Questions tagged [characters]
Questions that involve people in a work of fiction, including character development, motivations, design, points of view, and representation.
1,155
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When writing a tragic hero for a tragedy, do the readers have to sympathize with the characters?
I've been told that a tragic hero is a protagonist with a tragic flaw or a character defect that ultimately leads to their downfall and that the audience should sympathize with the character, even as ...
7
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3
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Is it possible to write a character that remains mysterious until the very end without sacrificing character development?
Is it possible to write a character that remains mysterious until the very end without sacrificing character development?
I was thinking you can't do it to a main character, so I thought about an evil ...
1
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0
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Is it possible to make characters who are neurotic, who have low agreableness, low conscientiousness, low extraversion likeable?
Is it possible to make characters who are neurotic, who have low agreeableness, low conscientiousness, low extraversion likeable?
I thought the only way to do this is to find something that the reader ...
4
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5
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Why is it bad to use a side character merely as a plot device?
I was writing a mystery novel about a detective who is investigating a murder case. The detective has a partner, who is a side character in the story. The partner is not given much of a personality or ...
0
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1
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Does it make sense to kill a character in the middle of a character arc, or in order to not finish the character arc?
Does it make sense to kill a character in the middle of a character arc, or in order to not finish the character arc? If you notice that a character arc is forcing yourself to write yourself into a ...
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1
answer
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Portraying recovery from trauma in the right way
How do I show a character going from being unhinged as he gets desperate to heal and isolate himself from his trauma (yes, this happens) to actually healing from it?
My story features people who are ...
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0
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1
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How do I write a story about forbidden love? [closed]
I have two characters, a boy named Kai and a girl named Raya. They also are stuck in a love triangle with another boy named Alejandro but Kai and Raya aren't allowed to be lovers. Raya and Alejandro ...
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4
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When should you reveal the motivations of a villain?
A common mistake in creative writing is to create a villain without a clear motivation for their actions. Every villain should have a reason for their behavior, even if it is not a justifiable one. ...
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3
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Is it possible to create unique voices in your story if all your characters use simple words and sentences in their dialogues?
Is it possible to create unique voices in your story if all your characters use simple words and sentences in their dialogues?
I believe that simple dialogues may not allow for the same level of ...
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3
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How can you prevent your characters from being too predictable?
How can you prevent your characters from being too predictable? I am wondering how to do that, because if your characters have clear motivations and clear personalities, then it should make them ...
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My characters either feel clichéd or don't have distinct voices or mannerisms, does that need fixing and if so how?
Is it bad that your characters don't have distinct voices or mannerisms?
I tried to give them some distinct voices and mannerisms, but they sounded too cliched or parodic in that they looked like a ...
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0
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I have inadvertently made my character depressed... what should I do about it?
I have inadvertently made my character depressed. She's a minor character in my science-fantasy novel, and exists to tie together some of the plot lines.
As I wrote her, this 18yo woman turned out to ...
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2
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2
answers
66
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How to write someone who wants desperately to have emotional bonds but pushes others away because they feel they don't deserve it?
So, the viewpoint and main character in my novel is a character who had a very bad beginning. Born as a slave, she was torn from her parents and subjected to many horrors, few of which I elaborate on, ...
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Do you have to have shown people your characters are talking about when discussing politics?
Do you have to have shown people your characters are talking about when discussing politics? Let's say there's a political intrigue, and there's this character who mentions a far away nation who might ...
2
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4
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157
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How could I write a tragic, depressed character witbout making them completely unbearable/hateable?
In the middle of my epic, the deutertagonist's love interest gets brutally killed off and she is forced to watch. For the third quarter of the story, she is trying to deal with the pain and trauma.
...
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How do you continuously add characters to a story that originally started with a small cast?
How do you continuously add characters to a story that originally started with a small cast? Is there a way to do this organically while making sure their presence in the story feels natural and not ...
3
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2
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Should a first-time novel writer have more than 5-7 characters?
I have never wrote more than a short story in my life yet. That being said, I am planning to complete a novel soon. I feel like I might have too many characters. I have around 28 minus the ones not a ...
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How to have subtext with a character who's blunt, direct and straightforward?
I know what makes dialogue interesting is what characters don't say as much as (or more than) what they do. How do I achieve this with a character who prides herself on 'saying it like it is', and not ...
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How do I write a scene of someone reading a book without rushing it?
Right now, I have described the differences between the world the character lives in and the world the character is reading about, but it seems really rushed, like he'd only been reading for a few ...
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Is it ok to make characters fit unique and parodic archetypes?
Is it ok to make characters fit unique and parodic archetypes, especially when trying to write a dark, gritty and realistic story? I was watching a video on the famous film director Akira Kurosawa, ...
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Is it more challenging to write a good story where the gods are too powerful when they're not the main characters?
Is it more challenging to write a good story where the gods are too powerful when they're not the main characters?
I don't think I've ever heard of a good story where the gods are omnipotent and they'...
2
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3
answers
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How much is too much for an upper middle grade book? (TW suicide mention)
One of my main characters is named Lucas. Lucas can turn into a cat. He struggles with controlling this power. He’s also from the bad side of town; his parents are neglectful and eventually disappear ...
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How do I stop my villain from just showing up out of nowhere?
I suffer from “villain shows up out of nowhere syndrome”. My story involves a group of survivors trying to trek through a wasteland and reach a safe zone while my reoccurring main villain continuously ...
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Can I make an irredeemable character likeable?
In my fantasy epic, the protagonist is a destined chosen one who will defeat the dark lord (at least that is what the sorcerer propaganda says.) About 3/4 into the story, he eventually meets the ...
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Can you ignore your own death flags and spare a character if you changed your mind?
Can you ignore your own death flags and spare a character if you changed your mind? I am wondering if ignoring a bunch of death flags you set up for killing a character can backfire if you change your ...
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2
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How do you introduce new characters if you try to cut all the non-events?
it states that every scene should (must) change something in your characters' lives. Otherwise, it's a "nonevent" and should be cut.
I got this advice in the past. One of the things I like ...
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What kind of character is Mister Blonde from Reservoir Dogs?
I've been thinking about the movie a lot, and I'm wondering what category Mister Blonde would fall into. All of the characters are anti-heroes, because they're all criminals.
The other heisters, ...
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How do you write a complex, multi dimensional hedonistic character
Exactly as the title says. Getting really caught on how to write a detailed hedonsitic character who derives pleasure from ?kind of? immoral things; copious amounts of sex and drugs, killing etc. I ...
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Should you always write a strong antagonist?
I've heard that a mistake that people often make is that they put 100% of their effort in building a character that they like and based on their own world views and philosophies and then end up ...
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2
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How do you write a perfect AI character with no human emotion while making it a dramatic character?
https://youtu.be/4BxfV1sBRJs?t=195
“In order for your character to evolve in a positive way, he has to
start out with something lacking in his life, some reason that makes
the change necessary. He is ...
0
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3
answers
144
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Should I go out of my way to write certain female archetypes out of my stories?
Should I go out of my way to write certain female archetypes out of my stories? I think some archetypes for female characters are offensive. For example, there's the femme fatale archetype. The femme ...
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13
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For a fantasy world, what word can I use instead of "human" in order to include elves, dwarves, etc.?
I've been creating this fantasy world where many different races coexist, so most aren't human. I'm trying to write all the worldbuilding details down, and I'm stuck on a phrase "She is the ...
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Can I write from the point of view of a mentally unstable main character?
The main character of my novel is suffering from depression which resulted in shock and she has attempted suicide twice already. All of this has made her unbalanced mentally. I was wondering if I can ...
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Is it necessary to describe a character's physical appearance in a novel
I am writing a novel and I realized that I did not describe any of my characters, like practically, no reader would be able to place or imagine the character which I feel is not right. That is why I ...
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Is it okay for the male and female characters in your story to sound the same?
So my philosophy is "if you can't do it, don't bother", and I couldn't write realistic female dialogues so I decided to not bother at all with gender differences and make them sound the same....
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Is using functional labels when describing autistic characters highly offensive?
I was watching this video and it seems like it's deeply offensive to people in the autism spectrum to read someone use functional labels for autistic people.
Examples of functioning labels are "...
2
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1
answer
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Underlying microagression to poc characters?
I would say now that I don't intend to be offensive. I apologize if I come across as ignorant, for I am not speaking as an African-American but as another POC entirely.
The scene is between two ...
4
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1
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Writing a third person limited protagonist without any inner dialogue
I want to write a protagonist that thinks as I do; that is to say, without any inner monologue. I don't even think in images either. It's just abstract thoughts for me. If a place reminds me of my ...
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Why is it wrong to have your LGBT character find a love interest as soon as possible in your story if, in your setting, people are not LGBT-friendly?
I was watching some video about how to write LGBT characters and I was told that it's wrong to have your LGBT character magically find a LGBT love interest. However, my particular problem is that the ...
3
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3
answers
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Is it a bad thing if there's no character development whatsoever within the first half of a novel?
Is it a bad thing if there's no character development whatsoever within the first half of a novel? In my novel, there's this character who's just living alone and doesn't really interact with anyone ...
0
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0
answers
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Properly writing characters with Dissociative Identity Disorder
In my story for a game, one of the main antagonists has Dissocistive Identity Disorder. His alters are already written, but I am asking for some advice on how to properly portrayed a character with ...
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Are repeated background characters good?
My story has several occasions where the two main protagonists interact with background characters. I'd rather not make a different background character for each one, as each needs a decent amount of ...
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answer
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Limitations of a Clairvoyant Ability
I've heard that in fictional magic systems, what's most important is not a character's power(s), but its limitations. That's an issue I'm running into with one of my novel's main characters, who has ...
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How do you write a character with multiple personalities?
I have a character with multiple personalities, but the character is mute and cannot speak. He can only behave. Is there a way to show that this character has multiple personalities and is behaving ...
1
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2
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I am writing a slasher story with a vigilante killer, do you believe that a person/character can deserve to be a victim? [closed]
In the stories that I am writing, which are my loud house "Lomond" horror fanfics, there are lots of victims who are very bad/evil people, this makes me wonder this: do you believe that a ...
2
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1
answer
85
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How do I get my detective find out that one of the characters sent a threat to someone?
I'm writing a whodunnit.
At a certain point in the story, the detective finds a letter from one of the suspects (who is the director of a play,) which is intended to threaten one of the other suspects ...
0
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1
answer
69
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How do you resolve and address a conflict that escalated quickly and should you even address it?
How do you resolve and address a conflict that escalated quickly and should you even address it?
I wrote a scene and on re-reading it, it didn't make sense and just distracted the readers from the ...
0
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1
answer
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How long and/or big can a reference be?
In my story, there is a sidestory and character arc for a minor supporting character. Due to a war happening in the fantasy world, the character is drafted into the military, and is sent through basic ...
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How late can a deuteragonist be added into the story?
In the fantasy epic I am writing, there is a deuteragonist that eventually becomes best friends with the protagonist. Unfortunately, due to the length of the epic as a whole, she is introduced way ...
- 477
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2
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How do you come up with conflict for a powerful character?
As I understand it, conflict means presenting a character with an obstacle that he can only overcome through change. The problem is that I can't think of such a thing. Nearly all conflict that comes ...
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