Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:
1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others' emotions and gain an advantage.
2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.
3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character's ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.
4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.
5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character's courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.
6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it's detrimental.
7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.
8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character's protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.
9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character's selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.
10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character's commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.
These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.
♡ I hope 2024 brings every fanfic writer lots of juicy, spicy, angsty, whumpy, crazy, delicious ideas and motivation. may words flow smoothly through your mind and may you find pure joy and satisfaction in your writing. you will do great. I am rooting for you.
Ways to solve the Why Can’t They Use Magic To Fix Everything problem:
•Magic has a cost. The more powerful the spell, the more it drains the caster’s life.
•’We tried that ages ago.The gods grew angry at our arrogance and stripped most of our powers away.’
•Magic is tied to the stars and planets. Its full potential can only manifest on certain astrological events.(And these are once-in-a-millennia type events)
•Only one will a pure heart and selfless intentions can use their full power.
•All magic users are descendants of a (god/spirit). As the years have gone by, the blood has become more diluted, and magic has grown weaker as a result.
•Spell casters can only cast (finite number of spells). They end up using their gift on trivial matters.
•’After the war, we realized the dangers that magic presented. And so we sealed it away, lest it destroy the world.’
•Everyone has magic. Trying to solve one problem is futile as it can be easily undone(often violently and with much destruction)
•inverse of the above: everyone has magic, but their powers are limited and (mostly) harmless.
•Individual, company, or nation has a monopoly on the only substance that can negate magic. As they rule the world, they have installed anti-magic devices everywhere.
•Individual, group, company, or nation has a monopoly on magic. To insure their grip on power, all magic users that do not submit to them are killed.
•An act of good will spawn one of evil. The use of fire will cause somewhere to grow cold and dark. And to save a life, one must sacrifice another.
•The only magic people have access to is Chaos Magic. No one uses it, for obvious reasons.
Getting two likes when you share a piece of your writing while that shit post you made at 3am gets 200 notes really is a different kind of pain. We need to reblog each others writing more. Much much more.
Like putting together a bee hive. Badly. With the aid of Cheezits.
I’m not the only author who keeps bees by the way. I know @neil-gaiman used to keep them in Wisconsin. And Sherlock Holmes gave it a go, too, so it’s not a bad gig for a historian-turned-mystery-writer, either.
Some tips for using a few words to describe voices:
1. Tone Words: Use tone words to convey the emotional quality of a voice. For example, you can describe a voice as "melodic," "soothing," "sharp," "gentle," or "commanding" to give readers a sense of the tone.
2. Pitch and Range: Mention the pitch and range of the voice. Is it "deep," "high-pitched," "raspy," or "full-bodied"? This can provide insight into the character's age, gender, or emotional state.
3. Accent and Diction: Describe the character's accent or diction briefly to give a sense of their background or cultural influences. For instance, "British-accented," "Southern drawl," or "formal."
4. Volume: Mention the volume of the voice, whether it's "whispering," "booming," "murmuring," or "hushed."
5. Quality: Use terms like "velvet," "silken," "gravelly," "honeyed," or "crisp" to convey the texture or quality of the voice.
6. Rate of Speech: Describe how fast or slow the character speaks, using words like "rapid," "slurred," "measured," or "rambling."
7. Mood or Emotion: Indicate the mood or emotion carried by the voice. For example, a "quivering" voice may convey fear or anxiety, while a "warm" voice may express comfort and reassurance.
8. Resonance: Describe the resonance of the voice, such as "echoing," "nasal," "booming," or "tinny."
9. Timbre: Mention the timbre of the voice, using words like "rich," "thin," "clear," or "smoky."
10. Cadence: Highlight the rhythm or cadence of speech with descriptors like "staccato," "lilting," "rhythmic," or "halting."
11. Intonation: Convey the character's intonation by saying their voice is "sarcastic," "apologetic," "confident," or "questioning."
12. Vocal Characteristics: If applicable, mention unique vocal characteristics, like a "lisp," "stutter," "drawl," or "accented 'r'."
As opposed to the plotline, the character is a description of what ahppens to the inside of the character over the course of the story.
Your lead character should be a different person at the other end of the arc.
The character has a build to it. It must, or the change will not be convincing. A good character arc has:
A beginning point, where we meet the character and get a sense of his interior layers (more on layers in a moment)
A doorway through which the character must pass, almost always reluctantly
Incidents that impact the layers
A deepening disturbance
A moment of change, sometimes via an "epiphany"
An aftermath
Layers of a Character
The layers get "softer" (easier to change) as you move outward. The point of the whole character arc is to crack these layers one by one with external pressure until the character changes in a major way.
As an example: Scrooge from <A Christmas Carol>?
Core Image = miser, misanthrope
Beliefs = pointlessness of charity
Values = money over people
Attitude = profit is more important than good works
Opinion = christmas is a humbug
The Beginning = The character is, well, what he usually is.
Impacting Incidents = There's pressure for the character to change.
it is best to underplay such moments.
Overdo it, and you will lapse into melodrama.
Deepening Disturbances = The initial "lesson" is followed up by an even more shocking pressure
Aftermath = There is an action which indicates that the character is changing, reacting to the external pressure.
The Epiphany = The big moment of change.
The Character Arc Table
List the impacting and deepening incidents in your novel in a table
Add the first (starting) and last (ending) points of your plot
Now, list how your character's inner world changes along with the external changes that take place.
If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸