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thecomfywriter · 20 days

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Writing Likable Characters

Hey y’all! How is everyone? It’s your girl, @thecomfywriter, back after… a long time. Let’s not talk about it lol I have no excuses and you’re not here for life updates. Anyhow, I’m back! And today’s topic is a doozy, not because it’s complicated, but because for some reason, it’s unnecessarily difficult to actually make a character likeable and worth rooting for. Considering most stories want readers to emotionally invest themselves into their characters and like them— well, we see the issue, don’t we?

In this post, we’ll explore the fundamentals of character development, why it's important to create likeable characters, and how to create characters readers can emotionally invest in. There’s a great benefit to creating characters readers actually care about, whether they’re protagonists, side characters, or even (shh….) the antagonists. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

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Topic Overview:

1.0 Why Have Likeable Characters?

2.0 The Common Characteristics

NEXT POST: Is it possible to create an unlikable character worth emotionally investing in?

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1.0 Why Have Likeable Characters?

It seems obvious, but once you break down the purpose of a likeable character, it becomes easier to identify the fundamental characteristics and traits that most likeable characters possess.

Suppose you go to a dinner party with your friends one night. There, you meet a variety of new people. ‘A’ is a tall brunette, with wide eyes and an even wider mouth. ‘B’ is a short and plump woman, with curly blonde hair and the occasional grey streak in between. ‘C’ is a scrawny man with a long face, a crooked nose, and a bow-legged stance. And ‘D’ is a blue eyed man with spiky green hair, tattoos all up his arms, and a silver septum piercing in his nose. Now, I’m going to ask you: ‘Who of these four people do you like ?’

Pretty freakin’ hard to answer, huh?

Now suppose I gave you the same scenario, but I tweaked it just a smidge. You go to a dinner party where you meet a variety of people. ‘A’ is a talkative woman who only stops to take a deep breath and inhale a gulp of her red wine. She is loose and flamboyant while she talks endlessly about the various adventures she’s been on during her time off as a travel nurse. But while her extravagant storytelling is more than entertaining, you find it difficult to get a single word in when talking to her because somehow, the conversation always steers back to herself.

Meanwhile, ‘B’ is a preppy and bubbly woman who works as an elementary school teacher, but you never really discovered that until the end of the conversation, when your mutual friend asks her how ‘the kids’ are, and the origin behind her soft-spoken tone and expressive eyes clicks in place. Your conversations together mainly center around your mutual love for animals— her with her dogs and you with your cats. Though she overapologizes and tends to be a bit more passive with all other topics of parley, the conversation is otherwise lighthearted. She is the first person to leave, however, cutting your time together short when she realizes the time and suddenly her dark circles seem to get darker. She is the one to redirect you to ‘C’, who is a professor at a prestigious university in a neighboring town. He looks quite formal and acts even moreso when he offers to shake your hand and requests the full length of your name and background.

As a complete contrast to ‘B’, ‘C’ is entirely reclusive and apathetic— outwardly, that is. There is an aire of stiffness around him, with his tall posture and unintentionally impressive vocabulary. Your conversations deviate from topic to topic, never dwelling too long on one discussion but always exploring it to a level of depth that surprises you. Whatever point you make, ‘C’ presents a counterargument, and what could have started as a regularly subjective opinion transforms into an interesting delve into the nature of peaceful arguments. While the conversation is more than cordial and definitely leaves you feeling a bit more intelligent and curious than before you met him, you can’t help but notice the lack of impression or reaction from ‘C’ whenever you spoke. It is only when ‘D’ swings around and introduces himself to you that you feel more assured, as he informs you that everyone who talks to ‘C’ leaves the conversation feeling a bit judged.

‘D’, you discover, is a freelance photographer who asks you if you would like a photo of you and your friends. You end up talking about his photography career, looking through his portfolio with awe— he is remarkably skilled and filled with a plethora of experience. Like your conversation with ‘B’, the tone is lighthearted, but this time, a banter is exchanged between yourself and the extremely witty ‘D’. His little quips are sassy, occasionally sarcastic but the follow-up laugh and pat of the shoulder relieves you from taking anything too seriously. While ‘A’ was entertaining, ‘D’ has a sense of humour that wonderfully matches your own. He is touchy, with every joke he makes being paired with some form of physical contact, but you discover he is like that with everyone as he expands the conversation to the entire dinner party circle. Occasionally, when his joke doesn’t land, he’ll do an awkward chuckle and make a self-deprecating comment to release the tension. But the tension never really dissipates when he makes jokes about his ex. Nevertheless, his smile is bright and his body language is always oriented towards the person he is talking to. You can’t help but feel properly heard when talking to him. The eye contact is unwavering and his every response is a testament that he was genuinely listening.

Now, if I asked you— who of the four do you like? Is it a bit easier to respond?

The difference between the two is a bit obvious (intentionally, to make things a bit clearer). The amount of substance allotted to each character increased with the second scenario. While the descriptions of the characters in the first example were confined to their appearance, the second scenario offered interactive exchanges with each character that allows you as the reader to fully imagine this person, even without the physical descriptors, and visualize the interaction with them beyond a surface level. In short, the first scenario gave you caricatures; the second scenario gave you people.

Why do I give you this very obvious statement? Because the more you think of your characters as characters to be liked or disliked, as opposed to the actions and interactions they have with their peers (in story) and their audience (the readers), the more shallow they will seem and the harder it will be for readers to connect to them, much less emotionally invest in them.

If you want to create profound characters, expose your characters to scenarios that showcase their interactions with that environment and the people in that environment. Allow the readers to feel like the character is someone they know in their life, someone they can relate to or envision, whether it be themselves, their mother, or their chatterbox coworker from HR.

Real characters evoke real emotions.

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2.0 The Common Characteristics

Before we get into a general list of likeable characteristics, let's highlight two terms and define them to differentiate them. Introducing… charm and charisma! Similar, but not the same.

Charm: this is your golden ticket, and also the hardest to nail. Charm is essentially the presence a person carries, and how attractive it is to outsiders. Not attractive in the sense of romantic interest. Attractive in the sense that this person has a draw to them. Their personality is inviting, unique, and confident. They have an ability to put other people in ease in their presence and are welcoming and inviting while also keeping people engaged. Charming people are attractive because their personalities and presence in a room makes you want to stay near them.

Charisma: the way I define charisma is magnetism. Its one of the components to charm that acts as the hook, line, and sinker. Charisma is a person’s humour, their body language, their tone, the way they look at you when they speak, whereas charm is the agglomeration of charisma, style, confidence, and personality.

Okay, now for the list. You can pick and choose characteristics from the following list to create your own unique combination for your characters, but its not enough to have characters “have” these characters. Remember part one of this post. How your characters demonstrate these characteristics is fundamental to how charming and charismatic they are. Also, the influence these traits have and relationship they have with other characters.

Likeable traits:

Intelligence: people generally respect intelligence in a person. There are different types of intelligence though

Wit: how quick-thinking a person is. Think of someone who is witty— they’re quick with their responses and multifaceted. IMPORTANT: multifaceted. If you’re just quick with your responses, you’re quippy. But to be witty, your responses have to display intelligence through introspection or observance in a humorous tone. It’s a hard thing to master, which is why witty people are usually highly respected and considered inexplicably charming.

Shrewdness: think of this through the example of schemers. Shrewdness is a meticulous, detailed type of intelligence that is sometimes used in negative connotations to describe people who are cunning and use their intelligence for malevolent intentions. But in general, shrewdness is about being practical, decisive, and considerate of multiple factors before coming to a decision. It displays thoroughness and patience in deliberating one’s thoughts and actions. Personal opinion that is not at all unpopular: shrewd villains >>>> MWAH!

Cleverness: I like to think of these people as atypical with their intelligence. They find out-of-the-box solutions to problems and are able to apply creativity to problem-solving.

Knowledgeable: this is what people think of when they think of trying to make an intelligent character. The typical approach to writing a genius is making them know everything. And while many intelligent/smart people are knowledgeable, it's typically because of the underlying traits they have that drive them to pursue knowledge (i.e. curiosity, focus, passion, wonder, skepticism, objectivity). Focusing on those aspects of your character rather than what they know itself is what will sell your character as intelligent rather than a human encyclopedia.

Introspection//Observation: this is emotional intelligence. Being able to assess people’s intentions, their emotional states, predict their reactions, and also being able to understand and connect to their own emotions. Emotionally intelligent characters are honestly so lovely, so refreshing, and such an underrated type of intelligence. To be able to read and predict human behaviour is so extremely impressive and also allows your character to alter their behaviour depending on their audience, which can add to their charisma and charm

Kindness: no one likes an asshole. It’s really as simple as that. People enjoy the company of people who are tender, caring, compassionate, empathetic, and not mean. It’s safe company, and company that makes others feel better about themselves. Entirely welcoming, which is why its so charming to be kind and gentle.

Humour: I could do a whole separate post on different types of humor. But to summarize it lightly, to write a character, it’s more important to try to humor the reader than the other characters. Humor is subjective, but adding genuine comedy rather than ingenuine reactions from other characters and telling the readers that ‘Character A is funny’ doesn’t have the same effect as inciting genuine laughter from the reader. Different types of humor include:

Witty humor: as I mentioned earlier, it carries an added advantage of intelligence to the mix. These can include light jabs between friends, but if done incorrectly, can make the character seem mean. So good luck lmao

Dark humour: hard to pull off tastefully. General rule with attempting dark humour though? It's all about boundaries. It's dark humour if you're joking about your own experiences, traumas, or something personal to you/your character. Doing it on the expense of someone else's experience is called being an asshole.

Sass//sarcasm: use this sparingly. Sass is fun with banter, but imagine hanging out with someone who answers everything with sass or sarcasm. Sounds exhausting? That’s because it is. Also, quick differentiation: sass has personality and a bit of zest to it; sarcasm is deadpan and mocking. Compare the following dialogues:

Sass: “Hey Jocelyn! Jeez… Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” “And clearly someone else woke up on the right side.”

Sarcasm: “Hey Jocelyn! Jeez… Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” “You don’t say.”

Trustworthiness: the most inviting thing about a person is knowing they’re not a backstabbing, shit-talking, macking asshole. Someone you can trust your secrets with is someone you can be vulnerable around, which is one of the foundations of creating intimate relationships. Having a character who blabbles off other character’s secrets, or even just petty gossip, is not a demonstration of trustworthiness. Valuing a person and truly listening to them while they speak, and then asking them about how private they want to keep that information— oof that’s a keeper right there.

Good listener: just to bounce off the last point, being attentive and showing your character cares about the people around them, their interests, and what they have to say is such a likeable quality because it appeals to the part of everyone (including your reader) of wanting to be sincerely heard. Your character doesn’t have to be devotional. But it’s about being respectful.

Okay, a bit more of a condensed list now so I can wrap things up:

Empathy: understand others’ emotions and being considerate towards other perspectives

Humility: no one likes an arrogant prick. Don’t make them Mr. Humble either (Mr. Humble in the sense of being humble to the point of being rather pretentious or being a doormat. Like, a person can acknowledge their achievements, be proud of themselves, have confidence, and ALSO be humble by not being braggy and arrogant about it)

Honesty: telling the truth, yes, but also being sincere in how they conduct themselves.

Reliability: no one likes mr. flakey lol. Being able to depend on someone strengthens relationships, and the moment a character exhibits this quality for the reader to view, the reader is able to attach themselves to this character

Optimism: optimism is fun! Optimism makes people feel hopeful. Yeah, pessimism used for comedy with sarcastic characters is a whole trope. But it’s only likeable if executed correctly. Otherwise, pessimism can be a drag. Think of pessimism as the risky route vs optimism as the safe route.

Resilience: showing a person’s willpower and their will to live by enduring hardship is one of the most respectable qualities, because its a quality we all wish to emulate in our real lives and understand takes a great deal of effort to actually be successful in.

Generosity

Patience

Authenticity

Open-mindedness

Courage

Gratitude

Adaptability

Selflessness

Fairness

Integrity: what are your character’s values? How true do they stay to their values? How strong is the needle of their moral compass? This one is massive to creating a character who reader’s respect, because efining a person’s value system allows them to become intimately familiar with the character’s perspective of the world, their ethics code, and their morality. Even if they cannot agree with all of the values of the character, a character who stays true to their values and has integrity is commendable, and therefore in most cases, respectable (hint hint, this is a huge transition to my next post lol)

Essentially, creating likeable characters is about trying to charm your readers with your characters' personality and presence, to the point where the reader would genuinely want to be friends with this person in real life. Having their actions match their narrative description and their in-story reputation also adds to your reliability as a writer. If you’re trying so hard to convince me as the reader than Jonathan is a real stand-up, charming guy who is a huge womanizer; smooth-talker all around to the point where he is able to get positions and extort favours from people because he has such a way with words… but then all of Jonathan’s dialogue sounds like a piece of wet cardboard was brought to life, I’m going to start thinking you as the author are rather delusional, think I’m dense, or have no idea how smooth-talkers actually sound. But what I’m not going to believe is that Jonathan is what you say he is.

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Okay! That’s all for today, folks! Stay tuned for my next post on writing unlikable characters that readers still want to root for. Also! I’m thinking of short story prompts for you guys to practise your writing with on this account, now that I have the chance to be a bit more active.

Why do I have more opportunities to be more active?

I FINISHED MY BOOK, BABYYYY!!! LETS GOOOOOO :D

Yeah, so I might post some excerpts of my own wip here. Currently though, I’m in the editing phases, and then querying!!!

Okay, anyways, toodles! Have a great rest of your day or evening! <3

#writers #writing #wip #writing community #writerblr #fiction #writers tips #writing tip #tips and tricks #writing tips #character development #charming #character #characters #ocs

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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y’all, i’m rereading a bit of my writing to help me get back into the flow and write the next chapter, and i dunno why, but i LOVE these two paragraphs so much. so here’s to sharing!

and of course, if you have any feedback, do let me know :)

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In hindsight, as I describe this tale to you with the wisdom of the future, I should have trusted the eerie twist in my gut that warned me of the artificiality of Hilbert’s avidity. Perhaps I would have had the brain to question what business an old man without any strength nor gall to defend himself, what benefit he would gain from breaking one of Soilaila’s greatest laws for a boy he had no obligations towards. Perhaps if the thrill of risk did not enchant me nearly as much as Hilbert’s conniving words and inviting demeanour did, I would have noticed the perverted intentions he harboured behind those velvetine eyes.

But if I were any the wiser, this narrative would not exist. Thus, I regret to inform you that all these blaring warnings flashing before me escaped my notice when it truly mattered. And rather than rightful fear spiking in my chest at Hilbert’s enthusiastic response, I felt nothing but pride and joy.

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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finally got it done folks :) took a spider crawling on my laptop for me to just screw it and finish my post

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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Writing Tension

Hey! It’s your girl— @thecomfywriter— back with another post. Apparently, an anticipated post :) Fr though, before we start, I want to thank you all for the warm welcome and kind comments since coming back to this account. It makes me really happy to see these posts help people, and hopefully I can continue to be a resource for you guys, or even share my own works too! I started doing writing prompts on my instagram, so that’s always an option.

Anyways, today’s post is about writing tension. Perhaps one of the greatest devices you can use as a writer, as it allows you to utilize the narrative to grip your reader, immerse them into your story, and have them truly feel for your characters and the events. Because of its power, it's also not the easiest thing to navigate. Thus, this post is here to help, as rather a launching point or hopefully a guide on how to implement and work tension into your story.

Before we get started, here are all my socials. Do pop on, give it a visit, spread the love. And if you find my posts particularly helpful and you want to show your appreciation, you can tip this post &/or buy me a coffee using the link down below.

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Tension is a subdevice of foreshadowing, in which readers are made to anticipate the worst occurring and/or face a conflict. Tension adds mood, depth, atmosphere, and engagement with your story. It is a tactic employed to cause emotional distress to your readers and characters alike. There are multiple different facets to developing tension successfully, each with its own purpose in crafting your perfect narrative. Not every story is going to need all of these to build tension but every good story with proper tension that leaves your readers unable to put the book down because, “what’s going to happen next” will have at least more than one.

Conflict:

The foundational aspect of tension is conflict. Your character is experiencing a tense chapter, or the narrative has an increased sense of tension in it because there has been an introduction of conflict, whether that be through internal or external forces. Internal conflict may result in emotional distress and the reader's anticipation of when those bottled up, unresolved emotions will come to fruition and make a muck of character relations (as an example). Or, it can cause the retrograde degeneration of a character’s arc. Meanwhile, external conflict gives your characters a focus, an opposition to combat. Conflict is a natural breeding ground for tension because it festers resistance and opposition. Depending on the type of conflict within your story, the effect and consequences will be different. However, some things to bear in mind for each are such:

Internal conflict:

Internal conflict is the idea of “man vs. self,” in which your character is their own antagonist. When dealing with internal conflict, understanding the character’s motivations (or lack thereof), their personality, their morality/values, and their perspective is key to understanding their reaction and thus the outcome of this conflict. Personally, I love using internal conflict for building tension, because it creates a sense of dichotomy and indecision that puts the reader in a sense of discomfort. It’s powerful because it's uncomfortable, and it's uncomfortable because it's confrontational. It requires the characters to face the most undesirable, the worst, deepest, darkest, most heinous parts of themselves and question how it aligns or rejects against their self-perception. When writing internal conflict, the tension should arise predominantly from the character’s emotions and their struggle, putting them at a crossroads within themselves. Here’s a brief outline of each of the types of internal conflict:

Religion/faith: your character is questioning their spiritual stance

Desires: these can be regular old desires or sexual ones, but your character is left repressing or struggling to accept/control their untamed/scandalous/unacceptable desires

Morality: your character is questioning/forced to confront their sense of morality (or lack thereof), usually inspired by an external conflict

Identity: your character is attempting &/or struggling to form an image of themselves OR they are struggling to accept their self-image, typically in contrast to the image/identity they desire or have been prescribed to

I want to do another post on identity because my sister made this brilliant presentation on the types of identity for her global health class and I think it can really be helpful in understanding how to forge your character’s identity in respect to the rest of the story/society

Love/guilt: these are two of the most powerful emotions a character can feel, specifically emotions that drive action, which is why I grouped them together. Also because they’re often connected, whether it be the internal conflict of rejecting love, repressing it, being in denial, trying to force or reject it, or feeling the guilt of lost love, unrequited love, unethical love, or hurting a lover. Or, of course, the entire ballpark of dealing with guilt itself. Guilt is the needle for a person’s moral compass; remember that when exploring the dynamics of a character's internal struggle when it comes to guilt, regret and shame.

Existential: the character must face themselves and come to a decision about their purpose/the meaning of life. This type of conflict typically involves an internal struggle against what the character knows or is prescribed to believe versus what they themselves truly find meaning in.

Interpersonal: kind of like identity and existential, interpersonal conflict is a struggle in which your character opposes their role or their identity and its place within a larger context. For example, your character grappling with their sense of identity versus the societal norms and expectations is considered interpersonal because it goes beyond their own self-image, but instead of how their identity contributes to a larger scale.

External Conflict:

This type of conflict is your classic, “man vs other,” in which your character is opposing a force beyond themselves. When dealing with external conflict, setting up a basis for motivation for each party and allowing your readers to understand why these motivations clash is key in developing character intentions, which keeps your story consistent and is also a helpful reference tool for areas where you want to add tension. There are also a plethora of external conflict types, which I will outline here:

Antagonist: this is a character who doesn’t necessarily have to be a villain, but they do have to be in opposition to your character. For example, your character’s antagonist can be the tyrant who conquers and enslaves tribes and cities of these ancient lands, or they can be the crush of your character’s love interest. The crush didn’t do anything wrong. They’re not a bad person. They’re just in the way of the protagonist’s goals in the story, which in this story, would be to woo and romance their love interest.

Nature: natural disasters. The world is ending. Radiation. Alternate planets with weird, mystical, and dangerous wildlife. Surviving the outdoors.

Society: character is combating against society, whether it be norms, authority, or the community itself.

Technology: character against technology that has gone too far. Typically in sci-fi, futuristic settings. Think AI, robots, nuclear bombs/weapons/warfare… the list goes on. You can be so creative with this one, I love it. Technically, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” was character vs. technology.

Fate: character is trying to prevent, oppose, or deter a certain inevitability or destiny they’ve been prescribed to. Think of oracles or prophecies, maybe even soulmates for romance books. I always like to think of Oedipus as the classic example.

For example, character X has lost their father in a lynching after his father spoke up against the corrupt government that was leaching off their already struggling and vulnerable village. Thus, X has a strong vehemence towards the corruption, the government, and specifically the authority + everyone involved in the lynching. His motivation lies in his grief (which, in it of itself is an internal conflict, as he struggles to process the traumatic incident and cope with the violent and public murder of his parent) and thus may motivate his desire to dismantle the government and abdicate the leader that ordered the lynching to begin with. In this example, there are 2 external conflicts. Conflict 1 is the authority who ordered the lynching (antagonist) and conflict 2 is the society that endorsed the corruption that his father was rebelling against to begin with. Your character’s motivation may be to honour his father’s memory by dismantling both corrupt regimes, and his antagonist's motivation may be to silence any acts of rebellion in order to maintain governorship, power, and retain authority. These motivations, when outlined, are in direct opposition to each other, and being able to recognize that can help you as the writer facilitate scenarios in which those motivations and oppositions are exacerbated. By forcing your characters to make a difficult decision that reveals their intentions or puts their intentions on blast, you create tension in the story (i.e. if X had to choose between telling the authorities of a near-broken dam that would flood their village to save the innocents at the cost of increasing their hold on the population by embellishing their reputation, or allow the dam to break, killing the innocents and forcing the authority to go under higher investigation that would rule them out of power. What does your character value more?)

Building the atmosphere:

Okay, lemme explain what I mean about this because I feel like this is a common trope in horror that always has me shitting BRICKS. Basically, there are elements of horror (that's the next point I’ll be explaining, fret not), in which one of them is the overdescription of a scene. Essentially, I like to think of it as, say your character is in the middle of a super tense scene. They’re alone in the house late at night. They live in a cabin wood area, no neighbours for a couple of kilometers. Their phone—blasted! They forgot to put it on charging. The hairs on their spine are rising. An odd sense of urgency has replaced their relaxing movie night when multiple creaking floorboards sound from upstairs. Your character slithers into the kitchen, grabbing the first knife they see, trying to make as little noise as possible as they slowly trek up the stairs. One hand is on the railing, the other raised with their knife ready to stab. Their eyes are darting. Their senses are heightened. Shadows from outside cast onto each step in non-symmetrical patterns, making each step more difficult to see than the last. The top of the stairs is a void. The wooden banister is the only thing illuminated by the shreds of moonlight, and it reflects as though polished. What is that? On the railing? Why does it seem wet?

Your character checks their hand, realizing it too has been trailing over a sticky fluid. Sticky and viscous. They can’t see in the shadows. They don’t want to look down, even for the second it would take to check their hand. Do they look? Do they keep going forward?

A creak sound behind them. They spin around, slicing the knife into the air. The whoosh of it cutting empty space rattles their bones. It was only their own foot behind them. Though, when they look back up towards the banister, they notice the railing isn’t reflecting as much as it used to. Whatever liquid had stained it had matted to dullness.

This is stupid. I should be leaving. Your character pivots swiftly, rushing down the stairs, when suddenly, a firm hand covers their mouth and yanks them back.

In that uncalled for example, the environment is built through perceiving the entire scene in the character’s frantic and limited vision. We are following their frantic eyes, processing all the information and observations they make, whether they make conclusions with the observations, or set them aside for later use. I dunno what it is about this device, but it gives me the heebie jeebies everytime because DAMN stop describing the shadows in the corner of the room and the chills up your arms at the brisk wind that shouldn’t be indoors considering you locked all the windows. I dunno, that kind of writing puts me on edge, and that’s exactly the point.

Elements of Horror:

Briefly, I will outline some of the elements of horror and perhaps make a more detailed post on it separately, if y'all would like that.

Overdescription

Being vague with crucial details (limiting the characters and readers POV)

Loss of senses

Overstimulation (creates a sense of anxiety)

Emphasis on a character’s reaction to the events around them // bodily fear (the pit in her stomach clawed into her chest, lodging itself in her throat. A sick acidity overcame her in waves as the sharpness of his fingernails traced along her collarbones. His hot breath feathered the cold skin of her neck, rendering her paralyzed within his clutches)

Varied sentence structure:

The actual construction of your sentences influences the tone and fluidity of your writing // the scene. General rule of thumb: if you want to draw out a scene, use longer, connected sentences to build anticipation, anxiety, and atmosphere. On the contrary, if you want to blast your readers with a quicker, faster pace, short sentences can jar your readers and give the “loss of sensation” effect to help stun them.

Personalization:

This is the idea of creating stakes for your characters by making whatever event is occurring to them personal. When thinking of personalization, the key questions to ask yourselves are:

What does (character) have to lose?

Why is losing (thing being lost) significant to (character)/the narrative?

How will (character) change as a person/the narrative change its course if (thing being lost) was lost?

Why is (insert character goal) worth the risk of losing Y?

What other risks is (character) willing to take for (insert character goal)? How do these risks interact with each other?

What are the consequences of these risks/decisions/actions? Consider emotional and narrative consequences.

By personalizing each risk to your characters, you are upping the stakes of their goals, thus increasing the tension because there is more of a gamble to it now. NOTE: in order for this to work, your readers must truly believe that real consequences exist in your story. Not half-assed. Real, proper, committed consequences. Don’t give your character this deadly illness only to immediately present them with a cure. Don’t give them this life altering injury and have them heal within a week. Do NOT give them the easy way out. If you want to increase your stakes, show your readers you are willing to make your characters hurt. Show them that real consequences exist. Your characters, no matter how darling they are to you, should not be immune to the laws of your world. When in doubt, always remember the genius case of Ned Stark— he was the classic hero protagonist who everyone loved and rooted for. And then he died, and he stayed dead, because the story had consequences and he took unforgivable risks. An added weight, a sense of gravity was added to every character’s decision and the reader's perception of safety after that, because if Ned wasn’t safe, no one was.

Readers on edge:

Taking away your reader's sense of certainty is one surefire way to build a source of tension and anxiety, as it removes the sense of security that allows them to otherwise remain comfortable in the narrative. By decreasing the sense of security, you increase the tension within the narrative, allowing it to drive the plot forward and increase reader engagement. It also forces the reader to question everything. Will they make it out alive? How did she escape? Who was on the stairs? What was the mysterious reflecting liquid? What happens next?

If you are able to keep your reader asking these kinds of questions, you are able to maintain their apprehension, which seeks to lock them in and truly sell your story as immersive.

How do you pull this off? When building tense scenes, consider yourself in the character's shoes. What in that situation would make you feel secure? What would make you feel like you were aware of what was going on? That you could rely on your wit and foresight to help you in your quest? What would give you confidence?

Now take that away.

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Anyways y’all, I’m spent. Hope this helps! Feel free to suggest more posts through my asks and inbox. Until then, I’ll be working on some super in-depth posts for my buymeacoffee page.

Happy Writing! :)

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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update on tension post

yall, why is this post deadass 1.7k words when i'm not even done yet? i-???

#writing tools #writers #writing #writing community #writers on tumblr #yall how the shit did i write so much #its not even done yet #bruh am i even going to finish this for tonight

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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Hello, I wanted to ask two things that I'm confused for some time.

Firstly How do you really show your character's emotion, and inner conflict amidst the external conflict and plot, and how should it affect the other characters?

And secondly I wanted to ask about High Stakes. Surely I have added high stakes in my wip, but when I look it as a reader it didn't bring out emotions in me, if you know what I mean.

So how to add High Stakes that really get the reader hoping for better.

Hey @izoraofthenight! Thanks for the ask!

When it comes to portraying a character’s emotion, I like to keep one thing in mind— consequences. A lot of writing can be boiled down to cause and consequence. Think of a personal experience in which you have had an emotional reaction. What was the reason? Why did it fester to the point of such extremity? What did that emotion look like to a third person? By asking these questions you are highlighting: a) the cause/origin of the character’s emotion, in your case, an external conflict; b) the outcome of that emotional reaction; c) the perspective/affect it has on other characters. How it affects the characters itself depends on the type of emotion and outcome the character has portrayed. If their emotions are fear and they act in a way of self-preservation, another character might also begin to feel terrified by the reaction and sheer horror depicted by your character alone. However, if the second character were the origin of your character’s fear, they might instead feel satisfaction, or confusion, or disdain for the reaction. Determining how your character’s emotions impact others depends on the personality of your oc’s, the dynamic between the characters, and how that reaction progresses the story.

I’ll give you an example.

Character A has just realized their partner of four years has been cheating on them with their best friend, who is now pregnant with their child. The emotion A might feel in this moment is shock, betrayal, grief, anger, disgust, loneliness, confusion, and abandonment. These were two incredibly significant people in their life whom they had complete trust in, and that trust was violated and broken. A feels beyond terrible. They are unable to process their emotions because of the rapid fire in which they are experiencing them. A’s inner conflict may be trying to navigate the betrayal. An inner monologue, or perhaps a scene in which they are just sitting in their bed, slumped over in defeat, struggling to take deep breaths because, who do they call in this situation? Who do they vent to? Who do they have to help them feel better? They might pace around their room in attempt to ease the restlessness that is overcoming them. Feel anxiety clawing at their chest because How could this be happening? They might be too hurt to cry and confused why they can’t ball their eyes out like they want to. Or a heaviness in their chest. All of these portray the inner conflict of your character by depicting the external outcome of that internal struggle. Because of this, A is now distancing themselves from both their partner and their best friend. They begin ghosting them, leaving them confused and agitated because they don’t know if A has found out about them. Maybe they try pampering them, love-bombing and showering A in gifts and compliments. Their coldness is setting them in unease. Why isn't A at least responding, or confronting, or something other than silence? This is how A’s internal struggle and its outcome is now affecting other characters. The decisions these characters choose to make depend on their personality and unique reactions.

Now, about high stakes. I am actually writing a post on a topic that relates really well with this right now— a post about tension. The reason why you may feel that, as a reader, your stakes don’t feel high enough isn’t because you aren’t gambling a lot in your narrative. It is because the tension and weight of that gamble hasn’t been fully developed or explored. If you want your readers to feel the designated effect of your writing, you have to build up the tension and invest them into the narrative so they themselves understand the impact and domino effect of the risk your characters are taking.

In order to build that tension, you must create an immersive scene in which readers can step into the character’s perspective and fully interact with the story being told. It should not feel like they are being told that they should worry. The scene itself should be crafted in such a way that worrisome elements set your reader on edge and build anxiety within them. THAT is how you up the stakes. Not by giving your character’s impossible situations, but by personalizing them and adding emotion and tension so the reader feels the impact of their choices and truly feels as though the consequences are threatening.

I’ll give you an example of how high stakes are built through tension.

I hurried into the story, short steps tripping over one another as the double doors pulled back for me to enter. Two burly guards stood by the entrance, donning a stern expression that governed the entire pharmacy. I shifted my eyes away from them when the taller of the two cast his gaze towards me. I’m not doing anything wrong. I reassured myself, though the cold sweat on my back reeked otherwise. The aisles were neverending, adding to the numbing urgency I was already drowning under. My poor baby was all alone at home. What if he began vomiting again? Would he be able to turn himself on his side? What if he choked? Focus, Raven. Find the medication. When I finally reached the aisle for pharmaceutical drugs, I scanned nook and corner for the drug the doctor had advised, trying to identify the long name against the brands I did not recognize. While my eyes scanned between the written slip and the bottles, I tried to avoid thinking about the bill for the doctor’s visit. How much is this all going to cost? I shook my head. It didn’t matter the cost. I’d work overtime if it meant my little boy’s fever would go away. I didn’t understand half the words the doctor had explained to me, but I knew if I didn’t bring home a bottle of medicine, things could seriously progress. ‘We do not want to neglect it before it progresses, Ms. Anderson. An infection like this can fester severely without immediate medical care. I strongly suggest taking him to the hospital.’ He had only given me the drug name as an alternative when I told him of my three jobs and stamps. And not a single source of insurance. I heaved a breath of relief when I finally spotted the antibiotic. My blood went cold when I saw the price. No, that can’t be right. I peered into the emptiness of my purse, drained away from the doctor’s visit. Why is it so expensive? My chin began to tremble at the thought of leaving without the medicine. What would happen to my baby? I couldn’t afford the hospital. I couldn’t afford the medicine. But I couldn't afford to lose him either. Hot tears lined my waterline when the thought occurred to me— I didn’t need to afford the medicine. My gaze flickered towards the stoic guards, still standing at the entrance to intimidate every new customer that passed by. They weren’t looking my way. It would be as easy as slipping it under my chemise. It wasn’t like I was without experience. A flash of memory reminded me of the last time I stole. My officer and lawyer in the room, their voices filling my head with threats. ‘There will be no second chances, you understand this Ms. Anderson?’ I told them I did. The bottle was cold against the tremble of my fingers as I considered the risk. If I got away with it, my baby could get better. All the drugs he didn’t use, I could even sell for some extra cash for the bills. But if I didn’t…? Prison. Foster care. His fever would get worse. Would they care? Better question—would they care as much as I did? No. No one could. With a sigh of resolution, I scouted for the officers once more, noticing the way their attention kept lingering back to me. Feigned browsing had me wandering the aisle, bottle still in hand, searching the shelves aimlessly while I waited for their focus to wither. When it finally did, I relaxed my posture and slipped the bottle up my sleeve.

Anyways, I’ll have a full post on writing tension hopefully by the end of this week. Until then, I hope this helps! Let me know how the story goes :)

Cheerios, and Happy Writing!

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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Suggest a topic :)

Hey y'all! I just wanted to open the night for answering asks while I write my next post! It can be wip related or for general writing tips. If you have any posts you'd like to see, topics covered, writing advice, or are curious about anything else regarding the blog/me/writing, submit a question! I always love recieving

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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just found a sketch of one of my oc from two years ago and apart from the proportions of the body being stiff, awkward, and off, why did i give this man a DUMP TRUCK LMAO

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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"But let me give you the dark side of writing groups. One really dark side of writing groups is, particularly newer writers, don't know how to workshop.

"And one of the things they'll try to do is they'll try to make your story into the story they would write, instead of a better version of the story you want to write.

"And that is the single worst thing that can happen in feedback, is someone who is not appreciating the story you want to make, and they want to turn it into something else.

"New workshoppers are really bad at doing this. In other words, they're really good at doing a bad thing, and they're doing it from the goodness of their heart. They want you to be a better writer. They want to help you. The only way they know is to tell you how they would do it, which can be completely wrong for your story."

—Brandon Sanderson, Lecture #1 Introduction, Writing Science Fiction And Fantasy

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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Tropes Masterlist

Hey! It's your girl, @thecomfywriter, back with another post. I'm going to keep the intro short for the sake of convenience, but here's the promised list of writing tropes , organized by genre. Also, don’t forget to check out my socials, and if you like my posts, support me with a coffee! Enjoy!

༺ ༻

Socials:

Insta:

Writing: @tovwriter

Art: @gkmarts

Pinterest: @gkm075

Wattpad: @gkm075

Tumblr: @thecomfywriter

BuyMeACoffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nvna

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Romance:

Boy/girl next door

Bad boy x nerd/good girl

"You're just, not like other girls" (*gag* Ә)

Makeover scene

*character A takes character B to their secret "special spot"*

Love triangles

Enemies to lovers

Best friends to lovers

Star-crossed lovers •

Unrequited love (highkey love this one lol)

Character A is so logical and sciencey that they don't believe in something so unquantifiable as love until character

B, the artistic and emotional one, shows them what it's about

Fake dating

Forced marriage/alliance

Opposites attract

Instant love

Billionaire fantasy

Alpha x rebellious defiant ("strong independent woman" vibes)

Supernatural x human

Virgin x player

Reincarnated lovers who must find each other to stop the cycle

Mystery // Crime:

Dark past

Murder for secrets

“It was *insert ordinary unsuspecting random-ass character* all along” (“Scooby-Doo villain phenomenon”)

Note: a lot of crime is committed by random strangers unbeknownst to the victim, and a lot of it is personal crime where the victim was selected for a reason. Whichever one your story falls into, just know the appeal of mystery is the audience’s ability to try and figure it out before the big reveal. If that isn’t possible because they’ve never met the character before… you see how that can be disappointing?

The only witness/protagonist with amnesia

The hidden staircase/passage/attic

The important clue in the book

“Escape Room” Plot (they’re stuck until they solve the mystery)

Red Herring

The Raged Confession (the killer/culprit exclaims their confession in a fit of anger)

Good Cop Bad Cop

Eureka!

The genius detective ((they can see clues and the case in a way that no one else can)

Clue hunt

Planted evidence in the protagonists possession

The slip up (the cul[rit/suspect reveals information they shouldn't know about the crime, thus incriminating themselves)

The mystery kingpin

Fantasy:

Medieval setting

The Chosen One

The Wise Old Woman/Witch

The Rebel

The Runaway Royal

The Dark Lord // “Evil Leader”

The Gang (group of friends/fellowship)

The tumultuous journey

The Mentor

The Lost Object/Artifact/Weapon (necessary or the key to the adventure)

Do not make this object a plot device to explain away everything or help your hero in every situation PLEASE. Let them struggle

The secret/lost heir

The underdog

The Prodigy

The Damsel in Distress

The Badass Heroine

The (evil) Enchantress

The animal companion

The benevolent king

The ancient wise immortal who rEFUSES to help or get involved

The prophet / oracle

The price to pay for key information (the sacrifice)

The martyr (hero or close to hero that dies for the cause, thus becoming motivation to succeed in their mission)

The gala/ball (bonus points if the enemies/-to-lovers must dance with each other while having an intense, sarcastic and witty conversation)

Time travel // into the past

Action/Adventure Tropes:

The badass

The sexy female badass (bonus points if she’s not like other girls)

The undercover spy

The womanizer

The chase scene

Butting heads with authorities

The vigilante

The villain monologue

Closely relates to “The Incompetent Villain” who somehow always loses even though they have the clear advantage and might have even cornered the hero

The explosion walk-away

The feisty love interest who hates the protagonists’ guts and won’t be swayed by his charm

The gadgets

The ticking bomb

The stalker

The party / event where the gang must go under disguise

America, the heroes! (why is everything so america centered lol)

The snarky dark humour protagonist

Example of pulling this trope off successfully: deadpool

The tough cookie crumbles (the strongest character begins to lose hope/strength/motivation/feel scared or weakened)

The impossible unexplained escape (hero escapes high security prison/chains off screen, with seemingly no logical explanation)

Thriller/Horror:

Cabin in the woods

Serial killer on the loose

Home invasion

The masked killer

The (idiot) group of friends

“Let’s split up”

Sexy-time couple dies first

The shadow monster

Paranormal events/activities

Flickering lights

Sudden loud crash

Angry spirit

Demonic possession

Revenge killer

Ouji board

The smart character that dies before revealing the secret of how to stop/survive the supernatural force

Everything happens in the dark/night

Cryptic messages

Breathing on the phone

Wild animal/dog

“They're behind you”

Everyone dies in the end

Glitching technology

Possessed doll

The hunt and quarry (the characters on the “quarry” for the killer/creature hunting them)

The creepy synchronized twins

Creepy children in general

Animals and children can see what others can’t

Dystopian:

Post-apocalyptic

Zombie invasion

Rampant disease

Alien invasion

A long war

Protagonists are the common underdog who became a symbol of rebellion/change

The competent but unwilling companion who helps the protagonist

authoritarian/dictator government

The tyrant leader

Extreme class divide

Poverty and slums vs riches and nobility

The rebellion / uprising

Journey through the wastelands

Toxic environment

The bunker

A tournament/trials character must compete in

The utopia that isn’t actually a utopia

Conformity and cruel law enforcement

Advanced futuristic technology

Future setting

Collapsing society

Alright, this is where we’ll end. If you have a genre you want covered or if I notice I’m missing one on the list, I’ll edit and update this post. Hope this helps!

Happy Writing :)

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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hey guys! long time no chat! I’m actually working on a masterlist post right now so I won’t be gone for too long, but I just wanted to introduce my buy me a coffee page that I made, since your girlie has been finding herself snoozing more than writing.

you don’t have to do it, obviously. I’ll never force any of y’all. but if you like my posts and want to support me, here’s a way to help out.

cheers!

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nvna

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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How to Write and Use Tropes

Hey! It’s your girl, @thecomfywriter, coming back after a long ass time with a new post. I feel like I haven’t used this account in forever and I want to apologize for that. I guess I got caught up in university. I barely had time to write (finally getting back into it) but anyways, I was having a writer's block for my book and decided to redirect my creative energy into writing a post instead.

Today, I wanted to talk about tropes. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, I’m sure you’ve all heard of tropes, or at least recognize the most famous ones in your favourite books or current wips. But what are they exactly? What are the different types of tropes? Which ones should you utilize, and which ones should you avoid (if any at all…?) And above all, how do you add creativity to a trope to make it unique?

I haven’t really used my socials (except pinterest) in a hot minute but I’ll link it anyways since I’m getting back into wattpad again. I've always loved pinterest, and instagram is the next platform I want to revive. Here are my socials:

Insta: @tovwriter

Pinterest: @gkm075

Wattpad: @gkm075

Tumblr: @thecomfywriter

BuyMeACoffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nvna

And without further ado, let’s get into it.

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So let’s start off with a definition of a trope. A trope is a literary element within writing that is commonly found, to the point where it generally represents a certain theme, device, or idea. Tropes are typically seen as synonymous with cliches, as they both have the element of repetition. However, where these two definitions differ is in their connotation. Cliche is almost always said in a negative connotation, whereas a trope refers more to a plot device, a tool that can be utilized to create a sense of familiarity with the readers in order to further the story. For example, the common romance trope of “Enemies-to-Lovers” can create anticipation and excitement within readers of a novel whose introduction to the two love interests involves a fiery exchange of butting heads. While a trope done right can be advantageous to your story, a trope done wrong can make readers groan and roll their eyes in grief, or even worse— be seen as a cheap plot device//lazy writing. Naturally, it’s important to try to get this right.

Before we get into the different types of tropes, I want to explain how to use a trope to your advantage. So, let’s take the example of the common fantasy trope: the Chosen One. Your protagonist is the only person to embark on this adventure and be the hero because they are ‘chosen one’.

A good way to tackle a trope is to approach it like a very curious 4-year old. Always. Ask. Why.

Why is your protagonist the Chosen One? What makes them the Chosen One? What does it even mean to be the Chosen One? How would the story change if the Chosen One was silly old Joe from accounting instead? What qualities does your protagonist possess that makes them the Chosen One, and which ones do they lack? How will they develop these lacking qualities?

The trope, while still containing that familiar element of ‘Ye Special Hero’ now has added value and a more natural flow to it. The readers aren’t left frustrated and wondering, “Okay but what makes HIM so special?” And chances are, you're less likely to give your characters plot armour and make things happen just because they need to if you interrogate the living shit out of your trope first. The best way to approach and utilize a trope is by integrating it into your story as naturally as possible.

Enemies-to-Lovers? What caused the shift of emotion? Why were they enemies to begin with? How bad was their animosity (would it make logical sense that they would let it go and develop feelings)? How do they feel about their developing feelings? How do you want the reader to feel about their developing feelings?

All-knowing Witch? What makes her so powerful? How does her magic fit in with the lore of your story? What role and significance does she play in regards to the plot and your characters? Is she just a convenient way for your characters to get answers (this is cheap) or does she have intentions behind why she is helping them/deterring them?

Medieval Europe setting? Why is the story set there? Why doesn’t your society have more developed technology? What is stopping them from becoming more progressive? How do the characters and their origins/ethnicities make sense with this setting and timeline?

Power of Friendship? Jack of all Trades? The Prodigy? The list of tropes goes on (and I will make a masterlist for y’all, fret not). The point is, no matter what trope you’re tackling, the best way to make it natural is to make it relevant.

Aight here are some things to avoid when it comes to tropes. Personally, I don’t believe there are really any tropes to avoid (unless they’re genuinely harmful like, killing off the token POC, or violence/trauma for drama. No thank you. HARD pass. If you’re going to give your character’s trauma, you should be ready and willing to explore it properly and with enough respect that it isn’t just boiled down to a plot device. ESPECIALLY in romance novels— looking at you, wattpad writers— who use violent/dangerous/assault-y situations to put the two love interests in an intimate situation. SCREW THAT. Do NOT do that, for the love of all things chocolate, my days! Okay, rant over sorry). But here are some general pointers:

Try to avoid extremes. And I mean this in the sense of character/lore development. One of my favourite book series is kinda guilty for this, I’m not going to lie. It's the one element of the book that annoys me, where all the good characters are “Oh so absolutely noble and unable to commit a single error, and if they do, it's not really their fault or they didn’t want to do it willingly, so you can’t hold it against them.” Or the contrast with, “You know this civilization that our protagonists are at war against are such HEATHENS look at the way they treat their women with no respect! And they have slavery! And they believe in animal abuse! And they have a black market! And all their soldiers are vile, cruel, sadistic, and rapey! See, that’s why our protagonists are right to fight them! They’re trying to defend their amazing, utopian, ‘women-have-rights-and-are-strong-and-super-independent-badasses’, noble, equal, non-exploitative kingdom and serve their benevolent and compassionate ruler!”

I’m sorry but that’s some bullshit. Your good characters don’t have to be all good. You don’t have to stress about making them morally grey or whatever. Just make them human. Make your civilizations a reflection of human society, and what that would look like in the lens of your lore and your society's values. Your warriors don’t have to be patriotic because their nation is genuinely a utopia. Maybe they just believe their nation is a utopia because of their experience with it, which wildly contrasts to the experience of a different demographic. No human society or human being is perfect, neither are they perfectly moral/noble. Keep that in mind before jumping to extremes

Avoid being overly predictable. I think this is where tropes began walking the line of cliches, when your reader can pretty much predict what’s going to happen next in your story. You don’t want to necessarily follow a script if utilizing a trope. Don’t be afraid to draw inspiration from the archetypes without stealing their identities.

I’m going to a put a list of common character tropes that a lot of people are sick of. I’m not going to say you shouldn’t use these tropes at all. I’m saying don’t copy-paste their entire story arc. Fret not, dear grasshopper— I’ll give you an example with each.

Damsel in distress: I mean, it’s pretty frustrating to see a character who is otherwise entirely competent in holding their own to suddenly have to take the backseat to be rescued by our dashing hero. Let your character’s utilize their competencies, but also, if your character is incompetent in a situation and is therefore disadvantaged, they’re not a damsel in distress for needing saving. They’re just ass at getting themselves out of this situation because how in the holy hells-? Yeah, so it’s not a bad trope to use if it makes sense why your character is at a disadvantage.

The sequel-love-interest: *ahem* to all the boys I loved before *ahem!* This is the character that’s sole purpose is to create strife, tension, and potentially (but only temporarily) break up the main couple through misunderstanding, jealousy, and a bit of attraction (and a lot of leading on lol). It’s annoying when the love interest’s only personality trait is being the second option. It’s actually interesting if for once this character actually had a chance with the main character. Let’s be honest, John-Ambrose was the way better option lol. Unless there is real stakes and plausibility in the relationship, there isn’t any tension because your readers know your main couple is obviously endgame. Make it feel like, hmm, maybe they aren’t. Otherwise, I dunno it’s just cliche and boring.

The bad boy // the rebel: I’m a sucker for the bad boy/rebel done right. Give them purpose (not just a sob story or trauma to excuse their obviously abusive/self-righteous/pretentious behaviour). Maybe the bad boy is the bad boy not just because he had a bad relationship with his stepfather, but because he has a horrible sense of foresight. Or maybe he’s just a shitty person. Maybe he just likes toying with people's emotions because it gives him satisfaction or entertainment, or a sense of pride/accomplishment that he can do it. Maybe the rebel isn’t just a brooding lad who hates society with a secretly pure heart, but rebelling against the ideas, people, things that he feels has wronged him in a way he hasn’t quite come to terms with. I know that sounds the same, but it's in execution I feel they are different. Compare, “I fight against the authority and am trying to abolish the entire system because screw them, they’re horrible,” v.s. “I don’t want to do that. Do whatever you please, but don’t ask me to get involved because there’s no way in hell I’m supporting that trash system. Screw that.” I mean, okay maybe this one is just a bit more personal opinion, but I feel like a lot of the time, when people are rebelling, it's more a personal vendetta that they don’t really prescribe onto others. It's less realistic for your rebel to actually try to fight the entire world, even if they want to, then if they disassociate with it and hold strong, firm values against them. It almost feels like more of an internal struggle, I feel. Again, this is more of a personal opinion. Feel free to disagree with me.

The Mary/Gary Sue: imma make an entire post on this, but essentially, don’t just give your characters flaws to avoid them being the perfect mary/gary sue. Give them flaws because they generally lack those skills and qualities. Then, have those flaws be both to their advantage and disadvantage in the story.

Here’s an example. Mary Sue is wonderful at all crafts, artistic abilities, she is brilliantly intelligent, and a skilled swordsman. She is quirky in conversation and a bit awkward but everyone loves her and thinks it's endearing. Mary Sue With Flaws is wonderful at all crafts, has artistic abilities, she is brilliantly intelligent, and a skilled swordsman, but she gets injured during her battle scenes therefore she isn’t perfect, and she isn’t really good at talking to people which makes her awkward with her love interests and a non-typical woman. Mary Suzanne loves arts and crafts, having a passion for learning them since she was young, so she finds herself skilled in different forms, though her style is still in development. She is intelligent in creative classes and mathematics, due to her interest in the arts and her love for numbers, but patterns and analytical questions take a mental toll on her, and she needs more time to figure things out. She is skilled at her longsword, but also comfortable with it, which means the times in battle she is without her familiar weapon, she is at a bigger disadvantage than she would have wished. Because of her independent hobbies, her people skills aren't the greatest, which hinders her ability to make relationships at times, but the relationships she does form, because of her intimacy, are strongly forged and long-lasting.

Adding detail to a character can oftentimes take away the general “perfection” to them. Understanding a character’s merits and flaws can help you create tension in your plot (i.e. imagine Mary Suzanne’s fighting arm was injured, and she was forced to take on her sword in a different hand, or she had lost her sword and had to use a different weapon to defend herself. Makes sense she gets more injured now. Imagine she is in a perilous situation involving acute observational and analytical skills to solve a riddle/analyze potential solutions. If she is in a time crunch, oh shit pray for our girlie lol. If the only way for her to complete her task is with a possy of strangers and her social ineptness makes her companions unfond of her, thinking her as rude and dismissive, how would that impact their collaborative skills?)

Anyways, I feel like I have a lot more to say, but it’s like, 1 am here, I’m tired, and I have work tomorrow, so if anything, I’ll make a masterlist of tropes and a part two (if necessary). If not, hope you enjoyed this and that it was helpful. Happy Writing! :)

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thecomfywriter · 2 years

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Quotes : Jonathan Safran Foer // Albert Camus // Donna Tartt // Donna Tartt // Friedrich Nietzsche // Edgar Allen Poe // Rainer Maria Rilke //

Art: 2. Adrian Ghenie // 4. Heinrich Gogarten // 5. Henrik Aa. Uldalen // 7. Michel Voogt // 8. Erika Seguín Colás // 9. Yanjun Cheng // 13. Henrik Aa. Uldalen // 14. Chris Veeneman // 17. Henrik Aa. Uldalen // 18. Maurice Sapiro

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thecomfywriter · 3 years

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yall, feel free ;)

character interrelationship asks!

Replace X and Y with whatever characters you want to ask about!

how does X feel about Y?

X is going to a party. why would they bring Y?

what do X and Y do when they hang out?

what does X love about Y?

what does X hate about Y?

X is feeling sick. why would they call Y to help them out?

X tells Y a secret. what is it and why?

why does X go to visit Y at midnight?

X needs space from Y. what happened between them?

would X ever have a crush on Y? if yes, why?

X gets a gift for Y. what do they get?

X has to share a room with Y. how does their evening turn out?

X and Y are sharing a dessert. what do they agree to get?

X and Y go for a walk. where do they walk and why?

accidentally, X sees Y crying. would they say why, and what’s the fallout?

why does X ask Y to dance, and how does it turn out?

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thecomfywriter · 3 years

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Writing Action Scenes

Okay, listen…

I did not expect to go on such a long hiatus. It kind of just happened, LOL. If you sent me a message or tagged me in something and it seems like I’ve ghosted you— I haven’t. I’m really sorry. I’ll get to it, especially now since my school year is almost over (in like, a week). Anyways— HELLO! It’s your girl— @thecomfywriter — back again with another long overdue post. But let’s just ignore that and move onto today’s topic. Tips on things that have helped me write battle scenes! If yall have your own suggestions and helpful ideas, lmk because I’m always down to improve myself as well, especially since now that the summer is here, it’s 3-7 hours a day writing shifts. I’ve been looking forward to this. ALSO, while we’re here, I was thinking I might start writing a side wip on tumblr. Should I? I dunno. Anyways, here are my socials:

Insta: @tovwriter

Pinterest: @gkm075

Wattpad: @gkm075

Tumblr: @thecomfywriter

And without further ado, let’s get into today’s post.

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Writing action scenes that flow well while also having that pace and energy that keeps the readers invested is hard, no doubt. But, through trial and error, here are a couple of things that have helped make the process a bit easier and a lot more organized for me.

Know the Type of Action:

What do I mean by this? Basically, what kind of fight are your characters having and why? Highlighting the purpose of the fight can help you discover what strategy (if any at all) your characters are using. For example, there is a difference in pace, style, strategy, and emotions during a street confrontational fight versus a battle. Similarly, if the characters have come to the battlefield as a smaller fight to a bigger war, they would have a lot more cohesive and strategic approach to their action than if they were, for example, ambushed by the enemy. Or what if they were the one doing the ambushing? A sneak attack? A siege? The tone of your writing changes a lot depending on your character’s purpose and what type of action they are engaging in to fulfil that purpose.

Creating a Cast of Characters:

This can be really helpful in keeping track of who is involved in this battle and why there are there. It helps ground your story in a more continuous narrative if the readers are able to follow who is who and how they fit into the scene rather than if they suddenly pop up and no one know why they’re there. Consider also adding in brackets or bullet points under each character their fighting style, possible weapons of choice, strengths and weaknesses. It really helps as a reference in case you need to add a bit of dramatics to the fight by injuring them based off a predefined weakness, or maintain consistency in their skills (avoiding the they’re good at everything ditch)

Map it Out:

This really helped me personally, since visuals help me keep track of things a lot better. Creating a map for your playing field can not only help you understand the geography (which can help with realism, grounding the story in reality, using strategic advantages based off the environment) but also help you keep track of where everyone is and what is happening when and where during each part of the fight. It’s the holy grail organizer for me. I use crosses to indicate where the character started in the fight and use dotted lines to show where they move, adding little notes on the side why they did that and how they are using their environment + strengths to their advantage, what occurs in that location, etc. Each character is a different ink on my map, and overall, this is the tip I recommend the most.

Outlining Key Events:

You really can’t go wrong with this one. If all else fails, writing a heading of what you want to have accomplished in this action scene can help you narrow it down to what is necessary to keep, and what is slowing down the pace of the scene. Under each heading, you can add a bullet point on how to get to that key event and who is involved. The outline is essentially your skeleton on how to navigate the battle

Consider Fighting Techniques + Technology:

Different civilizations, time periods, age demographics, cultural contexts have different fighting techniques and technology that they use to aid them during action scenes. Also using the context of the severity + planning of the action scene is important when considering this point. For example, a random confrontation probably won’t have a practiced, strong fighting technique, and they probably won’t have advanced fighting technology on hand. Maybe they have a knife or brass knuckles, but the rest comes down to do as much damage as possible while sustaining as little injuries as possible. Meanwhile, in an organized confrontation, maybe they bring the entire crew with them and all their metal bats and crowbars, and they as a group are ready to do damage. That type of technology is a lot different than long distance fighting techniques and technology, such as archers at a high vantage point covered by shields, walls of a castle, or archer towers. Maybe they peek through slitted windows, maybe this civilization has special viewing eyeglasses they can use to aim. Be creative with it!

Okay, so that’s all folks. Thanks for sticking around. And if you did try to interact with me while I was on hiatus, sorry again! I WILL respond, tonight or tomorrow. Take care!

Happy Writing :)

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