Questions tagged [character-development]

Anything pertaining to developing the details associated with characters in your writing.

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What is the term for an accessible character that knows nothing?

In a lot of books, movies, or TV shows, there will be a character that knows little to nothing about the subject at hand. Most cop shows and medical shows will have someone who doesn't know very ...
Jeff's user avatar
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15 votes
6 answers
1k views

How to find authenticity in a character of color

I am working on a book. I am aware that, being a white guy, I always perceive characters as white men. I want to push myself into building a character that is black. My problem is that most of the ...
Thom's user avatar
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31 votes
14 answers
18k views

Is my story "too diverse"?

(Edit: I feel like I should clarify, these are the only LGBT characters in the story, and the only characters whose sexualities are even touched on, and they are part of a larger group of people, ...
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24 votes
13 answers
50k views

Software for developing and organizing characters

I'm looking for a software that helps me develop and organize the characters for my novel. What I want: something like a filesystem, with a file for each character it should have or allow me to ...
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18 votes
8 answers
7k views

How do I better handle my nameless main character when trying to retain mystery?

I have written a short story, and the main character is referred to as "he" right the way through - the idea being that this character is very guarded and mysterious. My plan was to not ...
Dan Hanly's user avatar
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16 votes
8 answers
7k views

How do I make an ESL character sound realistic?

I have to write an assignment in which there's an English character talking with a English as a Second Language (ESL) character. It is turning out really, really badly. I have a general idea of what ...
Ice-9's user avatar
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8 votes
6 answers
8k views

How do you write a story about a team?

There just isn't information about this on the internet (at least that I could find), so I'm here. A few specific questions: how many team members should there be? Should they all be main characters, ...
pandalarry's user avatar
43 votes
7 answers
5k views

How does one write a character smarter than oneself?

How does one write a "genius" character? I don't mean a scientific genius, or someone who is a prodigious talent in math or chess or something like that. I mean the following scenario (or an ...
Jay's user avatar
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36 votes
10 answers
13k views

How to write female characters with agency?

I'm attempting to write a novel, an historical fiction with a small fantasy component (time travel through a portal). The travelers (main characters) are a young couple from the late 23rd Century who ...
J.D. Ray's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
1k views

Should my readers be able to identify with the bad guy?

I'm in the process of defining the characters for a novel. It is a crime fiction, with a really strong focus on the characters. I hope to construct really rich, complex and clearly defined characters. ...
Carl Seleborg's user avatar
7 votes
8 answers
7k views

First Person vs. Third Person: Advantages and Disadvantages?

My name is Alex and I'm writing a fantasy novel. I don't know if I should use first or third person narration. First person writing is good for protagonists and important characters, but third ...
Seraph Myrmidon's user avatar
41 votes
7 answers
4k views

Getting Inside Someone Else's Head

A common problem for novice fiction writers, and one that I feel that I myself haven't quite graduated from, is always writing characters who are like the author. Each character is merely some facet ...
justkt's user avatar
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26 votes
5 answers
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How to avoid hearing "that's me!" from your friends when they read your characters, and that wasn't your intent?

I recently asked about getting inside of someone else's head for writing good characters who are noticeably different from myself and received some great answers. One answer suggested that you should ...
justkt's user avatar
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13 votes
4 answers
2k views

Ways for main character to influence world following their death

The main character of a story dies before the story itself ends. Nothing new here, you can keep a story interesting following their death. But I have an additional requirement: The dead main character ...
Core Xii's user avatar
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12 votes
3 answers
831 views

How to give characters a unique voice

When writing dialogue all the characters sound the same. I'm not sure I even know what giving a character a voice means, but my dialogue sucks so any advice will be greatly appreciated.
pandalarry's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
3k views

How to do research to write characters from a different culture?

Let's say I'm French and I'd like to write a Korean character. How can I build their personality traits, values, etc. in a realist way? I'm afraid to end up with a character only superficially ...
Babika Babaka's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
9k views

Showing that a character is in pain in a dialogue

Do you add pauses? Do you add interjection? Which ones? Do you misspell certain words? What are some of the tricks writers use? I don't want to say it in the descriptive passage. I want people to feel ...
Sayaman's user avatar
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29 votes
13 answers
7k 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. ...
scohe001's user avatar
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28 votes
11 answers
7k views

How to make the villain relatable/human without making the hero seem like a monster for killing him?

I have a story I'm writing which has a villain that, in order to make him more human/developed, I gave him a relatable, tragic and/or disturbing life story, gave him plenty of reasons to be who he is ...
Yuuza's user avatar
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20 votes
6 answers
910 views

What are some ways to get to know your characters?

For example, I have recently taken to analyzing all my characters within the scope of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I already had my characters in place; I just used this test as a tool to get in ...
StrixVaria's user avatar
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20 votes
6 answers
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Not projecting myself onto my characters

I have struggled with mental illness for my entire life. Writing has been an extremely helpful and important mode of self-expression for me, since I was little. But recently, I feel like my writing ...
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15 votes
7 answers
3k views

How to invest readers in a story that (initially) has no clear direction?

The main character of my novel (third person limited) is an outlaw, on the run from government agents and living from day to day trying to survive. In the first quarter of the story, she doesn't ...
Mike.C.Ford's user avatar
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15 votes
6 answers
5k views

How to write a Complete Monster?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with TV Tropes lingo, a Complete Monster is the worst kind of villain imaginable: one that is evil to the core and has little to no redeeming traits whatsoever. ...
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14 votes
8 answers
6k views

"The more fleshed out the character is, the more the reader will care about him". Always true?

I have a problem with the protagonist of one of my stories. In the story he's in, he dies at the end (self-sacrifice), so I readily made sure to flesh him out the most possible, because, at least in ...
Yuuza's user avatar
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12 votes
3 answers
2k views

Finding the 'voice' of a character

This is a very general question that I want to throw out there just to get some insight into different approaches used. I have my own, but am intrigued to know what others might try. I'm wondering ...
Ian's user avatar
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11 votes
8 answers
7k views

How do I write sexual tension between two characters?

So. This is one of my first projects, so I have to ask this. The story takes place in a dystopian future, where a young man and a young woman meet each other. They then try to overthrow the tyrannical ...
DarkYagami's user avatar
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10 votes
8 answers
4k views

How to make a character's personality trully distinguishable/memorable?

Before anything, please pardon any grammar (or other kinds of language) mistakes I might make, for English is not my mother language. I'm making a fictional world, medieval-like with a wide variety ...
dsc's user avatar
  • 103
9 votes
6 answers
3k views

What are the basic elements of a crime investigation story?

I've been delving a lot into the the crime investigation genre, and at first I thought "Simple, just start of with Who, What, Where, When, Why and How and you've got yourself a story!" but I quickly ...
Kenan Rhoton's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
1k views

How to write about an emotion you never experienced?

Is it possible for a writer to describe realistically a never felt emotion? For example I have never experienced faith, or being truly in love. I've never physically hurt anyone and have no idea of ...
Babika Babaka's user avatar
6 votes
5 answers
5k views

Is it illegal to imagine a real person for a fictional character?

There are times I meet someone for a brief time, maybe a couple hours, and their personality impresses me enough to create a fictional character about them. Obviously I am adding my own attributes to ...
Virginia's user avatar
  • 601
6 votes
2 answers
482 views

I am losing significant word count in the second draft of my novel. How might I use that space to deepen the characters and story?

I have a word count goal for my fantasy novel (climate fiction/fantasy) of 100 - 120,000 words. It doesn't need to fall in this range, but that is the typical length of books I read when I pick up a ...
SFWriter's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
303 views

Doubt about a particular point of view on how to do character creation

Of course developing a character is quite an intimate process. But still, like a story, you can in fact have some tools that give you some sort of axiomatic path on "how-to". There is a TV ...
M.N.Raia's user avatar
  • 683
6 votes
6 answers
459 views

Early investment in a character who "learns better"

I'm looking for ways to build early reader investment in an unlikable character who "learns better," but not until fairly late in the book. In particular, I'm writing a first-person middle-grade ...
Chris Sunami's user avatar
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5 votes
7 answers
1k views

What to avoid when writing a villain? [closed]

The villain so far has only appeared in two chapters. However now he's making a return in a chapter which is mostly about him, his actions and his past. Now. What are mistakes I should avoid when ...
DarkYagami's user avatar
  • 1,005
5 votes
3 answers
502 views

Are there times when delayed character development is acceptable in fiction?

In my screenplay, I have my female protagonist wear Prada, and perhaps drop other hints of her character, but not act like Miranda Priestly for the first two acts, until she gets a promotion at the ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 4,405
5 votes
6 answers
6k views

How to write from a cat's perspective?

I want to write a short story from the perspective of a cat who wants to kill a bird that extremely annoys her. Just like Tom is trying every time to kill Jerry or do something to him. However, I don'...
Irene's user avatar
  • 51
4 votes
4 answers
259 views

Can I use prominent people in history to as characters in my fiction?

I am a little puzzled. I want to set my story in a real era that happened; like say, the American civil wars during Lincoln's time, and involve the then prominent figures like Lincoln and McClellan as ...
Felix Abonyo's user avatar
4 votes
6 answers
1k views

How To Develop A Character For A Character-Driven Story?

What is essential for a character-driven story - except, obviously, appearance?
Lady Fickle's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
2k views

How can I write an annoying character without annoying the reader?

My story has a group of five refugees traveling across the kingdom. One of them is preachy and pretty much useless (unused to physical labor, trying to convert the heathens in the group). She's ...
user avatar
3 votes
6 answers
402 views

What is an easy way to create a detailed character profile for a short story?

What is an easy way to create a detailed character profile for a short story? I'm new to this Stack Exchange, and need help creating an organized character profile, with the information I have on my ...
Alfred King's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
4k views

What is the Purpose of an Inner Conflict?

I've long known what the purpose of inner conflict is. Indeed, it was one of the simplest concepts for me to grasp when I was learning about it. Now I'm not so sure. I seem to have developed a dual ...
Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
223 views

Doubt about the concept of "true (or complex) character"

Following the answer of @Cyn and my comment (on Doubt about a particular point of view on how to do character creation ): I would like to know more about how to "know" more about a true alived ...
M.N.Raia's user avatar
  • 683
2 votes
1 answer
234 views

Realistically writing culture shock for this character?

I wanted help writing a character for my setting. Basically, in this story I’m writing, I have a character named Christina. Basically, she lived in an underground bunker, in a post-apocalyptic world, ...
DT Cooper's user avatar
  • 207
1 vote
1 answer
120 views

Writing Longer Flashbacks

In my story my MC has suffered a severe injury and has no recollection of who he was before it occurred. He knows what happened and where he was when it occurred as he was told by the people who found ...
J Crosby's user avatar
  • 405
48 votes
12 answers
18k views

'The Chosen One' paradox

In many books novels or other forms of fictional writing, the reader is introduced to a so called 'chosen one'. This character or being is of higher power or in general, of different nature than other ...
user32730's user avatar
  • 591
41 votes
13 answers
18k views

Avoiding the "not like other girls" trope?

The "not like other girls" trope is pretty common in young adult fiction, arguably misogynistic, and usually applied to a female protagonist or love interest. Attempts to make a female character ...
user avatar
34 votes
10 answers
11k views

Would it be cheating to change the main character's "name" partway through the story?

I'm writing a story written in third-person limited, and the main character has no real name. They simply go by the nickname they're given by the people they hang around at the time, resulting in many ...
AkkaVer's user avatar
  • 453
34 votes
16 answers
17k views

Is no religion a bad thing?

(I believe I've asked about a half dozen questions pertaining to this post-apocalyptic novel, including my "is this story too diverse" question. This sort of pertains to that.) Last night, I thought ...
user avatar
31 votes
16 answers
8k views

How do you write boy & girl protagonists without turning them into a love story?

I've played with the idea of a multi-book fantasy story for years, where a female and male protagonists' lives intertwine with one another, the series running from 12-22 years old for them. There ...
B.M. Corwen's user avatar
27 votes
13 answers
7k views

Can I conceal an antihero's insanity - and should I?

I have an idea for an anti-heroic sci-fi character whose character arc runs from spoilt rich girl, to a refugee in the rubble of human civilisation after an alien invasion, to crewmember and then ...
Monty Wild's user avatar