If one (or more) of your characters is ever able to get one over on someone else who they dislike you should let them be all happy and smug about it, and maybe let them have a little bit of an evil maniacal cackle.

Because sometimes you can feel very good and you should let be able to let out an evil laugh it feels good :)

I think a useful set of skills for fantasy characters could be the ability to make weird unnatural creature-y monster-y noises.

If used to emulate the sounds of particular monsters and creatures they could potentially intimidate and ward off other creatures and monsters who are scared of them.

And even if these noises aren’t based on anything real in, they could probably still be used to deter man and beast alike. After all an unknown creature could be far scarier than a known one.

CW: Death threats

I think a good fun rivalry character dynamic could be an annoying guy and said guy’s almost entirely stoic target of annoyance.

If for example the target was restrained under a pile of rocks or something the annoying guy could taunt them by saying “You want me bad”

To which the target would respond with “I want you dead” in a rather grim tone

This would then cause the annoying guy to cross their arms, nod their head exaggeratedly and go “You want me” before walking away.

I think it’s always cool when an unquestionably heroic character uses some sort of power or item with evil origins.

Especially when the hero uses it to help very silly and mundane situations, like:

Some kid could go “Oh no my pet rock is stuck in a tree!” Then in response, some guy in a slightly horrific suit of armor that looks as if it’s alive walks up and climbs the tree barely managing to get up it before finally after like four minutes grabbing the rock, and then falling out of the tree directly onto their ass.

#1. drama

literally just throw in character drama and youre good

okay since i need to actually give advice uh *scratches head* OKAY so there are two types of character drama - annoying ones, and angsty ones. so make sure yours isnt annoying. dont unnecessarily throw in drama, but maybe a secret comes to light, or a problem thats been building up for ages comes to light.

annoying drama would basically be the whole novel series of twilight

#2. heist heist HEIST-

especially if you’re writing fantasy, heists are so much fun to read. it doesnt have to be the ENTIRE plot of your novel, but a short heist would up the stakes and improve your pacing, so its definitely a lot of fun to write and plan out, especially with all the twists and turns of what goes wrong and right.

#3. its time for that plot twist

youve got that (1) plot twist idea in your head for 103490430 years and its time to finally use it. throw your characters into turmoil with a sudden betrayal, death, ambush, whatever it is. it will 100% give you more ideas for how to continue your story but also slap your readers in the face. its never too early to use a good plot twist.

#4. reveal a backstory

if its a slow chapter and nothing’s happened, then have a character reveal their backstory, or include a flashback. that way, you continue adding to the plot and character while “nothing happens” per se. the backstory must be linked to further events that happen in the story, so even antagonists from the character’s past can show up again.

writing a very dark prologue (and keeping it interesting)

#1. HOOKHOOKHOOKHOOK–

Okay but seriously - you NEED a good hook. Introduce a concept or idea that reels your reader in. It should be unique, dark, and most importantly; it should introduce an idea that doesn’t seem cliched and overdone, but rather shocks and makes your reader take in a breath.

#2. Don’t hesitate to make it dark

Start with the most gruesome beginning you want. Some potential starting ideas:

• Someone getting murdered
• Hearing a detailed report of a murder
• Investigating a murder scene
• Any kind of dark setting - a basement, graveyard, preferably at night to make it scarier

#3. Don’t over-explain

Leave some things mysterious on purpose! It’s a prologue - don’t info-dump, and leave it confusing. It adds to the mystery and hooks the reader. But don’t use TOO many foreign terms, implicitly explain some, and leave the rest for later. It has to be a balance between info-dumping and confusing.

#4. Keep it short

You don’t HAVE too - but a trend I’ve noticed is that shorter prologues hit harder. Therefore, keep it short - not more than 1000 words - once again, this is a loose suggestion, because the purpose of prologues is to hook, not to intro your story.

#5. Remember to plot it + remember that is sets the tone for your entire story

Prologues tend to set the tone for your story. If you have a dark prologue, it’s gonna be assumed you have a dark story. Ensure that the tone of your prologue fits the tone of your story! Just because its a prologue doesn’t mean you don’t plot it out - you HAVE to know what happens in your prologue because its quite literally the make or break point of your WIP, whether people are gonna continue reading or not.

themes to base your wip around

• grey morality v/s goodness/badness (cliche but still amazing)
• ignorance v/s knowing too much
• love and its power and downfalls (not necessarily romantic love)
• greed and its addiction
• power and who gets it
• grief/loss/moving on
• regret
• vengeance/hatred
• coming to peace with something
• realising the reality of something
• coming to terms with something
• finally facing their problems
• giving into evil
• faith (not necessarily religious)
• finding home after long a journey
• retellings of old stories
• embracing the unexpected
• kindness and trust

how to write meaningful character development

one of the things i personally struggle with the most is mapping my character’s personality over the different plot points that occur. essentially, character development. It’s difficult to keep track of, so here’s a really handy method of keeping track and making sure your character is developing realistically.

#1. Know the beginning and the end of your character’s development

What aspect of their personality is developing? How is it going to significantly change by the end of the story? How does it affect other character’s and their view of the character? For example, a selfish character learning to become selfless is a slow process, and by the end of the story they learn to be a little less self-centred, which obviously improves the way they are treated in society.

#2. Choose a theme or a certain trait that ties in with the character’s backstory

if a certain character is selfish because of they were spoilt as a child, that’s…pretty shallow. Maybe their parents were never at home, so they had to throw tantrums and essentially “be selfish and bratty” to get their attention. Having a character’s development be deeply rooted in their backstory helps flesh them out and make their development much more realistic.

#3. Don’t rush it

I would rather have a slow, realistic development rather than a rushed one that just splays their personality all over the place and at the end of it, you don’t even know who the character is in the first place. Keep it slow, and show gradual development from 1 to 2, not 1 to 10 in a single throw. Fiction mirrors real life, and just like we take time to become better people, so should your characters.

#4. Show how their personality changes CLEARLY with each major plot point

this is a direct jab at the fruits basket anime and how they butchered yuki’s development in season 2 but whatever

Don’t keep things vague. Sure, have implicit meanings, but have a character comment on how your target character is changing, and becoming a better/worse person, but clearly show the consequences of their new behaviour and remember to take notes during your planning to ensure you know how your character changes over the course of the story!

Developing your character’s mindset with a legit psychology theory

You have your characters, you’ve filled out your character sheets, but somehow - they don’t feel real. There’s *something* missing. So, using a really popular psychology theory from a book whose name I forgot - which basically says the brain is divided into 3 sections - The Parent, The Adult, and The Child.

#1. The Parent

The Parent part of your character’s mind is quite literally the voice of their parents or those who raised them - it is the firm set of ideals, thinking and innate personality - that is quite literally driven into their core. The Parent usually doesn’t change, it’s a constant reminder of who your character is, and what dictates a part of their actions.A character whose been raised vegetarian has their vegetarianism ingrained in their Parent so it’s unlikely they will ever compromise on that ideal. Likewise,an “evil” character’s Parent would probably say that murder is a-okay because that’s what they’ve been raised to believe.

#2. The Adult

The Adult is the part of your character that’s changing, growing and actively making decisions by taking in the world around them. It’s the part of their mind that’s unsure, something that makes decisions based not only on the Parent’s ideals, but also the world around them, the people and the current situation. In essence, it’s the way in which your character reacts, and the manner in which they will change over the course of the story. The Adult also determines how much of the Parent and how much of The Child controls their everyday life.

#3. The Child

The Child is the part of your brain that is emotion. It’s the part that’s immature, irrational, and still deeply affected by their past and trauma (if any) The Child shows their past, and the depth of their compassion, empathy, and love for others.

The ratio of how much of the Parent/Adult/Child your character is depends on them - a kinder, soft character probably has more Child than Parent, and vice versa! Also, please don’t quote me on this psychology theory - I only know it in brief

Angsty prompts for when your OTP is fighting

1. If you hate me, then leave. Leave like you’ve always left before.“
2. "Does making me angry give you a high?”
3. “You say you don’t want to live a life with regrets. I guess this is the feather in your cap, huh?”
4. “Don’t you care about me? About us?”
5. “Do you know how hard it is to love you when all I can think about is how horribleyou are?”
6. “I’m tired. Tired of you. So tired that you’re nothing but an obligation for me.”
7. “Tell me. Do you still love me?”
8. “You. It had to be you. It’s always you. It’s always your fault, [insert name]”
9. “Please. Please, just leave. I can’t stand to look at you right now.”
10. “You were supposed to be my safe haven. But all you’ve done is bring me pain. Isn’t that perfect?”
11. “We were supposed to get through this together. But you only care about yourself.”
12. “If you hate me so much, kill me already. It’s not like I have anything to live for.”
13. “That’s right. Keep smiling with them. Leave me in the dust, like you always have.”
14. “Leave me alone. That’s what you’re best at, anyway.”
15. “Kiss me, kill me, whatever. Make up your mind. Do you love me, or do you hate me?”

The basics of swordfighting for writers

#1. Types of swords

• Cavalry swords, two-handed swords, and cutlasses - these swords are used commonly for hacking and slashing - so they are swung in arcs or from side to side, not thrust forward.
• Rapiers and small swords are one-handed weapons that are thin and light, but often quite long. They are used for thrusting and slicing, but as you can imagine they aren’t much use in actual battle, but commonly used for sparring.
• The third type is a mixture of the two - but less commonly found.

#2. Terminology

• Fainting/Feinting - A false attack intended to create an opening for the real attack.
• Parrying - When a swordsman uses his blade to deflect his opponent’s blade when he is being attacked.
• Advance - A short forward movement
• Fuller - A groove down the side of the sword to release suction when stabbed into a person’s body.
• Hilt - The base of the sword near your hands that isn’t the blade
• Pivot - Turning 180 degrees while keeping a foot planted
• False edge - the “back” of the sword that isn’t sharp and what you don’t usually fight with.

#3. Common myths

A secret move that leads to victory - There is rarely such a “secret” move. Like chess, swordfighting is won through strategy and careful thinking, as well as physical prowess, not sEcRetT mOveS.

The Dramatic PauseTM - Nope, doesn’t happen in real life. No one actually glares at each other in the middle of a swordfighting match when their priority should be, yknow, surviving.

#4. The Learning Curve of swordfighting

Unlike an ordinary learning curve where you slowly get better at something, in swordfighting, an untrained novice is much better than someone practising for a few months. This is because their actions are almost always wild and unpredictable. When a student receives training, their skill will actually decline over the next few months, because they will be trying to fight by the rules and are naturally not good at it. It takes at least two years to become a good swordsperson.

#5. The actual swordfighting itself

• Footwork - Forward and back, in a line, in a semi-circle, a pivot. The basic goal of footwork is to give you a balanced center from which you can lunge, advance, retreat, attack, and parry. It also helps maintain the appropriate distance from your opponent and percieve.
• Timing - How fast/slow is your opponent? How fast is your reaction time?
• Every fighter has a different style. Some may naturally be inclined to use a certain move over and over, and have weakpoints in say, their reaction time. It is important that your character has a proper swordfighting style.
• Predictability - How good are your characters/opponents at anticipating and learn each others fighting style? That determines the outcome of the fight!

Sources I used: https://kingdompen.org/writing-realistic-sword-fights///https://mythicscribes.com/miscellaneous/swordplay-for-fantasy-writers///https://lisashea.com/lisabase/writing/medieval/swords/glossary.html

fluffy found family prompts!

1. “We’re out of doritos so time to go to the supermarket at 1am”
2. Going on long drives at 1am, speakers blasting music, sunroof down, wind in their hair.
3. Going to the beach - playing in the sand, doing water sports, having a huge picnic right on the beach, watching the sunset together.
4. Going skydiving, and having the time of their lives, helping the one member scared of diving, and going for ice cream as a “celebration” afterwards
5. The older members of their group attending a high school dance as “chaperones” for the younger ones, making them die of embarrassment.
6. The chaotic night before taking a huge road trip
7. One of the members getting injured, so the others spend time with them and try to make them feel better >///<
8. One half of the group trying to set-up the people they ship HEHE
9. Going hiking and camping together!
10. Going on a shopping trip together <3
11. Going to an arcade and becoming so competitive they almost break the machine
12. Deciding to spend a night in and watch a movie and take a night off, but then they get called in to combat some danger before the movie even begins
13. The character who can drive going on errands, and picking up the characters one by one from different places (eg: ballet class, baseball practice, etc.) and having a blast together
14. Having one character be extremely restless and at unease during a fun activity, and they breakdown in the middle of it, feeling extremely terrible about *insert incident/memory* and the others comforting them
15. Planning a surprise party for the cleverest character, so they have to be SUPER sneaky
16. Going to a library and spending the time picking up books, leaning against each other in hidden nooks, and just reading and playing around.
17. Going to a thrift store just before Halloween to get costumes
18. Having final exams, and all of them helping each other out, during, before and after the exams!
19. One of the characters going on their first date, and all the others helping them get ready and giving them “advice”

handers-helps-roleplays-blog:

Just remember a few basic things while writing your strong female biography.


• Despite being strong, your male character does not need to have a tragic, haunting past in which he lost his wife and children, or he was cheated on. Nor does he need to be military, former military, a fighter, a police officer or a super hero.

• Despite being strong, your male character is more than welcome to be emotionally damaged, have feelings, be shy and slightly awkward or a complete dork.

• Despite being strong, your male does not need to be a player. He doesn't need to womanize -- or manize? He doesn't need to sleep around casually, he is allowed to have a romantic connection, and fall in love.

• Despite being strong, your male character doesn't need to be completely independent -- believe it or not, strong male characters often have amazing people there when the going gets tough. It's okay to give them a shoulder to cry on -- because it's okay for them to cry.

• Despite being strong, your male character doesn't need to be the epitome of evil, nor does he need to be Captain Do-Good.

• Despite being strong, your male character does not need to be excessively manly -- there's no need to be a meat wall with a beard. Your strong male can be small, lanky and cute. 

• Despite being strong, your male character does not need to be overly "attractive" and have bulging muscles.

• Despite being strong, your male character is allowed to suffer -- not just in the physical sense.

• Above all, despite being strong, your male character does not need to be a warrior, he does not need to be skillful with a blade, or even his fists. He could be a father of three or a single parent, he could be a teacher.
• STRONG does not mean unbreakable. STRONG does not mean fighter. STRONG does not mean lonely, hateful and an egotistical misogynist. Having a STRONG male character simply means that they're hard working, passionate, driven, often hard headed/set in their own ways, and they're a man that does the best he can in any circumstance.

And wow is this a hard pill to swallow. But it’s true. 

A good protagonist is going to have character, that menas they’re going to have opinions, stances, and we all know how that goes. 

This is also just fun life advice, you got an opinion? That’s great! It also means someone somewhere doesn’t like you for it, like it or not. 

As usual, I’m going to use an example. 

So,I believe in writing not only as a way to tell stories but as a way to cope and deal with reality. One thing I had to deal with a lot in reality is an upbringing that taught me to be quiet. If I cried, I was being dramatic. If I said I was in pain, it was never as bad as I made it out to be. When I said I was being bullied, they were probably just messing around. 

A lot of kids go through this. It’s not right but it is what it is. We can do little more than learn form our parent’s mistakes. 

Because of this, when I went into my book Dear Dragon, I knew I wanted to stray far from that. I made a parental figure who was always open to listening, never invalidating and always ready to help. Don’t get me wrong, he makes plenty of mistakes, but this isn’t one of them. 

Because of this I have a protagonist (Itazu) who is extremely open about her feelings and opinions. Most people I find have enjoyed her, in fact I’ve had several people tell me their fave part of the book was her and that made me infinitely happy. However, I did have a couple of people who found her unbearable. 

And I totally get where they’re coming from. There’s a point in the book where Itazu is kind of restricted, and she is not happy. And she is expressing that frustration while most of the other characters under the same restrictions either never bring up their feelings, do it on rare occasions or in agreement with her as a pose to commencing the conversation. 

They saw her as selfish, as self-center. Everything is about her. 

And I get where they are coming from, she never invalidates anybody else’s feelings and she expressed understanding of contrary opinions to hers. But she still is expressing her feelings. 

And I love that about her. I love how she is unforgivingly honest and open. I love that she’s got feelings. 

Itazu is a good protagonist because she’s open, because she’s expressiveand because she is opinionated. She’s also not going to be for everybody precisely because of that. And that’s fine. 

A good protagonist isn’t for everybody. 

Plus, don’t think that an unlikable protagonist takes away from a book. I’ve read plenty of books with protagonists I couldn't’ stand, but had to acknowledge were good characters and part of a good story. Sometimes it can even be a breath of fresh air. 

So, stop worrying about what other think about you, your protagonist, your character and heck even your book. If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for other people, you just have to find those people. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

I’m sorry if the example wasn’t great. A lot of my writing advice is just me mumbling over problems I find when writing, but I also can’t spoil future books while talking about it so I had to perhaps simplify too much. 

But anyways, can you think of any books you didn’t like the protagonist off despite it being a good character? Give me some controversial MC book recommendations please! 

Hopefully most of you do not know the pain of losing a loved one. Statistically, we all lose loved ones, grandparents, parents, friends, pets… it can be difficult. And everybody deals with grief differently. 

There’s not really a wrong way to write the effects of a character’s death over time. But I’m going to do a quick list of some things I’ve experience in my own life so you can perhaps mix and match with other’s and get a more realistic feel. 

1.- A year later, I still flinch when I say “my parent’s house” as a pose to “my mother’s house”. It’s weird, because I don’t flinch or feel pain talking directly about my father, but those moments of normality that are no longer true, they sting. 

2.- It can really dampen cool moments. I should graduate this year from university. And everybody talks about bringing their parents. I chose not to participate in the formal event. I don’t want to wear a pointy hat and be handed a piece of paper in red ribbon, I don’t want to look down and know that somebody is missing. 

3.-Grief at weird times. At 1 in the morning on the first of 2022. I had this sudden realisation hit me, that 2021 was the first full year my father wasn’t around. And I felt like I was going to break down right then and there on the roof terrace of my flat playing with fireworks with my roommates. I held myself together and cried myself to sleep later that night. These very sudden realisations come and go as they please. 

4.- I hoard things he gave me. I hoard things that he once used. I have a book about birds that I’m never taking the bookmark out off because he put it there. Most of the things I hoard are insignificant, but once somebody is gone, well, literally everything they gave you is irreplaceable. Because they can never ever give you something else. 

5.- Spirituality. So, this may be controversial even if it certainly shouldn’t be but, I’m extremely atheist. Very science driven, very, death is it. One day we’ll all die and every thought we ever had will be gone and that’s it. Simple. I’ve never ever doubted that. But the death if somebody so close has definitely been the closest I could get. Do I stand outside alone at night staring up at the sky and whisper to the people who are no longer with us? Yes. Do I think anybody can hear me? No. But I can’t stop my soft whispers, they’re comforting, because admitting the very last words to my father are forever frozen in time is such a strange feeling… so I’ll continue whisper into heavens I don’t believe in. 

So… this was a heavy post. I’m very sorry if this was not enjoyable. I hope all of are you doing well. Death is a difficult thing to deal with and although it never truly goes away, it is less prominent, it is something we learnt to live with. Besides, how would we ever get motivated enough to finish a book if time weren’t limited? Let’s be optimistic here for a moment! 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

No human is perfect and the questions of good and bad is an ongoing debate. 

But I’m not a philosophy major so I’m not going to get into that. Instead I’m just here to discuss some ways characters can do bad things without changing sides.

1.- Ignorance, of any kind. Sometimes we do bad things because we know no better. This doesn’t make it okay, but it does separate somewhat our actions from our intentions. 

Now, when it comes to ignorance an interesting thing to note is there are different kinds of ignorance, here are the ones I can think of: 

     1.1.-Induced ignorance. Somebody in a character’s past or present has purposefully tricked your character. They believe something because they are ignorant and that ignorance is not accidental. 

    1.2.-Voluntary ignorance. This is something lots of people, probably including you, definitely including myself, experience. This is where the information is readily available and clear, but there is in some way a choice to not engage. An obvious example of this is companies, there are a lot of terrible unethical companies, and a quick google search for any company, celebrity, you name it, will tell you. So when we enjoy something it’s tempting to… just not want to know. 

     Now with that example you probably think modern day society, but we can see this in any fantasy setting too. A kingdom where a certain behaviour is harmful, there are whispers in the street of the consequences yet the main character doesn’t pause to listen.They glance at the signs, sigh and turn around, not wanting to hear the explanation. Refusing to learn. 

     1.3.-Pure ignorance. Something isn’t obvious, the information isn’t available, everybody is ignorant to it. It’s just bad luck. People will argue that with more research but… we can’t research everything especially in a fantasy environment (where pretty much all my stories take place) and there was nothing pointing to needing to research. Everything was going so well! 

2.-Second up is, for the greater good! Does this need further explaining? Is killing bad? Yes, but are there times where the alternative is letting others die? Yeah. And this doesn’t need to be killing the bad guy necessarily. I kind of love the trope where a curse, too much power or something means that a good guy must die. Usually it’s the protagonist and they prove it’s not true and there’s another way but… what if there isn’t? What if it’s a side character and your protagonist has to make the decision to end them, something inherently evil, but for the greater good? 

This situations aren’t fair but… c’est la vie. 

3.-Not greater good but… lesser good. Because sometimes character’s are selfish and being selfish is not the same as being evil. The other day my friends group posed the question of who would you save if only one could live, your pet or a random three year old. It was surprisingly split down the middle. And I consider all of the people at the table good people. And after throughout arguing I could understand both sides. 

Offer up this same decision to your character, their sister who is in some way involved in this whole fiasco of a plot, or some random stranger? Let them choose their sister. Let some random stranger die for no reason and know that an innocent person died by decision of your protagonist. Yet they’re not evil, just selfish. 

4.-By accident. I hate it when we have the “clumsy” protagonist who never is clumsy. Let them accidentally shoot a weapon they didn’t know was charged and deal with their boyfriend having an arrow stuck in their shoulder! 

Shooting your boyfriend is evil (unprovoked obviously). 

Accidents do not make you evil. 

So those are my four ways to do evil without being evil. 

Note I as usual probably used extreme examples (death, death everywhere!) but breaking a belonging that is beloved to somebody, stealing from the poor, polluting the environment or supporting the evil overlord are all evil behaviours too! I was taught to exaggerate when making examples and for some reason that advice stuck in my heart and created the drama queen I am today. 

I hope these inspired you to try something new in your current story or a later story. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

So, what’s the most evil thing a “good guy” in one of your stories has done? 

Privilege is something thrown around a lot these days, and mostly, for good reason. 

We all have it. 

If it’s not the colour of your skin, what’s in between your pants, your sexual orientation, your wealth or your health, it’s one of the other hundreds of things I could list. 

I am extremely privileged, I’m white, my first language is English, I can talk and read, I have a roof over my head and many others things. 

But I’m also at a disadvantage in a lot of other areas, my hearing and sight are both pretty bad, I constantly struggle with metal health, I’m fortunate enough to have a job but it isn’t well paying enough to remove the stress of money, my health is in constant ruins and, well, many other things. 

The same goes for every character we make. 

I read a lot of books where the author focuses in on the disadvantages a character faces, and it makes sense, that’s often more a cause of conflict, but they rarely take but a second to acknowledge that which they do have. A family that loves them? A stable job? Good health? 

I always find it weird when people say something then do another. Reflect your values in your work, in your art, if you believe in the philosophy where we should take a step back and be aware of our place inside society, do so in your art too. 

This also goes the other way, feel free to take a priviledged character and show the disadvantages they face. It’s a pretty common trope to show the rich kids with absent parents. That’s a disadvantage, it’s usually shown as though related to the privilege but I don’t think it’s necessary for them to be related. 

Why do people always choose absent family for the rich kid as their disadvantage? There are so many good ones out there! Health problems, both physical and mental, discrimination of any sort with the added bonus of it always being lessened due to their financial status, disfuncional relationships because nobody is completely free of the risk of an abusive dick, being incapable of passing at school despite the expensive tutors, having an ill pet… 

If you like that trope there’s nothing inherently wrong with it of course, I just yearn for some more variety. 

So, how can we incorporate privilege and disadvantages into our stories? As so often happens, I’m going to go over a quick example from my own book because it’s easy. 

Itazu is the main character in my series Dear Dragon. 

Relevant Privileges: Her father is both loving and wealthy having a good job, because of this there is no true expectation from her, she’s pretty free to do as she wishes. She’s a dragon and thereby more physically durable than humans. 

Relevant Disadvantages: She’s a dragon, one of the last of her species with all the social issues that entails. (I’m simplifying so as to avoid spoilers for second and third books, sorry). 

The relevant disadvantages obviously move the plot forward at many points. But that doesn’t mean her privileges are ignored. In fact, they are bought up often, sometimes more obviously than others. It’s bought up through reminders like: “Your Father won’t let that happens.” “Henry will take care of it.” “You’ll always have a place to go”. And from her father himself: “You can count on me for anything.” 

This is a treatment many other characters in the book (specifically the male lead), don’t get. And it is something that sticks out. 

My intention when showing this is several: 

1.- Make sure the audience understands that all the accomplishments in the books are not the protagonist’s alone. She has a support system and that does a lot for her. 

2.- Show that it’s not all or nothing. You can are both in a situation of privilege and disadvantage. A good character reflects reality. 

3.- Split the audience. And this is the most complicated to understand. Mostly because the goal isn’t truly to split the audience, but to understand that a good character, a realistic character, will not be liked by everybody. We all know somebody who was absolutely charming and did nothing wrong! Except for some weird reason you can’t explain, you hated them. No character is 100% likeable to everybody (except for some atla ones but I mean there had to be some kind of dark magic in the creation of that show, too perfect), and I don’t want anybody to hate my character’s because they’re boring. I want them to be hated because there is something about them you don’t like.

I’ve got a whole post coming out shortly about this last point that goes way more into detail so stay tuned! 

From what I’ve tested Itazu can sometimes be disliked because, “She complains about her disadvantages while having more privilege than other characters”. A perfectly valid critique. If not one I personally believe in. I and many readers find Itazu’s willingness to acknowledge both her disadvantages and her privileges not letting either one get in the way of the other is a perfectly enjoyable character trait. 

Itazu is bullied at one point for who she is, and she doesn’t treat this any less seriously because she gets to go home to a loving father. 

She receives plenty of love from her father, even though he isn’t a dragon and can’t fully understand her. And she at no point sees her father as less loving due to this lack of comprehension. 

Use both. 

And I seriously hope I got the point across because I do now know how ot express these thoughts why now. 

Please, I’m begging you if you made it this far, did any of that make sense to you? Please tell me. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Hey, it’s Christmas Eve on Friday, I hope all the students out there are holding in! Remember, not long left! I hope all of you have amazing holidays, and some extra time to read! 

Also, I did a post but my ebook is currently on sale in the US and UK! It’s about dragons. YA Fantasy. Anyway, that’s all! Sorry for rambling, love you all!