#dear god is this even remotely helpful??? i kinda just throw spaghetti at the walls sometimes!

[jackwolfes]

What would you give as advice for writing a character study/ a more emotions-driven fic, rather than a plot heavy one? Love ur writing!!🌼

so i really need a strong sense of narrative if i'm going to get anything written, and the fics i find easiest to write are the ones where there is a VERY clear progression from a to b to c. having spoken to other writers i know lots of people struggle with character studies precisely because they feel a bit loose around the edges and wishy-washy, so my key piece of advice if you're wanting to do emotions driven fics and struggling would be: get that baby a plot! by which i mean a suuuper clear narrative. like, it doesn't need to be a long-form fic level of plot, but i find i can do fics like these well when the sense of narrative is super prominent

just personally, this is my process for planning these sorts of fics:

1: figure out what specific thing you're looking to "study" (re: character study)

this is the ✨ idea phase ✨ which i'm sure you've got down but taking time to dig into what one focal point is really really helpful for me

2: pick out the very very broad narrative beats

by this i mean like. where are you starting. where do you want them to get to. what needs to happen to get them from point a to point b (alt: what is happening to them along this journey and how do they react to it)

example - in pain-share soulmate au it was like, hyper chronological? so i went "they are children > they are in ketterdam pre-meeting > they are on the heist > they are dating", which went in lockstep with "they dont know they're soulmates > they know they're soulmates". but in something like my will solace depression fic it was very much a journey of "he is sad + depressed > he is less sad + starting towards healing"

i say this because like. just generally but with these fics especially it really helps to have some idea of where you're going and what you actually want the characters to get out of this? there's nothing wrong with legit just writing random interconnected scenes but if you want a holstic sense of development and resolution i personally think you need at least some form of actual narrative

3.1: figure out what you think they would feel about your first focal point and what needs to happen for them to feel it to the utmost extent

when i'm writing character studies i always start by thinking very basically about how they would react emotionally to something related to the fic's focal point, and then figure out what situations would bring that feeling out in a way that feels narratively compelling (ie the most intense way, the most difficult way, the way that would most damage their relationships, etc).

example - jesper as a character is someone that does not dwell even slightly on any negative emotion he feels. if he were in a situation where someone were to try and make him to confront how he actually feels about a situation he would laugh it off until someone were to quite literally force him to introspect, at which case i think he'd react volatilely in some form because that's what happens when you ignore your feelings and this boy's been doing that for a while.

(which is what happens in the books, frankly, but is also effectively the plot of my arranged marriage au. no i'm not still salty about the person that said it had no emotional resolution, why do you ask)

but yeah once you know how a character would feel about the focal point more broadly you can figure out what specific situations would provide opportunity to show examples of those reactions: what would push their buttons just enough to build up to a largescale blow out; what external scenarios would make them really start feeling those negative emotions in earnest; what would be the straw that broke the camel's back.

so: "in a fic dealing with xyz, this character would feel abc and THIS sort of scenario would bring that out"

3.2: figure out what you want to write and what they would feel about it

it should surprise no one that i am a VERY self indulgent writer but after i work out what situations would be necessary to show enough of the focal point i'm trying to write about i pad it out with like. the fun stuff. ie this is where i cram in alllllll the shit i just really wanna write (usually angst, sometimes sex, often both) and figure out how the thing i'm studying would manifest for a character in that scenario.

example - in dead jesper au i like, REALLY wanted to write wylan trying to sleep with someone else and jesper watching as a ghost, bc they're both very jealous characters and that was narratively interesting, and also i like writing sad people thinking sex will fix them when it in fact won't. ergo, make jesper watch wylan try and fail to move on from his death by trying and failing to fuck someone else and explore how grief plays out for both of them.

so: "i want to write xyz scenes and scenarios and will figure out what emotional reaction they would cause"

points 3.1 and 3.2 kinda end up happening at the same time for me but i feel like it can be easier to start with the first one (what the characters would/need to feel) to like, block out the narrative, at which point you can fill in all the fun self-indulgent bullshit

4: write write write and hope for the best quite frankly

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tl;dr -

figure out what one thing you want to explore

figure out some sort of overarching/broad narrative

figure out how your characters would feel in Situations TM and then push those Situations TM to the max

figure out what you really want to write and include that because life is short and fic writing is for including self indulgent fucker

pray to the writing gods and do your best