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The dining scene in the beginning of War Storm when they had just arrived to Montfort was iconic and nobody can change my mind

#red queen #war storm #mare barrow #cal calore #evangeline samos #anabel lerolan #marecal #vaveyard

thecharacterchick

Your Character’s Personality

Personality is the most important thing about your character.

So, whenever I see character sheets, most people just put a little paragraph for that section. If you’re struggling and don’t know what your character should say or do, what decisions they should make, I guarantee you that this is the problem.

You know your character’s name, age, race, sexuality, height, weight, eye color, hair color, their parents’ and siblings’ names. But these are not the things that truly matter about them.

Traits:

pick traits that don’t necessarily go together. For example, someone who is controlling, aggressive and vain can also be generous, sensitive and soft-spoken. Characters need to have at least one flaw that really impacts how they interact with others. Positive traits can work as flaws, too. It is advised that you pick at least ten traits

people are complex, full of contradictions, and please forgive me if this makes anyone uncomfortable, but even bullies can be “nice” people. Anyone can be a “bad” person, even someone who is polite, kind, helpful or timid can also be narcissistic, annoying, inconsiderate and a liar. People are not just “evil” or “good”

Beliefs:

ideas or thoughts that your character has or thinks about the world, society, others or themselves, even without proof or evidence, or which may or may not be true. Beliefs can contradict their values, motives, self-image, etc. For example, the belief that they are an awesome and responsible person when their traits are lazy, irresponsible and shallow. Their self-image and any beliefs they have about themselves may or may not be similar/the same. They might have a poor self-image, but still believe they’re better than everybody else

Values:

what your character thinks is important. Usually influenced by beliefs, their self-image, their history, etc. Some values may contradict their beliefs, wants, traits, or even other values. For example, your character may value being respect, but one of their traits is disrespectful. It is advised you list at least two values, and know which one they value more. For example, your character values justice and family. Their sister tells them she just stole $200 from her teacher’s wallet. Do they tell on her, or do they let her keep the money: justice, or family? Either way, your character probably has some negative feelings, guilt, anger, etc., over betraying their other value

Motives:

what your character wants. It can be abstract or something tangible. For example, wanting to be adored or wanting that job to pay for their father’s medication. Motives can contradict their beliefs, traits, values, behavior, or even other motives. For example, your character may want to be a good person, but their traits are selfish, manipulative, and narcissistic. Motives can be long term or short term. Everyone has wants, whether they realize it or not. You can write “they don’t know what they want,” but you should know. It is advised that you list at least one abstract want

Recurring Feelings:

feelings that they have throughout most of their life. If you put them down as a trait, it is likely they are also recurring feelings. For example, depressed, lonely, happy, etc.

Self Image:

what the character thinks of themselves: their self-esteem. Some character are proud of themselves, others are ashamed of themselves, etc. They may think they are not good enough, or think they are the smartest person in the world. Their self-image can contradict their beliefs, traits, values, behavior, motives, etc. For example, if their self-image is poor, they can still be a cheerful or optimistic person. If they have a positive self-image, they can still be a depressed or negative person. How they picture themselves may or may not be true: maybe they think they’re a horrible person, when they are, in fact, very considerate, helpful, kind, generous, patient, etc. They still have flaws, but flaws don’t necessarily make you a terrible person

Behavior:

how the character’s traits, values, beliefs, self-image, etc., are outwardly displayed: how they act. For example, two characters may have the trait “angry” but they all probably express it differently. One character may be quiet and want to be left alone when they are angry, the other could become verbally aggressive. If your character is a liar, do they pause before lying, or do they suddenly speak very carefully when they normally don’t? Someone who is inconsiderate may have issues with boundaries or eat the last piece of pizza in the fridge when they knew it wasn’t theirs. Behavior is extremely important and it is advised you think long and hard about your character’s actions and what exactly it shows about them

Demeanor:

their general mood and disposition. Maybe they’re usually quiet, cheerful, moody, or irritable, etc.

Posture:

a secondary part of your character’s personality: not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Posture is how the character carries themselves. For example, perhaps they swing their arms and keep their shoulders back while they walk, which seems to be the posture of a confident person, so when they sit, their legs are probably open. Another character may slump and have their arms folded when they’re sitting, and when they’re walking, perhaps they drag their feet and look at the ground

Speech Pattern:

a secondary part of your character’s personality: not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Speech patterns can be words that your character uses frequently, if they speak clearly, what sort of grammar they use, if they have a wide vocabulary, a small vocabulary, if it’s sophisticated, crude, stammering, repeating themselves, etc. I personally don’t have a very wide vocabulary, if you could tell

Hobbies:

a secondary part of your character’s personality: not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Hobbies can include things like drawing, writing, playing an instrument, collecting rocks, collecting tea cups, etc.

Quirks:

a secondary part of your character’s personality, not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Quirks are behaviors that are unique to your character. For example, I personally always put my socks on inside out and check the ceiling for spiders a few times a day

Likes:

a secondary part of your character’s personality, not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Likes and dislikes are usually connected to the rest of their personality, but not necessarily. For example, if your character likes to do other people’s homework, maybe it’s because they want to be appreciated

Dislikes:

a secondary part of your character’s personality, not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Likes and dislikes can also contradict the rest of their personality. For example, maybe one of your character’s traits is dishonest, but they dislike liars

History:

your character’s past that has key events that influence and shape their beliefs, values, behavior, wants, self-image, etc. Events written down should imply or explain why they are the way they are. For example, if your character is distrustful, maybe they were lied to a lot by their parents when they were a child. Maybe they were in a relationship for twenty years and found out their partner was cheating on them the whole time. If their motive/want is to have positive attention, maybe their parents just didn’t praise them enough and focused too much on the negative

On Mental and Physical Disabilities or Illnesses

if your character experienced a trauma, it needs to have an affect on your character. Maybe they became more angry or impatient or critical of others. Maybe their beliefs on people changed to become “even bullies can be ‘nice’ people: anyone can be a ‘bad’ person”

people are not their illness or disability: it should not be their defining trait. I have health anxiety, but I’m still idealistic, lazy, considerate, impatient and occasionally spiteful; I still want to become an author; I still believe that people are generally good; I still value doing what make me feel comfortable; I still have a positive self-image; I’m still a person. You should fill out your character’s personality at least half-way before you even touch on the possibility of your character having a disability or illness

Generally everything about your character should connect, but hey, even twins that grew up in the same exact household have different personalities; they value different things, have different beliefs. Maybe one of them watched a movie that had a huge impact on them.

Not everything needs to be explained. Someone can be picky or fussy ever since they were little for no reason at all. Someone can be a negative person even if they grew up in a happy home.

I believe this is a thought out layout for making well-rounded OCs, antagonists and protagonists, whether they’re being created for a roleplay or for a book. This layout is also helpful for studying Canon Characters if you’re looking to accurately roleplay as them or write them in fanfiction or whatever.

I’m really excited to post this, so hopefully I didn’t miss anything important…

If you have any questions, feel free to send a message.

- Chick

1000storyideas

Creating plots with the zigzag method

I’ve learned this method years ago and I’ve been using it ever since. The zigzag plot creator starts like this:

An crescent zigzag.

You can have as many up and downs as you want. I’ve drawn six to keep it simple. Alright, this zigzag is your storyline and every corner is an important event that will change everything:

Every down represents a bad thing happening to your main characters, taking them further away from their goal. Every up is a good event, taking them closer to their goal:

So, when the zigzag goes down, something bad must happen. When the zigzag goes up, something good must happen. The reason why we drew a crescent zigzag is because every down must be worse than the previous, and every up must be better than the previous. As the zigzag advances, events become more serious and relevant.

Let’s apply the zigzag method. My storyline is a detective trying to catch a serial killer in a futuristic city. Minutes later, this is what I’ve got:

Start: Detective, our protagonist, is just promoted

Down #1: Mass suicide happens in town, detective gets the case, the whole town thinks it might have been a religious suicide act, but detective suspects that someone single-handed killed all those people

Up #1: Detective finds clue about a possible killer

Down #2: A bigger mass murder happens, a true massacre, it’s a definitely a murder

Up #2: Detective finds the killer’s trail

Down #3: Thinking he is ahead of time, close to catching the killer, detective ends up dead in another mass murder

Up #3: Because of his notes and discoveries, the police is able to find the killer before they leave town

From this point on you can play with zigzag as much as you want. For example, changing the orientation of the zigzag for a bad ending:

Lots of ups and downs:

Or just a few:

It’s up to you (see what I did there?).

You can plot any type of story with the zigzag method. It’s a visual and easy process for a very complex task.

aclassyrogue

I think the biggest thing is to have a balance in the plot. The story can’t be all perfect and all good things for the character. That would be boring. And it can’t be all bad things because it’d be too depressing.

themusiccove

Albums with no skips

Here’s a list of amazing albums that are so good they don’t really have any skips in the middle. I’m mostly into pop and alternative so I’m definitely biased.

1. Melodrama - Lorde

This is an amazing synth pop and electropop album that is, in my opinion, really underrated. Lyrically, the album documents Lorde’s emotional state following her break up. Real good alternative album. 11 tracks. Definitely a nighttime album.

2. Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves

If you’re into country, you’re really gonna love this album. Even if you don’t like country music, this album will impress you. It’s definitely very different from the usual country music we see and has elements of daft punk and electronic music as well. Really chill. Ideal for some afternoon chill.

3. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse

This is a really old album but it’s still a gem. Definitely one of the best break up albums I’ve heard. She cusses like a sailor but the production sounds retro and elegant. It’s an album that’s definitely gonna make you dance, or at least tap your feet.

4. Suncity - Khalid

So this is not an album really and is an EP, but it’s still great nonetheless. He has some really good vocals and the production is amazing. Really hypnotic. Lyrically, the album is a tribute to his hometown of El Paso. Not too long, so it’s good to listen to either while walking or doing some work.

5. Ultraviolence - Lana Del Rey

This is definitely, by far, the best and most cohesive concept album I’ve heard. It’s 11 tracks but a track called ‘Black Beauty’ is on the deluxe edition. Undoubtedly a nighttime album, it’s pretty psychedelic and has a lot of strings like violins and electric guitars. One of her best works.

6. Thank U, Next - Ariana Grande

Her best work to date. No question about that.

Now along with these, here are a few albums that are really good but have a few songs that aren’t really that great.

1. Reputation - Taylor Swift

This album gets a lot of hate from old school swifties, but I personally think that this is a really experimental album for her. The first six songs, from …Ready For It to Look What You Made Me Do is definitely the best, most energetic part of the album. Highlights include Delicate (best song off the album), I Did Something Bad, End Game, Don’t Blame Me, and New Year’s Day

2. Pure Heroine - Lorde

This was her debut album and was really, really good. Production is really minimalistic and lyricism is on point. From fame and popularity to wealth and love, girlfriend tackles a lot of topics. As a teenager, this album is really relatable.

3. Lust For Life - Lana Del Rey

This was her latest album and it’s pretty good. It is a little longer than I’d like because of a few skippable songs, but it still maintains its cohesiveness and has a lot of reverb and atmospheric production. It’s also her most optimistic record. She’s not happy, but she isn’t really that sad anymore.

4. A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Coldplay

They’re definitely one of the best bands out there. I know this is an old album but I had to put it here. Real great sound and has some amazing songs. There are a few songs that I didn’t really vibe with, but the album is still worth a listen.

bitchesofostwick

me: okay time to jump into the action scene

me: don’t say it

me: … “SUDDENLY”

mlwangbooks

My go-to fixes for this:

but before [Character] could [verb], ACTION!

[Character] was about to [verb] when ACTION!

but no sooner had [something] than ACTION!

but just as [something boring], ACTION!

BANG!/CRASH!/BOOM! ACTION!

“Character dialogue starting some sentence about–” ACTION!

Character’s internal monologue starting some sent– ACTION!

Narrator starting some– ACTION!

… ACTION!

Why extend your readers the courtesy of a ‘suddenly’ except to vary sentence structure?

lets-get-fictional

Do you have any tips for writing enemies to lovers?

Hi, love! Thanks for your question and your patience<3 I’m currently writing somethingsimilar to this, so I hope my experience can help you here!

Enemies-to-lovers is a popular trope, but it’s often treatedcarelessly by writers – especially TV/movie writers who rush through thetransition to fit a single movie or episode arc. There’s nothing worseyou can do in this situation than to rush your arc. Falling in love isalready a time-consuming plotline – but transitioning from enemies, who arealready shutting each other out, to lovers? The quicker it happens, theless believable it becomes.

I have a lot of notes on how to write enemies to lovers, sobear with me as I list them out.

Writing Enemies to Lovers: The Basic Ingredients

1. Give them some similar traits.

No matter what, two people can’t fall in love if they don’trelate on some level. The first step to creating possible love interestsis to find where they’ll connect. Are they a hero and a villain? Evil and good? Night and day? I bet they both love animals. Maybe they’re both way into politics. Maybe they share a commonenemy. Maybe they’re both neat freaks or a bit sassy or super gay or lovethe same music. It can be a few important things or a bunch of superficialthings – just make sure they have something that can tie themtogether.

2. Put them on the same side of something.

When two people are mortal foes, it can be hard for them tosee each other in any other light. Bringing in a common enemy (ananti-hero, a natural disaster, a person in power), or a common interest (amutual friend, a school play, a moral cause), can land foes on a teamtogether. This forces them to become aware of each other’s strengths, andto consider (and worry about) each other’s weaknesses. This is perfectfodder for an eyebrows-raised, “Hey, they don’t suck at this particularthing,” moment.

3. Get them alone.

With other people watching (especiallyfriends/coworkers/allies), little groundwork can be made for your twohate-lovers. If you get your characters alone together, you’re given abounty of opportunities to bond them, including but not limited to: actualconversations, accidental (or faux-accidental) physical contact, the sneakymoment of checking each other out, etc. etc. etc. People are differentwhen you get them away from their friends – less extreme, less rowdy, lessunreachable. If you have to trap your characters in an elevator theold-fashioned way, damn it, you’re the only one who can do it.

4. Let them fight their feelings.

If these two are truly enemies, there isn’t going to be amoment of, “Oh, I like them. Huh. Neato.” Oh, no. There will be internal backlash – they will beat their emotions back with abroom, and deny them to anyone who asks. There will be extra hatefulglares, more middle fingers, and basically anything they can do to remindthemselves that they don’t like this person. If you show thisinternal conflict, it both (a) makes the feelings seem real, organic, and (b)creates a more realistic transition from hate to love.

5. Love can sound like hate.

There’s a reason people say indifference is the trueopposite of love. When your two enemies start to feel things foreach other, this will probably spark a lot of ranting, arguing, anddoor-slamming. It creates a fixation – you sit there and you stew andyou tell your friends, “Remember when they did thatstupid thing? Yeah. Screw them.” Your friends roll theireyes. When will you stop talking about this person? Just kiss themalready.

6. Sexual tension is a powerful tool.

If your characters experience sexual attraction, this is agreat way to accelerate their relationship against their will. It’s theage-old, “My mind says no but my body says yes,” dilemma. Yourcharacters can’t stand each other, or the image they have of each other, butthey’re attracted like magnets and can’t shake it. This can make for somepretty hot – or pretty hilarious – scenes.

7. Give them a moment of horrified realization.

Eventually, the feelings will grow strong enough that one orboth of them will have to sit there, probably on the bathroom floor a littlebit drunk with one sock on, and realize: “I love that f*cker.” It’llbe a scary moment for them. It’s not that they haven’t known it – theyjust have yet to accept that it’s something to deal with, until now. Thiscan be prompted by a dangerous situation, a shared activity, or a failed attemptat another romance – so when they really sit and think about it, theyknow. Then it becomes a question of either “how do I get rid of this?”or “how do I pursue this?”.

8. Try their hand at flirting.

Whether one or both characters have come to accept theirfeelings, someone’s gotta start flirting. A glancing touch across thearm; a small comment that could kind of be construed as amicable; a lingeringglance; that first peek at their enemy’s smile. Something cute and quickand immediately followed by an existential crisis will do in a pinch. Without this water-testing, readers won’t have any image of what thisrelationship will look like – and if it can succeed.

9. Craft the perfect kiss/hug/confession.

When the time is right, create an undeniable display ofattraction to transition into a new phase of their relationship:the “welp-we-both-like-each-other” phase, which comes right beforethe “we-decided-to-(stay-platonic/start-romancin’)” phase. The BigKiss/Confession is the most iconic climactic love scene, in which the twocharacters take a chance and become vulnerable with each other – and kiss, orsay, “I love you,” or do anything that can’t be construed in any otherway. Want to extend the drama? Interrupt them, or have it beone-sided, or let it turn into a fight until they decide, “Forget it, thiswas stupid.” Readers will swoon.

10. Finish up with an awkward adjustment period.

If and when your characters do enter a relationship, makesure it’s a little tentative at the beginning, to keep it realistic. Yourcharacters have made a huge shift in their dynamic – there will be somelingering arguments and love-hate, and maybe a bit of discomfort going publicwith their romance. Then come the usual growing pains of a new relationshipgetting serious – figuring out how to navigate each other’s flaws, learning tobe open with their feelings, dealing with unresolved fights from before theirrelationship. It won’t be perfect right away. That’s the beauty of it.

I hope this helps you, love! I adore love-haterelationships, and I hope you enjoy crafting your own enemies-to-lovers as muchas we’ll all love reading them :) Good luck!

– Mod Joanna ♥️

Ifyou need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

cirxe

my favourite headcanon is pureblood wizarding society being 110% okay with queerness. like, nobody talks about it or bothers to come out, because it’s just assumed you’re probably some shade of bisexual. the slytherin dorms don’t stop boys going into the girl’s rooms like in gryffindor because bruh, as if that’s going to do anything about the amount of sex anybody’s having. homophobia is just another reason why muggles suck.

my other favourite headcanon is draco’s giant ass crush on harry potter being the the longest-standing form of entertainment in the slytherin common room. drinking games (”take a shot every time malfoy mentions potter” “do I look like I want alcohol poisoning”). bets (“a galleon says malfoy’s up that tree so he can jump down dramatically when potter walks past” “no way, but I’ll bet the same he’ll mention his father while trying to flirt” “deal”). continued exasperation (“potter’s ass on that broom is going to cost us the quidditch cup. I don’t think malfoy’s even tried looking for the snitch yet.” “every fucking year this shit”).

my third favourite headcanon is a gay muggleborn from a loving-but-homophobic family walking in on this giant gay-loving mess. maybe they’re sorted into slytherin, maybe they just befriend the one slytherin who’s not a douchebag to muggleborns, but either way they end up spending time around them and their total lack of heterosexuality. girls publicly making out on the first day back after hols and everyone telling them they’re gross because merlin, we all know you saw her like two days ago, daphne. neverending ending jokes about potter’s dick and draco malfoy’s desire to sit on it. slytherins who don’t even like each other holding hands in the corridor when they go past homophobic muggleborns.

one day this poor muggleborn is hanging out with the slytherins and finally realises their sexuality is totally a-ok here, and they’re thrilled to the point where they interrupt the elaborate planning of a snape-centric shampoo intervention to blurt, I’M GAY. and the slytherins just look at them, totally unimpressed and kinda confused. one says, “yeah, and do you want a medal or something?” because they really don’t get how big a deal this is. another yells, “that reminds me! I heard parkinson fucked malfoy and guess whose name he moaned as he came” and everyone just simultaneously groans cos their quidditch chances against gryffindor are so fucked this year

thatwritergirlsblog

Writing ship-able couples

Here are some tips for writing relationships your readers can get behind:

1. Give them reasons to click

The two characters must have things in common - a hobby, a philosophy, a background. There has to be some element that connects them.

Your readers will root for relationships in which the characters fit together better than they would with others.

Also, make their traits compatible. Have them share some characteristics or have their strengths and weaknesses be complementary. Is the one hotheaded? Maybe the other keeps their cool well in situations of conflict.

There are endless possibilities. Just make sure there’s a reason these two people like/love each other.

2. Have them be vulnerable in front of each other

Personally, this is the best way to get me to love a couple.

Have them share secrets, open up about their feelings and tell each other things they haven’t told anyone. Have them cry in front of each other and comfort each other.

This can be taken to a whole new level by having them understand the other’s emotions even without speaking and already offer comfort. Keep in mind that this will probably only be possible with long-established couples.

And having them open up is also a great way for them to discover all the things they have in common/love about each other.

3. Build up the tension

I cannot emphasise this enough: DO NOT MAKE YOUR COUPLES GET TOGETHER TOO QUICKLY.

One of the best elements of a romantic subplot (or even main plot) is the tension. Your readers want to see the pining! They want the build-up.

And no, I’m not saying that you should introduce endless, petty obstacles. That can become tedious and appear forced.

Just give your characters time to sort through their feelings. Make them fall in love slowly. Have them be unsure. Insert SOME obstacles/conflicts.

Have them almost kiss a few times. Not all the time. Too many almost-kisses can become frustrating. But you should throw a few in there.

And, if you feel comfortable with it, add some sexual tension. Have them notice each other’s bodies and imagine what they’d like to do to each other (that sounds more explicit than I intended :) )

4. Write a healthy relationship

This could just be me and my rejection of unhealthy romances, but I will not root for abusive relationships.

Have your characters be kind to each other, support each other and truly care for each other.

If your characters are constantly putting each other down, physically/emotionally abusing each other or going against the other’s wishes, they’re not in a healthy relationship.

A great way to write a healthy relationship whilst still maintaining the tension, is to have the conflict in the relationship be external. Instead of having the conflict be due to internal struggles between the two characters, have obstacles enter from outside.

Your readers should want them to be together and for that, they should be good for each other.

5. Have their friends/family see their chemistry

I find it beyond adorable when two characters are still figuring out their feelings for each other, but the fact that they’re perfect for each other is crystal clear to everyone around them.

Have their friends tease them about the relationship. Have family members ask after the them. Have their loved ones conspire to get them to admit their feelings.

If your other characters are rooting for them, your readers will probably do so as well.

Plus, this means that the chemistry between the two characters is so strong that it’s obvious, which is always good for an exciting romance.

That’s all I’ve got for now. If you have any further questions about writing OTPs or any other aspect of writing, feel free to message me or pop me an ask.

Reblog if you found any of this useful. Comment with your own tips. Follow me for similar content.

bookandslugclub

Resource Dump: Creating Characters!

Primary Characters

Your Hero: Top Ten Rules

10 Traits of a Great Protagonist

4 Steps to Creating a Truly Active Protagonist

20 Tips for Creating Relatable Protagonists

How to Center your Story

How to Create Unforgettable Protagonists

25 Things You Should Know About Protagonists

Creating Memorable Characters

Creating Strong Female Protagonists

Creating Dynamic Protagonists

How to Create Characters

Inner Dialogue - Writing Inner Character Thoughts

25 Things a Great Character Needs

5 Ways to Create 3D Characters

Secondary Characters

10 Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Supporting Characters

How to Write Effective Supporting Characters

Question to Ask (& Strengthen) Your Minor Characters

5 Tips for Developing Supporting Characters

Techniques for Creating Great Secondary Characters

5 Steps to Dazzling Minor Characters

3 Ways to Create Stupendous Supporting Characters

Creating Memorable Secondary Characters

5 Archetypes for Supporting Characters

Your Map to Creating a Memorable Minor Characters

Names

Top Ten Tips

8 Tips for Naming Characters

7 Rules of Naming Fictional Characters

Name that Character!

6 Creative Ways to Name your Character

Naming your Characters

A Guide to Naming Characters

Female: 1 | 2 | 3

Male: 1 | 2 | 3

Alien: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Surname: 1 | 2 | 3

Unisex: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Traits

List: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Developing Character Traits

How to Create Good Personalities for your Characters

Develop Memorable Personalities

Give your Character Personality

How to Create a Character’s Personality

How to Make Sure your Character’s Personality Shines

5 Building Blocks of your Character’s Personality

Appearance

Appearance Generator

Your Character’s Physical Appearance

How to Describe a Character’s Looks

Describing a Character’s Appearance

Character Description Resource

Examples of Physical Characteristics

Describing the Physical Attributes of your Characters

How Great Authors Describe Character Appearance

Ultimate Guide to Nailing your Character’s Appearance

Describing Clothing and Appearance

Character Appearance Help

Character Description Resource

Describing People: A Person’s Physical Appearance

Describing the Physical Attributes of Characters

Speech

Talking About your Character: Speech

Variety in Character Voices

All your Characters Talk the Same

How to Create Distinctive Character Voices

How to Create Characters Who Don’t Sound like You

The Art of Voice in Fiction

Create Varying, Yet Realistic, Speech Patterns

The Art and Craft of Dialogue

Writing Character Voice

Creating Differences in the Speech Patterns of your Characters

Style: Person and Speech

Dialects: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Backstory

Building Better Backstories

Basic Tips to Create Better Characters with Tragic Backstories

How to Write a Backstory

Writing Characters Using Conflict and Backstory

Backstory Description Generator

Questions to Create Character Backstory

How to Weave in Backstory to Reveal Character

Nail your Character’s Backstory

How to Write Backstory Without Putting your Reader to Sleep

How to Write a Killer Backstory

Diversity

How to Make Young Adult Fiction More Diverse

Writing People of Color

A Few Tips and Resources for Writing Characters of Colour

Writing Characters of Colour Tastefully

Writing With Colour

7 Offensive Mistakes Well-Intentioned Writers Make

Writing Characters of Colour

Describing Characters of Colour

Gender

Female: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Male: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Transgender: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Non-Binary: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Sexuality

Main Character Sexuality

On Writing LGBTQ Characters: 1 | 2

Writing Gay Characters

Guide to LGBT YA

Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes

Writing Bisexual Characters: 1 | 2

Writing Asexual Characters: 1 | 2

Pansexual & Demisexual Characters

How to Write Gay, Bisexual and Pansexual Characters

Introduction

Introducing a Character

Introducing your Main Character

Do’s and Don’ts for Introducing your Protagonist

First Impressions

How to Introduce a Character

How Not to Introduce a Main Character

Introducing the Protagonist

Development

Character Development

9 Ingredients of Character Development

Characterisation 1 - Character Development

How to Develop a Character for a Story

Character Development

Character Development Drives Conflict

Developing your Characters and Making them Interesting

Relationships

How to Write Strong Character Relationships

Character Relationships

3 Keys to Developing Character Relationships

The Secret Behind Great Character Relationships

3 Tips for Character Relationships

Building Believable Relationships

Sibling: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Platonic: 1 | 2 | 3

Romantic: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Strengths

Identifying your Character’s Strengths

Character Strengths and Weaknesses

Introducing the 24 Character Strengths

Character Strengths and Virtues List

Strengths and Weaknesses

A Balance of Strengths

Flaws

123 Ideas for Character Flaws

DarkWorld RPG Flaws List

Character Flaws

Ten Ugliest Character Flaws

The Four Types of Character Flaws

On Giving Flaws and Weaknesses

Character Flaw Index

Goal

Why your Character’s Goal Needs to be 1 of these 5 Things

Goals Define the Plot

Goal Setting for You and your Character

How to Explore you Character’s Motivation

4 Ways to Motivate Character and Plot

Motivation

By Genre

Fantasy: 1 | 2 | 3

Sci-Fi: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Romance: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Thrillers: 1 | 2

Horror: 1 | 2 | 3

Heroes

Your Hero: Top Ten Rules

How to Write your Own Hero Story

What Makes a Great Hero?

Creating Heroes and Heroines

Write a Story about a Hero

How to Create an Antihero that Readers Love

Heroes vs. Anti-Heroes

Create a Super Hero

How to Create a Brand New Iconic Hero or Villain

What Makes a Hero

Villains

How to Create a Credible Villain in Fiction

How to Make a Purely Evil Villain Interesting

9 Evil Examples of the Villain Archetype

How Not to Create a Villain

Creating Villains People Love to Hate

3 Techniques for Crafting a Better Villain

Basic Tips to Write Better & More Despicable Villains

Writing Tips for Creating a Complex Villain

How to Create a Great Villain

Do’s & Don’ts

Do’s and Dont’s of Writing a Good Character

How to Create a Character

Characterisation Dos and Dont’s

Female Characters of Do’s and Dont’s

Do’s and Dont’s of Dialect

Helpful Writing Blogs

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment*

writeworld

referenceforwriters

thewritingcafe

aquestionofcharacter *

writingwithcolor

fuckyeah-char-dev

dailycharacterdevelopment

Clichés

Characters and Cliches

Top 10 Character Cliches

7 Lazy Character Cliches

10 Most Cliched Characters in Sci-Fi

Four Worst Character Cliches

Female Character Cliches

Character Cliches to Avoid

The Cliche Character Test

How Cliches Can Help You Make Great Characters

Templates

How to Create a Character Profile

Writing Character Bios

Character Sheets and Character Creation

Gender/Sexuality Generator

Extremely Detailed Character Template

Writer’s Resource: Character Template

Character Description

taste-in-music

In Vivid Color: Color Playlists

Recently I came across this video about making playlists based off of color, and also this post I made a couple months ago that I thought needed revising, and this is what came of it. Enjoy!

Red: The sounds of contradiction. Love, lust, and passion clashing with fiery anger. (X)

Orange: Quirky with a hint of nostalgia. Red’s passion meets yellow’s happiness. (X)

Yellow: Upbeat and joyful. Sunny songs that will make you smile. (X)

Green: Lush and soothing. The creative energy of nature and the serenity of peace. (X)

Blue: Sad but thoughtful. The acceptance of one’s sadness as the first step to heal. (X)

Purple: Regal and powerful. Blue’s thoughtfulness mixes with red’s fire. (X)

Pink: Sparkly and sweet. Pure, unbridled bubblegum. (X)

taste-in-music

My Top 10 Lorde Songs

So it’s no surprise that I. LOVE. LORDE. She’s probably my favorite artist of all time. I don’t think she has one song that I don’t love, but I’ll attempt to rank my favorites and offer a little (a lot) of gushing commentary along the way. This is my humble opinion. I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

Honorable Mentions:

1) Royals: Royals was the first song I ever heard by Lorde, and to be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of it at first. But as I kept hearing it, I grew to really like it. Royals was so different from everything else on the radio at the time of its release. I think I’ll always know all the lyrics to this song.

2) Supercut: Solid song, solid lyrics, perfectly danceable. That moment of rawness when she goes “come home to my heART” at the bridge hits me right in the gut. I just have other songs from Melodrama I love more.

3) Million Dollar Bills: The first word I think of when I hear this song is chaotic. But its chaos is why I love it. The layered harmonies are such an eargasm.

My Top 10:

10) 400 Lux: Everything in this song, from the siren at the beginning to the lyrics, gives this song a sense of laid back restlessness and time wasting relaxation. I just sink into this song, it puts me in a trance.

9) The Love Club: Can I just say that this song is a bop? Because it’s a bop, but has the right amount of unique flair and specific relatibility that makes it Lorde’s version of a bop.

8) Perfect Places: What I love most about this song is the atmosphere. This song makes me feel free, like I want to go on an adventure. The bells in the background, the lyrics, (yet again,) the little “ch ch” right before that regal chorus, the buzzy sounding riff, it’s all a melodic journey, and the perfect ending to an album.

7) The Louvre: What I’m discovering as I write this list is that I’m attracted to songs with a distance sense of place and atmosphere. This song is fluffy and sweet, but with that Lorde twist that keeps it specific and meaningful. The “broadcast the boom boom boom boom and make them all dance to it” is the perfect kind of weird, it makes the song wholly unique to her.

6) Hard Feelings/Loveless: Let’s start with the Hard Feelings portion of this song. What a buildup! Again with the lyrics, the instrumental, Ella’s vocals, it all convey such raw vulnerability. The drop is so funky and amazing. Loveless is simply bopping, but also meaningful. I love the bubbly drum machine in this portion. (Also the “this is my favorite tape” before the song kicks in. Just that. Yes.)

5) Green Light: When I think of the perfect pop song, Green Light immediately comes to mind. Every time I hear it, I want to scream the lyrics at the top of my lungs and dance like a maniac.

4) A World Alone: This song makes me feel really nostalgic for some reason. The “people are talking” repetition is so entrancing. The chorus is relaxing as it is hard hitting. I just find this song really relatable.

3) Liability: This is the song I put on when I want to drown in emotions. It’s so damn relatable, beautifully sung, it’s simple but conveys so much emotion. My favorite Lorde lyrics come from this song.

2) Team: I’ve loved this song since I heard Pure Heroine back in 2013. It was instantly one of my favorites. This song feels like what New Americana by Halsey wanted to be, (an okay song in its own right,) but more understated. The aura of community is what draws me to this song. Again, atmosphere, just glorious.

1) Ribs: This song is perfect. Whenever I listen to it, I get the chills. This song makes me teary. It’s one of my favorite songs of ALL TIME. The funny thing is, when I first listened to the album, it didn’t stand out to me. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to appreciate it more and more. This song is so personal, so relatable, she just gets it. It’s got the nostalgic feeling of A World Alone on steroids times 1,000. The thrill of adolescence, the importance of friendships, the fear of oncoming responsibility and getting older, it hits what it feel like to be a teenager right in the bullseye. I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to top this song.