Anything pertaining to developing the details associated with characters in your writing.
19
votes
6answers
899 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 ...
12
votes
3answers
295 views
How to avoid hearing “that's me!” from your friends when they read your characters?
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 ...
11
votes
3answers
496 views
How/When to create deliberately boring characters?
Among a million other ambitions under the general heading of "Writing," I have this fantasy where I write a major series, several books long with a giant cast.
But I started thinking. In giant series ...
7
votes
3answers
280 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.
...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
Signs of Bad Character Development
When creating a character, what red flags would show me that I'm creating an unbelievable or unsympathetic character? I know that to be believable and sympathetic a character must not lean too much ...
11
votes
8answers
1k 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 reveal the ...
15
votes
3answers
752 views
How do you make a character quintessential, but not cliched or cartoony?
I think it's hard to make a character standout and embody their traits without becoming cliched or cartoons. How do you do this? What are some tips to enlivening a character and making them memorable?
...
7
votes
2answers
472 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 ...
9
votes
4answers
472 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 ...
6
votes
3answers
212 views
Is there any standardized definition of a “Mary Sue”?
I've heard the term "Mary Sue" thrown around a lot, and it seems to mean different things to different people, but is always something negative about the way the character is written, not necessarily ...
14
votes
3answers
412 views
Is there a quick way to know I have created a Mary Sue?
For those who don't know what a Mary Sue is: see here.
The problem is, there are far too many ways a character can be a Mary Sue, as seen here. Many websites that offer tests to see if your ...
7
votes
1answer
5k views
What does Character development actually mean?
I keep hearing the terms "character development" and "characterisation", but I'm still not sure what they mean? How does one "develop" a character?
5
votes
3answers
686 views
Character details of male archetypes
In this link about character development, the author describes basic male archetypes that are found in a romance novel.
http://www.likesbooks.com/eight.html
My question is: although this is very ...
10
votes
3answers
246 views
Frailties, mistakes, and imperfections
In the past, I've been inclined to believe that god-like characters are fun to write about. They are impossible to kill, cause omnipotent levels of destruction without consequence, and always come out ...
6
votes
2answers
159 views
I want to explore the psychology of a ruthless, macho killer. What mistakes should I avoid?
This is a follow-up to another question. I asked "Should my readers be able to identify with the bad guy?" and got an excellent answer which explains the continuum of "identifiability" for bad guys.
...
