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? 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. Remember, not everything your character does should be explicitly or overtly tied to the trauma/tragedy.
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.
Basic Tips To Write Better (And More Likeable) Badasses Yet another character type that is often poorly-written by amateurs, many badass characters end up becoming completely unlikeable or even despicable. Here are a few tips to keep these characters from going this route. Your character needs to be more than tough and talented. Strong, sexy, smart, skilled, and sassy are all great character traits, but on their own they're going to leave you with a character who is at best forgettable, and at worst completely unlikeable. Stop and ask yourself: if you took away the skills and talents that make your character badass, do you think anyone would care about or want to associate with your character? Don't create an unstoppable kickass machine. Characters who are so awesome and unflappable that there's no doubt they'll win are boring to watch. Be careful that your character doesn't become an amoral/self-centered jerkass. Smirks are not shortcuts to cool.
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? Check out the random generators - with a click of a button, you can create characters, names, settings, items, and more for your creative works! 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. Part 1 - All Characters Questions that pertain to all characters everywhere.
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. However, authors should remember that a Mary Sue is a subjective classification. There is no such thing as a "Mary Sue trait"; any trait can be part of an interesting, well-balanced character. 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 Scoring 1-10: Your character is understated.
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. Iris Murdoch described a novel as ‘a fit house for free characters to live in’. How far a literary construct can have free will is an ongoing philosophical debate; more pertinent to writers is whether plot should follow character or the other way around. 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. Starting from Character Motivation
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. First impressions have a tremendous impact that you can use either to establish or mislead your reader/audience as to the true nature of each character. You might tell your reader/audience all there is to know about a particular character right up front. But for another character, you may drop little bits of information over the whole course of the story. 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. *Try either or both for 90 days.
Character Development: Creative Writing Print version Characters are the most important component of any narrative. Without them, there would be no story. 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 1) The author simply states: “The young boy was mischievous and he was always looking for the next way to cause problems for everyone else.”Option 2) The author mentions specific instances that the boy has caused trouble and reveals, through these cases, that he is mischievous and a troublemaker. Sometimes it is difficult to think of things to mention about a character to give more insight into his/her life. Further Reading Trackbacks
How to Write Characters Try Dramatica & StoryWeaver Risk Free* *Try either or both for 90 days. Not working for you? Return for a full refund of your purchase price! About Dramatica and StoryWeaver Hi, I'm Melanie Anne Phillips, creator of StoryWeaver, co-creator of Dramatica and owner of Storymind.com. What They Do Dramatica is a tool to help you build a perfect story structure. How They Do It Dramatica has the world's only patented interactive Story Engine™ which cross-references your answers to questions about your dramatic intent, then finds any weaknesses in your structure and even suggests the best ways to strengthen them. StoryWeaver uses a revolutionary new creative format as you follow more than 200 Story Cards™ step by step through the story development process. How They Work Together By itself Dramatic appeals to structural writers who like to work out all the details of their stories logically before they write a word. Try Both Programs Risk Free! We have a 90 Day Return Policy here at Storymind.
How Not To Write Female Characters There are already a lot of articles around on how to write female characters. That’s all well and good, but I think it’s a lot less restrictive to have an itemized list of things you shouldn’t do. It also might be easier to digest than lengthy essays. Also, this list is intended for people with more testosterone, but since I’ve seen young female authors screw up their own young female protagonists, estrogenites are perfectly allowed to read this too. Like all my advice, this is subjective, in no particular order, and should be taken with a small pile of grains of salt. I’m going to assume you’re taking your work seriously and expect your readers to do the same. Female characters should be characters first and female second. Some examples of good female characters Hermione Granger (Harry Potter series). I could keep going, and I could pick more and more nits, but I think the above is sufficient for now. Leave comments okay I will give you friendship cookies nomnomnom good.
Fiction Writing Tips - How to Write Fiction Below, you'll find some fiction writing tips to help you create characters that come alive. At the bottom of the page, you'll also find more creative writing resources, including our free online writing courses. Are you losing your mind when a fictional character starts to seem real to you? A friend of mine was heartbroken when X died in Harry Potter 6 (we'll call him X to keep from spoiling the book if you haven't read it yet). One of my other friends has a serious crush on Edward Cullin, the sexy vampire hero of Stephenie Meyer's popular Twilight series. Advertisement: Fiction writing tips - Inventing your characters Where do fictional characters come from? Some places to start: Someone you see on the street or in the supermarket. Fiction writing tips - Getting to know your characters To convince readers that your character is a real person, the first step is to convince yourself. The writer Patricia Highsmith confessed to being a little bit in love with her own character, Tom Ripley.
Other - How to Create Realistic and Believable Characters How to Create Realistic and Believable Characters 1. Before you think of your character, you need to think of your character's purpose. Is their purpose to hinder your character? 2. 3. 4. Quick Tips: · The most important thing is to treat your character like a real person. · Remember that your character is not a real person. · Make sure your main character changes through his experiences. · Give reasons for your characters' personality traits. · Stay within the boundaries of your character's personality!
Guide for Writers: Characters Most stories are remembered for their characters, not specific plot points. If you want to write a memorable story, create memorable characters. They do not need to be believable — they need to be dramatic. It Takes Two Often, the best stories are deceptively simple: there are two main characters for the reader to follow. The central character is the character a reader or viewer “follows” through the story. The opposition character can be “good” or “evil” depending on the role of the central character. Grand Central Characters A grand central character is a complete character. What is the character’s active goal? An active goal is a specific, measurable goal. While the goal is known to the character, his or her emotional need seldom is. The reason the character fails to see a need is usually a character flaw. Finally, as the story progresses you should reveal the backstory of the central character. Creating Characters Character creation — and development — requires the hubris of Dr.
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