OCs and Character Building

A blog dedicated to sharing your OC's. Submit your OC for a critique! Character Building tips are reblogged, and feel free to ask if you have any specific questions.

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PLEASE READ AND REBLOG!!!!!

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your Dr’s office, the check-out girl at the market, everyone you run across. Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It’s a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won’t stick around. After a few seconds, all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won’t want that. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there. This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.

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I don’t care what your blog theme is, this can save someone’s life and needs to be spread

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Very important facts! Thanks!

[thewritersarchive]

This is an ultimate masterlist of many resources that could be helpful for writers. I apologize in advance for any not working links. Check out the ultimate writing resource masterlist here (x) and my “novel” tag here (x).

✑ PLANNING

Outlining & Organizing

For the Architects: The Planning Process

Rough Drafts

How do you plan a novel?

Plot Development: Climax, Resolution, and Your Main Character

Plotting and Planing

I Have An Idea for a Novel! Now What?

Choosing the Best Outline Method

How to Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method

Effectively Outlining Your Plot

Conflict and Character within Story Structure

Outlining Your Plot

Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets

✑ INSPIRATION

Finding story ideas

Choosing ideas and endings

When a plot isn’t strong enough to make a whole story

Writing a story that’s doomed to suck

How to Finish What You Start: A Five-Step Plan for Writers

Finishing Your Novel

Finish Your Novel

How to Finish Your Novel when You Want to Quit

How To Push Past The Bullshit And Write That Goddamn Novel: A Very Simple No-Fuckery Writing Plan

✑ PLOT

In General

25 Turns, Pivots and Twists to Complicate Your Story

The ABCs (and Ds and Es) of Plot Development

Originality Is Overrated

How to Create a Plot Outline in Eight Easy Steps

Finding Plot: Idea Nets

The Story Goal: Your Key to Creating a Solid Plot Structure

Make your reader root for your main character

Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense

Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot

The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations

Adding Subplots to a Novel

Weaving Subplots into a Novel

7 Ways to Add Subplots to Your Novel

Crafting a Successful Romance Subplot

How to Improve your Writing: Subplots and Subtext

Understanding the Role of Subplots

How to Use Subtext in your Writing

The Secret Life of Subtext

How to Use Subtext

Beginning

Creating a Process: Getting Your Ideas onto Paper (And into a Story)

Why First Chapters?

Starting with a Bang

In the Beginning

The Beginning of your Novel that isn’t the Beginning of your Novel

A Beginning from the Middle

Starting with a Bang

First Chapters: What To Include @ The Beginning Writer

23 Clichés to Avoid When Beginning Your Story

Start Writing Now

Done Planning. What Now?

Continuing Your Long-Format Story

How to Start a Novel 

100 best first lines from novels

The First Sentence of a Book Report

How To Write A Killer First Sentence To Open Your Book

How to Write the First Sentence of a Book

The Most Important Sentence: How to Write a Killer Opening

Hook Your Reader from the First Sentence: How to Write Great Beginnings

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing and the Red Hering

Narrative Elements: Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing and Suspense

Foreshadowing Key Details

Writing Fiction: Foreshadowing

The Literary Device of Foreshadowing

All About Foreshadowing in Fiction

Foreshadowing

Flashbacks and Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing — How and Why to Use It In Your Writing

Setting

Four Ways to Bring Settings to Life

Write a Setting for a Book

Writing Dynamic Settings

How To Make Your Setting a Character

Guide for Setting

5 Tips for Writing Better Settings

Building a Novel’s Setting

Ending

A Novel Ending

How to End Your Novel

How to End Your Novel 2

How to End a Novel With a Punch

How to End a Novel

How to Finish a Novel

How to Write The Ending of Your Novel

Keys to Great Endings

3 Things That End A Story Well

Ending a Novel: Five Things to Avoid

Endings that Ruin Your Novel

Closing Time: The Ending

✑ CHARACTER

Names

Behind the Name

Surname Meanings and Origins

Surname Meanings and Origins - A Free Dictionary of Surnames

Common US Surnames & Their Meanings

Last Name Meanings & Origins

Name Generators

Name Playground

Different Types of Characters

Ways To Describe a Personality

Character Traits Meme

Types of Characters

Types of Characters in Fiction

Seven Common Character Types

Six Types of Courageous Characters

Creating Fictional Characters (Masterlist)

Building Fictional Characters

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Character Building Workshop

Tips for Characterization

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills 

Males

Strong Male Characters

The History and Nature of Man Friendships

Friendship for Guys (No Tears!)

‘I Love You, Man’ and the rules of male friendship

Male Friendship

Understanding Male Friendship

Straight male friendship, now with more cuddling

Character Development

P.O.V. And Background

Writing a Character: Questionnaire

10 Days of Character Building

Getting to Know Your Characters

Character Development Exercises

✑ STYLE

Chapters

How Many Chapters is the Right Amount of Chapters?

The Arbitrary Nature of the Chapter

How Long is a Chapter?

How Long Should Novel Chapters Be?

Chapter & Novel Lengths 

Section vs. Scene Breaks

Dialogue 

The Passion of Dialogue

25 Things You Should Know About Dialogue

Dialogue Writing Tips

Punctuation Dialogue

How to Write Believable Dialogue

Writing Dialogue: The Music of Speech

Writing Scenes with Many Characters

It’s Not What They Say …

Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue

Speaking of Dialogue

Dialogue Tips

Interrupted Dialogue

Two Tips for Interrupted Dialogue

Show, Don’t Tell (Description)

“Tell” Makes a Great Placeholder

The Literary Merit of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Bad Creative Writing Advice

The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do

DailyWritingTips: Show, Don’t Tell

GrammarGirl: Show, Don’t Tell

Writing Style: What Is It?

Detail Enhances Your Fiction

Using Sensory Details

Description in Fiction

Using Concrete Detail

Depth Through Perception

Showing Emotions & Feelings

Character Description

Describing Your Characters (by inkfish7 on DeviantArt)

Help with Character Development

Creating Characters that Jump Off the Page

Omitting Character Description

Introducing Your Character(s): DON’T

Character Crafting

Writer’s Relief Blog: “Character Development In Stories And Novels”

Article: How Do You Think Up Your Characters?

5 Character Points You May Be Ignoring

List of colors, hair types and hairstyles

List of words to use in a character’s description 

200 words to describe hair

How to describe hair

Words used to describe the state of people’s hair

How to describe your haircut

Hair color sharts

Four Ways to Reveal Backstory

Words Used to Describe Clothes

Flashbacks

Using Flashbacks in Writing

Flashbacks by All Write

Using Flashback in Fiction

Fatal Backstory

Flashbacks as opening gambit

Don’t Begin at the Beginning

Flashbacks in Books

TVTropes: Flashback

Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: Flashback Techniques in Fiction

3 Tips for Writing Successful Flashbacks

The 5 Rules of Writing Effective Flashbacks

How to Handle Flashbacks In Writing

Flashbacks and Foreshadowing

Reddit Forum: Is a flashback in the first chapter a good idea?

Forum Discussing Flackbacks

P.O.V

You, Me, and XE - Points of View

What’s Your Point of View?

Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid “Stepping Out of Character”

How to Start Writing in the Third Person

The Opposite Gender P.O.V.

LANGUAGE

 How To Say Said

200 Words Instead of Said

Words to Use Instead of Said

A List of Words to Use Instead of Said

Alternatives to “Walk”

60 Synonyms for “Walk”

✑ USEFUL WEBSITES/LINKS

Grammar Monster

Google Scholar

GodChecker

Tip Of My Tounge

Speech Tags

Pixar Story Rules

Written? Kitten!

TED Talks

DarkCopy

Family Echo

Some Words About Word Count

How Long Should My Novel Be?

The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test

Writer’s “Cheat Sheets”

Last but not least, the most helpful tool for any writer out there is Google!

[writingtipsandtricks]

How would you correctly develop and describe the actions of someone with severe schizophrenia? No matter how much research I do I can't really seem to get it write :/

Best thing I can recommend is to find and speak to people who actually have schizophrenia and see what they have to say. I know there are people on tumblr who experience it.

Since you’ve already researched it, that’s the best I can recommend.

If anyone who follows this blog and has schizophrenia feels comfortable speaking about it, feel free to either reply/reblog this post with your experience OR you may send an ask on anon addressing your experiences and I’ll post it.

Hope this was helpful.-Amanda

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Not much about him, without spamming a ton of info. But let’s make it basic.

His name is David Mallic, he is around 24-25 ish. He is a killer, both for fun, and as a job. Mysterious events took over his past as he was a uppity little rich boy as a kid, but his house burned down and his parents remains were there, but he himself was missing.

Overall, he fights with his sickle as you see. And has vials of liquids he makes that are emotion enhancers, this can be anything from anger, depression, love, sadnesses, lust, you name it.

His emotional state is a mess. On the outside layer he is a asshole, who cusses and swears and hates people. Deep down though he actually is quite protective of people, if they get close. He is fearful of rejection of close people. And easily hurt and upset, and has a bad case of anxiety.

So I’m curious at what you think!

Oh!! He looks very nice so far but some questions!!- - - where did he get the vials from? - Was there someone that guided him during the “mysterious events” from his past? Maybe they gave him the vials or taught him how to make it? - Why does he need the vials? For his enemies to throw them off or for himself? - The bright red on his clothes make him look like a target which may not make sense because you mentioned that his job was a killer? Maybe tone the red to a deeper color or have a separate design for his killing job? One last thing!! He looks very good so far! His design is very nice and thought out especially the sickle!! 😆😆Heuheueh - Mod Avaca!!

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":3ccccccc" gross what a furry

3:-Mod Al

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*makes an oc just to get art advice from this blog*

:3ccccccc-Mod Al

[betterprompts]

Any tips for writing a mute person? This is my first time writing one and I don't know if there are certain things I should avoid or not. Thanks!

Oh, I’m actually rewriting a book with a mute main character right now!

If your story is set in the real world, I definitely reccomend reading some stuff written by mute people, some stuff about sign language, and possibly some stuff about non-mute sign language users.

It might be helpful to read some of that even if your story isn’t set in the real world. Think about ways in which you do (and don’t) communicate without using words–or without using sounds, depending on what kind of mutism your character experiences.

There’s a couple different types of mutism, and a quick google search should help you get them straight and understand which one applies to your character.

I know writing advice doesn’t talk much about the technicalities of writing (generally favoring concepts) but one thing I remember from writing the original is that actually, no joke, sometimes I would screw up and write a line of dialogue. So stay on your toes, in that regard.

Hope this helps!

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i dont really have any info but i saw this blog and i thought why not. her design isnt finale just wanted to know what i should improve and such!

Looks good so far! First off, a really minor thing is her stockings. I would recommend changing the hue to a darker version of the hair, to create a sense of continuity. From the looks of things, she has somewhat of a cool-toned palette so I would stick with that. If you want to add more depth, make her tattoo follow the curvature of her nose to help it look less flat. For the skirt, I would recommend starting it at her hips as apposed to her waist to make her frame seem a little longer. Thank you for your submission! -Mod Al 

- Mod Avaca

[betterprompts]

Oh, sorry. Same anon. I meant a better alternative to things I should avoid saying/doing with my story.

Ohh, okay. To be clear, I am cis. But I do know of some things to avoid. Try not to burden your character with being trans. It’s good to include trans characters, but as cis writers, trans people’s struggles don’t belong to us, and they’re not for us to benefit from. Don’t write a story all about how hard it is to be trans and the emotional turmoil it causes your character. That’s not your story to tell.

I do reccomend that you read some stuff written by trans people, and maybe do a little research into trans history. The Digital Trans Archives have articles and historical data of all kinds (although you need to be aware of what is written by vs about trans people) though it skews more towards transfeminine than transmasculine people.

Hopefully some of this helps. You can also check out http://diversitycrosscheck.com/ which has some cool resources on writing LGBT characters!

[ocsupport]

Oc support!!

Hello, we are here to support oc’s!! Share and submit for critic or support!! Character building tips are on this blog as well as many other things that relate to them!!

[characterdevelopmentforwriters]

How does your character react when someone is acting condescending toward them?

[characterdevelopmentforwriters]

How often, if ever, does your character use idioms?

[betterprompts]

Do you have any tips for writing cruel characters? I'm trying very hard to come up with reasoning for this character's cruelty, but I'm having trouble thinking up what kind of past leads to somebody becoming cruel enough to become a street legend feared by even the most well armed gangs. Any tips or advice? Sorry for bothering you, also your blog is very nice!

Aw, I’m glad you like my blog!

Writing cruel characters is actually something I have a lot of trouble with, especially anti-heroes. It’s hard to strike a balance between apathetic and maniacal. This is a tip that might not help everyone, but you should think about your character’s alignment. If you’ve never seen an alignment chart, here’s a link to a pic (or you can just google D&D alignment chart).

Obviously there’s plenty of room for variation, but if your character is chaotic evil, as opposed to lawful evil, that changes the kind of cruelty they might exact on victims/bystanders/underlings.

For example, a character who genuines relishes violence and derives pleasure from it might be more likely to be chaotic. But if they’re orderly about this vice, they might be more lawful.

Another tip is to think about what can motivate cruelty in real life. Have you ever been cruel to someone (probably in a small way). Maybe you shut someone down when you didn’t like their idea, or said something that you knew might be hurtful.

Sometimes people can be cruel out of a genuine sense of benevolence (the idea that they are “doing what’s best for someone”). Sometimes people are aware that they aren’t actually doing what’s best for the person in question, but they are willing to lie to themselves, or lie to others.

A character who lost their parents to crime might think that they can exact justice to clean up the streets, and therefore protect citizens. But the allure of power might lead them to act in a brutal and merciless way, forcing people to bend to their will. 

When thinking about what makes your character cruel, my last piece of advice is to think very closely about what they are most afraid of, especially what they are most afraid of losing. Their life? Legacy? Pride? Dignity? This may have a bearing on both their past, and their future actions.

Hope this helps!