The characters tag has no wiki summary.
5
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5answers
95 views
Sympathetic portrayal of an evil protagonist with good motivations
I'm contemplating writing about a character with good motivations whose actions would be considered evil.
In short the story would be about a necromancer killing an entire nation so that he can bring ...
2
votes
1answer
158 views
Will 9/11 fiction get a writer into trouble with the US Government?
I want to write about the very interesting topic of 'what really happened' on 9/11. How close can I possibly get to real characters and facts without getting sued?
Facts I might include in my work:
...
9
votes
3answers
247 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. (I'm a comp sci major, and I feel like ...
2
votes
1answer
83 views
When to use the character's name and when to use she/he?
This is the first short story where I'm using actual names for the characters. Here is a sample:
"Sorry for the question," Jun said. "But why don' you have friends?"
Ling glanced at him, then ...
4
votes
2answers
98 views
Balancing loads of equally-important characters
If you have a dozen good guys, but four of them are the protagonists and the other six are more in the background, it's not that hard to skew the pagetime of each character towards those that are more ...
3
votes
1answer
37 views
Literary criticism term for character espousing author's ideas?
Is there a term in literary criticism for a character who espouses the points of view of the author? Especially, but not necessarily, if that character has no other role in the work. (This is ...
5
votes
2answers
101 views
What exercises will help me write my co-author's character?
I'm working on a novel together with my co-author, K. K's come up with this great character - a sassy were-cat name Garlic. Unfortunately, I'm having a really tough time writing for Garlic - K has a ...
4
votes
3answers
190 views
How to create varying, yet realistic, speech patterns
Different characters speak differently. If someone reads me a letter written by an immediate relative, I can tell right away who wrote it. I believe --and correct me if I'm wrong-- that giving each ...
7
votes
4answers
192 views
What to do when characters disagree with the plot?
I'm writing a romance novel and have hit a brick wall. The problem is every way I think the future lovebirds could meet and become friends is totally cliché. After thinking about it, I've realized ...
4
votes
6answers
463 views
The opposite sex in first person?
I have been writing about not just one, but two females; sisters. I've toyed with different methods/persons in this, but it seems I've come to an obvious roadblock. I wouldn't call it "writer's block" ...
2
votes
3answers
146 views
Organization for epic fantasy writing [closed]
Possible Duplicate:
Organizing your Universe?
I have some issues on the organization of my fantasy story.
For instance there are many factions that come into play during the story and I ...
5
votes
6answers
240 views
Is it OK to refer to some characters by first name and to others by last name?
I'm writing the outline for my first novel, which has three main characters. I'm very happy with their names, however I recently noticed that I was naturally referring to the first two by first name, ...
4
votes
9answers
316 views
How do I round out a powerful character?
I've created a character named "Mathias Mindblade" who is trained by a wise wizard to lead a rebellion against the Darkness Empire and eventually to establish an Empire of Light.
Mathias has some ...
2
votes
6answers
214 views
Is it acceptable for a book to not have a dominant lead character?
I saw this question posted in another forum, and it didn't have any responses, so naturally I decided to bring it over here. :)
I realized, 80% of the way through my first draft, that I don't have ...
3
votes
6answers
255 views
Can a likeable character be unsympathetic?
I believe an unlikable character can be sympathetic, although that's tricky. But can you go the other way? Can your character be likable but at the same time unsympathetic? I've been trying and ...
3
votes
3answers
187 views
First Person Voice - Same as speaking?
When writing in first person, if the POV character talks with a certain dialect or type of diction (eg. "I ain't got all day! Hurry it up, will ya?") should they narrate with the same accent, or can ...
11
votes
2answers
176 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 ...
10
votes
6answers
355 views
Source ideas for monsters in a fantasy novel?
Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go to get some ideas on different types of monsters that can be created for a fantasy novel? I'm not talking about different variations of zombies or ...
4
votes
3answers
198 views
Tips for adding more personality to characters?
Often I read a new book only to find that the characters are flat, boring, and lacking in personality. Sometimes I even find that in my own characters, and when that happens I usually just remove it. ...
5
votes
2answers
440 views
How do you develop a strong female character?
Are there specific characteristics that one should strive for when trying to develop a strong female character? Is it truly dependent on the genre of the book, or are there certain elements that carry ...
3
votes
4answers
165 views
Multiple POVs in a single scene
This question came up in another forum, so I thought I'd share it here. Should there be only one POV per scene? Is it OK to go with multiple POVs?
An example is a scene with two characters facing ...
7
votes
4answers
376 views
How often do writers develop characters before plot, and why?
As someone who writes a little as a hobby, this is something that I haven't really thought about until just recently, but...
Is it common for a writer to develop characters before actually coming up ...
4
votes
5answers
234 views
Writing character cards?
I read somewhere that authors sometimes use cards to write down information about the characters in their stories. I assume these were small cards so what was written them had to be concise. What sort ...
2
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3answers
161 views
Does my story structure for an ensemble zombie story sound effective?
I'm working on a novel about the psychological struggle of 7 characters. It's got an ensemble cast, where every character has the same importance. I've got a structure for this that sounds good to me, ...
3
votes
6answers
464 views
Example of a fictional story without any characters (the story being 1000+ words)
Guessing that there is no such example, but if there is, I'm very interested in knowing about it.
Just as a short example, just to make it clear it's possible; the example is not intended to be a ...
4
votes
4answers
230 views
How to refer to character of focus in a story
I find that when I write, I'm not always sure how to refer to the character of focus. You can only say "he/she" so many times before it feels choppy and repetitive. Constantly referring to character ...
7
votes
5answers
312 views
“multiple personalities” for character development in writing?
How can I train myself to think in "multiple personalities" so I can use these personalities for character development in writing?
10
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9answers
257 views
Sympathetic portrayal of devout, rule-abiding characters
I'm having trouble portraying religious, devout characters as protagonists or viewpoint characters. When I try, I get the sense that the reader - not sharing the characters' beliefs - will have ...
14
votes
4answers
876 views
How to describe the point-of-view character without using mirrors
In fiction, the main character is often the first person we meet in the story. Given that the story is written from his/her point of view, how would you describe what they look like? The classical ...
7
votes
2answers
219 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
114 views
Character with extreme manners
My objective is victorian style tea-drinking "upper class" lady characters. (it's more of a writing challenge)
Does anyone have any useful resources or tips for creating such a character? ...
14
votes
3answers
470 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?
...
10
votes
4answers
530 views
How should I introduce my characters?
I'm pretty good at creating compelling characters with decent personalities and motivations. I like the comradery vibe, so they're generally already part of a posse of some sort at the beginning of my ...
8
votes
6answers
251 views
The polymath's dilemma…?
The main character of a YA story I am working on is fast becoming a polymath, i.e. someone with a broad base of skills and interests across unrelated areas of endeavor. I really like how this ...
6
votes
4answers
357 views
Is this character generator useful?
After some feedback from this site and a training course, I developed a little tool to help with character generation. It's called "20 Questions" and works just like that: It picks 20 questions (or ...
4
votes
6answers
250 views
Tools for generating characters' names
I found this name generator:
http://www.fakenamegenerator.com
And I'm wondering if maybe there are others? Has anybody found this kind of tool useful? What about tools for fantasy names? Should I ...
9
votes
9answers
286 views
Resources for character development
I'm weak at building characters.
What resources are there to create rich characters? I'm thinking beyond name generators: Quirks, biography, diseases like allergies, hobbies and jobs, wealth, omens, ...
5
votes
3answers
237 views
Character Development - How much is too much?
I've read loads of books where the reaction and development of characters seems to extreme for the events that effect them in the story.
However not having any development makes the character boring, ...
15
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4answers
186 views
Resources about different people types?
I'm native German, but trying to write in English for various reasons. One of the big points in a story is to keep the characters very distinct from each other, and that requires some knowledge about ...
25
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18answers
1k views
How to name the characters of your story?
I find it hard to name my characters. Every normal name sounds funny if applied to a product of my fantasy. If I take a common name, I may get the image of someone I know into my head. And that may ...
