Questions tagged [characters]
Real questions about imaginary people.
31
votes
9answers
8k views
Would readers feel cheated if the villain is successful in convincing the protagonist to change sides?
So I'm writing a story where the main character is sent to kill the main villain. I have the basic world set out before me, and now I focus on story. I was planning out the main storyline and I hit a ...
0
votes
0answers
31 views
Writing the main character as an alien [on hold]
I need help writing an alien as the central hero
society creature-design science-fiction aliens
I'm writing a story where the main character is an alien and his race is the central focus of the story. ...
2
votes
3answers
108 views
If two characters are blood relations will it seem coincidental?
I have a character who is a seasoned CIA agent and is part of the task force that is bringing in my MC. I have another character, a semi retired assassin who was one of my MC’s instructors.
I want ...
0
votes
7answers
114 views
Naming my characters
I'm writing a fantasy novel. The story takes place in England (1900's) No matter how much I research I'm unable to move forward in naming my characters. For example, When we look at all the characters ...
0
votes
2answers
77 views
What are good techniques to describe eyes? [closed]
I would like to describe the beautiful brown eyes of a character, much like a real-life friend of mine. Are there good techniques for describing eyes? How does one go about describing eyes in writing?
2
votes
2answers
110 views
On Characters' Motivations
I'm currently writing a sort of serious superhero thriller. The main character finds out his father is a kingpin and drug lord. At the beginning of the story the main character, who has been living in ...
26
votes
13answers
6k views
Painting ritualistic murder in a “good-guy” light?
My good guys murder people. They slowly carve runes onto them to help defeat the bad guys. Sure they try to use "society's worst" people for the rituals, but realistically that doesn't always happen.
...
11
votes
6answers
4k views
How to Write a Colossal Cast of Characters
I'm planning a book series called The Weasel Sagas. Things have been going great up until now, where I've realized I've hit a bit of a problem: I've come up with backstories for so many different ...
2
votes
2answers
85 views
How should sentient computer viruses act like? [closed]
OK; I'm obsessed with Toonami and their event Trapped in Hyperspace features the computer virus antagonist Swayzak, who I base almost all my computer virus characters on.
Swayzak behaves like a one-...
18
votes
5answers
8k views
How do I justify a mansplainer/misogynist?
I have a male character who is coming across as patronizing and mansplain-y.
He has several scenes where he tells a (different) female protagonist how she should behave, or assumes she doesn't ...
1
vote
1answer
56 views
Write an unnerving, yet likable, character (video game)
OK, I'm not sure if this question is OK for writing SE. But here goes.
I'm an indie developer trying to make a story-driven game. I want to make the main character slightly unnerving. Not creepy per ...
-1
votes
4answers
130 views
How to balance male protagonist sensitivity to women without risk turning him into wuss
My MC is an assassin by trade and has a military background - sniper, Special Ops, etc. He was raised partly by his sister after their parents died in a car accident. He normally listens to her as she ...
0
votes
3answers
88 views
How do I make my characters sound British?
This might sound silly, but I am trying to make one of my characters British and I have a hard time portraying that idea on paper. My novel is set in a fantasy land, nothing like this world and I am ...
0
votes
1answer
35 views
Describing new/strange foods [closed]
Alright, another question from the POV of Eris, my unreliable narrator living in a post-apocalyptic world who has just met other humans and is experiencing a variety of new things. She just met a ...
3
votes
3answers
147 views
Effectively conveying an unreliable narrator
I have been working on a post-apocalyptic novel for about a year. My female narrator/protagonist, named Eris, was isolated for almost all of her life until meeting a rogue group of survivors and ...
0
votes
3answers
145 views
Is it ok to temporarily break immersion in a tutorial for a game?
At the start of a game, you sometimes have some character explaining things to you, the player, instead of the character, telling them to press A to do this and that. Paper Mario I think even makes a ...
0
votes
2answers
132 views
What is the character called that is only there so we can have information from the main characters?
If I have a character, typically it is a bad guy, but not always, and you see this in movies a lot, but there is always another character with one of the main characters, so we can have some dialog to ...
2
votes
1answer
80 views
How to build a character from an invented professional title?
Wendalyne is not a boring character; she is living the dream. Her
dream, that is. More of a game than a dream, actually. The
Morphophonemic Wheedlometrist lives for the experience of her
craft......
1
vote
5answers
120 views
How to balance a character‘s duty versus his conscience
I have a character, a secondary antagonist who is following his sense of duty and pursuing a former asset.
Said asset is injured, tired and cornered, seriously considering making a stand and going ...
0
votes
3answers
101 views
Why would someone in an apocalypse travel with a person who is totally dependent on them? [closed]
So, a story idea I've had for a long time is set in an apocalypse (cause not explained), and the two main characters are vastly different.
Tyler is 20 years old, he watched his parents killed in ...
34
votes
2answers
3k views
What is meant by “purposeful, habitual, and gratuitous” actions?
In his "Characters" essay, Samuel R. Delany purports there are three types of actions to characters: "purposeful, habitual, and gratuitous." He also defends that, in a novel, if "a character [is] ...
5
votes
3answers
176 views
How best to avoid the appearance of Deus Ex Machina with established character?
My characters are in a difficult situation that can be somewhat relieved by a colleague.
MC is wounded, leading secondary protagonist to take a bullet for him. She is gravely injured, MC takes SP ...
1
vote
1answer
87 views
Is it reasonable to have weary character climb rope to safety? [closed]
My MC, injured (having been shot earlier) is extremely tired after carrying his partner, who took a bullet for him, towards safety.
She suspects that the ex-fil location they are heading towards ...
2
votes
4answers
384 views
How to create a likable and sympathetic character, even if they are a pervert?
I want to add a perverted character to my story (don't ask why), a bit like Master Roshi from Dragon Ball or Minoru Mineta from My Hero Academia. However, I want to make them more sympathetic and give ...
-2
votes
2answers
159 views
What can I do to make character who hates their own ancestry relatable?
Character who hates their ancestry
In short a character who, in their universe hates the ethnic group in which they belong. It does not matter whether they are a minority or majority in their given ...
2
votes
4answers
123 views
How can a main character in a visual novel attract people of different personalities besides having a single trait each of them is attracted to?
Ok, so I currently have a visual novel (For those who do not know, it's a video game that's almost all story. The character may have a few choices in the matter, but most of it is about watching the ...
43
votes
6answers
8k views
How to avoid mentioning the name of a character?
I am writing a short story which features a character known only as Old Man, but there is a part of the story where someone calls the Old Man by his name. Only once, and I was wondering if there was a ...
17
votes
7answers
3k views
How do you create a huge array of characters?
Suppose you are part of a development team working on a fighting game, and you're given the role of creating about 30 or 40 unique characters from many different backgrounds from the ground up. It's ...
0
votes
4answers
241 views
Ripoff Character
I've been writing a story, and recently someone came to me and said the characters are very similar to a couple of the ones in Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows, I myself read the series which inspired me ...
13
votes
8answers
7k views
Choosing between two people in a romance?
So, my dilemma is as follows. I have a romance project with the MC trying to choose between two women who he cares for very much. Each has broken his heart, but are willing to make amends and provided ...
3
votes
4answers
148 views
When should a supporting character be scrapped?
So I'm wondering if this supporting character, who I use for exposition purposes, can be made more vital in some way. When does a supporting character become necessary for the plot? What criteria do ...
0
votes
5answers
225 views
How to make a cool unmanly character [closed]
How to make a cool character who is really unmanly?
The guy is bad at leadership, lacks endurance and strength while also being kind of a coward and having quite feminine facial features.
0
votes
3answers
152 views
How much realism do I put into a war simulation story for Young Adults?
I am writing an action/thriller light novel for YA audience.
The story involves characters "playing" in a war-simulation game in an extremely realistic and full immersive Virtual Reality. By "full ...
14
votes
4answers
8k views
Does this scene fail the Bechdel test?
My novel has approximately a dozen women in it, but they don’t tend to talk to each other. Most of them are separated geographically or philosophically and sitting down for a chat does not seem ...
-3
votes
3answers
213 views
How to resolve a conflict between a girl that left you vs. a girl who abandoned you? [closed]
Ok, so in an upcoming project of mine, I have an MC in a romance with two women. The first girl left him for no apparent reason, and another one told him she was visiting family, and never really came ...
6
votes
7answers
2k views
How to avoid basing an autistic character too much upon myself?
One of the characters in my current piece is autistic. I'm on the spectrum myself, so I have some idea of what this is like, but I'm starting to think that I might be basing her a bit too much on ...
27
votes
9answers
5k views
Do readers need to identify with fictional characters?
On the modern day many people complain about how models, actors are damaging to society because people can't identify with them. Males actors or models which are ''too'' muscular are considered ''...
21
votes
11answers
7k views
How can I make a character who isn't a jerk seem like one?
I have an MC who, because of certain circumstances, everyone sees him as harsh and cruel at first. As they get to know him through the first few chapters, they eventually see he's nicer than they ...
1
vote
4answers
126 views
How to have a character make a drastic character change in a short amount of time (i.e. the first quarter of the book)? [closed]
I have a main character who starts off as a jerk, but quickly becomes kinder as the story. I plan to have him change drastically in a few chapters. But how do I do that without making it look too ...
1
vote
4answers
153 views
How young can a “motherly” character be?
So, in my novel, I have a mother-type character that's a little young to be a mom (am planning on having her have a child she's planning on saving). So, I wanted to know your opinions on how far I can ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
How many times should I mention a character's name when the interactions are among the same sex?
So, most of my main protagonists are female, and the usual him/her doesn't work when dealing with multiple females (or males, for that matter.) So, how would I make dialogue flow without mentioning ...
7
votes
8answers
380 views
How do I draw attention to a girl's chest without making it overly lewd?
So, I have a group of main characters, and the current viewpoint character is going to introduce a... very well-endowed character. How do I write this so that I get the point across that she's that ...
3
votes
4answers
73 views
Protective, not patronising
A character I'm writing about is a girl of 15, daughter of a nobleman, unable to walk due to having contracted Polio when she was 5. Being quite intelligent, she attracts some useful attention, and is ...
10
votes
4answers
606 views
What is the key to creating a independent character, female and male?
In my story, there is a girl and a boy who are trying to remain strong and independent. They are opposites of each other, so I'm not trying to make it so they can get together. They are also on ...
1
vote
1answer
63 views
Point of view switching
I want to write a story mainly in third person, occasionally switching to first person. How would I do that most effectively?
5
votes
2answers
55 views
Writing a cancer survivor
It is very important that my protagonist is mute. A lot of this character's motivations are informed by - though not entirely focused on - him having suffered laryngeal cancer and recovered due to a ...
5
votes
7answers
314 views
How best to prevent a protective response from overshadowing a heroic act?
My main character is injured, having been shot earlier. This injury renders him much slower to respond and reduces his agility. Because of this, two of his colleagues are with him to protect him.
...
22
votes
11answers
6k views
Need advice about changing character's gender
I had this idea for a story/novel that I was very excited about, but also very worried about. The idea had a plot where the character development plot and themes all grow and go together, something I ...
12
votes
8answers
3k views
What to call a main character who changes names?
I'd like to write a story, in the third-person perspective, centering on a character who changes her name several times in the course of the story.
She uses her birth name for the first couple of ...
21
votes
6answers
3k views
How long should I mention an injured character’s pain?
My main character gets shot and survives. One thing that bothers me is a character who is injured and keeps going like the energizer bunny.
I try to set up for a rapid recovery, mentioning training ...
