#writing characters

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You know how sometimes villainous characters try to corrupt good ones to get them to join their side?

Well, what if you have one of your villainous characters try to do that, and then have it massively backfire on them. Getting the character they were trying to corrupt to now have a very intense personal vendetta against the villain.

I think it’d be neat if you have a character who’s whole vibe seems much cooler than they actually are.


Like, a character could wear black form concealing clothes overlayed with plates of tarnished steel armour who’s metal has been forged into bold and aggressive unnatural shapes.

Their voice could be deep and gravely their every sentence verging on sounding like the roar of an ancient and deadly beast.

And then their job could be a structural engineer who fixes damaged castles well after all the fighting in an area is gone, and even then after they send some workers to begin the repairs they mostly just spend their time snoozing or birdwatching.

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.

tips-for-writers-from-ig:

Anti-Heroes and Anti-Villains

@tips.for.writers ig

There’s many different definitions, so let’s just stick to the three simplest. An anti-hero is a hero that lacks traditional heroic attributes. An anti-villain is a villain that lacks traditional villainous attributes. Some define both as a protagonist who’s the villain. While technically by definition anti-heroes and anti-villains are opposites, the strategies for pulling them off successfully are very similar. First we’ll go over general tips, then we’ll go over some different models of anti-heros and anti-villains. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll be talking about anti-heroes throughout the post, but note that anti-villains can also fall into most of these categories. A character can fall into more than one category as well!

Who do we want to be? Who do we fear becoming?

Anti-heroes are compelling because of the range of emotions they evoke in us. We relate to them, admire them, and fear them all at once. When crafting your anti-hero, give them a mix of traits.

Anti-heroes should have traits we admire. These might include: intelligence, cunning, decisiveness, self-confidence, passion, good looks, charisma, diligence, resilience, loyalty, bravery, humor, vision, honesty, independence, the list goes on. Your anti-hero probably won’t have all the above, but select a few and emphasize them.

Anti-heroes should also have traits we may see in ourselves that we try to quash and fear will overtake us. Selfishness, unstable emotions, a lack of accountability, fear or paranoia, cynicism, cowardice, untrustworthiness, weak mindedness (making choices based on what’s easiest), hopelessness, blinding ambition, narcissism, the list goes on. You’ll notice some of this list contradicts the traits on the former. This is because there’s an infinite number of ways to construct an anti-hero. We may admire one anti-hero for their courage while looking down on another for their cowardice. Both can be effective anti-heroes.

Visions of Utopia

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of our anti-hero. After all, we are supposed to relate to them. Ask yourself what the perfect society looks like. In a perfect world, how do people treat one another? How do people spend their time? What do families look like? How do we interact with our neighbors? What actions should people refrain from for the good of society?

It would be a utopia if people all chose to act that way, right? Unfortunately, we can’t force people to do that. …Or can we? This type of anti-hero decides to make their visions of utopia a reality… by force. Often the necessary actions (or perceived necessary actions) to accomplish this make the world more of a dystopia than their original vision. This is the classic Machiavellian villain who will do anything to make their desires come true.

The Corruption Arc

The glorious fall of the hero. Our hero is a good person. They know what they value. But then they come to believe a lie, and that lie drives them to do bad things.

How do they come to believe it? Either a specific manipulative person or the world itself will corrupt them. This happens when the hero’s weaknesses are exploited. The anti-hero is willing to accept the lie because: they are paranoid, they seek absolution for a past mistake, the lie corroborates their belief that they’re better than others, they seek to make sense of a chaotic world, they’re angry at the world but want something tangible to direct their anger toward, the list of possibilities goes on.

The anti-hero’s moral code is twisted around this lie.

Self-Pitying

This anti-hero feels trapped. They know what they’re doing is wrong, but they don’t know how to do anything else. They see themselves hurting those who they care for and it destroys them inside, but they can’t seem to stop doing it.

These anti-heroes are some of the most difficult to write. They’re not as likeable as the former two tend to be, but they can be interesting. Really focus on making this character relatable in addition to self-pitying. Ideally, this is a character we want to cheer for to become better. The road to redemption may be the more difficult one, but we urge our character to acknowledge that just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s not there. A good hack that can make it easier to cheer for them is to have other more noble characters have deep relationships with them. If we can’t wish for the best for this character’s sake, we at least hope they’ll wake up and make the correct decision for the sake of those who care about them.

Sacrifice Many, Save a Few

This anti-hero is motivated by their love. They would flatten a city to save their lover. They’d destroy a country to save their friends. They’d set fire to the world to save their hometown. There is no barrier they wouldn’t cross to protect those they believe are worth protecting.

Power and Paranoia

This is usually an end point in a character arc. Maybe at one point in time this character did what they do to fulfill a noble purpose, but now they do it for the delicious feeling it gives them. These characters often grew up a nobody with nothing, and the feeling of being in control is intoxicating. Or maybe the character always had a privileged position in life that fueled their ego and now they truly believe they’re more deserving than others.

They are terrified this power will be stripped from them. Some of the characters do bad things in the first place because it feels good and are more similar to traditional villains. But maybe our anti-hero used to use to use their power responsibly, or at least in a manner where we can understand why the character believed that they are justified. Suddenly, though, our anti-hero sees conspirators in every shadow. Their fear motivates them to take actions they normally never would. They can’t trust anyone, and so they betray everyone.

coffeebeanwriting:

While researching this topic, one piece of advice kept showing up:

Your antagonist needs to be affecting the story as soon as possible (even if they’re not physically shown yet). Introduce them as close to the start as possible, whether it’s physically, by name, rumors or an action they have done off-page.

• Consider introducing them passively before they physically enter the story.

If your antagonist doesn’t enter the story until later, introduce them in passive ways. This could be word of mouth, rumors, visions, dreams… something that builds up the idea of the villain before they walk into the plot. A little appetizer before the meal. Another way to do this is by having something the antagonist does off the page affect your protagonist directly. 

Example: In a murder mystery, the antagonist typically isn’t revealed until the end. However, he may be stealing evidence off-page, burning down houses, sabotaging the investigators, creating red herrings, planting traps, etc.

You could also give your antagonist henchmen who carry out their evil deeds for them until the antagonist steps in themselves. In Star Wars, the main antagonist is Darth Vader, who rules The Empire. The people who work for The Empire are always chasing Luke, giving him a constant struggle and conflict.

Examples:

Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Air Bender doesn’t enter the story until the final season. However, his atrocities are made known throughout the show and directly affect Aang and his friends.

Voldemort’s character from the Harry Potter series receives a similar treatment. He is shown in flashbacks, brief scenes and through rumors/word of mouth before he and Harry clash wands later on.

• Have your antagonist crush an influential authority figure.

Establish a character whom your protagonist idolizes, trusts or views as unbeatable. This could be a trusted mentor, a minor antagonist, an idolized father/mother figure, etc. Then, have your antagonist crush them.

When the antagonist easily defeats this powerful authority figure, it shows the protagonist (and readers) an unfathomable strength.

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theauthorofus:

I find that a rise in LGBT in books, tv, movie etc to be so inspiring an outstanding. I love how people are finally getting the idea that if you want your audience to feel a connection to a character you charter has to be real. A HUGE part of real life is the LGBT community.
  But I dislike when shows and books just throw LGBT characters in there with no development. It is great to see some representation but why is that character gay for like two episodes or the last thirty seconds of a movie.

   When I first started writing LGBT I asked people I knew what it was like and the answer was always different. The only thing all those people had in common was it took time to find that part of themselves. It is so inspiring to hear those stories and to implement them can teach your audience such important lessons about self-discovery. When That story is just thrown in I feel like something great just got thrown out.

ahb-writes:

avelera:

Probably the single hardest lesson for me to internalize in writing was that you don’t design a character you design a character arc.

One reason you as a writer might end up stuck with a flat or boring character, or one that just isn’t doing the things you need to create a vibrant plot, despite working out all the details of their life for hours, is because you’ve made the mistake I always do. You’ve made a character who is a blend of all the characteristics you envision for them, rather than saving some characteristics for the end of their journey. 

What do I mean by this? Maybe you envision a character who is a handsome prince, honest, brave, and true. In your plot, though, he’s going to be an antagonist for a bit but you don’t really want him to be seen as a bad guy, necessarily. But when you drop him into your story, he’s just… there. Being honest, brave, and true. 

That’s because the prince has no character arc. He is a static figure, a cardboard cutout. 

Let’s go a little deeper with a great example of one of the best character arcs in YA animation: Prince Zuko. He is, objectively, honest, brave, and true (to his cause of finding the Avatar) from the outset. But he’s also a dick. He’s a privileged, imperialist brat, who is rude to his uncle and vicious to our protagonists. 

By the end of the series, though, Prince Zuko is still honest, brave, and true, but he’s also a good person who has learned many lessons over the course of his trials andobstacles.He has failed over and over again at his initial goal of capturing the Avatar. He has failed at winning his father’s regard. He has failed at numerous smaller goals of day to day adventures. He has learned from all of these. We have seen his journey. But, if you started your vision of how to write Zuko from who he ends up being, he’s got nowhere to go as a character. 

It’s not just about what flaws he has corrected though.It’s about what lessons about life he has internalized. What flawed views of the world he has corrected andhow. 

Rather than saying, “The character starts out a dick and learns to be nice,” be more specific. “This character starts out believing the empire he is loyal to is morally in the right for its conquests, but over the course of working for that empire’s ruler and seeing his cruelty first hand, not to mention fighting the empire’s enemies and mingling with its civilian victims, he becomes a better person and learns the error of his ways.” 

Already, right there, you have more than a cardboard character. You have a character who has an arc that molds to your plot

Helpful Questions to Ask:

  • What flaws does the character possess?
  • How do these flaws influence the character’s mindset, perspective, intuition, and behavior?
  • What variables emerge, in the course of the story, that expose these flaws to the reader, to the character in question, or to other characters?
  • How does the character react to these inevitable conflicts? What are the consequences for how the character reacts to these conflicts or contradictions?
  • What are the stakes for staying the course? What are the consequences for thinking about change? What are the consequences for actually pursuing change? What are the consequences for pursuing change and failing (or succeeding) publicly (or in secret)?
  • Reassess: What flaws does the character possess?
  • How has the character’s experience(s) in confronting these flaws influenced the character’s role and interaction with the primary conflict set in the story?
  • How does the story change as a result?

Kaz is a control freak. He needs to be in control of every confrontation, conversation and he needs to be able to control every person around him. Kaz does not act without meticulous planning. I can’t think of a single instance where he improvised. He improvised a PLAN after the Ice Court job fell apart but he was never blindly acting on instinct. Everything went according to plan, if it didn’t he had a backup plan. He’s basically a Moriarty crime boss. The spider at the center of the web and he knows exactly how each one of them dances. 

He needs control so he will never have to depend on another person for safety or food. Like he depended on Pekka Rollins. Like he depended on Jordie. He longs for someone to have his back, to have Jordie there again. He blames Jordie for leaving him alone and being foolish in trusting the wrong people. 

This character is so interesting and it’s astounding how Leigh made him so sympathetic despite the fact he kind of awful. Do I love him? Yes I do. Do I know why? No I don’t.

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.

  1. What does each character bring to the story thematically?
  2. List what each character does to advance the plot?
  3. Could any of these things easily be done by another character?
  4. Do they all have distinctive personalities? 
  5. 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:

  1. Is there potential to merge two characters into one? 
  2. Does this character need a name, or are they just an extra?

Hope this helped!

[If reposting to Instagram, please credit @isabellestonebooks]

July’s WritingTipWed! Every Wednesday I post a writing tip on my Twitter! If you want to see these weekly, follow me @/EmilyLaJaunie.

~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~

#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.

masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-characters-with-believable-quirks#16-common-character-quirks-to-prompt-your-writing

June’s WritingTipWed! Every Wednesday I post a writing tip on my Twitter! If you want to see these weekly, follow me @/EmilyLaJaunie.

~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~

#WritingTipWed 46 - When writing a queer character, don’t make the character’s only defining trait about being queer.

Ex, just how you wouldn’t write a character whose trait is being straight, don’t make one whose trait is being gay.

#WritingTipWed 47 - When writing something set in a previous time period, look up what words/phrases were commonly used/didn’t exist yet. And for meanings of words, as they can change over time.

A “gay man”, for instance, used to be a womanizer.

Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay:

“The word may have started to acquire associations of immorality as early as the 14th century, but had certainly acquired them by the 17th. By the late 17th century, it had acquired the specific meaning of "addicted to pleasures and dissipation”, an extension of its primary meaning of “carefree” implying “uninhibited by moral constraints”. A gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer, and a gay house a brothel. An example is a letter read to a London court in 1885 during the prosecution of brothel madam and procuress Mary Jeffries that had been written by a girl while slaved to a French brothel:

“I write to tell you it is a gay house…Some captains came in the other night, and the mistress wanted us to sleep with them.”“

#WritingTipWed 48 - Accept that when you’re writing a queer story, even if you consulted with hundreds of queer sensitivity readers/beta readers, that your story will not satisfy everyone. You can’t please everyone, so still, be proud!

#WritingTipWed 49 - The APA now endorses the use of “they” as a singular third-person pronoun and it is part of the APA style!

So instead of writing “he or she” write “they” and instead of “his or her” write “their.”

apastyle.apa.org/blog/singular-they

#WritingTipWed 50 - On this last day of Pride Month, remember to love. Love yourself, love others, love your writing. Write about what you love, who you love. The love of friends, families, partners, that’s what makes a story powerful.

chebaba:

okay wait. are u all a “i have one huge playlist that gets shuffled” kind of person or a “i have 72340 different playlists, each for an extremely specific mood” kind of person

Writing cynical characters

masterlist.main navigation.

@bluebxlle_writer on instagram

Cynical characters are one of my favorite types of characters to write about, because there’s so much potential for their depth and backstory. However, these types of characters often get reduced to basic “evil” and “rude” characters whose only purpose in the story is to hurt other people, which is a waste of potential.

1. What cynical characters are

First off, let’s understand what cynical characters are.

Cynical people believe that human beings are only motivated by self-interest and greed. They are distrustful of human sincerity or integrity, and are usually very negative.

2. Cynical vs selfish characters

Some often confuse cynicism with selfishness, so let’s settle the main difference between cynical and selfish characters.

Selfish people are driven by self-interests, while cynical people believe that everyone are driven by self-interests. Cynical people aren’t necessarily selfish, and vice versa.

3. Backstory

Like any type of character, the base for your character’s depth is the backstory. You have to establish why and how your characters became cynical. Some possibilities are :

• They were taught from an early age that people are naturally selfish beings, and that nobody goes through all the trouble to do or give something without expecting another thing in return.

• They had a first-hand experience that lead them to believe that people were only driven by self-centered goals. Maybe they’ve been deceived, abandoned, or betrayed by someone they believed was kind.

4. Perception

Cynical characters judge people based on the assumption that they always have ulterior motives, so they’re usually more perceptive than others. They’ll be able to tell when someone’s acting kind in order to use them.

But this isn’t always the case, because it entirely depends on the character’s other personalities. They might have a low perception level instead, because their mind immediately registers any action as a disguise for selfishness, causing them to never realize a person’s true motives.

5. Refusing help

They might often refuse help from others, since they’re convinced that everyone has motives for offering kindness. They wouldn’t want to accept insincere actions.

BUT!! Again, it depends entirely on the character themself. Consider this. Someone buys you your favorite food. You’re pretty cynical, so you know that this person is just doing it so you’ll pay for their meal next time. Will you take the food? I don’t know about y'all, but if someone offers me pizza, I’d take it even if I know it’s not sincere. It’s mf pizza.Just because someone is cynical and doesn’t believe in true kindness, it doesn’t mean they’ll refuse help 24/7.

5. Relationships

Especially for cynical characters, I think it’s important to give them meaningful relationships with other characters. In fiction, they’re often portrayed as highly aloof and cold, never accepting kindness from anyone.

While those type of characters are complex and I love them so much (THE ANGST???), there are more approaches to handling their relationships :

• They might surround themselves with people, in hopes of finally finding someone who truly cares about them without any hidden motives.

• They have friends who they genuinely care about despite the fact that those friends might have ulterior motives, because they know that selfishness is a human nature that can’t be changed, and thet decided to just accept it.

• They’re cold and skeptical to everyone except one person, who they truly love because they know that the person is genuinely kind. GRUMPY X SUNSHINE???

How I create my characters

masterlist.main navigation.

@bluebxlle_writer on Instagram

I’ve been getting questions on how to create characters recently, because apparently lots of y’all don’t know where and how to start creating a new character. I don’t think this post will help everybody, since everyone has different methods on creating characters (eg. some come up with names first, others come up with appearance first), but in this post I’ll be sharing my character creation process. I hope it will help! <3

1. An iconic line

This is a less well-known method to start creating a character, but for some reason it’s always how I do (and it always works lmao). It’s hard to create a character from scratch, so instead, I think about an iconic line that the character could say, which is usually related to my wip’s theme or mood. I came up with this line for an oc :

“I’ve been trying so damn hard to make everyone smile, but I get it now. The world would be happier without me, wouldn’t it?”

Justfrom this single line, I already know lots of things about this character :

• They always put the happiness of others before their own.

• They’ve probably been told that they need to have a positive effect on others in order to have the right to live.

• They’ve been trying to please others, but end up worsening things.

• They’re determined and desperate.

• …They probably had a corruption arc and won’t get a happy ending :“D

• The moment when they say this line is their breaking point

See? Just from two sentences, I already have an idea of their personality and backstory. Sometimes, I even get an idea for their appearance too. This is way easier than not knowing what to do first to create a character from scratch.

2. Appearance

Lots of people come up with character names before their appearance, but I always need to generate their appearance first, because otherwise, I can’t visualize or imagine them. I usually play around with picrew.me (an avatar generator website) to generate their potential appearance. I don’t spend too much time on this stage tho, because I’ll end up changing their appearance again after figuring out more details about my wip (that’s why I said potentialappearance).

3. Personality & backstory

After having a rough idea of how they look like, I’ll imagine them in various scenes in my wip and come up with their personality. If there are already other existing ocs in the wip, I always be careful to not repeat too much aspects from the other characters, so each character will be unique.

Then,asking why the character has a specific personality will create their backstory. For instance, if a character has trust issues, ask why. Maybe they’ve been betrayed by a loved one before? Or they live in a dangerous world where everyone double crosses people to survive?

4. Name

After I know their appearance, personality, and depth, that’s when I decide a name for the character which fit their vibes or has symbolism. For example, my character Bayu’s name is symbolic because it means "wind”, reflecting how he’s a thief who moves as fast as the wind.

Sometimes, I don’t immediately search for a permanent name if I’m out of ideas. I’ll just choose a random placeholder name that fits their vibes, and remember to come up with their real name later.

5. Character arc

After knowing all the general information about the character, I’ll begin plotting out their character arc - their development throughout the book/series and whether it’s a positive or negative character arc. This stage is the hardest for me, because I need to figure out its starting, breaking, and ending point, and also the factors and people involved in the arc. I have a post series about both redemption and corruption arcs, you can check my masterlist to find them!

asparklerwhowrites:

Signs you need to rewrite your WIP

#1. You hate working on it

You’re constantly forcing yourself to write it, and you excessively check your wordcount tracker to make sure you’ve hit your daily goal. Its a chore for you to work on it, and you feel guilty thinking about it abandoning it after working on it for so long.

#2. Something feels…off

Whether it’s the characters, the setting, or the plot, there’s something that doesn’t seem quite right, and it keeps bothering you. You want to change it, but changing it means you have to start from scratch, and you don’t want to.

#3. You keep making plot holes

Some amount of plot holes are normal—but the narrative in your story makes no sense. You keep coming up with half-developed ideas and writing them in without knowing the entire context, just to make your wip more interesting.

#4. You feel disappointed in your writing

Your writing quality seems to have degraded, even though you know you can write much better. Its upsetting and demotivating because you don’t put in as much effort or care as much about writing your wip, and you question whether or not you’re actually good at writing at all.

#5. You have many ideas, but you’re afraid to implement them

You have ideas to change your wip completely, but once again you feel too afraid to do it. You don’t know if you’ll be able to stick with the wip for long enough, so you keep procrastinating on it.

Writing characters with ADHD…from someone with ADHD

(part two!)

since my last post with advice for writing adhd seemed to be well received by many, i figured i would do a part two.

again, same disclaimer as last time; these are just my experiences, and do not apply to everyone

  • Burnout. While adhd is usually known for its hyperactivity, a side that is rarely shown is the burnout from it. It is tiring.It can befrustrating.There are lots of days where you just want to sit alone in a quiet room.
  • People with adhd are usually master procrastinators. Seriously. I often put off tasks until the last possible minute, because my brain doesn’t find it ‘interesting’ enough without the pressure of the deadline.
  • Sitting down to do five hours of work and only being able to do five minutes is just as common as sitting down to do five minutes of work and looking up and realizing it’s been five hours
  • The ‘hyperactivity’ part of adhd looks different for lots of people. It isn’t necessarily bouncing off the walls, running around the room and disrupting everyone - it could also be fidgeting relatively unobtrusively
  • Speech patterns. While adhd often means talking fast, it doesn’t always. For example, I only tend to talk fast when really excited- but I talk a lot. There is a lot of ‘looping back’ on things that have already been said, and lots of ‘hey did i tell you-‘ ‘yes, you did.’
  • conversation with adhd has two settings, in my experience; simultaneously having and maintaining four conversations at once, or not being able to hold a conversation if someone else is speaking in the same room
  • Distractibility. This is the one im most tired of seeing in media. It is not just “hey so i was talking to Julian the other day about- oh look, SQUIRREL, LETS GO SEE THE SQUIRREL!’ *jets off to go see the rodent*. No. I feel like i speak collectively for adhd people when i say that we of that shit. What it is more like is; “hey so i was talking to Julian the other day- oh remind me to give him his textbook back- and he said that his brother told him- wait no it was his sister, anyway- she told him that…”
  • Coffee does not make all of us wildly hyper all the time. One coffee actually helps me focus.
  • We are not airheads. Seriously. Quit writing adhd characters as stupid, childish and incapable of doing important things. cut it out.

NOTE: as always, having adhd should not be a characters main personality trait. that is damaging representation, and really frustrating to read. an easy test is to remove the adhd and see if the character is still a fully fleshed out and in depth character. if they aren’t, congrats, you created a character who’s only trait was having adhd. however, if they still are a well rounded and interesting character without the adhd, you’re probably good!

anironnn:

susanshorn:

nothinggold13:

way-too-addicted-to-fandoms:

awfullybigwardrobe44:

nothinggold13:

Frank:Be loyal; to your beliefs, to your values, and to your loved ones. Cling to your beliefs in the dark, and never leave behind the ones you love.
Helen: Speak for the good of others. Be brave for those who can’t, and be faithful to those who need you.
Digory: Logic and reason do not equal cynicism. Be clever, be open, and have faith.
Polly: Don’t be afraid of looking like a fool. Say what you’re thinking and ask questions when you need to.
Peter: Don’t let your fears hold you back from what you need to do. You don’t need to feel brave to act bravely. 
Susan: Let yourself be gentle. Be considerate of others; be compassionate. There is strength in gentleness, too, even when others don’t see it.
Edmund: Even a traitor may mend: you are not defined by your past mistakes. Forgive yourself, for you have been forgiven.
Lucy: Know when to follow, and know when to go on alone. You might not share the world’s values, and it’s important to know when you’re following the wrong thing. Stick to your convictions. Don’t be afraid if you’re the only one.
Eustace: Change doesn’t happen all at once. Just because you still fall short doesn’t mean the cure hasn’t begun. 
Jill: Don’t be afraid to cry. Your feelings are important, and you are allowed to express them. 
Shasta/Cor: When you are at your highest, stay humble. You are no better at your most fortunate than you were when you felt unfortunate. 
Aravis: Be true to yourself, and then find the strength to grow. Forget your pride, but never forget you are worthy of love and respect.
Corin: Stand up for what matters to you. Stand up for others. Never let your failures stop you from trying again.
Bree: Never stop chasing what you want; never stop working to be where you want to be. Keep taking steps towards your goals, and walk with those who share them.
Hwin: Give hope to the hopeless. Be there for those who have no one, and stand by them on their journey.
Caspian: Don’t give up. Help will come, you’ll make it through, and you will reach your dreams. It’s never too late.
Trufflehunter: Know when to hold on. Change is not always progress, and some things are worth staying true to. Sometimes it is good to stay the same.
Reepicheep: Be firm in your convictions, and be true to yourself. Go where you are called, even when everyone else turns back. 
Puddleglum: Believe when it is hardest to. In the dark, still believe in the sun. Some things are more important than your present circumstances, anyways.
Rilian: Be devoted; to those you love, and to what you believe in. 
Tirian: Stand firm, even in the darkest hour, and never stop fighting for a better tomorrow. Give everything for what matters to you. Know that it’s worth the fight.

I love this so, so much.

Aslan: Always remember that someone loves you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done or will do. You always have someone to turn to when you need.

Thanks for that addition. :)

t h i s

❤️

brynwrites:

I would probably write more if I spent less time screaming at my characters, but I can’t help it if they’re all such lovable trash bags and I want to strangle them one by one.

me: *eyeballs Sebastian*

Sebastian: What?

naming your characters - writing tips

  • name them after someone important
  • give them a name from their time
  • choose a name with a meaning that matches their personality
  • a name that foreshadows their future
  • name a character after someone you love
  • give them an unremarkable first name and call them by their last name
  • don’t name two characters the same name, even with most reason—it gets confusing
  • avoid names that are too similar—"Anne" and “Anna”, for example
  • choose names the audience will remember
  • research the meaning beforehand
  • choose a plant name
  • choose a colour name
  • invent a name by putting vowels and letters together
  • pick either a very unconventional name or very plain name
  • generally don’t make too many characters or it could be confusing for the reader
  • choose a name associated with the character’s personality
  • name them after a celebrity (with meaning)
  • name them after yourself!
  • pick a name you would want yourself to be named
  • go nameless until you find the right one—or keep switching when you feel you do
  • ^^ try out many names
  • think of names from that genre

aj-eddy:

If you write a strong character, let them fail.

If you write a selfless hero, let them get mad at people.

If you write a cold-hearted villain, let them cry.

If you write a brokenhearted victim, let them smile again.

If you write a bold leader, let them seek guidance.

If you write a confident genius, let them be wrong, or get stumped once in a while.

If you write a fighter or a warrior, let them lose a battle, but let them win the war.

If you write a character who loses everything, let them find something.

If you write a reluctant hero, give them a reason to join the fight.

If you write a gentle-hearted character who never stops smiling, let that smile fade and tears fall in shadows.

If you write a no one, make them a someone.

If you write a sibling, let them fight and bicker, but know that at the end of the day they’ll always have each other’s back.

If you write a character, make them more than just a character; give them depth, give them flaws and secrets, and give them life.

@fuzzyfeelyleacherWhat about a run away? A coward who only wants to…

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. 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”
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