Questions tagged [characters]
Questions that involve people in a work of fiction, including character development, motivations, design, points of view, and representation.
1,187
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Is there a way to make text feel like an unhinged rant while still being readable?
I want to write a passage of text that makes the reader feel like the person writing it is deranged or otherwise not in the right state of mind.
It seems relatively easy to write incoherent, ...
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3
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Can I switch the POV of a main character? [duplicate]
So I'm momentarily writing a fictional story for a class I'm taking, and I've run into a problem. I have one main character, but there is a scene where that character passes out. Is it possible to ...
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3
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Describing exclaimations from a group
My character, an old woman, has been knocked down, injured and can't get up. There is a crowd of people, spread across a park, who all witnessed the accident. From her view, at ground level, she is ...
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Is there a smooth way to indicate that third person pronouns don't matter so much in my worldbuilding in English?
For context, I am nonbinary, and also East Asian.
My language of fluency is English, but I know other languages and also have an anthropology degree. (Japanese, Korean, a tiny, tiny bit of Mandarin, ...
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1
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Using the stages of grief to fall in love
I would love to utilize the stages of grief in a way to show the progression of a character's resistance to fall in love. I have some ideas for each. What are some other ideas?
I have a vigilante ...
4
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4
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Should I change my character's name if it's a variation of mine?
I'm trying to name a character, and I found one that fits him perfectly. It makes sense for the setting, it supports the theme and his character arc, and it supports his parents' characters (mainly ...
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5
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3
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How do you know if your story is too complicated or just complicated enough?
I've been working on my current story for almost a year. It's a great story but at times it seems really complicated. How complicated is too complicated in a story?
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How can I make my character show his feelings more without being excessive?
I started writing a story sometime ago, and I wrote all I could think of. I did a good job as per my imagination served me. I couldn't complete the story because I planned to go the magic and fantasy ...
4
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3
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Looking to include hijabi character in children's book about magic, would that go against muslim customs?
A friend and I have written and illustrated a children's story about a group of kid witches that includes a girl with a hijab. I have read that magic and witchcraft are taboo in Muslim faith, should ...
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How to find or create a mantra or guiding quote for a character?
I'm in the process of developing a character for a story right now, and I want to come up with some sort of mantra or repeatable quote the character can repeat to themselves over the course of the ...
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About a way to express a posture
I need to describe a person in the sitting posture shown in the image. Is there a name or expression to describe this posture other than "sitting in foetal position"?
I appreciate any ...
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When should I use the setting to express the motif, and when should I use characters, plot events to do it?
I'm currently still at the early stage of writing, and I may be facing too much freedom than what is helpful.
One of the results of that is: I'm very uncertain of when should I use the story setting ...
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2
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Is it okay if I use a historical figure's name for a work of fiction completely unrelated to history?
I was planning at some point to write a mystery fiction unrelated to history. I was inspired by writers who used literary figures as a name for their characters, yet the plot was completely unrelated ...
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How to safely pose this Mary Sue character?
I'm writing a science fantasy, and I'm afraid that the protagonist has too many superpowers.
Here's the concept: The protagonist is Berta Newton, an isekai counterpart of Issac Newton. She is the ...
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How do I write a superintelligent character?
A very similar question has been asked here.
Writing a Super Intelligent AI
I ask this question for multiple reasons. I was writing a sci-fi work and I decided it'd make sense that the characters have ...
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Mako Mori test: independent character arc in a plot?
at least one female character and that this character has an
independent plot arc and that the character or her arc does not simply
exist to support a male character's plot arc
source
Given:
by far ...
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answer
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What examples are there of a major character being written out *without* dying?
Mainly talking about stories that span multiple instalments, like TV shows with multiple seasons or a novel series with multiple books.
In my experience, when a main character exits a series ...
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How to describe a character accepting congratulation in a modest, self-deprecating fashion
I am trying to describe how my protagonist reacts to congratulations from a friend about a genuinely significant career achievement. My protagonist is modest and self-deprecating by nature, and I am ...
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4
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Is a self-introduction of the main character speaking to the reader appropriate to start a novel?
I'm authoring a horror/corruption/murder novel. The book starts off with the Main Character telling the reader about who he is and his physical appearance (now in his 60s), how he got to be ...
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1
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Tough female character softening
I'm writing a tough, capable young female character who is savvy and can survive well in an unfamiliar society. However, she has no patience for stupidity and is quick to shoot barbed remarks. I want ...
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Character vs story [closed]
How much should I allow my characters to influence my plotting, and how much should the plot influence how I create my characters? Should I begin with a plot and then devise my characters to be "...
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Is it copyright infringement if my character is pretty similar to another character?
I want to create a manga. The problem is that my characters are pretty similar to oshi no ko characters. For example, the main character has the star eyes like ai eyes, and her eyes are purple. ...
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How can I smoothly transition from my main characters to my secondary characters?
I am seeking examples of clean ways to transition from my main characters to my secondary characters. When I review what I have written, it is clunky and unclear that the story is now focusing on the ...
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Is it okay to use words from other languages as names?
I am writing a book that I planned out as a kid; I've completely changed it around so that only the characters have stayed the same. I love them a lot and I love the names I gave them back then, ...
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Should you support the aftermath of every single supporting characters after the main conflict is resolved?
Should you support the aftermath of every single supporting characters after the main conflict is resolved?
Not exploring the aftermath of supporting characters can be seen as a mistake to avoid when ...
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How would the "one good member" of an evil organization/culture see themselves?
I have a character that is the stereotypical "token good member of an evil organization". The organization is a brutal social darwinist one that sees nothing wrong with killing people and ...
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How to write a character who's better than you at sounding professional and doublespeak
I have a character who is an expert at using language to his advantage. Both in terms of doublespeak, subtle put downs and deliberately avoiding the point and making the conversation about something ...
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How do I get my writing to be more thrilling?
I started writing not too long ago, but I've been struggling to actually make the readers get into the reading. I've been told that my writings are too "straightforward" or "too direct&...
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How can I make my character slowly fall in love with someone that already likes them?
I want to have one of my characters slowly fall in love with a boy who has liked her from the start, but I'm not sure how to
Show that he likes her but not make it too obvious
and
make her slowly ...
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Help me understand my main character better to easier get inside their head
My main character is an ISF. I'm not using their MBTI character type to dictate their entire personality as I understand that all people are complex but when I'm creating a new character I like to ...
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Novel begins with a number of chapters concerning the father of the main character, but does not include the main character
Table of Contents:
Prologue
24 Years Ago: Omissions of the Past
A number of chapters of backstory (life) of father of main character, but son, who is the main character for rest of book is not in it, ...
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How do I describe a character who had a leg ripped off?
I’m a new writer writing a fantasy story. A character had a leg ripped off below the knee and I’m not sure how to describe that. It’s in a first person perspective by one of the other characters ...
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Who should be the antagonist when my novel is meant to be educational?
I am writing a science fantasy novel, but I think I should re-write it completely. Let me explain the situation.
Here's the concept of my novel: The story takes place in an alternate world where a ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 ...
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How could I write a tragic, depressed character without 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 ...
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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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