Basic Tips To Create Better Characters With Tragic & Traumatic Backstories First, ask yourself why you're giving your character a tragic or traumatic backstory. Are you giving your character this backstory to build up/explain what kind of person your character is now? Or are you doing it mainly to make readers or other characters feel sorry for your character, or to make your character seem more badass/tough for having survived the ordeal? Or are you doing it mainly to give your character a reason to run away from home and/or have nobody to be attached to so xe can go hang out with the cool characters with nothing to pull xir away? The first one is a legitimate reason to give your character a tragic/traumatic backstory. Even worse, trauma/tragedy often is used as little more than a device to give an intended love interest a reason to want to lavish care and affection on xir. Benjamin Linus from Lost is a good example of a tragic/traumatic backstory used to good effect. Ask yourself how much trauma/tragedy your character actually needs.
Common, Yet Terrible Character Descriptors - And How To Fix Them When asked to describe their characters, many people tend to use the same over-generalized descriptors over and over. The result tends to be what I call a "Forer profile" - it's so vague that it can fit any number of characters - all of whom are wildly different - equally well. And when the same character description could fit a sneaky trickster as it could a determined soldier as it could a grad student opening a florist's shop, that's a problem. So, I'm going to outline how to give more and better information on your character to give people a better idea of what sort of person they're reading about. For the sake of simplicity, we'll go with "animals" for most of this particular section. Question is, what do you mean by "animals," and how does your character relate to them? Here are other examples of useful statements: "My character volunteers at the animal shelter."" Don't say your character loves flowers - say that your character raises a flower garden or plans to become a florist.
Plotting, Conniving, and Manipulating Plotters, connivers, and manipulators are a popular character archetype, showing up as villains and heroes alike. The recent Doctors. Loki. Batman. Plotting & Conniving In Fictionland, long-term plots and plans are often portrayed like games of chess where at least one player is able to plot twenty moves ahead and thereby corner their opponent into a checkmate. In Realityland, long-term planning does not work this way. Not to say that your character can't work toward a long-term goal - but a series of mini-plots that all eventually add up to the final goal work rather better than a single long-term plot. Manipulation In Fictionland, a character can watch a person for five minutes and instantly know everything there is worth knowing about that person, up to and including which buttons they can push to make the character do exactly what they want. Their baseline personalities, which is essentially how a person behaves without strong external factors affecting their mood or judgment.
So You Wanna Write/Play A Powerful/Talented Character That Probably Won't Be Perceived As A Mary Sue? Many, many, many times I've seen people complain that they can't write or play powerful characters without these characters being labelled as Mary Sues. I really have only one thing to say to this: it's probably either because your characters are Mary Sues, or because you're presenting your character the wrong way. Sure it's not the former? Okay, then let's get on to how you can present your character so people probably won't grab the torches and pitchforks. This article is largely intended for fan characters, though most of it applies to other character types as well. Start by describing what makes your character tick, not what makes xir special. When you begin your character profile/pitch, leave out your character's appearances, superpowers, and canon connections as long as you possibly can. If you have a well-developed character, you should be able to describe xir without mentioning xir powers, abilities, or canon connections quite easily. Remove irrelevant specialness.
Mary Sue Test Background A Mary Sue is an unrealistic type of literary character commonly created by inexperienced authors. Although they vary, a typical Mary Sue has an unreasonable number of cool or special traits, especially ones the author wishes he or she had, and they tend to accomplish things too easily, solve problems too neatly, and become the center of attention whether they deserve it or not. This test aims to help authors evaluate whether their characters are in danger of becoming Mary Sues by drawing attention to potentially problematic traits. When taking this test, be honest, but keep it in perspective and remember context. The test has seven sections: This test comes from this thread in the Writer's Block subforum on TV Tropes. Section 1: Author Avatars There's nothing wrong with using yourself as the basis for a character. Generally, items in this section score one point each. Scoring -28-0: Your character may be an antihero. 1-10: Your character is understated. Return to top
Names for Villains: 5 Tips to Help You Choose a Name for the Baddie When creating villains, it's all too tempting to give them a name that embodies their evilness. It's important, however, to keep in mind the normal conventions of naming. Names tend to reveal something about location, year, ethnicity, or nationality-not whether a person is destined to be a tyrannical overlord. Always think about the villain's parents. That doesn't mean you need to saddle your villain with a name like Ted or Mary, but think about plausibility before naming your villain. Names for Villains Tip 1: Picking a neutral name Like I mentioned earlier, choosing a name based on traditional factors is the easiest way to achieve plausibility. But let's face it. Names for Villains Tip 2: Using evil-sounding names or names with dark meanings Do you want to slyly suggest to your readers your character is a sadistic bastard? If you want to reveal something about the character through their name, keep the villains' motive in mind. Names for Villains Tip 3: Playing with words and languages
The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test Stuck with a case of massive writer's block? Has your muse gone on indefinite hiatus? Or are you just bored? The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test How to use this test: First, if you're unsure of what a Mary Sue is, please read this page. Answer all questions for which the answer is 'yes' or 'technically yes' unless the item mentioned is so commonplace in the universe you are writing for that it doesn't really make your character remarkable or unusual. If your character is a role-playing character and the only reason you can answer 'yes' is because of other players acting of their own free wills (IE, everyone has their characters throwing themselves at your character's feet and you've done nothing to force this) do not answer yes to the corresponding question. If you see a question that looks like it's been linked, rest your cursor over it - it contains a tool tip, which should contain further information on the subject. Part 5 - De-Suifiers Questions that subtract from the final score.
Character Development: Creative Writing Print version Characters are the most important component of any narrative. Without them, there would be no story. Character development is an important skill to master because characters are important parts of any creative writing from books and short stories, from biographies and autobiographies, to poetry. The development of a character is a very detailed process, and one that requires a lot of thought. Physical Details about the character: Is he/she short, tall, thin, old, etc? Schaefer and Diamond also state that character development is more effective when the author reveals traits about the character through the ways mentioned above and allows the reader to make his/her own judgments, rather than stating character traits directly. Option 2 is a more effective approach because it allows the readers to form judgments about the young boy themselves, rather than simply accepting the author’s word for it. His/her family: relationships, beliefs, habits, religion, activities, etc.
How Not to Create a Villain by Anne Marble Villains aren't as important to the romance novel as the hero and heroine, but in many stories, they are crucial. The villain's actions can drive the hero and heroine to succeed against all odds, force them to make difficult decisions, even drive them apart for a while. Even if you aren't writing romantic suspense novels, your story might still need a villain. Why should you work so hard on your villains? There are some common mistakes many romance writers make when creating villains. Villains Who Take Over the Novel. Another thing that can detract from the main story line is the infamous "villain sex scene." Obvious Villains. If you're having trouble with this, read the novels of Agatha Christie and other famous mystery writers to learn how to fool the readers while playing fairly. Clichéd Villains. Romantic suspense also has its share of tried and true villains -- the serial killer, the drug dealer, the stalker, the psychotic ex-husband. Unnecessary Villains. Anne M.
Introducing Characters - First Impressions Introducing Characters - First Impressions by Melanie Anne Phillipscreator StoryWeaver, co-creator Dramatica When your reader/audience first meets your characters in a story, it has the same effects as when you are introduced to someone in real life. You might tell your reader/audience all there is to know about a particular character right up front. Then there is the question of who shows up first? Who is your Main Character? You know all about your characters while your audience knows nothing. Sometimes an author may want to have a character with a dark side, or a hidden side that will be revealed only later in the story. Remember, first impressions are lasting, and an audience with the first impression of someone as a good guy, will resist thinking of them as a bad guy for as long as possible. *Try either or both for 90 days. About Dramatica and StoryWeaverWhat They DoDramatica is a tool to help you build a perfect story structure.
Writing Characters | Creative Writing Course In this fifth session in my free creative writing course, we will be looking at writing characters. In creative writing we become, in a way, like God. In short stories, novels and poems, we construct a world then fill it with people who take on a life of their own. Character, Plot and Message There are three kinds of stories: those that start from character, from plot or from message. A message-driven story is one where a writer starts with an idea or theme (enviromentalism, religion, anti-war etc) then crafts a plot and populates it with types who will best illustrate the message. A character-based story is when the characters are so memorable and well-drawn that the story would not exist without them. The key of course if to have all three elements in balance. Exercise 16: Think of your own writing. Starting from Character That being said, I still think the best way to write is to start with character. Exercise 17: Find some pictures of people. Motivation Conflict
Seven Common Character Types Seven Common Character Types by Terry W. Ervin II Fiction writers employ a variety of characters while weaving their tales. Confidante- someone in whom the central character confides, thus revealing the main character’s personality, thoughts, and intentions. Example: In a story, Melvin Sanders is a detective on the trail of a serial killer. In this example Chops is a confidante. Dynamic Character - a character which changes during the course of a story or novel. Example: Ebenezer Scrooge, in A Christmas Carol by Dickens, was very stingy with his money. In this example Ebenezer Scrooge is a dynamic character. Flat Character - a character who reveals only one, maybe two, personality traits in a story or novel, and the trait(s) do not change. Example: In a story about a friendly teacher named Sandra Smith, Louis Drud is a janitor in her building. In this example Louis Drud is a flat character. Foil - a character that is used to enhance another character through contrast. Copyright © Terry W.