerned, all Children are fundamentally the responsibility of the Whole Community, regardless of whose child they are, or even if said child is an Orc at *all*.

This means that Orcs who live near Core neighbors often seem Rude and Standoffish if not outright hostile, because they neither ask for nor offer aid even in times of trouble, and respond to unasked for aid themselves with Anger. There are even rumors that they Steal Children, because if an Orc finds a child lost in the woods they’re pretty much immediately going to start feeding it, and if they can’t find where to bring it back to, or it doesn’t seem to be well cared for, they’re just gonna keep it. 

I got to admit that some of this is on par with my goblins and orcs in The Seer’s Protector.

sunniestdays:

Why you should write healthy marriages:

1. They aren’t done enough.

2. They help other people understand what a healthy relationship looks like.

3. Fights can last for weeks and still be part of a healthy marriage.

4. Stereotypes. Break all the marriage stereotypes.

5. Soft cute couple moments DON’T stop after marriage.

6. Marriage is completely independent of character arcs. Those two individuals with trauma will still be two individuals with trauma but with gold rings.

7. A healthy marriage is one where people understand that their partners have baggage/trauma/flaws, but love them even in rough patches. 

8. It isn’t that healthy marriages aren’t compelling, it’s that people don’t know how to write marriages correctly. 

9. Marriages being an end goal often perpetuates that women are trophies to be won.

10. Marriages being an end goal often perpetuates that someone’s “freedom” ends there. Bury this trope, please, I beg of you.

sweetest-honeybee:

the-entire-eternal-spiral:

Morally grey: A character who does too much bad to be a good person, but does too much good to be a bad person.

Sympathetic villain: A character who is a bad person, but whose backstory/character arc makes you feel sorry for or sympathetic towards them.

Anti-hero: A character who does bad things to achieve a good goal.

Anti-villain: A character who does bad things to achieve a goal that they believe to be good, but is actually messed up.

Just plain annoying: A character who does bad things to achieve a bad goal but has one throwaway line about a hard childhood that is expected to put them into one of the aforementioned categories when in reality it just makes them annoying

Ah, it’s all clear now

writingwithcolor:

writingwithcolor‌:

Hi everyone,

We’ve updated our FAQ and Guidelines which, just from the volume of questions that we receive that fall under these categories below, isn’t read quite as often as I’d like so we wished to make it easier to access.

Please check out these FAQ and guidelines, also foundhere.

The navigation is found here or at writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/navigation.

For your inquiries on tropes and stereotypes see the Stereotypes and Tropes Navigation here.

Thank ya!

-WWC

Writing with Color: Ask Guidelines

Ever since this blog opened for business, we’ve been inundated with Asks pertaining to writing PoC, and some of them are quite difficult to answer thoroughly. We check the answers with the other mods to make sure we’re giving you the best advice we can. Please be patient. On the other hand, here are Asks that we won’t answer: 

• general writing questions.
• questions that are very broad or vague.
• questions that have nothing to do with PoC or only deal tangentially with them.
• questions that ask for facts you can easily Google.
• questions that ask “how do I write a ___________ character?” See FAQ.
• questions that have nothing to do with writing (we will either direct you to blogs that can answer them or answer them at our own leisure).
• questions that are basically ‘Why haven’t you answered my question yet? Why are you so slow?’
• Those that are similar to questions we’ve already answered (please check the navigation). We will not always redirect to the answer.
• Finally, we urge you not to send in questions with racial slurs that aren’t blocked out or denoted as “n word” “g word” etc.
• We may choose to delete uncensored slurs (and any other blatantly offensive Q’s) as to avoid triggering ourselves and/or others.
• Please use submit for questions longer than two parts. Do not send questions through fanmail please.

Frequently Asked Questions

“What are some appropriate ways to describe my character’s skin tone?”

Please see the Words for Skin ToneGuide.

“How do I introduce the race of my characters?”

Please see the description tag, or one or more of these posts:

• Ways to indicate Race
• Defying White as Default
• Indicating Race Explicitly
• Identifying Race Inoffensively
• Describing POC and Avoiding Caricatures
• Introducing Race and Skin Color Naturally

“How do I denote the race of my characters in a fantasy setting?”

• Indicating POC in Fantasy Settings
• Describing POC without stating Race
• Describing PoC and Avoiding Caricatures

“How do I describe my Asian character’s eyes respectfully?”

Please see the Describing Asian EyesGuide.

“I’m afraid my character has harmful stereotypical traits. How do I avoid making them a caricature?”

Trace your logic in this character’s creation. What traits have you given them and why did it turn out this way? Does it just “make sense” for your Black female character to be the motherly figure of the group? Why?

Is your character comprised of several stereotypical traits, or are they allowed to act and think in ways that are not confined to stereotypes? If your character is three-dimensional and allowed to be more than the stereotypical trait(s) they may possess, you should be fine. It also helps to have another character of their same race + gender etc. whom you can say are distinctive from each other.

Please also see the Tropes and Stereotypes navigation for more information on particular tropes and stereotypes and how to handle them.

“How do I write a ____________ character?”

1.First off, check the tag pertaining to the character you’re looking to write. For example, if you’re writing an Indian character, search terms such as “Indian”and“South Asian” might be a good start.

2.A general rule when writing any Character of Color is to be mindful that while they might not be like you in terms of some cultural and certain daily experiences, they are like you in that they’re human. Humans with thoughts and dreams and feelings just like you. Capable of joy, snark, and laughter. So remember: human. Not aliens.

3.Don’t focus so much of whether you’re writing a proper ______ character.

You risk homogenizing your Characters of Color when you do this. Not all Black girls think the same. Not all Japanese men act the same. There may be some common experiences and feelings within a group, but everyone has their own perspective, experiences and thoughts despite their race; no hiveminds here. Also, as with any character, background is a huge factor of a person and where they live and family life has an influence on a person’s making. For example, a Black boy who grew up in a mansion in California will have a different outlook than a Black boy who grew up on a Wisconsin bee farm swapped in cornfields. Same for their accents, style, and overall experience with life.

“I’m uncomfortable with all the pressure to include People of Color in my writing. Wouldn’t it just make it forced, anyway?”

Distance yourself from this pressure and ask yourself why you feel it. I’ve yet to encounter anyone who’s barging on doors demanding people be inclusive, but rather trying to illustrate its importance and encourage it, so where do you think the pressure to be inclusive is really coming from?

Campaigning for diversity should not feel like an attack, so do not perceive it as one.

This comes easier when you step outside yourself for a moment, and stand into the shoes of those who call for diverse books, who need diverse books. These are people whose voices and faces have and are shunned from the multitude of literature, enjoy an adventure as much as anyone, and have learned to “become” characters who look more like you…yet when it comes to those of color being the hero, being included beyond the small and often troped role, they have their presence immediately questioned, discredited, fought against, because folks just cannot “relate.”

This resistance reflects a larger one.

And that is uncharacteristically high levels of empathy towards White people and a lack of empathy for People of Color, especially Black people.

Reading fiction improves empathy.

Those who read about aliens learn to emphasize with aliens. Those who read about wizards empathize with wizards.

And if we’re only (or mainly) reading about White people, no wonder they’re so easy to relate to. But not so much those PoC I guess, whose pain folks literally cannot relate to.

And we’re just brushing the surface of the adverse effects with lack of diversity, such as lower self-worth in the underrepresented. Because really; it causes pain on high and low levels. Never the beautiful princess in the tower, never the badass kicking butt and flying dragons. Then when we do show up God forbid it’s a two-second role or in the form of a stereotype, not as a real, complex human being.

Long story short: People of Color are people and want to be seen and treated as such. Not as a burden to devote your time to, but people who have a place in the world, fictional or no.

As for the issue of diversity being “forced”…nah, what’s forced is the all-white fantasy some authors conceive for their stories. Whether you consciously or unconsciously make all your characters White, this is a choice. One that does not reflect the magnitude of the real world, which actually has more People of Color than White people. And yet you wouldn’t be able to tell from reading a book…

Becoming comfortable with diversity requires unlearning White as the default and PoC as the Other. It takes setting aside feelings of pressure to emphasize, open your heart and listen.

More reading:

• “Diversity has gone too far!”
• Diversity is for everyone.
• Children and the Myth of Colorblind Youth

“It wouldn’t be historically accurate for my story to include PoC.”

Lately in topics such as the movie Frozen the argument of “historical accuracy” has been flung around most vigorously by fans of the Disney movie. The story was set in a fictional country bases off of Norway and according to many (white) fans the county has little to no POC. Especially in the time period it takes place. Adding POC to the casting would make the movie historically inaccurate.

And that is nonsense. First of all, there are indigenous people in Norway – the Sami – (and many surrounding countries) and they were a part of the original story and concept art. Now only a token amount of their culture, bastardized as it is, has been permitted into the movie.

 But enough of the movie and more in the topic. Historical accuracy can never be used as an excuse (a credible one that is) for media to be exclusively white in its casting. No matter which time period, there are POC everywhere around the world. There might be some places which are predominantly white, but there will always be travelers, merchants, sailors, artists, etc. from surrounding countries.

 This argument has been a very popular one for stories set in Europe. Europe is known by many for people the home continent for white people. What they do not know, is that is also a home continent to POC. This fact has been written out of history by historians in the past centuries because of racism. White supremacy which has spread its dreadful influence across the entire globe has done so since before colonialism. And of course when you want people to think that they are superior and grand, they whitewash not only their religious figures (Jesus), but also the complete history of the world and its people.

 Europe has seen two main influxes of people from the time when people traveled outside of Africa. The first were black people through Spain. The second were groups of people with albinism from east-central Asia (which also originated from Africa). It is believed that these people are the forefathers of white people (through mixing with other people they attained a certain amount of melanin). The Germanic people were known for their red hair, blue eyes and pale skin. The presence of all the POC in Europe throughout time can be found in many art pieces, such as paintings and sculptures. There have been black people (royalty as well) in Britain. The moors had a great influence and control stretching throughout south Europe from Spain. There have been black Vikings. Sailors, merchants, artists and more from different parts of Asia and Africa.

 More reading:

• Medieval POC

“What is Cultural Appropriation?”

Cultural appropriation involves a culture and/or sacred aspects of it being worn or used by people outside of the culture with little to no understanding for the significance of the usage at hand. Cultural appropriation is void of any “cultural sharing” aspect, since this would imply someone of the culture inviting them to engage in certain aspects of their culture (aka you can’t put on a headdress and say you’re appreciating Native culture…because who invited you?)

When applied to writing, cultural appropriation/misappropriation is what happens when you write about a culture that is not yours and either perpetuate racist stereotypes about it or egregiously misrepresent it. It’s taking a culture for your story because you think it’s cool or interesting, but when you don’t bother to look into the aspects of how that culture works. Why is this harmful? Because writing about these marginalized cultures in such a way leads readers to believe that your work is presenting the truth about them, even when that’s not the case. Members of these cultures already have a difficult time finding proper representation—that is, seeing themselves as they really are—and it’s incredibly important that outsiders wanting to write them do so with care.

 How can you do this? Do your research. Read books by people from that culture. Talk to people from that culture. If you’re writing a story, get someone from that culture and have them read it and point out the inaccuracies. The key is that you’re depicting these cultures with care and respect.

 If you’re writing sci-fi and/or fantasy, that doesn’t let you off the hook (one of the most tired excuses people have for cultural appropriation is that because it’s SFF, we all should get over it). You might be writing an imaginary world or a story far in the future, but your work is going to be read by people who live in the here and now, and they’re going to know if you were lazy and didn’t do your homework, and they’re not going to be happy about it.

“What is tokenism and why is it harmful?”

Tokenism in writing is the practice of doing something (such as writing about a person who belongs to a minority group) only to prevent criticism and give the appearance that representation is included. Tokenism is writing about a minority character to give the illusion that the author is being diverse and inclusive while relying on stereotypes as an attempt to make the characters seem “authentic.” while giving majority of characterization to the main (often White) character.  

 The problem with tokenism is that characters placed into this position are suddenly put into the position of being the single representation of their particular group. Everyone has seen the sassy Black friend, the flamboyant Gay friend, the smart Asian friend, etc…  Stereotypes are damaging because they state to readers that if you are in a minority group, you can’t be anything other than what the Eurocentric media portrays you as. It’s hard to rise above these stereotypes. This is even more damaging as this spills over into the real world. (i.e. “You aren’t like other Blacks/Gays/Asians,etc…”)

 Tokenism is harmful in media because it reduces a character to his/her most harmful stereotypes. Invoking tokenism does not force creators to be creative and gives viewers a false sense of diversity. Jokes are taken at the expense of tokenized characters regarding their race, ethnicity, accent, etc….. Token characters are only created to be the proverbial Black friend who makes it okay for White characters to make jokes at the character’s expense, inviting the consumers (in this case readers) to make jokes as well. (i.e. Many of us have heard someone being openly racist and excusing it by saying they have a Black friend, so it’s okay)  Being an “equal opportunity” racist won’t get you points either. This would be including as much diversity as you can only to take cheap shots at your characters cultures, languages, and/or ethnicities. That is not meaningful diversity and can be just as harmful as tokenism.  

 How do you avoid tokenism? It’s not entirely “wrong” to have a character of color be the only character of color in your story. There have been plenty of times when I’ve been the only person of color in the room. The problem comes when you place that person in the position of speaking for the entire race and saddle them down with stereotypes that they can’t get away from. It is okay to add a character of color to be a main character’s best friend, but don’t reduce this character to a cliche or a trope. Write the character from a place of empathy, make them three dimensional, do your research on the culture, and avoid stereotypes.

 More Reading:

• Why We Need more Directors of Color

For any questions that aren’t answered here or addressed in the tags, feel free to askaway!

We’ve updated our FAQs and Guidelines (again) !

I think I want to write my sims 3 story.

jessicacaseyauthor:

Your characters have problems.

I don’t mean flaws in character design, even though they possibly do. I mean the problems your characters SHOULD have. The problems they face in your story ie. villains, conflict, war, homophobic parents, not having a date to the big dance. Y’know…like a plot.

Here are 3 ways to improve your plot

1. Your Characters Need to Make Decisions

This may sound obvious, but it isn’t always. The Problem™ isn’t just something your character has to go through that sucks—they should be faced with options, and have to make Active Decisions™ that affect the outcome of the story. This gives your characters agency—if they don’t have agency, if they don’t make decisions, your characters will be read as passive.Passive characters aren’t interesting.

2. These Choices Need To Be Hard

Give your characters inner conflict.

Hard, tough decisions to make. How to face their big problem. In figuring out what options your characters will choose, remember their

• Motivations
• Background
• They way they were raised
• Moral/Ethical/Spiritual beliefs
• Fears
• Loyalties

3. Figure Out The Stakes

Based on what kind of story you have, the stakes for your protagonist are going to be different.

• SciFi novel about how the world is going to get obliterated by an evil force in 2 days? High stakes.
• Romance novella about 29-year old Tequila Sheila who can’t seem to find a date to her brother’s wedding? Lower stakes.

And there’s nothing wrong with having higher or lower stakes—but do think about where your stakes shouldbe for your particular story. Many stories don’t have high enough stakes for readers to be captivated; these stories need to be reconfigured, after realizing what exactly is at stake and to what degree. Understanding what your stakes are can help you figure out what kind of reading experience your book will be.

Promptly-Written Photo Prompt:Ember

Photo credit: Wilmer Martinez