emarislaughsmaniacally

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Tips On Writing Time Skips

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Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Sneaky Summarizing

Summarizing is an important part of skipping several events along a timeline, but you don’t need to introduce the new part of the narrative with a 10 page long info-dump on everything that happened. If nothing is omitted, then there’s no point in skipping it at all. If you’ve chosen to skip a long period of time, then cherry pick the important information for the scene you’re introducing and make it clear that time has passed. Don’t share a lot, because you don’t want to reveal too much and certainly not too soon. 

Be Clear About The Timeline

Unless the aspect of not knowing where in the timeline these events are happening is a purposeful tool you’re utilizing, you need to make sure the reader is aware of how much time has passed and where they stand now within the conflict. What has changed, what has persisted, what has worsened or resolved, and how has this affected the characters? 

Utilize Flashbacks

Sometimes it’s a good idea to leave the reader a bit disoriented by the shift in time, and in this case I think using flashbacks can be a creative way to turn up the suspense and give them information while also showing them the space which is occupied by what they aren’t allowed to know yet. Instead of explaining something, you could show them a part of the period you’ve skipped and let them infer its significance or glean the important information. 

Take Advantage of Formatting

Referring to the flashback point a bit, let your readers know very clearly that they’ve revisited the past. An easy and pretty universal way to do so is through formatting, like creating a divider between the present and past narrative pieces, or italicizing the flashback portion of the chapter. This also makes it easier to pop tiny flashbacks in as they become relevant or imperative to the reader continuing to connect the dots.

Recognizable Triggers

When you move forward in time a considerable distance, you need to create some consistency in what triggers this decision, like a common occurrence, resolution to a smaller conflict, etc. This build up will be noted subconsciously in the reader’s mind and as soon as those things return later on, the tension will build naturally. 

Transitions Within The Text

Don’t end a chapter abruptly on a cliffhanger and then skip 10 years. I mean, do what you want, but in most cases this is a bad idea. The pace and timeline of your story should have good ebbs and flows, and the flow of your story will be noticeably jolted if there are no transitions leading up to and out of time skips. 

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MY CURRENT WORK IN PROGRESS (Check it out, it’s pretty cool. At least I think it is.)

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

THERE MUST BE A PARAGRAPH BREAK EVERY TIME A NEW CHARACTER SPEAKS

THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL

NO ONE WANTS TO READ ONE BIG BLOCK OF TEXT JESUS CHRIST

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Know your horns!

(From Keith and Clothilde Sutton’s Pictorial Dictionary.)

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Just in case you forget this exists.

It exists.

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Okay guys, for writing/general reference, a bit about what a ‘blacksmith’ is and isn’t:

A blacksmith is a generalist, a person who uses tools and fire to work iron.  Some blacksmiths work more specifically, so you get, say, an architectural blacksmith, who focuses more or less exclusively on things like gates, rails, fences, or an artist blacksmith, who makes wacky sculptures or what have you.  These days, though, that’s a pretty blurry line.  ‘Blacksmith’ is a pretty damn broad term, but it’s nowhere near broad enough to cover everything encompassed in ‘metalworker’, which is how I often see it used.  There are a LOT of different skills for working metal, and no one knows them all.  Some other terms:

A farrier shoes horses.  They may make the shoes, or they may buy them and then size them, but they actually do the shoeing.  Unless the blacksmith is also a farrier, they don’t know shit about horses’ hooves and are not qualified to deal with them and probably don’t want to.

A blacksmith works IRON, usually almost exclusively.  They might work with bronze or do a bit of brazing, but those are really separate skillsets.  If you work, say, tin and/or pewter, you are in fact a whitesmith.  You could also be a silversmith or a coppersmith, and so on.

Knifemakers and swordsmiths have their own highly specialized and fairly complex specialties, and usually a blacksmith wouldn’t mess with that unless they want to pick up a new skillset or if they’re really the only game going for a long way around.  By the same token, a swordsmith might never have learned the more general blacksmithing skills.  They’re not the same thing is what I’m trying to say here.  Likewise armorers.  There’s overlap but it’s not the same thing.

If you make metal items via molds and casting, you work at a foundry and are a foundryman.

Look, when metalworkers and individual shops and masters were the height of industry, this shit got REALLY specific.  There were people who spent their whole lives making pins.  Just pins.  Foundries specialized and made only bells, only cannon, only cauldrons, etc.  This is scratching the surface, I just wanted to make the point that ‘blacksmith’ is not the same thing as ‘magical muscly person who knows how to do everything related to metal’.

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Finders Keepers

Warning for blood, gore, dismemberment, references to torture, electrocution, disassociation, and murder. 

Helmet tilts his head and stands very still, observing him from a reasonably safe distance away.  Derek ignores him and stays sitting on the floor, back pressed tight to the wall as his ribs slowly start to shift and snap.  

The most unpleasant part of healing misplaced bones is definitely how his skin rolls and shifts with them. 

 Plus the pain.  

Yeah, that's crap too.

"You gonna be alright?"  The voice is mechanical enough that he's tempted to sniff the air again but his eyes catch on the puddle Derek's sitting in.  

It's admittedly a lot of blood so he just jerks his head in a sharp nod, barely feeling the fresh gush of blood from his chopped up larynx.

"You got anyone you can call?  Friends?  Work?"  

Derek shakes his head.

“Want me to call the cops?”

He gurgles angrily and shakes his head hard enough to spit up more blood.

“Right.”  Helmet relaxes, shifts his torso like he's stretching and then starts checking the bodies scattered about the dingy apartment. 

Derek flexes his jaw, eyes glued to where Helmet is systematically rifling through wallets, taking photos of everything inside and pressing phones to a thick tablet-looking thing.  It's fast and efficient as hell.

His jaw creaks when it fuses in place, face no longer looking like a dented can.  Nerves along the cheekbone start reminding him to press the hanging flap of skin back up to knit together faster.

Finished with the bodies and quickly sticking a few more holes into someone playing possum, Helmet straightens and stares at him again.  

He absently thinks it would be unsettling if he bothered to give a shit anymore.

"Change before you leave, you look like a murder victim." 

Derek's eyebrows climb up as he pointedly sweeps a glare over the destruction.

"Huh.  Yeah okay, maybe don't take clothes from an actual murder victim."  The man makes a buzzing noise that Derek interprets as a hum and then there's a sudden crackle of victory.

"This jacket's good, yeah? Uh. Yeah, just snapped his neck.  Hope it's dark enough outside no one'll notice your pants."  Helmet says conversationally as he strips it off the guy and stuffs an enormous wad of stolen cash into the pockets.  

This is probably one of the best rescues Derek's ever had and not just because of the considerate donation of money.  Hemet waves, presents the jacket and drapes it near the door, not even trying to approach him.  Minutes later, there's a collection of household cleaners that Helmet is liberally mixing and splashing around, concentrating on areas where Derek's been.  It's reassuring that the guy doesn't gas them out with the chemicals.

It's all so professional and solicitous that Derek lets himself relax a bit, focuses on his repairing body to make sure it heals properly.

Then again, -he flexes freshly grown fingers- he's got to find the box.  

He tries to be discreet, surreptitiously eyeing the chaos for it before he gives up.  Helmet probably wouldn't want to leave the box behind either.

Derek makes to speak but the sound is harsh, choked and painful, gristle barely stitched together.   

Helmet pauses where he's kicking liquid over cracked linoleum.  "Christ, you're a regular Judy Garland."

"Box."  Derek shakily mimes out the size of it and swallows down a clump of blood.  "Can't leave it." 

"Ooh, a box." Helmet shifts debris about, eventually digs out a duffel and crams three laptops inside.  "Missing anything else?"

Derek checks to find his wallet is still there before he remembers what happened to his phone and keys.

"Sewer." 

"Shitty."  There's a loud buzz like maybe he coughed or snorted.  “What’d you do to get them this pissed?”

He points to his healing face.  “Existed.”

"Riiight.  This Wolverine shit is kinda creepy.”  His speaker crackles a little more, like it’s having a hard time picking up his voice.  “You got anyone who can pick you up?"

Derek closes his eyes at a tangle of crushing emotions and shakes his head.  

"Okay."  The man's body language seems less aggressive, a little more careful to move.  "You got anyone who's lookin for you?  Anywhere you can go?"

Derek opens his eyes and stares at his dirty feet and clean toes, thinking about the little town in California and the arguments before he left.  

"Not anymore."

Helmet sighs expansively as he wanders deeper into the apartment.  "Right.  I'll find a place.  Just, ah, keep on with that healing thing.  You're doin great."

The man is still searching for the box when Derek's spine pops back into place.  He can't stop a yelp from the shock of it or the agonized groan when the nerves to his legs link up.  

He almost forgot they drilled screws into that bone.

Shit.

Shitshitshitshitshitshit

He pushes against the wall like it's the only thing holding him together, blinding pain burning through like acid until his nerves finish healing.

"Hey."  His rescuer is suddenly there and looms a little closer than before.  "You gonna be alright?”  

Derek takes a ragged breath, eyes him warily, and… decides getting the metal out with help is more productive than not.  

He tilts his leg a little to let the heads of the screws in a neat row down his shin catch the light against the dark of his jeans.

"Gotta get ‘em out."

The helmet is silent but Derek can still hear the faintest murmur inside. "Jumpin Jehoshaphat…"

Derek silently agrees and motions to the duffel bag now resting by the door.

"The drill there?"  

Hemet's hands start clenching and relaxing at his sides, mechanical voice buzzing with a jerky negative exhale.

"I'll find it too."  His fists shake.  "We'll have to take em out somewhere else though."

There's a protest building in his chest but it slowly dies, pressed down by the pains in his body as the smaller hurts start closing up.

Derek grunts in acceptance, the bone would be weak and take a little longer to fill in anyway.

They're silent for a moment before the man starts his search again.

"So.  What's in the box?"  He probably means to distract him with a chat but the box is… 

Derek looks at his hand and the clean pink skin on the new growths.  

The room wobbles a bit.

"Me."

A stretch of silence.

"Well, okay then."  The man flicks a switch on the helmet and Derek realizes the microphone is shut off, which would only make sense if the guy didn't know about Derek’s enhanced senses.  He hardly has to strain to hear that there's a series of clicks before another mechanized voice rasps out a greeting.

"O, imma need a room.  I've got a witness I need to stick to and I don't wanna spook him."  The man's actual voice is raspy, almost gruff, and seems surprisingly young.  “So I’d appreciate it if everyone would leave me the hell alone for a while.”

Whatever the response is, the mechanical tone is so strange Derek can't understand it so he just sags against the wall and rests.  

Helmet guy is going to let him stick around and he's warning others away.  

That's pretty great.

A small part of himself is soothed, comforted even, that this man who ripped through eight men like wet paper, has taken an interest in Derek’s wellbeing.

He slips down the wall a little and just… zones out for a while. 

The big hurts have righted themselves so there's just a mild ache in a few spots.  If he weren't so tired, Derek would be standing, anxious to leave, but Helmet doesn't seem rushed in the least and that confidence bleeds into him too.

He’s still worried though.  "Cops don't investigate shootouts around here?"

"Wow, that's an entire sentence.  You must be feeling better." Helmet is somewhere in one of the bedrooms still tossing things around.  "People would have to call the cops first but, this is Crime Alley so, you know, they don't."

He feels a burble of puzzlement rise through the haze of fading pain.

"I've never heard of Crime Alley in New York."  That's a ridiculous name for a place, but New York was filled with them. 

"Yeah?  Well, that's because you're in New Jersey.  Welcome to Gotham, man.”  More creepy laughter.  “I'd say this is an unusual way to end up here but I'd be lying.  You're lucky they came into my turf, anywhere else in the city and no one might've noticed."

"Your turf?”  Derek echoes the term curiously.  It gives the impression of a gangster or the mob.  It seems reasonable because the guy has pistols strapped to his legs and another pair under his jacket.  Also the professionalism reinforces the theory. 

There's a pause in the sounds then a heavy scrape over carpet. 

"It's just a little slice of this shit hole, but it's mine."  There's more rustling, then a familiar clatter, like beads. 

Derek registers the sound and waits. Hears the scrape of the lid.

"You."  More sounds, louder and faster than before.  "Hoo boy, can you take some damage."

Derek doesn't respond until Helmet stomps back into the kitchen, stained orange shoe box tucked under one arm, drill clenched in the other.

"Still hurts."

"I bet it does."  He shakes the box enough to rattle.  "There's more teeth in here than can fit in one mouth."

The atmosphere is tense now and Derek wishes the room didn't smell like death so he could better gauge Hemet's mood.

“I’ve been here a few days.”  He shrugs minutely.  “Electricity doesn’t really stop the healing, just makes it really slow.”

“So all of this... is from you.”

"Probably."  He says, hoping that's the end of it, doesn’t feel like he’s calm enough to talk about the various bits of him in the box.

The man taps with the drill, a muffled beat against his leg like he's thinking it over.

“Police won’t like any of this.” 

Derek shakes his head.  

“You don’t have a place to crash here.”  

Another shake.  

“You got money though.  You could get a hotel room, get a ticket out tomorrow.”  

Derek lowers his eyes to Helmet’s shoes. 

“I can do that.”  He agrees quietly.

“You don’t want to though.  Why?”

He lets his eyes flick back to the batteries.  “Doesn’t matter where I go.  They always find me.”  He stares at a red terminal, almost feeling the current again.  “Them or something like them.”

"Right.  You're staying with me until you got somewhere to go and we know these fucks won’t come for you again.  In the meantime, I need to replace my accountant.  Thanks for volunteering."

"Am I being kidnapped again?" It comes out sardonically enough that the guy laughs.

“This sort of thing happen a…”  Derek’s already nodding in response.  Looks over at the car batteries before his eyes skitter away.

"Okay.  Sure.  No one lookin out for you means you're mine for now."  He pauses at Derek's shudder.  "Just for now, understand?”  He waits for Derek to nod before he goes on.  “My territory reaches down to the docks North East of here.  Don't go outside of it.  Anyone gives you shit, tell ‘em Red Hood's watching you.  Not watching out, just ‘watching’.  You see any more’a this crew and you let me know, they ain’t leaving this city with a heartbeat.”

Derek barely stops himself from looking away, from tilting his head to expose his throat.

He nods instead.  A little more secure that this beast of a human has offered protection. 

"Do I call you Boss now?"  He means it as a joke but says it quieter than intended.

"You workin for me?  Got a head for numbers?"

Derek nods again.  “Bachelor’s degree says so.”  Even the mob appreciates degrees, right?

"Oh yeah?  Bonus.  Then sure.  Now get the jacket and find some shoes. We gotta go, someone's gonna come looking for these guys eventually."  Red Hood snags a few more bags and goes to drop them at the door.

It takes him a minute to get his bearings, he’s pretty sure he’s got some sort of repressed emotional response that Derek’s just gonna… yeah, he’s just going to leave it alone and maybe never think about it again.

The puddle he’s sitting in is dark and tacky enough now that he isn’t afraid of slipping but it’s still unpleasantly damp along his back and the seat of his pants.  Makes a sticky slurp as he stands and he tunes his hearing to Red Hood’s heartbeat instead.  

“Ready?”  The speaker suddenly sounds like the intro to some techno song and he inanely wonders if the guy sings in the helmet.  Derek smiles a bit at the thought because the guy is taller than he expected and stacked like a tank.  He probably would sing.

“Yeah.  Found my own boots too.”  He says for absolutely no reason.  It feels momentous though that he didn’t lose all of his belongings.  

“That’s great man. Never know what kinda fungus strangers got.”  Red Hood hefts a few bags and hands over another.  “I’m gonna drop you off first and bring back some Chinese.  You like egg rolls?”

Derek gives another barely-there smile and very firmly doesn’t think of his blood soaked clothes or who’s got the bag with the box.

He wonders instead if Red Hood will judge him for the mountain of food he’s about to order.

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Masterpost: How to write a story?

Compilation of writing advice for some aspects of the writing process.

How to motivate myself to write more

How to get rid of writer’s block

Basic Overview: How to write a story

How to come up with plot

How to create a character

How to make a character unique

How to write conversation

How to write the last line

How to create a villain

Introducing a group of characters

Large cast of characters interacting in one scene

Redemption arc

Plot twists

How to write a summary

How to write romance

How to write emotional scenes

How to write yelling

How to title fanfiction

How to use songs in a fanfiction

Fatal Character Flaws

Good traits gone bad

More specific scenarios

Slow burn

How to create quick chemistry

How to write a bilingual character

How to write a character with glasses

How to write a polyamorous relationship

How to write found family

How to create and write a cult

Criminal past comes to light

Reasons for breaking up while still loving each other

Forbidden love

Date gone wrong

Causes for the apocalypse

How to create a coffee shop atmosphere

How to write enemies to lovers

How to write lovers to enemies to lovers

Arranged matrimony for royalty

Paramilitary Forces/ Militia

Honeymoon

Academic Rivals to Lovers

Love Language - Showing, not telling

How to write amnesia

AU ideas

Favourite tropes

Inconvenient things a ghost could do

Milestones in a relationship

How to write age difference

Platonic activities for friends

Introducing partner(s) to family

Writing a stratocracy

Reasons a couple would divorce on good terms

Love Language - Showing you care

How to write the mafia

A Queen’s Assassination Plot

Crime Story - Detective’s POV

Giving the reader butterflies with your characters

Evil organization of assassins

Last day on earth

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee! 🥰

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

How to stop researching (or worldbuilding) and start writing

This is actually advice my mentoring professor gave me when I was writing my first thesis.

He said: Accept that you are never done. There is always more to know, more to research, more questions raised than answered. At some point, you just got to start writing.

Now, “easier said than done, this accepting”, I thought.

I started writing because my thesis deadline was looming. But what if you’re writing a novel and you have no deadline? How do you know when it’s okay to stop researching? When is it okay to stop worldbuilding? (Which is just like doing research, but in your own head instead of in reality.)

My advice to you is: start writing, and you’ll run into the gaps you still need to fill. Then you know what to research before starting your second draft. Let your story tell you what it needs.

For example:

Just fill your margins with a to-research-list for your future self.

That way, it’s also managable: “I finished my first draft, and I have a list of 317 things I need to decide on.” Instead of: “I saw on tumblr that you can’t build a world without knowing everything about the sewage system! And gosh, I haven’t invented three languages yet!”

Advantages:

You get things done.

It’s not overwhelming.

You don’t spend your time inventing things you’ll like so much that you want to infodump them into your story.

You mainly research things that are relevant to your story.

Well, knowing you, you already researched enough irrelevant stuff too.

You get things done.

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing advice here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.

Tag list below the cut, a few people I like and admire and of course, you can be too. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

Keep reading

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Medieval castle stairs were often built to ascend in narrow, clockwise spirals so right-handed castle defenders could use their swords more easily. This design put those on the way up at a disadvantage (unless they were left-handed). The steps were also uneven to give defenders the advantage of anticipating each step’s size while attackers tripped over them. Source Source 2 Source 3

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Resources For Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters

Despite the fact that I am not deaf, mute, or blind myself, one of the most common questions I receive is how to portray characters with these disabilities in fiction.

As such, I’ve compiled the resources I’ve accumulated (from real life deaf, mute, or blind people) into a handy masterlist.

Deaf Characters:

Deaf characters masterpost

Deaf dialogue thread

Dialogue with signing characters (also applies to mute characters.)

A deaf author’s advice on deaf characters

Dialogue between deaf characters

Mute Characters

Life as a Mute

My Silent Summer:  Life as a Mute

What It’s Like Being Mute

21 People Reveal What It’s Really Like To Be Mute

I am a 20 year old Mute, ask me anything at all!

Blind Characters:

The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Blind Characters.

@referenceforwriters masterpost of resources for writing/playing blind characters.

The youtube channel of the wonderful Tommy Edison, a man blind from birth with great insight into the depiction of blind people and their lives.

An Absolute Write thread on the depiction of blind characters, with lots of different viewpoints and some great tips.

And finally, this short, handy masterpost of resources for writing blind characters.

Characters Who Are Blind in One Eye

4 Ways Life Looks Shockingly Different With One Eye

Learning to Live With One Eye

Adapting to the Loss of an Eye

Adapting to Eye Loss and Monocular Vision

Monocular Depth Perception

Deaf-Blind Characters

What Is It Like To Be Deafblind?

Going Deaf and Blind in a City of Noise and Lights

Deaf and Blind by 30

Sarita is Blind, Deaf, and Employed (video)

Born Deaf and Blind, This Eritrean American Graduated Harvard Law School (video)

A Day of a Deaf Blind Person

Lesser Known Things About Being Deafblind

How the Deaf-Blind Communicate

Early Interactions With Children Who Are Deaf-Blind

Raising a DeafBlind Baby

If you have any more resources to add, let me know!  I’ll be adding to this post as I find more resources.

I hope this helps, and happy writing!  <3

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Boba, lounging intimidatingly on his throne: you know why you’re here, scum. Now it’s time for you to pay. 

Fennec: *cracks knuckles*

Alien rando who accidentally crossed Boba: uhhhhhh not to ruin the moment here, but who’s THAT? 

*points to the side where Din is lying face-down on the floor crying uncontrollably, alcohol spilled all over his Darksaber*

Boba, extremely offended: THAT is The Mand’alor! A ruler, a warrior, a king! Show him some respect!!

Alien rando, very confused: oh, s-sorry.

Din: *SOBS LOUDER*

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Virtue requires a delicate balance. 

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

 Hey, to you sci-fi/fantasy writers out there (and maybe some others, but this is mainly for things that can’t really be researched irl), if you want to write a character who is a driven, passionate expert on something, don’t write about them rambling indifferently about some boring, mundane part of it. Give them a deep, intense hatred of some oddly specific wow-I-did-not-even-know-that-was-a-thing-and-it-would-have-never-occurred-to-me-that-it’s-a-bad-thing thing they’ll gladly rant about.

 Write a dragon rider who really fucking hates it when a dragon is trained to bow while being reined. A space ship engineer who is pissed off when perfectly good antimatter ship has been adapted to run on neutral matter. A historian who is still not over the massive failures of a general who lost a specific battle 300 years before she was born.

 The guy currently giving us a series of lectures on the restoration of historical buildings really, really hates polymer paint. At the artisan school our stained glass teacher really hated this one specific Belgian artist - we never really figured out what did that guy even do, but he’s been dead for over 200 years and our teacher was glad that at least he’s dead.

 Experts don’t just know things you’ve never thought about. They’ve got strong opinions about it.

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

from last year’s workshop: Cool Writing Hacks that ripped my heart out but made my work better anyway.

-not every line of dialog needs an action attached to it. somebody doesn’t need to shrug or scratch their arm or glance at other people every two seconds of a conversation unless the motion means something. you’re not writing stage directions and you can trim this stuff down to make your dialog snappier. (this one in particular felt like a callout of me specifically, goddammit)

-if you want the audience to remember something–especially something that will be important in a climactic moment–you have to show/tell them at least twice beforehand. preferably three times. otherwise they will not remember! they simply will not!!

-the room layout isn’t usually all that important BUT if there’s going to be a fight scene you BETTER fucking figure out a way to convey that entire layout early in the scene or no one will know what the fuck is going on

-on that note, get somebody to read your fight scenes even if you are ABSOLUTELY SURE they make sense on the page. on the first pass they probably don’t. (unless you have a gift i would kill for. some do!)

-eyes cannot talk. eyes can’t talk! it’s easy to say that someone has “rage in their eyes” or “their eyes were telling me to run” but that’s all shorthand for other body language we notice subconsciously! try digging in and describing that body language instead. you will likely get something richer that way

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

[emarislaughsmaniacally]

Do you have any tips on how to make sure your character stays consistent throughout the book? (especially for a newbie)

Get to know your characters really well before you even start the first draft. It’s a time commitment, but it’s well worth it. If you write the story with an already solid knowledge of who your character is, how they present themselves, what their motivations are, and how they change over the course of the plot, you’ll have a much easier time keeping the character portrayal consistent, as well as interesting. 

I have a couple articles that will help with your character development in the planning/outlining stages of your story:

Ways To Fit Character Development Into your Story

When To Stop Planning

Character Trait Form

Tips On Introducing Characters

Tip On Giving Characters Flaws

As well as some master posts of resources:

Resources For Creating Characters

Resources For Describing Characters

Questions I’ve answered:

Having Trouble Connecting To Your Characters?

Giving Characters Bad Traits

On Making Scenes/Characters Unpredictable

Showing Vs. Telling And Characters

Keeping Characters From Sounding Identical

And finally, some prompt lists to inspire you:

31 Days Of Character Development: Wordsnstuff May Writing Challenge

Interview As Your Character

[emarislaughsmaniacally]