#things for characters

[annarts05]

my favorite negative character traits

some of these aren’t necessarily negative in all contexts, and actually, lots would be really great to have in certain scenes, but there are plenty of situations in which these traits are seen as generally negative :)))

reblog with yours, i wanna seeeeee 

arrogant

cocky

overenthusiastic 

self-absorbed or very self-oriented

workaholic

reckless

oversensitive

dramatic

impatient

prankster/bully (when it’s taken too far, that is)

liar (especially if the lies are for someone else’s benefit)

overly selfless

self-deprecating

hot-tempered

LOUD

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[sylvies-kablooie]

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

[lucdoodle]

thought that one Alastor scene would look cool in comic lettering, so i drew this

[sanguinarysanguinity]

Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:

In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.

A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.

In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.

[torturedspoetsdepartment]

i really love it when people here are “not normal” about the things they love. yes!! break down the scene that you’ve been obsessing over for weeks! create incredibly intricate theories based on a few throwaway lines! explain why you love this character so much—458 reasons and counting, and with visual aids! i love to see people putting their heart and soul into not being normal!!!

[lgbtlunaverse]

Obsessed with characters who portray themselves as worse than they are. Who are lying to everyone including themselves about it. People generally assume if someone's lying about themselves they're trying to look better but sometimes they're trying to look worse. They attribute agency to where they had none, add intend to accidents, try to convince everyone that this is something they did instead of something that happened to them.

[astearisms]

catalysts, protectors

[foundfamilywhump]

the question, you see, is not ‘is it too ooc for this character to cry’ but rather ‘what circumstances would push this character to cry’

this is the whump wisdom, go forth and make that character cry

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

things to ask yourself when designing a female character:

how much blood is she covered in

are her eyes filled with madness

can she rip things to shreds with her fingernails

[idlestories]

not just ‘he would not fucking say that’ but ‘he would not, under torture, admit that’

[annarts05]

smart character(s) friend dynamics

the math smarts and the writing/language smarts 

both very smart and knowledgeable in the exact same field and yet can literally never agree on anything (but they’re still friends)

“thoughts carefully phrased into flawlessly articulated words before spoken” and “dumbass with a quick mouth”

helping each other with something the other isn’t good at/knowledgeable in

cocky smarts and humble smarts (but occasionally the cocky one shows their sensitive side and the humble one roasts literally everyone else and single-handedly lights the world on fire)

lots of smart friends working on one GIANT project together, only for all the slightly (or drastically lmaoo) ideas of each participant to clash, creating chaos and a finished project that, uh, doesn’t go as they’d hoped

“actually have to study really hard for this” but still smart and “i barely have to try” smart in the same friendship

[bereft-of-frogs]

There’s that post that’s like ‘everyone should get into a tiny niche fandom at least once’ fully agree, that was really fun -- but I would like to add that everyone should get into a fandom where their opinions run counter to major fanon because it really teaches you about sticking to your guns and trusting your interpretation of the text without having to rely on peer validation

because WHAT are people talking about sometimes

[itsjesscapade]

Poor girl's CPU is being worked so hard...

[martyrbat]

hate when a batman artist isn't committed to bruce's lame bat schtick... give that man a bat insignia on the bottom of his boots rn

[aphel1on]

i have such a love for characters who descend into madness or villainy out of deep, deep empathy. characters who fundamentally cannot cope with the cruel realities they find themselves in and blow up about it in spectacular fashion. fallen angel type characters with tears of outrage in their eyes. characters who break before they bend, and break so badly they splatter blood all over their noble ideals. every variation on it gets me so good