Questions tagged [character-development]
Anything pertaining to developing the details associated with characters in your writing.
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How do I emphasize a sentence without making it seem like the character is shouting?
In my story, there's one scene where character A talks to character B in a stern tone. I want to emphasize a specific sentence without making it seem like character A is shouting.
For example, ...
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Character is called by their initials. Do I spell it out?
I have a character who is referred to by another character by their initials TP, do I spell it out (teepee/tepee/tipi) or just use the initials TP. It is supposed to add humour and show their fun ...
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Tips on writing a transgender character?
I have a transgender oc, Rocky, born Rochelle. He's like eight. He doesn't know anything about LGBTQ+ people or that his twin sister Rosamie (Rosie) is a lesbian and has her own struggles and will ...
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Showing that a character is unsentimental and arrogant
How do I make my protagonist appear unsentimental and arrogant in a matter of showing rather than telling?
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Misleading readers on the motives/true personality of a character
My protagonist meets a Queen who is incredibly beautiful, acts very flirtatiously and is naive on most topics despite the fact she is a young adult. In short, she fulfils every stereotype of what a ...
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Tropes to prove a character loyalty and make them in a position to become a leader
I have a problem bridging two parts of the book. I need to make a character some kind of hero that has admiration of the country.
In my story, the character is a "wizard". Wizards are meant ...
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Would it count as a story if nothing bad happens to the character anywhere in the story?
Most stories follow this simple rule: Hardship occurs to main character and main character attempts to get through hardship. Character either gets through hardship or other hardship happens and plot ...
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Can I write a character that does not technically exist? They are an alter identity(?) of another character
I’m currently planning my characters, and wanted to grab some opinions.
I’m planning to have three main-ish characters, where the third character is more of an alternate identity of the second ...
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How can I fit a protagonist and his character arc to an existing world and plot?
I began my project with world-building. Afterward, I decided on the overarching plot, and now I'm trying to populate it with characters, starting with my protagonist. I've figured out his core driving ...
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How to describe a character dealing with a betrayal from one of their closest friends?
The character who gets betrayed is my main character, who is practically left to die by her closest childhood friend. My MC is the type of character to wholeheartedly believes and trusts in her ...
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How do I write a major character from scratch?
I've designed loads of characters, most remaining in my head, some being written down on paper and others even having the honor of being in a book/short story. I'd like to pride myself by saying I'm ...
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How do I keep a villain's menace after they've suffered so many defeats?
I've noticed in many long-running stories that it's common to have a villain who's a genuine menace to the heroes become impossible to take seriously after they've gotten defeated or died so many ...
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Order publishing/reading book series
I am writing a series of 9 stories.
The main characters of all the stories are long time friends. The timelines for the stories overlap. Many of the characters will have parts in all the stories.
...
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Nonbinary character who is gender fluid, changing pronouns smoothly?
I have a character that's nonbinary. I'm more looking into a good mechanical way to change the pronouns for the character every time they change their presentation.
The (fictional) language they speak ...
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Is this a a crazy enough reaction for someone who isn’t the most sane person, yet normal enough to be considered a human reaction? [closed]
In the beginning of my story, my character wakes up in an unfamiliar apartment. Although they’re scared for their safety, they were sure nothing bad had happened to them that night. At first they were ...
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How can I write a character with an alcohol addiction without sounding too repetitive?
This is my first time writing a book and I have been noticing that a lot of my scenes are quite similar to each other. The main character has an alcohol addiction and constantly gets drunk to the ...
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Is there a way to make text feel like an unhinged rant while still being readable?
I want to write a passage of text that makes the reader feel like the person writing it is deranged or otherwise not in the right state of mind.
It seems relatively easy to write incoherent, ...
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Using the stages of grief to fall in love
I would love to utilize the stages of grief in a way to show the progression of a character's resistance to fall in love. I have some ideas for each. What are some other ideas?
I have a vigilante ...
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Should I change my character's name if it's a variation of mine?
I'm trying to name a character, and I found one that fits him perfectly. It makes sense for the setting, it supports the theme and his character arc, and it supports his parents' characters (mainly ...
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Looking to include hijabi character in children's book about magic, would that go against muslim customs?
A friend and I have written and illustrated a children's story about a group of kid witches that includes a girl with a hijab. I have read that magic and witchcraft are taboo in Muslim faith, should ...
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How to find or create a mantra or guiding quote for a character?
I'm in the process of developing a character for a story right now, and I want to come up with some sort of mantra or repeatable quote the character can repeat to themselves over the course of the ...
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Should I write the 'after'?
Alright, so I just finished a really beautiful scene in my manuscript that happened during an event. Let's say it was a party.
So the beautiful scene happened rather in the beginning of the event, ...
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How to slow down plot in slowburn romance?
My current work in progress is a slow burn romance between two characters who do not believe in love in their own way. MC simply does not believe in it due to bad experiences being proven, and LI (...
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What is necessary to hide your antagonist’s dirty deeds in plain sight before the big unmasking in 1POV?
This could be essentially the opposite of the question here, about introducing evil characters before they’ve done anything evil. I’m showing the “questionable” activities of a character before ...
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How to safely pose this Mary Sue character?
I'm writing a science fantasy, and I'm afraid that the protagonist has too many superpowers.
Here's the concept: The protagonist is Berta Newton, an isekai counterpart of Issac Newton. She is the ...
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Keeping your audience after you've guilted them - what's the secret sauce?
Consider that your story has a moral that points to the simple fact that we all have committed and contributed to your protagonist's crisis. The protagonist walks through life desperately needing help,...
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Tough female character softening
I'm writing a tough, capable young female character who is savvy and can survive well in an unfamiliar society. However, she has no patience for stupidity and is quick to shoot barbed remarks. I want ...
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How do you write a succesful character development without changing your character?
In dystopias, you can't avoid the fact that your protagonist is going to be changed from their experience. Not only this, but it's important for them to change for good character development to happen....
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How can I make my character motivations drive the story forward and not the other way around?
I'm having trouble writing my first real novel. The first three chapters in my story are dedicated to set up, introducing the main characters, and providing character motivations.
However, I have ...
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I'm trying to find enough sensory description for my book
How do I describe when a person falls unconscious with enough sensory details?
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How would the "one good member" of an evil organization/culture see themselves?
I have a character that is the stereotypical "token good member of an evil organization". The organization is a brutal social darwinist one that sees nothing wrong with killing people and ...
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How to show slow character development when switching perspectives
I'm in the process of writing the first draft of my first novel (a medieval low-fantasy). In the story, I have multiple characters who slowly get possessed over time. The possession occurs through ...
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How to write a character who's better than you at sounding professional and doublespeak
I have a character who is an expert at using language to his advantage. Both in terms of doublespeak, subtle put downs and deliberately avoiding the point and making the conversation about something ...
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How do I make my character extremely upset and yet emotionless at the same time?
I’m currently writing a murder mystery novel in where the MC has to solve a murder that happened in 1998. In the climax she is fighting off the killer but then her love interest comes in and kills the ...
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How do I get my writing to be more thrilling?
I started writing not too long ago, but I've been struggling to actually make the readers get into the reading. I've been told that my writings are too "straightforward" or "too direct&...
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Writing multiple main characters, who end up being the same person at the end. Need advice
So what started as an attempt to write a memoir, I found myself struggling to commit to just one underlying theme. I also found writing about myself in different time periods, it felt as though I was ...
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How can I make my character slowly fall in love with someone that already likes them?
I want to have one of my characters slowly fall in love with a boy who has liked her from the start, but I'm not sure how to
Show that he likes her but not make it too obvious
and
make her slowly ...
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I need some help polishing my protagonist's motivations
I'm writing a survival horror story that's a mixture between Bloodborne and The Last of Us. The story follows an emotionally distant woman and a physically disabled child as they trek through a world ...
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Who should be the antagonist when my novel is meant to be educational?
I am writing a science fantasy novel, but I think I should re-write it completely. Let me explain the situation.
Here's the concept of my novel: The story takes place in an alternate world where a ...
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How do you write a magician as a character?
How would you describe a magician and his tricks? What would his daily routine look like?
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Is it possible to write a character that remains mysterious until the very end without sacrificing character development?
Is it possible to write a character that remains mysterious until the very end without sacrificing character development?
I was thinking you can't do it to a main character, so I thought about an evil ...
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Is it possible to make characters who are neurotic, who have low agreableness, low conscientiousness, low extraversion likeable?
Is it possible to make characters who are neurotic, who have low agreeableness, low conscientiousness, low extraversion likeable?
I thought the only way to do this is to find something that the reader ...
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Why is it bad to use a side character merely as a plot device?
I was writing a mystery novel about a detective who is investigating a murder case. The detective has a partner, who is a side character in the story. The partner is not given much of a personality or ...
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Does it make sense to kill a character in the middle of a character arc, or in order to not finish the character arc?
Does it make sense to kill a character in the middle of a character arc, or in order to not finish the character arc? If you notice that a character arc is forcing yourself to write yourself into a ...
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Are indoctrinated characters villains or victims?
I have a half-animal, half-human hybrid character who gets indoctrinated into a Nazi-like group of other half-animal hybrids who hate humans and want for them to be extinct.
She's a child when this ...
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How to write from the perspective of a neurodivergent character?
I’m stalled in writing the second novel in my series because I’m stuck on how to present the antagonist. I have an outline of his character, and know what happens, but I don’t know how to write from ...
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Portraying recovery from trauma in the right way
How do I show a character going from being unhinged as he gets desperate to heal and isolate himself from his trauma (yes, this happens) to actually healing from it?
My story features people who are ...
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When should you reveal the motivations of a villain?
A common mistake in creative writing is to create a villain without a clear motivation for their actions. Every villain should have a reason for their behavior, even if it is not a justifiable one. ...
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I have inadvertently made my character depressed... what should I do about it?
I have inadvertently made my character depressed. She's a minor character in my science-fantasy novel, and exists to tie together some of the plot lines.
As I wrote her, this 18yo woman turned out to ...
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How to write someone who wants desperately to have emotional bonds but pushes others away because they feel they don't deserve it?
So, the viewpoint and main character in my novel is a character who had a very bad beginning. Born as a slave, she was torn from her parents and subjected to many horrors, few of which I elaborate on, ...
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