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Character Profile of DOOM! - Template1 year ago in Writing

5 Ways to Get Fantasy WrongYes, you're writing a fantasy story. Yes, that means many of the normal "rules" of reality are suspended. It doesn't mean you can just write whatever you like and expect your readers to swallow it. The existence of dragons they'll probably accept. Moscow being the capital of France they probably won't.

The key to "selling" weird, fantasy stuff to your reader (like dragons and half-elves) is making the world at large believable. This means getting the simple things right. So on that note:

1. Factual Errors

There are things in the wide-world of fiction that are fantasy elements; things like dragons, unicorns, and women who find beards sexy. 5 Ways to Get Fantasy Wrong2 years ago in Writing

Character Personality CreatorWarning: This is very long and created to help beginning writers/artists. If you know how to make characters, I do not recommend that you use this.

Character Personality:

The Basics:

Age:

Gender:

Father:

Mother:

Heritage (what race is he/she?):

Occupation (If they have one):

Height:

Average Weight/Body build (size basically):

Eye color:

Hair color:

Skin color:

Other (special information):

The Generic Myspace Stuff (NOTE: this is an optional section; if you don't need any of this information for you character, skip forward):

Favorite Color:

Favorite Food:

Favorite animal (if any):

Any particular fetishCharacter Personality Creator5 years ago in Writing

Plot Saver List

1. Kill a main character.
2. Send your characters on a journey.
3. Have your characters lose an important item.
4. Have a character go crazy.
5. A volcano erupts nearby.
6. Your characters stumble on a key.
7. Your characters throw a man off a bridge.
8. Your character gets drunk.
9. Your character finds a lost child.
10. Your character is attacked by a bandit.
11. Your character develops a crush on someone.
12. Add a new character.
13. Your main character trips and breaks his/her arm.
14. Characters argue over milk.
15. Have a character say “I am afraid I have lost my watch”
16. Write a scene that takes place in a boPlot Saver List4 years ago in Writing

Advanced CHARACTER Creation

Advanced CHARACTER Creation ~ for Fiction
Hero ~ Villain ~ Ally
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are three essential characters in every story. There may be any number of side characters, but in traditional Adventures, and Romances of every stripe (erotic or not,) the main conflict is usually, if not always, a TRIANGLE of complimentary opposites.

Translation: You could tell the whole story with ONLY these Three Characters; perhaps not with any real detail, but you could still do the entire basic plotline.

THREE Characters?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm sure you're familiar with the names Hero & Villain or Antagonist & Protagonist already. Those are preAdvanced CHARACTER Creation3 years ago in Writing

How to name your characters

NAMING YOUR CHARACTERS

There are many problems that a writer can come across when selecting a name for a character, here I hope to deal with some of the major pitfalls, and hopefully give some useful tips…

~ Unique and different names are not an excuse to ignore good characterisation. Would you take these characters seriously?

Randilynia McDanovich
Southern. D. Wattserfield
Floyd Picasso
Ise Speranza
Nine Purple

These are all names that I came up with off the top of my head or based on words about my desk. It is not difficult to come up with a new, unique name. But that doesn’t instantly make your character interesting orHow to name your characters5 years ago in Writing

Character Creation - Tips

Note: I wrote this after reading a similar article in The Writer magazine about a year ago. Hope it's helpful!

Not all characters are created equal. Here are some steps to make yours superior.

1) Desire

Figure out what your character wants, needs, desires. A closer relationship with God? A place to belong? Just to survive? Figure it out. You can’t move on to number 2 until you have.

2) Fear

Now that you know what your character most desires, you should be able to figure out what he/she most fears. Doing the wrong thing, being alone, death? They are the polar opposites of your character’s desires.

3) History

Go back iCharacter Creation - Tips6 years ago in Writing

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The Art of VILLAINY

The Art of VILLAINY ~ Making Realistic Villains for your Fiction ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"People will do far more to Avoid Pain than they will to Seek Pleasure."
-- CIA Profiler Gavin DeBecker on Human Nature

True Predators
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I craft a villain, I go out of my way to make darned sure that my fictional villains are as realistic as the villains we face in real life. I begin by giving them ordinary human Issues.

Within every villain (fictional and non-fictional) there's a human issue at core that drives them to BE villains in the first place. Even mass murderers have reasons (however twisted) for doing what they do.

NO villainThe Art of VILLAINY3 years ago in Writing

Writing ANGST

One way to add excitement to your story is by adding lots of bad-guys, also known as EXTERNAL Conflict. Another way is by adding INTERNAL Conflict, more commonly known as Angst.

I'm sure most of you have noticed by now that most movie characters, and far too many book characters, are One-Dimensional. They do stuff, but they don't face any personality issues: a hang-up, a fear, paranoia, a moral code, a love interest, a strong dislike… Or worse, they do have all these things, but they never really affect the story.

There's a Plot Arc, things happen, but no Character Arc. The things that happen don't affect the characters emotionally.

WWriting ANGST3 years ago in Writing

Back-To-Basics Screenwriting With Snappy8 months ago in Writing

Writing Tips - Organisation

Writing Without Confusing Yourself (Or Your Readers)

Writing is a very personal, individual undertaking. Everybody approaches the activity a bit differently from the next guy. Some people can come up with concept, plot, characters, and everything else and just sit down and write. Others need to take time to figure out what's going on; what's going to happen in the story, and how it all fits together. Others still will find themselves getting stuck somewhere along the middle, losing track of everything or changing an idea mid-way through, or never know how to end. These are the people for whom this has been put together. Those of you who can Writing Tips - Organisation4 years ago in Writing

100 Questions to Ask Your OC

Hello, folks! The purpose of this exercise is to delve deep into a character's mind and tease out interesting eccentricities about them, the bits and pieces of unique information that make them special. Each question is designed to help think about the character more and understand them. Whether you're responding to one question or all of them, hopefully your character speaks to you all through it!

PERSONALITY PROFILE
1. People don't behave the same way all the time. In fact, they generally have a mask for every social group -- friends, family, business. Sometimes they have a different mask for different groups of friends. How does your100 Questions to Ask Your OC1 month ago in Writing

Yaoi Writers: MASCULINE?

Yaoi Writers:
Are Your Male Characters MASCULINE?
Is your favorite Yaoi character YOU as a guy -- only BETTER?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you committing a MARY-SUE/Gary Stu?

According to Aestheticism.com:
"The Mary Sue ... is the highest form of fannish devotion to a series. You like it so much you want to come play in it yourself. Most fan writers are content to do this by sneaking in under cover of one of the canon characters.

Slipping on my Hakkai mask, I jump in the jeep and set out for the west with Sanzou and the guyz, pretending all along that it's Hakkai telling the story I'm writing and not me at all..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ExcepYaoi Writers: MASCULINE?3 years ago in Writing

The dA Babelfish

UPDATE: This guide is now too big for deviantART, and is instead being hosted offsite on Google: http://sites.google.com/site/thedababelfish/

Do you want to thank someone for faving your best piece? Not exactly sure what to say, because their profile says they live in China? Look no further than the dA Babelfish, a resource of how phrases like "Thanks for the fav!" and "Hello, random deviant!" are said in languages all around the globe!

Want to help with this guide? Comment on the deviation with these phrases in your language (but please make sure I don't have them already)! Don't worry if your language doesn't have a translation for words The dA Babelfish6 years ago in Writing

Writing Emotions VISUALLY

Writing Emotions VISUALLY

"What is ...VISUAL writing?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Visual writing is when the reader can SEE your story unfolding in their imaginations just like a movie.

    * Non-visual: It was a dreary day.
    * Visual: Icy rain slithered down the window glass from an iron gray sky.

This is more commonly known as SHOWING vs. TELLING.

    * Telling: It was a dreary day.
    * Showing: Icy rain slithered down the window glass from an iron gray sky.

"What's wrong with just...Telling them?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- The problem lays with Reader interpreWriting Emotions VISUALLY3 years ago in Writing

The Ultimate Writing Guide

Have great tutorial that you want to show off to help others? Or need a great tutorial yourself to make your characters shine across the battlefield? Then check out the description for more information. The Ultimate Writing Guide4 years ago in Writing

Nobody Loves My Character!

On making characters lovable, in your story and online
Brought to you by Super Editor

Disclaimer: This is a troubleshooting guide, and it doesn't necessarily cover every possible solution. It's based on my own experience, and not every idea may fit every character or work. Please use your common sense and personal taste when applying this information. Thanks for reading!

It's every writer's nightmare: your characters, after all the things you've put them through and all the months or years they've inhabited your head, have been eagerly displayed to the public and received an unenthusiastic response. Your audience has not been enchanted. TheNobody Loves My Character!10 months ago in Writing

The Character Arc

Advanced Plotting:
The CHARACTER ARC

PLOT ARC: The events that happen while the characters make other plans.
CHARACTER ARC: The emotional roller-coaster that the character suffers while dealing with the Plot.

Understanding Plot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To make a story a cohesive whole, every single thing in it must be there for a reason. Every single character, object, location, and event must push toward the ending you have planned even if it doesn't look that way to the casual observer. In short, every scene in the story should either illustrate a characteristic attribute of a main Character or be an Event that makes your ending happen.

WThe Character Arc2 years ago in Writing

A Writer's Guide: Believable CharactersI know a lot of you out there are aspiring-writers (I’m one myself!) and sometimes we get so caught up in this “must publish!” attitude that we get lost in our stories along the way. Sometimes there comes a point when we stare at our half-finished novel and say “I’m stuck. “ Usually these moments happen when we don’t know where we’re going next with our story, and usually that’s because somewhere along the line we’ve strayed off the path and we aren’t quite sure how to get back.
One of the things that you may find helpful if you’ve never done it before is to take a really in-depth look at your characters and the world they live in. Characters are really the backbone of our stories. You can carry an entire story on the shoulders of a character without much plot (memoirs anyone?), but you can’t carry a plot without some great characters. So, to help you guys out, I wanted to write an article on things you shoulA Writer's Guide: Believable Characters3 months ago in Writing

Beta Reading for Authors

What is a Beta Reader?Apart from being a writer's best friend, beta readers provide a cross between edits and a critique. A beta reader does not edit a manuscript, but will note the errors for the author to fix. Advice and critiques are other services a beta may perform.

Establishing a RelationshipYou've just partnered with a beta reader; what do you do first? Establish with your beta what each of you expects from the relationship. A solid understanding of expectations starts the partnership on a productive path and avoids misunderstandings.
Time Expectations
Are you expecting a 24 hour turn around, while your beta is thinking a week? IfBeta Reading for Authors3 years ago in Writing

The Secret to Paragraphing

Writing DIALOGUE
The SECRET to Proper Paragraphing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(NOT a punctuation article.)

Once you know what your characters and doing and saying, how do you get all that down on Paper without ending up with a huge confusing mess?

Putting the Story on Paper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everybody knows that when a new speaker speaks they get a new paragraph, right? In other words, you DON'T put two different people talking in the same paragraph. Okay, yeah, so anyone who has written any kind of fiction learns this pretty darned quick, (usually from their readers.)

What nobody seems to get is that the same goes for a new character's ACTIONS. SerThe Secret to Paragraphing3 years ago in Writing

Beating the Block

brought to you by Super Editor

Please read this list slowly and carefully. You'll get much more out of it. (Thinking about specific characters and/or listening to your book's theme music while you read may help.)

This list is mostly (but not entirely) designed to give ideas for characterization-related scenes. If your issue is more along the lines of "I don't know where I'm going," then this may not be as helpful. While you can read this just in case, meditation and logic are usually the things that work best.

If this gives you an idea, write it down! It's a long list, so you don't want to risk forgetting anything.

Not all of these thoughBeating the Block1 year ago in Writing

I Dub Thee...

On the psychology and choosing of names
Brought to you by Super Editor

Many authors struggle with names. After coming up with a character who perfectly fits his or her intended role, planning personality traits, clothing, hobbies, and physical descriptions, now you have to sum all of that character's being up in a name!

There is an incredible number of ways to choose a name. Often authors are baffled by the vast array of first names and surnames that could be given to a character, and it's almost impossible to start. Whether you're hoping for a name that could belong to any girl on a street or a fantasy warrior from planet Xyla, there arI Dub Thee...2 years ago in Writing

Writing DESCRIPTION

Tricks for Writing DESCRIPTION

------------- Original Message -----------
"I think the biggest problem I have is lack of detail. I can see things in my head, but other than the general surroundings, I'm always too intent on what my characters are thinking, or doing, or about to do to remember to add the details necessary to paint a really clear picture of where they are and their environment." -- Wanna Rite Reel Gud

The way to deal with that is by writing what you can. When you're done, go back and put in all the rest. Also, in situations like this, a beta-reader is your best bet at seeing where you skipped something.

As for What to descWriting DESCRIPTION3 years ago in Writing

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