Fuck Yeah, OC Development!

This is a blog dedicated to developing original characters. Oftentimes OCs fall into the trap of being underdeveloped--or worse, Mary Sues. But fear not! Every OC has potential. We'll be giving tips on how to fleshen out your characters and make them more realistic. We'll also be answering any character development-related questions, and you can even submit a character for an OC review. Feel free to send in any tips of your own. Good luck, fellow writers! We track the tag fuckyeahocdevelopment.

[vaneluzimoura]

By Sonali:

I’ve been to a couple of get-togethers/workshops where one of the ice-breakers is ‘interview and introduce’. The idea is to pair up with someone you don’t know already, spend a couple of minutes finding out about their lives, and then introduce them to the rest of the group. What I find intriguing is the bits of information that people remember or forget. While some participants remembered everything about their partner, others forgot key facts like the name of the place where the person worked, but remembered how many kilometres they travel to work each day and how long it takes them to get there! Still others remembered a bit of their work philosophy, or their hobby. This got me thinking about fictional characters, and what readers are going to remember about them. From the presentations, it is clear that the receiver remembers information that is […]

[nmmnick-blog]

Strong Female Characters

No one likes to read about a character who is paper-thin. Unfortunately, in literature,  some authors have a bad habit of giving their male characters complete back stories and rich personalities but limiting their female characters to a list  of tropes and stereotypes.

According to the Internet, there’s a list of very specific traits that a female character needs to be strong. This list includes:

She can never cry.

She can’t be feminine.

She has to be completely emotionless.

She can’t rely on anyone.

She can never fall in love.

If you notice, these are all character traits that are often associated with male characters. Men don’t cry, they don’t show emotions, they don’t need help. Men are associated with being big and strong and masculine, while women are associated with being small and weak and feminine (These are what the kids these days call ‘gender roles.’)  Men are strong and women are weak, and the only way to make a strong female character is to make her more manly.

This is bullshit.

So here’s the thing. Your female character doesn’t have to fall into these stereotypes to be considered strong. She can wear dresses and have a boyfriend and cry and still be strong. So here’s a better list of what you need to have a strong female character:

She must change and grow over time.

That’s it. Nothing else matters. When reading a novel, we as readers want a character who is like a real person, and real people change over time. What we don’t want is to read about the stoic badass spy who stops the bad guys and walks away, taking nothing from her experience and the novel ends exactly the way she started.

Your female characters can be feminine, they can be masculine, or they can be anything in between—it seriously does not matter. If someone tries to tell you your character is weak because of her opinion on the color pink, go ahead and punch that person in the face.

[writerswritecompany]

[my-my-herecomethefuzz-deactivat]

Advice for scriptwriters on the descriptions and personalities of female characters.

[suetic-no-yabou-deactivated2014]

Here is something.

This is really useful when you are trying to describe your characters appearance literally.

[rainyrealms-deactivated20150906]

Another great article written by J - it’s exactly what the title indicates.  :)

[fuckyeahocdevelopment]

I wanted to ask a question about writing limps: I have an idea that an arc villain, who's a prideful warrior-tyrant, to be injured enough by a hero that he's stuck with a limp for an unknown amount of time. I understand he would get frustrated, especially since his handicap leads him to seek a truce with the heroes, but what other effects do you think would occur? Is it right to assume that his army, who looked to him for power, would ditch him because of it? What would the heroes think?

About his army ditching him, it depends. It could make sense for an army to ditch their leader if they started to see him as becoming too weak or a danger to their group. It really depends on the army's ideas on power and war and honor, though. Some more forgiving/admiring groups might decide to keep him. It fully depends on how much they look up to him, and whether they believe he can still be a good leader.

It probably wouldn't make sense for an army to just ditch their leader for having a bad limp, unless they were extremely merciless. If he ended up having to make a truce with the heroes, then they might begin to see him as weak. When it comes to armies, especially on the villain's side, they hold things like honor very highly. If their leader was weak enough to have to get a truce with the heroes, what would they think of him?

As for the heroes, that also depends on you. It would make more sense for them not to care or believe that he deserved it, but some might feel pity for him. That really depends on the context and their ideals. If they have already sought a truce, depending, it would be possible for them to stop seeing him as an enemy and feel more pitiful. Unless they have a really bad history together, then the heroes probably wouldn't give him a second glance.

As for his characterization, a prideful tyrant to suddenly have a weakness and be abandoned by his group would probably be very angry. Prideful people don't usually get sad when their authority or talent is questioned- they'll most likely believe they've been wronged and seek vengeance. Maybe like, "They think I'm not good enough? I'll show them."

-SE

[reno-unlimited-deactivated20130]

Characterization

Explain your character’s personality.

What would your character do if he/she witnessed the death of their most loved?

If your character is from a different world/time period, explain their personalities if they where placed in this world.

What do you think your character likes to eat the most?

What is your character’s biggest fear?

Character’s biggest strength

What are the traits that you look up to in your character?

What are the traits you don’t like in your character?

Your character’s biggest flaw.

What are similarities/differences between you and your character.

Do you think your character is a man/woman magnet, or is their beauty more subtle?

Is your character artistic?

Is your character tough?

Make up some hobbies you think your character may enjoy.

Do you think your character is insecure in any way?

What makes your character jealous?

What makes them happy?

Has does your character’s past effect who they are now?

What do you think your character’s favorite type of music is?

Would you be friends with your character.

What is your favorite character’s favorite type of day?

Character’s preferred date night.

Character’s type of guy/girl?

Do you think your character is a rule-follower?

Do you feel like your character may regret something they’ve done?

[fuckyeahocdevelopment]

Do you review OC that aren't from any fandom but made for your own story?

Yes, we do.

-SE

[writeworld-blog]

anthony-fucking-stark asked: Hello, I’ve been following this blog for months and it has helped me very much. But now I have a question: do you have anything on how to write/roleplay a crazy -or insane- character?

[writeworld-blog]

You are gonna be so proud of me. I found you some awesome...

[thewritershelpers]

Beating Writer's Bane: This Is a Towel: Mental Disorders

[blankpagescriber-writingtips]

It’s a hard thing to do, but there are ways to make it easier. If you are trying to figure out their speech pattern, watch videos of people from that region and or age group talking. Research the accent!

If you are trying to figure out the character’s individual speaking voice, such as their tone...

[legit-writing-tips]

The Table Theory of Characterization

http://fantasy-faction.com/2013/the-table-theory-of-characterization

[anoceanofstoriesdd]

100 Positive character traits

Read More

[fuckyeahocdevelopment]

OC reviews are closed for now. We have a whole bunch in the inbox and will try our best to finish them soon! -SE

[fuckyeahocdevelopment]

I loved the glasses bit! I wore glasses for ten years, so I think this is accurate (wish I'd had the "fashion" tips though) I'd like to add people with glasses could have a lazy eye (strabismus) People with strabismus also need glasses to fix their alignment. Without proper alignment, it's hard to concentrate and can cause the brain to not focus on one side of the face. Without glasses, one eye will wander, which causes more attention than the glasses. The lazy eye could work into OC development

This is very interesting! Thank you for sharing.

-SE

[legit-writing-tips]

Don’t use “Mary Sue litmus tests” to determine whether or not your character is a “Sue”. A few years ago, I put my (extremely unrealistic) characters through one and they came out great. I was so relieved! I thought there was nothing wrong with them.

The shame still hasn’t faded away.

Rather...

[lunarblue21]

Writing Advice

When creating a love interest, it stands the character in good stead if they can stand alone from the person they’re meant to be with, so that they are their own person. If a love interest isn’t truly a person in and of themselves the connection between themselves and their partner won’t seem as genuine since the other person can’t stand alone apart from their love interest.

Just a thought on writing characters and characterisation: determination of a conflict, whether internal or external, that is central to a character’s personality and core beliefs is very revealing.

If one is able, try to keep description – be it of clothes, how a person looks, scenery – down to at least three sentences, more or less, though five sentences is sometimes all right. However, I’ve learnt three sentences of description works best because it doesn’t bog the writing down (since too much description often smacks of purple prose) but instead manages to give you an overall idea of an item without being too distracting.