Skip to main content

Questions tagged [character-development]

Anything pertaining to developing the details associated with characters in your writing.

16 votes
6 answers
4k views

What is the term for an accessible character that knows nothing?

In a lot of books, movies, or TV shows, there will be a character that knows little to nothing about the subject at hand. Most cop shows and medical shows will have someone who doesn't know very ...
Jeff's user avatar
  • 295
15 votes
6 answers
1k views

How to find authenticity in a character of color

I am working on a book. I am aware that, being a white guy, I always perceive characters as white men. I want to push myself into building a character that is black. My problem is that most of the ...
Thom's user avatar
  • 570
31 votes
14 answers
18k views

Is my story "too diverse"?

(Edit: I feel like I should clarify, these are the only LGBT characters in the story, and the only characters whose sexualities are even touched on, and they are part of a larger group of people, ...
user avatar
24 votes
13 answers
51k views

Software for developing and organizing characters

I'm looking for a software that helps me develop and organize the characters for my novel. What I want: something like a filesystem, with a file for each character it should have or allow me to ...
user avatar
18 votes
8 answers
7k views

How do I better handle my nameless main character when trying to retain mystery?

I have written a short story, and the main character is referred to as "he" right the way through - the idea being that this character is very guarded and mysterious. My plan was to not ...
Dan Hanly's user avatar
  • 981
16 votes
8 answers
7k views

How do I make an ESL character sound realistic?

I have to write an assignment in which there's an English character talking with a English as a Second Language (ESL) character. It is turning out really, really badly. I have a general idea of what ...
Ice-9's user avatar
  • 953
8 votes
6 answers
8k views

How do you write a story about a team?

There just isn't information about this on the internet (at least that I could find), so I'm here. A few specific questions: how many team members should there be? Should they all be main characters, ...
pandalarry's user avatar
43 votes
7 answers
5k views

How does one write a character smarter than oneself?

How does one write a "genius" character? I don't mean a scientific genius, or someone who is a prodigious talent in math or chess or something like that. I mean the following scenario (or an ...
Jay's user avatar
  • 533
36 votes
10 answers
13k views

How to write female characters with agency?

I'm attempting to write a novel, an historical fiction with a small fantasy component (time travel through a portal). The travelers (main characters) are a young couple from the late 23rd Century who ...
J.D. Ray's user avatar
  • 954
11 votes
3 answers
1k views

Should my readers be able to identify with the bad guy?

I'm in the process of defining the characters for a novel. It is a crime fiction, with a really strong focus on the characters. I hope to construct really rich, complex and clearly defined characters. ...
Carl Seleborg's user avatar
7 votes
8 answers
7k views

First Person vs. Third Person: Advantages and Disadvantages?

My name is Alex and I'm writing a fantasy novel. I don't know if I should use first or third person narration. First person writing is good for protagonists and important characters, but third ...
Seraph Myrmidon's user avatar
41 votes
7 answers
4k views

Getting Inside Someone Else's Head

A common problem for novice fiction writers, and one that I feel that I myself haven't quite graduated from, is always writing characters who are like the author. Each character is merely some facet ...
justkt's user avatar
  • 6,685
26 votes
5 answers
3k views

How to avoid hearing "that's me!" from your friends when they read your characters, and that wasn't your intent?

I recently asked about getting inside of someone else's head for writing good characters who are noticeably different from myself and received some great answers. One answer suggested that you should ...
justkt's user avatar
  • 6,685
13 votes
4 answers
2k views

Ways for main character to influence world following their death

The main character of a story dies before the story itself ends. Nothing new here, you can keep a story interesting following their death. But I have an additional requirement: The dead main character ...
Core Xii's user avatar
  • 273
12 votes
3 answers
840 views

How to give characters a unique voice

When writing dialogue all the characters sound the same. I'm not sure I even know what giving a character a voice means, but my dialogue sucks so any advice will be greatly appreciated.
pandalarry's user avatar

15 30 50 per page
1
2 3 4 5
10