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Sad plot ideas besides killing characters

Here are 14 sad plot ideas that don’t require character deaths

1. Having to give up an item of huge emotional importance 2. A leader being abandoned by their own people

3. Redemption arc that comes just a little too late 4. Making a mistake that’s too big to be forgiven for

5. Unrequited love with a childhood best friend 6. Betrayal by a sibling, parent or child

7. Realizing who they truly love when it’s too late 8. Not being believed by those closest to them when it really matters

9. A character who’s completely at peace with their tragic destiny 10. Relapsing on an addiction after doing so well

11. Making an honest mistake that leads to horrible consequences and endangers people they love 12. Trying so hard time and time again, and still not achieving any results

13. Having to watch a friend or family get tortured without being able to stop it 14. Realizing someone they love is in danger, but they’re the ones who sent them into it

Want fully customizable templates for your writing? Character sheets, outlines, chapter treatments, world-building, questionnaires and more?

Grab our 3 E-books for writers! They each come with 40 pages of easy theory and resources.

The Plotter’s Almanac

The Character Bible

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Grab it through the [link here] or below!

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Fun fact related to yesterday’s shenanigans

The Halloween costume I was gonna wear originally did have a skirt but I changed it to the shorts

Imo liked the shorts more LMAO but this was also nice

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How many lessons does it take for a message to sink in?

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7 Considerations for Characters

Of all the topics on how to write, I suspect more books have been written on how to create solid characters than on anything else. So there are a lot of great resources out there on how to create characters, and I can’t even touch on every topic that I would like in the space of an article this short.

Let me just say a few things, though. We are often told that our characters should be “round,” rather than stick-figure drawings. If you were an artist and you painted a picture with stick figures, people would say, “Well, that’s not very realistic. It is hardly recognizable as human.”

In stories, we usually don’t want that response either. We want our characters to have dimension. Such characters have (but are not limited to) the following attributes:

Character Consideration #1: Specific Physical Bodies

Real people have physical bodies with inherent limitations and strengths. These bodies get hungry, hurt, and have urges all their own. They also have a history of ailments and injuries, various scars, and of course plenty of traits that we may or may not want to include in our tale—including things like foot size, ear size and shape, and so on. Trying to describe some of these traits is danged near impossible.

Character Consideration #2: Relationships

Real people have families and friends. For a while in young adult literature, just about everyone was an orphan. That’s because editors didn’t want authors to have to deal with family issues. Yet far too often, authors don’t create extended families primarily out of laziness. Similarly, each of us has various levels of friends, business colleagues, people we are attracted to, and people who are attracted to us at some level. We might include in this list of associations things like pets and plants. Does your heroine keep African violets around the house, and tenderly nurse her geraniums? A likeable character is usually one who shows kindness to others, who seeks out deep and lasting commitments—even if it is just to her flowers.

Character Consideration #3: Vocation

Real people have jobs—usually a history of them. For example, I’ve been a meat cutter, a prison guard, a missionary, a movie producer, novelist, video game designer, technical writer and editor, grocer, gourmet ice-cream pie maker, and farmer. In the modern world, we tend to develop large skill sets as we age, but there was a time when a person started life as a farmer and ended up buried out by the grape vines.

Character Consideration #4: Social Status

Real people also have a place in society. These societies might include political groups, religious and civic organizations, and so on.

Character Consideration #5: An Internal Life

Real people have an internal life, invisible to the naked eye. This is a good category for a lot of things—emotional needs and phobias, ideals, and so on. These might include secret beliefs, hopes, desires. It also includes our own personal way of seeing the world, and includes how we cope with it. Sometimes our personal ideals are at odds with our public affiliations. For example, while most people profess some sort of religion, very often our personal beliefs might vary in some way from the official doctrine of the church that we espouse.

The internal life of a character is of course where we get the “meat” for our novels. A movie can easily capture the exterior of a character, but novels do a better job of capturing the internal feelings, moods, and beliefs. Yet that’s only part of the reason why novels are so popular and are often said to be better than the movies they inspire.

I’m convinced that we have an innate need to get to know one another from the inside out… . So we spend a great deal of time analyzing the motives, beliefs, and actions of others.

The internal lives of our characters are the most fertile ground that an author may plant his story in.

Character Consideration #6: Internal Conflicts

As we explore the internal lives of our characters, one of the most important areas to explore is that person’s internal conflicts. What happens when a person loves and fears the same thing? What happens when a man’s conscience won’t let him carry out his boss’s (or wife’s, or master’s) orders? Most people are filled with interesting contradictions, and usually that provides the best material for our novels.

Character Consideration #7: Voice

Each character has a unique way of speaking. Finding a character’s voice and accent is often a key for me when writing a book. The character never comes alive until I can hear him talking in my own imagination.

In Conclusion

Please note that people are not stick figures. In a good novel, the author creates a number of characters who are put in opposition, and each of them is satisfying and believable. Your imaginary characters never really quite come alive, but at times it can feel like they’re taking over your story, bent on achieving their own ends.

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How to Write a Believable World: A Guide to Worldbuilding

Let’s just get to it!

What Is Worldbuilding?

Worldbuilding is the part of the writing process that sets up where your story takes place

When you build a world, you include the landscape that your characters will inhabit, the tone of your story, its major preoccupations and themes, as well as the nature of its morality

Worldbuilding lays the groundwork for your characters to develop, providing the stage for where your creations will perform.

It’s okay if you can’t answer every question there is about your world, but setting down the basics will help you start writing and building.

What Is the Purpose of Worldbuilding?

The purpose of worldbuilding for writers is to give their story structure and somewhere real to live.

starting point should be to establish the rules and boundaries of your imaginary world and how everything exists within it

8 Tips to Guide Your Worldbuilding Process

Decide where to start. Whether it’s the language spoken by the inhabitants or the apocalyptic landscape, pick the aspect of the world you’re most excited about exploring and start there.

List the rules and laws. The inhabitants who live in this world you’ve created will have their own independent existence. What is their governing system? Who is in charge? Do they use magic in this world? If so, who can use it, and how powerful is it? Setting up boundaries helps create a more realistic world that functions like a real one.

Establish the type of world you want. Pick a genre. Is this a dystopian or fantasy novel (or both)? Does it take place in our Earth or is it an alternate earth? Knowing this will help figure out the tone and mood of your world.

Describe the environment. What’s the weather like? How does it affect the world or planet? Are there natural disasters? Are there extreme temperatures? What natural resources exist in this location? How do people use the land? Establishing the environment and how it impacts the life within it can be a useful detail in the creation of your world.

Define the culture. What do the inhabitants of this universe believe in? Is there religion? Is there a God? Do they have any sacred customs? What do they celebrate? Breathe life into the characters who populate this location by giving them a meaningful existence.

Define the language. How do the inhabitants communicate? Is there a common tongue? Are there any ‘bad words’ that are off-limits? Knowing what can and can not be said in your world can be an apt source for conflict.

Identify the history. What is the history of this place you’ve created? Have there been any world wars? Do the countries within your world have enemies? Are there rival races? Is there a sole antagonist? Providing the backstory for your world can give it an added dimension and make it feel more tangible.8. Use existing works to inspire. Revisit the works of successful authors to get inspiration. Never steal ideas, but review the work of other fiction writers to see how they answer the same worldbuilding questions within their own novel writing.

Use existing works to inspire. Revisit the works of successful authors to get inspiration. Never steal ideas, but review the work of other fiction writers to see how they answer the same worldbuilding questions within their own novel writing.

Somethings to Consider:

Diversity exists everywhere or maybe not

Magic and powers have limit, what are they?

Figure out the technology and it’s availability to the characters and environment

What’s the government system like? Or if there isn’t one — why?

How strict are the rules?

Are people treated equally?

Where do people get their food / water from?

Are there basic commodities: schools, hospitals, etc

Are there jobs? Can anyone work?

What’s transportation like? How isolated is your world?

These are just somethings to consider of course there are many but it’s up to you to decide how detailed you want it!

Please like, follow and reblog if you find these useful!

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arson aro

kind of like labels like loveless / heartless / evil aro / aggressively aro / angry aro. do you want to watch the world burn? do you have a fire in your heart? are you sick of amatonormativity? do you want to set it ablaze? would you throw that valentines card into a campfire?

for aros that commi i mean would commit arson

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I need this

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*In an Australian accent* what do you mean "who's my soulmate"? I don't have a soul, mate, I sold it for a block of cheese

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Movie: *sex scene*

Me:

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That's right. I am once again asking you to shut the fuck up.

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Hippidy hoppidy my gender and sexuality is not your property

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Not my meme, stolen from Instagram! Full credit to asexual_alien and best.ace.scenario

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The Nib ( @thenib ) is doing a whole month of queer comics and I was honored to contribute this one! You can read all of the other comics I’ve done for them here, and here is my comic from last year’s Pride Month. You can find more of my comics, including my Genderqueer series, on instagram and you can support me on patreon or on ko-fi if you’d like to help me keep making this work :) 

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Facts

Just a reminder that you don't have to like/love someone back. If someone confesses to you, you have no obligation to reciprocate those feelings. If your partner/friend/family member says they love you, you don't have to say it back. Your attractions and lack thereof are valid.

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“Our side concocted the ‘bathroom safety’ male predator argument as a way to avoid an uncomfortable battle over LGBT ideology, and still fire up people’s emotions.”

COLOUR ME FUCKING SURPRISED

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Okay, someone tell me if I'm wrong, but is it bad to ask someone to ask permission before touching you? I dont know if it's related to my social anxiety problems or not, but I just cant stand random people's touch, and even if they're not a random person I still dont want to be touched. Thoughts? Comments? Opinions?