the most important thing, above everything else, that makes or breaks your character is their personality.
when you write a character with a strong personality, you are going to have a very memorable character.
personalities can be hypocritical, beliefs and opinions can overlap, and things can change. so never be afraid to make your character's personality bold and ugly and out there.
some of my most favorite memorable characters are Lois, from Malcolm in the Middle. Luffy from One Piece, and Naruto from Naruto Shippuden.
all of these characters have very loud and unashamed personalities.
Lois is stubborn and extremely controlling.
Luffy is the embodiment of freedom and light.
Naruto is very hardheaded and unwilling to compromise when he's set on something, even if it means losing an arm.
these traits don't speak for the whole character, they all have a lot of nuance and intricate details that are fleshed out throughout their respective series'. but these traits are things that you can pick up from the get-go about these characters.
-------
if you are having trouble with your characters, if they feel way too flat, or like a wet noodle, try narrowing their personality down into one single trait. what facet of their personality is the loudest above all the other facets?
when you know this, then, in every scene they're in make a note to ask yourself how this character embraces change.
Luffy has an indomitable will and he forces the world to change around him, while refusing to change himself.
Lois has the stubbornness of a mule, she wants things around her to change, but she's too focused on the chaos and the things she can't change, but she will go down fighting and she will give it her all.
Naruto also has an indomitable spirit and will, but unlike Luffy, who remains unchanged, Naruto not only forces the world to change around him, but he changes with it.
---
i hope this makes sense. i really enjoyed writing about this and i would absolutely love if anyone wants to talk about this subject in more detail. all asks are welcome in my inbox. thank you.
I'm audhd(slang for autistic and adhd), so when i say it's difficult for me to write, i truly mean it. If you're the same as me, struggling to find purpose and struggling to write, here are some suggestions for you to try ^^
- Stop trying to be perfect
At its core, perfectionism is a fear of failure. You want to seem perfect to the people who read your work, so you put an insane amount of pressure on yourself to meet impossible standards.
This makes you not want to write, or makes writing seem like a chore, when it's a hobbyāsomething for you to love doing.
- stop posting your work online, or take a break from doing it.
Social media ruins our brains and makes us want to be someone else, or it gets us addicted to likes and follows. Distance yourself from social media and get back in touch with the authentic you.
- Take breaks from writing.
i'm talking about the breaks, where you don't do any creative writing whatsoever. set a time goal for yourself and start small with a day or two. If you get an idea, let it go. If you get the urge to write, do something else.
think of this as storing your creative writing energy.
- edit others' works.
this is something for you to keep entirely to yourself, and it in no way is encouragement for you to be an ass to another writer online.
find something that is written poorly, whether it's written in a certain way that irks you, was written by someone who doesn't write, whether the plot is awful, or it's one of your past works.
read the whole thing in its entirety and then go back to the beginning and write it how you would.
- write about how you wish you would've done something
if you're anything like me and you spend time dwelling on things you wish you would've done differently, you'll have a plethora of exchanges that embarrass the hell out of you. Take those exchanges and write them out in the way you wish they'd have gone.
- write things one at a time.
if you have the perfect idea for a dialogue exchange, or the sequence of actions a character makes, just write it without trying to write anything else.
ex: he came into work sad. she couldn't do anything but watch from afar. his sad face broke her heart.
once you have the idea out of your head, distance yourself from it, either by taking a nap, or doing anything else. when you have the time again, go back and try to edit it, to make it sound better.
- change up your routine
if you consistently write in your living room, or on your laptop, try changing it up a bit, by writing on the toilet, or on your phone.
- speak what you want to write
sometimes getting the words out of your hand is the hardest thing you've ever done, maybe it's taking a long time, or there's just so many ideas in your head that your hand can't keep up with. make a voice memo of what you want to write and go back to transcribe it later.
If you're having a hard time writing out your plot, try drawing it. It doesn't have to be pretty, or extravagant, nobody but you has to be able to understand it.
But if its concise and follows your story, it would be able to help you better visualize what happens. Like story boarding.
Literary analysis and how it can help you become a better writer
For those of you who don't know what literary analysis is, it's the examination and evaluation of a literary work. This can include things like, novels, poems, kids books, and even fanfiction.
How does this help me become a better writer?
To analyze a text, you need to have an argument against what is written, whether it's a technical analysis, or a personal comparison, or you have a theory about the story or characters and you need evidence to prove it.
This dissection of texts goes above and beyond just reading something and absorbing it. It helps you, as both a reader and an author to decipher the text on a whole new level and uncover hidden messages or meanings within the authors writing, or within their characters.
When you can do this, it helps you absorb an authors style and connect with their writing much easier, instead of just reading or doing copywork.
As you're doing this, you should analyze your own work as well. Go back and analyze how you wrote characters, Do i portray them exactly how i want? analyze your use of description and dialogue, Do i give too many descriptions? Is it too long?
Compare your work to another that is similar and view the structural differences and how they are similar, or how they contrast.
Sometimes figuring out what way of plotting is easiest and most beneficial to you isn't as simple as, "Maybe i'm not a plotter..."
I've never considered Visual Plotting until I actually tried it.
I came up with this idea after revisiting an old website I got from a professor called, Excalidraw
- It's a free website that's basically just like a digital whiteboard.
First of all, What is Visual Plotting?
Visual Plotting is a term I coined (idk if it's an actual thing or not...) for a technique of plotting that involves visually connecting the dots/plot points.
What does a Visual Plot look like?
It can look like anything you want! But if you want some templates, here are some I've made using the plotting techniques I've talked about before;
The End Plotting; When you aren't sure exactly what you want your story to be about, but you know what you want the end to look like. Base your plotting off of that ending scene and create choices for your characters to make that will help lead them to the end.
Major Scenes Plotting; Scene based plotting is one of my all time favorite ways to plot. When you know what scenes you want to put in your story, but you can't visualize how they connect, this is definetly the one for you. You can use this part as an over view and go into more detail when you want to.
The "I only have concepts" Plot; This is a less organized version of the Major Scenes Plotting. it's more of, "I have a bunch of scenes or ideas of what I want, but idk how to fit them in."
What is Copywork?
Copywork is the act of copying a paragraph or passage from a novel you like. Isn't that just plagiarism? No, while you are copying what another author wrote, copywork isn't for the purpose of publishing. It's an exercise for improving your understanding of sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary, metaphor usage, and more, while helping you sound like the author you admire.
Who uses Copywork?
Originally, copywork was invented by scribes to help preserve knowledge. These scribes would hand write every detail of whatever important texts they wanted to save. But it became more popular by writers like, Scott Fitzgerald who wrote The Great Gatsby, and James Patterson who wrote Along Came a Spider.
Why should I practice Copywork?
While it's good for all great writers to read a lot. Reading can only get you so far. If I were to ask you, What author inspires you to write better? Who would you say? Why does this author inspire you? Whatever the case is, I know that for every writer out there, there is always at least one author you've wanted to write like. For me, I really love how Frank Herbert, the author of Dune, writes his books. And at one point in my life, I really wanted to write like he does. So, I sat down and scoured the internet, looking for anything that would help me write like Frank Herbert, but I couldn't find anything. If you've ever been in a situation like this, Copywork is your best friend. Instead of reading article after article or scouring Reddit for anything and only coming up with: this is how they structure their sentences. Or, you can't write like so and so, you should have your own style. Use Copywork.
The Big Question: How Can I Copywork?
If you have your own Frank Herbert, an author whose writing style you love, pick one of their books and find a passage or page that speaks to you the most.
If you don't have an author like that, ask yourself: What about my writing do I want to improve? When you find your answer, look for an author who does the thing you want to work on in a way that you like.
Once you have your passage, get a pen and paper. This is going to help you absorb the information so much better than just typing it out.
Step 1. Set time aside every day, at least 20 minutes, to practice.
Step 2. Copy down the scene you picked out.
Step 3. Go back to the start and break each sentence down into its base structure of, Noun, Verb, Adjective.
Step 4. Rewrite the scene, using the sentence structure and formatting, with your own characters, setting details, and dialogue.
The advice I've given before is to write every scene you think of, no matter if it gets used or not. Its always a great idea to go back every once and a while and edit these scenes, or revise them.
Never force inspiration or a scene. If it isn't coming naturally, take a break and come back later or the next day. it's important to give yourself time to think. use your break to day dream about your story and what could come next. if your brain is happy, this should be relatively simple. If your brain isn't happy, then you need to take a longer break, stop writing for the day all together, or write something else.
if you're a pantser, like me, and it's hard to plot. You can practice reverse plotting, and plot your story as you go. make notes of things that happen in your story, changes in a character, changes in the plot, changes in the setting, dates for events, timelines, important information that's been revealed, anything you deem important to your story.
always reread what you've already written. don't try to edit it. turn off your editor brain and reread your story so far before you resume writing, so you can get into the voice and tone that you've already established.
if you're finding it difficult to start writing or keep writing. try turning off your internal editor and free write. it's good practice to be able to write down your unfiltered thoughts or daydreams without having to stop and edit while you're writing. it helps with your writing flow, getting the scene down onto the page, and increases your writing intuition.
before you write, always take time to daydream or think about your story beforehand. it helps things go much smoother in the long run.
if you've been working on something for a long time, don't pressure yourself into confinement. if you want to work on something new but you're worried about what you've been working on, don't. stop worrying and write what you want. forcing yourself to keep writing something when you don't want to is just going to make you burn out faster.
don't be afraid to create visuals or playlists that help you with what you're writing. It's an enviable talent to be able to write something off a photo you saw on pinterest, or a song you really like.
if you find yourself in a mood where you want to write really badly, but you have no idea what you want to write, and none of the prompts you find are appealing enough. find an activity you use to destress, whether its listening to music, listening to asmr, doom scrolling on social media, or browsing pinterest. go do that. chances are, you'll find something that will inspire you what to write when you're not looking for it.
I want to start this off by saying thank you to everyone who have been reblogging my posts. I've reached 100 likes and i couldn't have gotten that many if it weren't for your help. Also, thank you to everyone who liked my posts. If they helped you out a little bit, i am so glad you found my tips and exercises helpful.
What i'm up to currently... I'm researching editing stuff like, line editing, copy editing, revision, and formatting. And i plan on making posts and tips about those things in the future.
I've seen how much you like my writing exercise for character development and my writers habit post. I want to post more exercises on stuff like setting, describing, showing rather than telling, and dialogue. So if you want to see something specific, just shoot me an ask and i'll try my best to make or find good exercises to help with it.
This is just some stuff about me, you can ignore it if you want. All of the important stuff is all in the paragraphs up there /\
The next thing i want to say, is that i'm not a published author. I don't write novels and I've never written a novel before. I stick to writing short stories in the 1k to 5k word range. I've been writing since i was taught how to, in school. So, most of my life. I've always written short stories as well as free form poetry, along with the occasional haiku. My goals for the future are to keep improving my writing and my knowledge of writing. When i get my GED, i really want to minor in creative writing, because i'm so passionate about it, though i know being a full time writer is really tough. I made this blog to kind of rant to myself, not really thinking people would like what i post. I want to try staying consistent and post something every day, but that's really tough, lol.
I've watched so many videos on plotting, but I just can't figure it out. Am I a bad writer?
Not being able to do something doesn't make you a bad anything. Something you should remember, whether you can plot, or not. Is that no exact thing works for everyone.
There are so many tips and tricks out there, even mine, but I rarely see anyone stress the importance of finding out what works for you.
As an author, there are two types of people; Plotters and Pantsers.
Plotters are the people who can plot, they might like plotting, the might not be able to write a story until they know every detail about their book.
Pantsers are the exact opposite. They can't or don't like plotting. They typically just start writing their book and figure the rest out later.
and you don't have to be one or the other, I'm somewhere in the middle, maybe a little closer to pantser than plotter. Sometimes I need to have some direction in my plot, like details I might forget, but too much plotting makes me miserable.
In my plot guide I talked about the bare minimum of plotting, splitting your story into the beginning, middle, and end. but if that's still too much plotting, just try writing down your story idea following the questions; Who is it about? What do they want? How do they try getting it? Why can't they get it What happens next? and How does it end? or some variation of these questions you like best, or that fit your story best.
Pick any scene you've written that has another character in it, or that is in a place where there are people and write it again from a different perspective.
Iām not sure where else to ask this so Iām asking here
I am trying to write a book that brings to attention racism in modern day society and stuff but itās set in a fictional world
I really want this to be a main thing in my book showing the effects racism even casual racism from people who arenāt necessarily trying to be racist and how it can divide people and hurt people
the problem with this is that Iām white and though I want to bring this to attention in my story I donāt want to do it if I canāt write it accurately I have not experienced racism I hear about it people talk about what itās like and my adoptive siblings are all colored but that does not equal experience or anything
if anyone has any advice I would love to hear it! Even if the advice ends up being to find something else to write about ^^
That sounds like a really interesting thing to write about.
If you're really passionate about your idea, you can try to rework it, or re-imagine how to write something just as compelling.
For instance, if you had an idea to write from the pov of a black woman experience racism for the first time, but you don't know where to start because you're white, and you have no idea what this would look like first hand, or what it would feel like.
You could just ask your siblings to help you, or somebody else close to you who've gone through similar experiences, and use them as guides to help you write something that is correct and that isn't accidentally harmful.
or, you can rework your whole idea. Instead of writing from the woman's perspective, what if you wrote from the pov of a white child who doesn't understand why her mom wont let her talk to the little black girl in class, and cant comprehend the reasons her mom gives her; (ex) "You can't play with her because she's evil." and the child cannot grasp how the other girl with the pretty beads in her hair could be evil, and still goes to tell the girl she thinks the beads are pretty in class the next day and makes friends with her.
You could write about stuff like that, where the main character doesn't understand racism and is friends with someone of a different race. you can write about seeing someone your character loves get victimized and not understand why that is happening to their friend.
Think stuff like, the boy in the striped pajamas. You can still write a compelling and emotional story from the observational point of view, instead of the victims.
above all else, asking for help is key. Have your siblings read your work and go over what they think needs changed to better fit the things you don't understand.
12 Writing Exercises to help develop your character and their voice.
Editors note - There's a lot of boring writers drivel. So, to spare you from the headache if you're not interested, your characters individual voices and personalities are important for engaging stories and interesting plots. You can skip down to the end for the exercises.
Think about the people you know, the people you love. What's one thing they have in common, besides the obvious? They're all uniquely different. Everyone in the world is different in some way, even in media. Books and movies all have unique sounding characters that are different from each other. In Harry Potter, for example, All of the characters have their own voice, even the Weasley twins are different in their own ways.
Complex and unique characters that sound different, interact and speak differently, make for engaging books and dynamics.
I don't know anybody who would want to read a 50,000 word novel about two boring characters, who're exactly alike, and talk in the same monotonous tone. You can have a character who is "boring." who speaks monotonously and still have an interesting novel that people would read.
Having different characters who come together to create funny, interesting, or weird dynamics makes for a readable piece. Take your monotonous character, by themselves, they're kind of boring. They're not engaging to follow. But, introducing different characters to come and interact with your "boring" character, creates funny and memorable dynamics.
Think the anime Saiki K, or Veronica Sawyer from Heathers. If you took only those two characters, and stripped away all of the background characters, they wouldn't make for very interesting stories. Saiki would be happy, living his days in peace and quiet. Veronica would just be a normal edgy high school girl. But if you bring the side characters back, you bring the story and their conflicts back. Saiki goes back to being annoyed by his weird and goofy friends, wishing for peace and quiet. Veronica goes back to being tormented by JD and the group dynamic in the Heathers clique.
These stories utilize background characters to create conflict in their main characters' lives, and makes fun and interesting stories and dynamics with them.
Without further ado, here are 12 exercises to help you develop your characters, and get you thinking.
Ask your character what they want, and have them monologue about it.
Think about who, in your life, does your character remind you of.
Ask yourself, What does my character want, and what does my character need? How do they conflict with each other, and how does this affect my story?
A good exercise to help you write characters interacting, and practice dialogue is to do the ABCD exercise.Ā
The ABCD exercise is writing a full page, or 500 words, of dialogue between two characters, character a and character b, talking about what they think character c thinks of character d. Then, write another page depicting how character c actually interacts with character d.
Write journal entries from the pov of your character.
Think about your character's habits, nervous tics, or tells, and write out a page where they do those things.
Think about something your character holds dear to them, and give the item a backstory.
Think about how your character interacts with other characters, and write a page for each interaction.Ā
Think about a belief or opinion your character has, and write a page of dialogue, where your character is explaining their belief, and why they believe in it, to another character.
Write a page about your character reminiscing, or talking, about a cherished memory from their past, or childhood.
Write a page of dialogue about character a telling character c about character b, whom c has never met before, what kind of things do they say? What do they think of b? Then write another page from character cās point of view, what are they thinking? How do their thoughts of b change? What do they think of character a? How do they imagine character a and bās relationship?
Write a page about a character being forced into a situation with their greatest fear. Then, if you want to go a step further, write a page of the same thing, but introduce another character that the first holds dear to them, or wants to protect.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I've struggled with it since starting to plot out my stories.
It doesn't matter if i have a prompt, or an idea, i always go off track. I have a hard time sticking to that prompt, plot point, or idea, and it drives me absolutely bonkers.
Recently, though. I have found a cool little trick that has helped me stay on track, and meet my word goals;
Whether you're writing a short story, a blurb, or a whole novel. Try to split it up into three parts; Beginning, Middle, and End.
Instead of the convoluted, and sometimes overstimulating plot line;
Splitting your plot into its three most important parts; Exposition, Climax, and Resolution. Is supposed to help you plan out your story easier, or in my case, lazier.
Next, think about what point of view you're going to write your story in. If you've already decided on what your pov, conflict, and genre are going to be, you can skip down to Plot Points, where i pick back up as splitting your plot.
1st person = from a characters perspective.
In first person, you're going to be using a lot of sensory words from the characters perspective; "I feel" - "I see" - "I hear" - "I taste" - "I smell" This point of view also means restricting a lot of information to your character.
For instance, if you're writing from the pov of a child. This child wouldn't know the cookie jar is on top of the fridge, because they're not tall enough to see what's up there. So, they would have to get this information in a different way. You could make them accidentally see the cookie jar, but then you have to consider; Do they know it's a cookie jar? Does it stand out enough for it to grab their attention? If no, you could introduce a secondary character, like a parent, who gets a cookie for the child. Now the child knows it's a cookie jar.
2nd person = Telling a story to the reader, and directly involving them in it.
In the second person, you're writing from the narrator's perspective, but you're also addressing the reader, or talking directly to them. In this pov, you're telling the reader how they should be experiencing the story, by using sensory words like; "You feel" - "You see" - "You hear" - "You taste" - "You smell"
Pov's from the second person perspective goes great with unreliable narrators. You get to choose what information you tell the reader, and what information the reader has to find for themselves.
3rd person = Telling a story about someone or thing.
In the 3rd person, you have a lot more creative control. You get to pick which character's you're observing, and sort of play with them like dolls in a doll house. I think this is the most popular point of view and is incredibly versatile, using sensory language like; "She feels" - "He saw" - "They hear" - "It tasted" - "She's smelling"
Genre and Subgenre
Now. Deciding your pov is as simple as deciding what you're going to be writing, and for this, i like to decide what my conflict and genre are going to be. Sometimes it's as simple as picking horror, then deciding you like the slasher trope, because you want to write about a killer on the loose. Now you already have your conflict; There's a killer on the loose, and so and so need to escape.
I like to do this by drawing inspiration from other creators; From that book i read yesterday, or that movie i saw, or i just really like this genre.
Once you have your genre, look into its subgenre's. In horror, you have; Slasher, Supernatural, Monster, or Zombie. The conflicts in those are pretty easy to discern, Slasher = Killer on the loose - Supernatural = There's a spooky ghost in here - Monster = There's a spooky monster trying to kill me - Zombie = It's an apocalypse and i need to survive.
Draw Inspiration from other Creators
But it's always okay to draw inspiration from other creators; Junji Ito, for example, has a book called Gyo. Its a horror story about fish growing legs and crawling on land. You can take that concept and create your own horror story about fish growing legs.
Once you have your conflict; There's fish growing legs, coming on land, and eating people. Try to ask yourself; What do i want to tell the reader? What do i want to say in my story?
For example, if i wanted to write a short horror story about fish growing legs, and coming on land, and i decided i wanted to make the reader be more conscious about throwing away plastic. I would probably have a better time writing in the 2nd perspective, because my short story is meant to address the reader, and make them uncomfortable about throwing plastic in the ocean.
Plot Points
Finally, after we've figured out our genre, conflict, and pov. It's time to go back to our plot columns.
I know that when it comes time for me to decide plot points, I'm always at my wits end. I HATE figuring out what i want my plot points to be. I'm awful at figuring out the big changes in my plot, and sadly, i don't really have a solution for that yet. But, all this stuff I'm telling you has made it a lot easier for me to work on this.
First, how do you want to start your story? No, not what scene you want to start on, HOW are you going to start your story? Are you going to start with a monologue? Are you going to start with a description? How about some dialogue? Or a flashback? A departure? A character description?
This can be one of the first things you can write in your beginning section.
For example;
Then, think about what you want to happen next. Write as many plot points in each section as you want, use prompts, or random scenes you've discarded in the past. Fill it up with as many prompts as you're happy with;
When you start writing, start from your first plot point, make a word goal for that specific scene, and write it. When you're finished with that scene, move onto the next plot point, until you've written all of them.
Once you're done writing your major scenes, go back and edit everything so they puzzle together. If you want to add more stuff in between scenes, now you have guidelines on where and how your new scenes should start and end, so you're technically just filling in the blanks.
