ask game for getting to know your characters!
we’re all prone to honing in too much on an oc’s trauma, gratuitous pain, and merciless suffering. let’s explore more sides of our characters and the more subtle sorts of angst that comes with daily life!
1. what are their non-trauma-related nightmares like? humiliation, abandonment, confusion? write a realistic dream (trippy and weird and vague) that has no ties or references to any specific trauma they’ve suffered or any current danger.
2. how do they react to small discomforts - stubbing their toe, hitting their funny bone, falling out of bed? do they curse up a storm? mutter their annoyance? wince and keep silent, moving on right away because they know it’ll pass and it doesn’t matter?
3. what do they look like at the end of a long, boring day? messy hair? nails bitten down to the quick? doodles on their arms? has their mind gotten overactive in their boredom, or did their thoughts drift, leaving their head empty?
4. what behaviors and habits of strangers in public make your character cringe? excessive loud kissing? tapping feet, clicking pens? aim for your character feeling annoyed, not triggered or reminded of a terrible past experience.
5. what are some casual sadistic thoughts that your character has? maybe they think someone deserves to die if they’re incredibly annoying, and your character has witnessed a death before, so they imagine how it would play out and don’t feel phased by it. maybe they think a friend talks so much that someone should just restrain them and muzzle them and be done with it. your character can feel nothing, or feel horrified by their own thoughts, but give them some less-than-perfect thought processes.
6. what is a mistake that they’ve made with a friend recently? did they get caught in a lie? did they steal and never confess or replace what they took? did they lash out in anger and in the same argument twist it around so their attacked friend apologized? do they regret what they did, or does remembering it fill them with that same frustration and make them feel like they’re in the right?
7. did your character get things done last week, or have tasks spilled over into this week? do they know what their plans are for the coming week? how do they react to sudden changes in plan, or emergencies that throw the prospect of having a fun time later on out the window?
8. do they have any contacts in their phone that they shouldn’t keep? any texts that they should have deleted? what are some unresolved issues and broken-off relationships in their life, and how much evidence of that is on their phone?
9. what kind of weather makes them feel grumpy? what kind makes them feel light and energetic? what would they do if caught out in the rain, and they lost their umbrella, and had to walk home?
10. how well do they manage money? if they have a job, give them a bad day where their boss yells at them and their tasks keep twisting themselves up into time-consuming puzzles. if they don’t have a source of income, force them into a situation where they need something they can’t afford, and show the reader how they get around that problem.
origamiaround
dailybridgerton
janainaart
turnnoffyourmind
jbbartram-illu
