Put your whumpee and their whumper in a cell with no memory of how they got there and no discernable way out. How do they work together? Are they capable of working together at all? Does their relationship change? Does it change for the better or worse? Is your whumper having fun? Your whumpee? Which of them is more scared?
Morality Questionare for Character Development 🕯️🧭
A lengthy questionare about your character's moral compass, or lack thereof. Meant to be used as an exercise to think deeper about a character's morality at any point in development.
꧁ ༺ ─── ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ─── ༻ ꧂
Does your character consider themselves a moral person?
Does your character consider themselves morally flawless, morally bankrupt, or somewhere inbetween?
Would your character be willing to break their moral code for self preservation?
Would your character be willing to break their moral code to save another person?
Would your character be willing to break their moral code to save someone who was immoral?
Would your character be willing to break their moral code to save someone they didn't know at all?
Can you describe your character's moral code in 3 words?
Can you describe your character's moral code in 1 word?
Could you write a religious text about your character's moral code?
Is your character's moral code inherent to themselves as a person or is their moral code learned from a person or a group of people?
Does your character agree with their community's morals?
Would your character describe themselves as more or less moral than the people around them?
Would you describe your character as more or less moral than the people around them?
Would your character die to defend their morals?
If your character was killed for their morals, who or what in your story would be the killer?
Does your character think its moral to keep promises?
Does your character think its moral to always tell the truth?
Does your character think its moral to always follow authority and never question their leaders?
Does your character think its moral to respect their parents, no matter what?
Does your character think its moral to never cheat?
Does your character value loyalty as a moral code?
Does your character value faith as a moral code?
Does your character think eating animals is immoral?
Does your character find themselves questioning their own morals or bending their morals to get what they want?
Does your character feel guilt for not following their morals?
Does your character think that drugs, alcohol, and other substances are immoral?
Does your character think that pornography, prostitution, or other sexual vices are immoral?
Does your character think the act of sex itself is immoral?
Does your character think cheating in a relationship is immoral, no matter the conditions of the relationship?
Is your character willing to kill?
Is your character willing to lie?
Is your character a backstabber or a snake?
Is your character a social chameleon or two faced?
Is your character a cheater?
Does your character outwardly fake their moral code?
If other characters in their world knew their true moral code, how would they react?
If they knew the morals of the other characters in their world, how would your character react?
Does your character gain anything for sticking to their morals?
Does your character lose anything for sticking to their morals?
Has your character's morals given them any social or personal power over another character in your story?
Does their community agree or disagree with their actions aligning with their morals?
Does their community agree or disagree with their actions contradicting their morals?
Does your character have or want a career that relies on a strong moral compass?
Does your character have or want a career that relies on a weak moral compass?
If your character's morals are tested, would they pass or fail the test?
If they only had one minute to decide whether to save the world or save the person they love, what would they decide?
Would your character consider themselves a villian or a hero?
Is your character a villian or a hero?
Does your character believe that they will be punished by a supernatural force for breaking their moral code?
Does your character believe they will be punished by a natural force for breaking their moral code?
If your character was in a completely different place at the beginning of their life, would their morals be different?
Do you agree or disagree with the morals your character has?
Would your readers and fans agree or disagree with the morals your character has?
Would your family agree or disagree with the morals your character has?
Would the people who love your character still love them after discovering their true morals?
Would the people who hate your character still hate them after discovering their true morals?
What is the biggest obstacle to your character living perfectly by their morals?
Do they believe in the morals of their institution?
Does your character experience riteous justice when their morals are broken or questioned?
Can other characters question their morals without fear of retaliation?
Would your character hurt others in the name of their morality?
Does your character believe in evil?
Does your character believe in good?
To you, does your character do evil?
To you, does your character do good?
If you could change one thing about your character's morality, what would it be?
At 2 years old, she was a demanding, curious, always-on child, needing constant attention and engagement.
At 4 years old, she was “difficult”. Clingy, jealous, prone to temper tantrums and squabbling with the other children.
By 6 years old, she had become a flighty loner of a child, prone to running off and refusing to deal with her problems. She acted out frequently and was picked on by other kids, mostly older than her.
By 8 years old, she was a budding young athlete, able to scale walls and outrun any of her peers and most adults. She still struggled with bullying from the older kids, but had learned to retaliate viciously enough that her own age band left her alone.
At 10 years old, Ariadne was a wild child, usually alone, always scuffed and bruised from her increasingly ambitious climbing and free running, and from fighting. She was an opportunistic bully, lashing out pre-emptively at her peers, and still sometimes a victim.
By 12, she had discovered an interest in her schoolwork, and was acting out less. A very intense child, always either studying or on the move. She was getting into fewer fights, and starting to make friends - and attract attention from peers impressed by her athletic ability.
By 14, she had an active social life and had discovered the joys of clubbing. She worked hard, played hard, and slept little.
At 16, she graduated from the educational system with top marks and was granted a place in her desired career: law enforcement. She was an eager recruit, keen, smart, and enormously committed.
By 20, Ariadne had climbed a rank or two and been thoroughly initiated into a culture of casual violence. She had a circle of close friendships with her comrades, she was happy and healthy, and she’d learned to think nothing of being brutal with uncooperative suspects.
By 25, she had been recruited by the Inquisition. She had left behind everyone and everything she knew, been introduced to a wide galaxy full of horrors, and learned how little she really knew about anything. She’d been put into dozens of life-or-death situations. She’d been tortured and taught to torture others. She’d seen comrades die. She no longer felt confident, successful or adult, but lost, scared and lonely in a vast and hostile galaxy. She clung desperately to the solidity and purpose provided by the command structure.
By 30, she had learned to put walls up and grow a thick skin against the horror. She had loved, and lost that love to violence, and learned not to love again. She’d grown callous to the suffering of others and jaded towards personal danger. This was praised by her superiors as personal development. Between that and the skills learned on the job, she was well on her way to promotion.
By 35, she had been given that promotion and taken under Bright’s direct tutelage. She was granted increasing freedoms and promotions, and groomed as a potential candidate to become an Inquisitor herself some day.
By 40, she had been granted an operation of her own, but not the authority she craved. Bright had grown frustrated with Ariadne’s emotionality and with the skills that she struggled to master, and had lost interest in training her personally. Unsure whether to feel abandoned as a lost cause, or valued and trusted with the greater independence, Ariadne nevertheless took to her new role with the same intense commitment as every previous assignment.
Do not be ashamed of your name. It is the one your mother gave you and the one your father agreed on. It was given out of love. Once, it belonged to your mother’s mother, a woman whom you used to believe was braver than yourself.
In truth, you inherited her courage, and have helped it grow beyond its roots. Though she may have grown up in more difficult times, you have faced similar difficulties within yourself as she had without. And though it will take you many years to realize your strength, you will see that it has always been there, waiting for you to see just how brightly it shines.
It takes courage to learn who you are beyond the ages of childhood. Especially when one does not have the words to guide them. Many of your friends ran from their own discoveries, but you never did. You searched and searched until you found the fleck of Truth buried deep within your heart and brought it out for the world to see, baring the core of yourself with strength that even now amazes me.
Words were your weapons and your shield; you wielded them with an exacting grace that often brought you more trouble than they were worth. But you always pulled through, even when your friends told you to abandon your cause for your own good.
The problem with that was that it was never for you. It was for everyone who didn’t have a voice to float into a microphone, or the vast reach of gifted airwaves. The quiet letters of thanks and courage you received were more precious than your own heartbeats.
And your heart was for them. As it always will be.
[An excerpt from a letter written as part of development for my story, “The Tin Man DJs on Weekday Nights in Jersey.” Andy is a low-octave radio DJ who uses her voice for her own purposes, no matter the consequences.
This letter is, as the title suggests, from an older Andy to her younger self, reflecting on everything that went on during and after the the time in which the story takes place. It was also an excuse for me to get a little purple with my second person prose.]
journaling and character exercises! this novel will be done at some point I swear. also non stop rain/thunder/lightning storms are perfect atmosphere for writing listening to : oh! starving - car seat headrest
Send Peter a number in his ask, and he’ll respond to the best of his ability!
Peter will not respond to the following numbers: 9, 10, 12, 13, and 29. I’m using this as an exercise to better understand Peter (or my perception of him) so I can roleplay him more appropriately.
Writing Exercise: Character Creation (Basics, Profile Skeletions, and Character Inventories)
Character basics should include easily sketched out pieces of information. This is what some would call a police profile sketch. Anyone that’s dealt with roleplaying on forums will likely already know about putting together this information, and profile skeletons. Over the years, I got to see a lot of what people were doing with forum roleplays and profile skeletons. It was interesting to see how…
