Every writer on Tumblr: “I would combust out of love if someone ever drew fanart of my fic!!” Me: “oh man I wanna draw this scene BUT THEY WOULD PROBABLY HATE IT AND HATE ME FOR THE NERVE”
These are great. It is really a fun way to broaden a character. I personally have a file with bios of all of my main, reoccurring, and generally important characters. For basic side characters I document information like names, titles, skills, appearances, personality, importance to story or characters, relations, jobs, miscellaneous notes, and other mundane information.
For my mains and other important characters I go into a lot more detail. This is my current standard starting info sheet for each VIP:
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Race:
Appearance:
Time with the collective:
Relations:
Skills:
Hobbies:
Job:
Favourite food:
Weapon of choice:
Personality:
Secret:
Fear:
Pleasure:
Origin:
History:
Role in story:
Additional notes:
I will take this form and add to it additional information about the character. Not every character has information in each spot. And there are characters with information that the reader will likely never know about. I personally find it much more enjoyable to write stories around characters then simply creating characters for specific stories. After a while, they just sort of write themselves and you start discovering things about your characters that you would have never guessed. It realy creates some interesting scenes.
Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?
What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?
What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?
Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?
On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?
Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?
Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?
Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?
Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?
Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?
In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?
In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?
Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?
Does your character remember names or faces easier?
Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?
Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?
What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?
Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?
What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?
In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?
If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?
What does your character like in other people?
What does your character dislike in other people?
How quick is your character to trust someone else?
How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?
How does your character behave around children?
How does your character normally deal with confrontation?
How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?
What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?
What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?
Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.
Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.
In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?
Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?
How does your character behave around people they like?
How does your character behave around people they dislike?
Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?
Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?
Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)?
How does your character treat people in service jobs?
Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?
Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?
Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?
How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?
What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?
Josephine: While you’re at the Winter Palace, you must conduct yourself with consideration and civility. Everyone’s eyes will be on you. They will look and judge every mistake, every flaw, and every misstep. I cannot possibly stress the importance of how normal you must act.
Inquisitor: Okay.
Inquisitor:
Well, last time they changed games eight kids died.
Truth or Dare, Truth or Truth, Truth or Drink
Pb, you know there are other party games out there, right?
I kept myself from writing my own original fiction for a long time because I worried so much about not writing “like other writers”.
I’d read an amazing book and want to make a reader feel all the things I was feeling, but then decided “well, there’s no way I can write like THAT” and whatever inspiration I had would die.
Listen. You don’t have to write like other writers. You have to write like YOU.
No one can write the way you can, because your voice belongs to you and only you.
I finally stopped listening to the voice that told me I shouldn’t write because I wouldn’t be as good as other writers. And when I did, I wrote a book in a little over a month.
Write the stories that you would want to read. Write the stories that you’ve been hiding in your heart.
Write them, because no one else can.
Well said. I have just been way more busy lately, but yeah, it is discouraging when I do manage to write something it only gets like a third of the notes now. I am so extremely appreciative of those people, even one note is amazing really, but it really makes you start to wonder if people are losing interest in your work. Or just do not like it.
I think you’re right, some of the content creators I knew almost dont post anything anymore. Those who do get less traffic unless they’re style is really good, on hype or if they’re content includes Kamilah (since she’s really popular). All I see in my dash are shitposts whether funny, edgy etc. and they’re the ones who gets most traffic. I still like those but its like 70% shitposts and 20% fanfics, 10% edits, fanarts, aesthetics etc. I just miss seeing more creative content in my dash.
This is very true. People stopped creating original content and started making more shitposts than ever, but that’s probably because of notes. Someone that doesn’t like a certain character, won’t like or rb a post, while a shitpost speaks to everyone. It’s sad to see so many great writers/editors/artists stop posting their stuff, bc of some notes. They seem to think that their stuff is unimportant, even though that’s what a fandom is about. When they get like 60 notes, while a not very funny post gets 1k in one night, its not very surprising that they feel discouraged.
Here’s mine!
this is ugly but i don’t have patience ever
here you go team watch your favorite books duke it out for whichever you think is the best book……….. no1 @ me about the matchups
bloodbound’s here cause i had an uneven number lmao……
They were really quick on making Jomes Acorn and other references so I believe they do big time.
Do you think Pb has favorite tumblr blogs? Like the writers and artists have to have tumblr and they probably stalk us don’t ya think? Like do you think on their lunch breaks they talk to each other about what’s going on? Like “hey did you see what kennadavenportgayle posted yesterday” “yeah I hate that girl” like??? Do you think they have conversations like this??? I really just have a lot of questions Pb spill the tea we wanna know if you like us (or I guess I wanna know lmao)
You dare come into my house and insult me like this?
open a document and start writing
– Settings are a tricky business in stories, whether they’re real or make-believe. For those of us who decide to choose a place that is somewhere on this Earth, we have a lot of research to do; so much that it can be daunting at first. Here’s a list to start you on the path of capturing that place on the pages.
Weather Patterns -
What it’s like when it rains
What it’s like when it snows
What it’s like when the wind blows
How the people react
Where the weather is consistent and where it isn’t
How the weather effects people and their plans
You’d be surprised how large a role this plays in society.
Culture -
Cost of living
Major subgroups
Dominant subcultures
Popular places
Trends
Slang
Fashion
Food
Politics
Accents
Populations
Geography -
Street and place names
Landmarks
Locations
Distance between locations
Transportation
Become a local from far away.
Where It Could Go Wrong - If you’re going to use a place that exists in real life, where people could potentially visit or even have grown up in, please use discretion when deciding which parts of your story in which you decide to incorporate reality and which parts you decide to make it up.
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Sofia. She/her. Writer, thinker, listener, trans woman, and supporter of the Oxford Comma.
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