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If you want tips on more complex characters (at least how I see them):

-Character that does bad/assholey things though has good motivations

-Character that does good things though has bad/selfish motivations

-Character that uses violence to create peace (e.g. leads a violent rebellion with many civilian deaths to overthrow a dictatorship)

i hate it when people’s idea of a “complex character” is just a bad guy with a tragic past. or someone who is an asshole but has expressed emotions ONCE. like no babes, that’s the most base-level characterization you can give to a character.

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everybody wants to be the perfect victim but the truth is that abuse and trauma make you a worse person (and that's okay). we can all readily admit to depression and anxiety but what about exaggerated self importance in the form of neuroticism, or how believing in your own victimhood makes you think your feelings are more important than others'? what about envy and jealousy, and constant distrust? what about volatile emotional reactions, however you justify them to yourself? these things actually hurt real people who matter. i am guilty. i want to change.

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“how do i write men as a woman” “how do i write women as a man” my brother in christ stop writing ‘men’ and ‘women’ and start writing people

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Whumpee betrays the team, but the team aren’t mad about it.

Whumpee accidentally leaked information in a moment of carelessness, but the information was outdated and led Whumper to the wrong places.

Whumpee leaked information in the hands of Whumper, but the Team understands that Whumpee was being horribly tortured, and feel too bad for them to even be disappointed

Whumpee leaked important info in a moment of carelessness/stress, but the Team managed to escape from Whumper, and being mad at Whumpee would feel inappropriate or useless to some of them

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Ugly OC Asks

Let's get messy 🔥

Questions compiled with @monocytogenes. Reblog with your OCs tagged and enjoy the crunch!

(I'm not numbering these so people have to copy the questions into the ask box.)

😈😈😈😈

What is your OC petty about?

When's the last time your OC hurt someone emotionally? What did they do?

What's an unsavory detail about your OC or opinion they have (to a modern Tumblr audience)?

What's an unsavory detail about your OC or opinion they have (to their peer group)?

What does your OC's love interest dislike about them?

Is your OC ever wrong? Big ways? Small ways? About what?

What does your OC lie about?

In what way(s) is your OC bad at life?

What's the fatal flaw in your OC's relationship(s)? What could destroy those relationships?

What fills your OC with envy? Alternatively who does your OC envy and why?

What physical trait(s) is your OC insecure about?

What personality trait(s) or habit(s) is your OC insecure about?

What's a moment your OC is ashamed to remember?

What's your OC's biggest fuck up?

What unconscious biases or expectations does your OC have regarding other genders, races or sexualities?

What skill does your OC need to work on improving?

What uncharitable takes would your OC have about you if they met you?

What's the longest grudge your OC has ever held? Against whom and why?

In what way is your OC worse than you?

Have there been any horrible consequences to well-intentioned choices your OC made? How did they cope with that?

Who hates your OC? Why?

What do your OC and their LI fight about?

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#i think liking a problematic character while still acknowledging they're a horrible person are two things that can coexist

Funny thing is this is also for those people who think you have to talk about your fav's flaws appreciatively

José is a horrible person but I am somehow obsessed with him so here we are :D

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I'm being DEAD serious here guys. Make problematic ocs. I'm telling you. It's so much fun. And easier to get invested in them sometimes because they really STICK OUT in your brain. You fall in love with them.

For help developing problematic ocs try out these two methods

Method one: think of a problematic choice your oc will make. This could be; abandoning their children, killing a sibling, siding with the oppressor whatever. Work backwards from there. What are the implications of someone who would make that decision.

Method two: give them a motivation and work forwards from there. For example; they have the motivation to survive no matter what, they need to be the ruler of their society, they will not go against a specific religious/moral code etc. now make sure every decision they ever make is in line with that and crucially put things in their way that'll make them make fucked up decisions to get what they want.

Now! You have! A fucked up oc! And you will love them! I promise

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some of you think ‘nuanced’ only means ‘morally grey’ and I’m here to tell you that actually straight up good characters can still be nuanced and unapologetically evil characters can still be nuanced. the character doesn’t have to be an anti hero or morally dubious to have depth. they don’t even have to feel sorry about their crimes to have depth.

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10 Villainous Prompts

1. “I. Don’t. Lose.”

2. “You can’t save all of them.”

3. “I’m not doing anything wrong.”

4. “Your city is in ruins and it’s all your fault.”

5. “Someone isn’t walking out of here today.”

6. “You must’ve forgotten that I always win.”

7. “Do you know who you are really working for?”

8. “I’m simply doing what needs to be done.”

9. “You’ll find that it’s difficult to keep power once you have it.”

10. “I don’t play God, I am God.”

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Dialogues to Kick-start your Chapter/Writer's Block

"Excuse me?"

"Why?"

"Where?"

"How?"

"When?"

"What?"

"No."

"Yes."

"Hell no."

"Hell yes!"

"Fuck off!"

"Fuck me!"

"In what world!"

"Which time?"

"Are you sure?"

"I don't think so."

"Not really,"

"Maybe, if you think about it—"

"What the fuck."

"Okay, catch this (insert ridiculous proposition)"

"So, I'll meet you at 6?"

"For the millionth fucking time—"

"Ya think?"

"This is it, then?"

"Come to my place. Now."

"She's called you. Right now."

"Oh, we're so screwed!"

"Hey."

"Don't do that."

"You've lost it. Completely lost it."

"What were you thinking?"

"I am confident that you belong in an asylum."

"I think you should get some help."

"Shove it up your ass!"

"Piss on it."

"I have a list and you're the top 5."

"I'd never do that."

"I'd definitely do that."

"It does sound like something I'll say, but I didn't say it. I swear!"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is?"

(as a response to the above dialogue ^) "Not harder than me for sure." / "It's not hard. Or else you wouldn't be doing it at all."

"Maybe I just need a little alcohol."

"Smells like jealousy to me."

"Lord, please."

- ashlee

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A favorite character dynamic / story arc

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🩶 Exposure Therapy as Whump 🩶

Exposure therapy is a practice used to treat phobias, PTSD, OCD, and other mental illnesses. The patient is exposed to their triggers, usually starting with easier ones and moving up to harder ones once they’re comfortable with each trigger, until nothing about the phobia/event/obsession bothers them anymore. Since I’ve been through exposure therapy, I thought I’d use my experiences to write some prompts! I want to note that exposure therapy doesn’t have to feel overwhelmingly distressing. It’s intended to associate formerly scary things with positive, grounded feelings, so it’s actually not so bad if it’s done correctly.  BUT if it’s done wrong, well…

TW: bad therapy practices, rocky recovery

Whumpee jumps ahead to a more difficult level of exposure. Maybe a whumpee with a fear of heights decided to go straight to the top of a tall building instead of just starting with their balcony, for example. They immediately panic and regret it.

Whumpee backslides in their progress and becomes frustrated with themself.

Whumpee punishes themself when they can’t get calm enough or can’t get to the next level of exposure. Of course, this only makes the whole process more stressful.

Whumpee comes out of an exposure session while still feeling emotionally raw and has to go straight into a stressful situation afterwards. They feel nervous and shaky - maybe on a stage or at a presentation or a confrontation with whumper.

There’s no time to let whumpee slowly overcome the fear, because they’ll have to face the real thing tomorrow in some high-stakes crisis. So they just expose themself to the scary thing (or images/video of it) as much as possible, all night, until they feel totally desensitized and numb. <- Fun fact: this is called “flooding”

Caretaker is trying to keep whumpee calm during exposure sessions - teaching them grounding techniques, breathing, etc. - but whumpee won’t cooperate. They want to hold onto the fear because they don’t know who they’d be without it.

Whumpee feels invaded by exposure therapy. Trying to not be scared feels like a betrayal of their own emotions. It makes them resent Caretaker.

Whumper is the one in charge of whumpee’s exposure therapy. They make it as difficult as possible by intentionally pushing whumpee too far, punishing them when they struggle, or making them feel more unsafe.

The fear is conditioned away, but whumpee is left with anger and sadness in its place. This is especially good for PTSD scenarios. They’re no longer scared of whumper, but still angry and lost. It’s almost worse. 

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Whumpees recovering. Getting soft, nice things. Relearning how to be a person. Injuries turning to scabs turning to scars. Going to therapy. Talking about what happened to them in the past tense.

Just, whumpees getting better <3

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Random thought: We often defend our favorite or random fictional characters saying, "they are not perfect or pretended to be either" or that " nobody's perfect." But, are there any fictional characters that perfectly fit with the definition of being "perfect"? Would we even love a "perfect" character that have zero flaws? Aren't most of us hungry and desperate to meet a fictional character that we can relate to in one way or the other despite wanting to escape reality through fiction? No humans are perfect, so why do we expect fictional characters (that are made by humans) to be flawless?

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A trick I’ve noticed when writing is to have immense conflict outside of the relationship. One of the characters going through a traumatic event. One of the characters is rude to everyone else but is healthy to their loved one. The characters (almost) are unable to be together.

tbh as much as i also dislike sanitization and therapy speak in my fiction of choice, i do think it's very possible to make healthy relationships that are deeply compelling. it's just down to the skill of the writer when it comes to engaging characterization. unhealthy or generally fucked up dynamics do not always make something interesting, and by that same token, healthy doesn't always equal boring. just look at clois, or howl and sophie movingcastle (specifically book edition). it's totally possible for a positive and stable dynamic to be fascinating! the trick is that the characters generally just need to have Something Else wrong with them <3

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"This character handled a shitty situation badly and therefore I dislike them" - bites you bites you bites you

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Another option: Not liking a villain doesn’t mean you’re a puritan who only likes fiction if it’s perfect and everyone gets along. Sometimes you just prefer the goodies over the baddies in a story, whether that be they’re more interesting or the villains are just extremely evil