#Creating a character

[erisinnes]

In my opinion, for every good writer, there'll always be pieces of themselves in the main characters. Maybe this won't be obvious to the reader, but it brings new life to the characters, makes them relatable to your audience. Maybe the way a character copes with something is reminiscent to your own methods of dealing, or maybe your mc has the same excited spark whenever they talk about their favourite thing or favourite person that you do when you talk about your best friends, or favourite tv show.

my best advice to writing is to bring parts of yourself to the story, because, when it comes down to it. we want a relatable, human main character

#or maybe its just that im just autistic and so process my life and emotions through story #but idk #writeblr #novel #writing tips #creating a character #just #thats how i do it #i make my characters 'human' #whether theyre actually human or not

[dynamoe]

working out a character design for Billy's crush, the mean clerk from the video store in TOMORROW'S JUST ANOTHER DAY

Drawing any human character next to Billy is hazardous because you can't NOT draw attention to how weird his proportions are. (I even made his head smaller than normal and he still looks like an alien)

That grrrl's got Kim Gordon's shirt from the Sonic Youth video for Bull in the Heather.

I said I wouldn't draw her because I'd rather the reader make up what she looks like in their mind, but... it's been a year, let's give her a face.

First outfit looks too Ruth Bader Ginsburg (she's joins the court in '93 but wasn't famous as "Notorious RGB" yet), maybe if it wasn't black velvet I could use the lace. Other ones are... whatever. The last one is how I dressed in high school (and college, and ten years after and now... shit.) but I'm trying really hard not to make the grrrl into a self-insert or a Mary Sue.

I need to make sure she belongs in their world. Kind of a dick, kind of a failure (in so much you can fail at 18). Representin' that Garafaloid '90s deadpan snark-girl character that was everywhere in the decade. Your Daria. Your Enid Coleslaw. Very hip, crap pop-culture obsessed but also "over it."

The "kinderwhore" (yeah, that's what the style was/is called) style is associated most with Courtney Love (p'too), but you see it in other women fronting rock bands like Kat Bjelland (Babes in Toyland) and Kim Shattuck (The Muffs).

↑ Kim Shattuck and Kat Bjelland (right): Style Icons

The signature look: a "little girl" type of dress (usually thrifted, often an actual child's dress) in velvet with a lace collar and cuffs or a girly floral worn extremely short over ripped tights and big-ass combat boots. Platforms not heels. No make-up or garish "crazy" make up -- blurred red lipstick, smudgy eyes, "bitch" written on your face or your arm with a sharpie.

This is meant to be threatening not sexy. Associate "weak" little girl things (floral dresses, Hello Kitty, pigtails, baby barrettes) with power/aggression. You're calling back to childhood where girls do whatever they want (in an ideal world) not caring what boys think. You're not dressing for men; you stand up for yourself to say "fuck you" to men who want to belittle you.

The sexualization came with the commercialization of the look. You can't have models with smeary make-up and "cunt" written on their tits in marker in the pages of Seventeen magazine. The last gasp further devolves in the 2000s into "punk fetish" shit like Suicide Girls.

Bringing it back to the character design...my character is not in a band. She is not an activist. She's a bored suburban teenager reading about what slightly older girls and women are doing in New York and Portland in zines and thinks it's cool.

She internalizes a lot of the "fuck you" attitude (or has it already and feels validated to express it). She's also a cult movie dork with an obsessive interest that isn't the alt-rock scene, but is similarly niche/all-consuming.

#billy quizboy #character design #original character #creating a character #designing a girlfriend #creative writing #writing #fanfiction #OC #venture bros OC #vbros #venture brothers #venture bros #riot grrrl #90s fashion #90s aesthetic #third wave feminism #babes in toyland #90s history #90s girls #90s girl bands #the muffs #bikini kill #bratmobile #OC girl #AO3 #archive of our own #fan fiction #fiction

[emthimofnight]

Stellar's first day at school!!

#my art #stellar the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sundae the snow leopard #sonadow #shadonic #sonic #shadow #shadow x sonic #sonic x shadow #sonadow fankid #sonadow fanchild #fankid #fanchild #sonic fankid #sonic fanart #sth #me creating a whole OC for a one-off comic #hahaha #I'm insane #sonic oc #sonic fan character #fankid au

[purplepixel]

I did the meme. The world is not ready for them

#tony would 100% adopt donnie #if i had a nickel for every character i obssessed over that solves problems through their intelligence and tech #and has a prosthetic like device they created #that could take over the world if they tried #bonus points if they accidently created an evil robot #rottmnt #marvel #rottmnt meme #steven universe meme #pixels tortle art #my art #rottmnt donnie #tony stark #mcu #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #tmnt #rottmnt fanart #marvel fanart #save rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt marvel crossover

[yookikiku]

I tried animating a dress up game!

#original #animation #2024 #yookiko #i worked really really hard on this!!!!! #it makes me so happy to know it's possible to create things I vision in my head like this! #ART IS SO FUN!!!!!!!! #this probably wont go off since its original and this character is my persona but but...! Im so proud of myself for this!

[astearisms]

fionna and cake drawings before and after watching the episodes so far. it’s nostalgic and somehow cathartic and poignant and relatable and—it just started

#i’m part of the demographic where i was a kid when adventure time started and now watching fionna and cake as an adult makes me emotional #because did they keep us in mind when writing fionna and her attitude towards life #the dissatisfaction #the hoping for something more #something more magical than this dreary life filled with working to live and living to work #it’s so reflective of how life feels for me and perhaps many of us #and also Simon’s episode was so sad but so well thought out #exploring his feelings after the events of the adventure time finale is something I’m glad we get to see #there were already so many layers to his character in AT but now it feels like we get to dive deeper #I also felt emotional hearing Rebecca Sugar singing and writing a song that encapsulates his feelings so well #😭 it’s been awhile seeing her work exist alongside these characters #and all of these emotions get stronger because I remember AT being the one to inspire me to be a storyboard artist #when I was younger I used to follow many of the board artists here in tumblr and would get so inspired by them #to create simple but powerful boards that can capture the feelings of characters so well #Rebecca Sugar’s songs for the AT characters inspired me so much too #I’m sorry this is long I’m just feeling so many things experiencing all of this again as an adult #my art #fanart #adventure time #fionna and cake #fionna the human #cake the cat #simon petrikov

[fucklestat]

i know it's been said many times before but i will never get over how jacob anderson, a british man with a british accent, not only nailed a louisiana creole accent but also developed a studiously (almost eerily) generic accent that louis uses in the present AND showed the first accent bleeding into the second accent at key moments as a way of aurally externalizing his character's inner journey. what did god put in this man when she created him.

#in some ways his accent work reminds of when i studied Shakespearean acting #i.e. using the minutiae of character's language choices to reveal their mental/emotional state #jacob anderson reinventing folio work but he created his own folio

[coffinwoodx]

couple of screenshots of kim’s wikipedia page that i felt so deeply in my soul

#especially that first one like #damn #disco elysium #kim kitsuragi #harry du bois #it’s not fair #or easy #but it’s not entirely impossible either #it’s not much #but you have me #and if that isn’t the most kim thing i ever did hear- #i have never felt this way about a fictional character before #i’ve had favorite characters ofc #comfort characters #but this is on another level #they did such a fantastic job creating kim it genuinely leaves me speechless sometimes #i mull it over in the shower and it’s always so impressive thinking back #his characterization is something i could only ever dream of coming close to #i love disco elysium #it changed my life

[angryjewishcat]

But, for real, do you give a shit about real live Jews? Do you care about the violent antisemitism they face? Do you care about their physical and mental well-being?

OR do you only care about "antisemitism" when it's calling a piece of media out for being "antisemitic?"

#Antisemitism #Jumblr #Goyim give more of a shit about goyishe fictional characters that were created by Jews than they do about real live Jews

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

illustrated guide to simons. i Think

#sanders bullshit #adventure time #fionna and cake #simon petrikov #ice king #winter king #ice prince #watch this become outdated within 5 days when they add another simon. watch #ice queen isn’t on here bc I don’t think she ever was a simon #she’s in this weird situation where she was created by two ppl who didn’t know/remember simon specifically to be a parody of *ice king* #so even after simon takes the magic from f&c’s dimension she doesn’t become a more simon like character. she’s still like ice king #it’s interesting. she’s def an ice king but unlike every other ice king she’s not a simon

[molsquinn]

#set a building full of orphans on fire #created a portal into another dimension out of egotism #is (currently) trying to get into someone’s head to kill them #is trying to invader earth (same character also stole a bunch of peoples organs) #ate a kid reincarnated as a nome then ate a woman just because she was hungry #fed people children #slapped her sister which in turn made her sister a villain #I think it’s time for me to stop

[gigizetz]

just finished Good Omens s2, and yeah the ending was sad and all but can we also appreciate Muriel's existence?

#literally the cutest character ever created #they are so precious I can't #more muriel content please internet #good omens #good omens season 2 #go2 #good omens 2 spoilers #crowley #crowley good omens #muriel #angel crowley #muriel good omens #good omens fanart #digital art #art

[juniemunie]

[Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.]

Hitting a lil' too close to home?

#junie art post #ink sans #error sans #utmv #errorink #implied. but yea not the focus #this has been turning around in my mind for quite some time. im glad to finish it lmao idk if my ramblings make sense even. #so like listen. do you ever think about how similar the function of the utmv is to the dark worlds in deltarune. #in a meta narrative to fandom sense? idk the word #we are making exaggerated expanded worlds of the ordinary tools and entertainment of the real world and make it into something more #isnt that very very interesting? #and we explore every sort of possibility in that creation. both good and bad #and when all is said and done. every possibility found and the entertainment and secrets has all run out #we put it away. abandon and leave it behind #what is left? what happens to the world and characters we have created? can it sustain without us? #what of the ones left in the dark? #idk if yall saw me a few months ago but i reblogged comyet's old post of ink begging us not to leave him alone and to keep creating #yea that never left me #and seeing exactly THAT SCENARIO in deltarune made my brain iTCH #imagine an ink in King's position.... wait isnt that just underverse #mmmmmmm. darkner ink..... #also error is here too. not just for errorink or that i can't separate these two to save my life #but error is also one of the few people to be able to GET IT?? he can hear the creators too. ink cant #but hes pretty much programmed himself to avoid having a mental break down to this via reboot memory loss. #and ink has his own internal coping mechanism (hooray for short term memory loss) #these two idiots will do anything but confront truths lmfao #ahhh my favorite idiots. never change #mmmmm #deltarune

[theveryworstthing]

"Welcome! I'm glad to see that we still have people interested in volunteering. We have 6 positions open this Riverseason, 3 at each of the base camps. After you fill out your paperwork I'll take you to meet the new Companions and we'll see who you connect with!"

every few years after a heavy rainy season the river swells and a lush, high, patch of forest grows around its fattened middle in a matter of days. during this time strange Creatures emerge to nest in the surrounding area, which is seemingly a safer place to rear young than the forest, and then migrate back when the river begins to lower in a few months. neither the creatures nor the Townsfolk know why the forest appears or what exactly is going on with the river but they learned long ago to (mostly) live in peace. 

while the forest makes most people uneasy, some are very eager (maybe too eager) to explore it. this includes some young Creatures who seem equally compelled to Enter. experience says that mixed teams have a better chance or survival (little guy with Powers + person with thumbs and camping supplies is a pretty good combo even if communication can be rough sometimes) and so that is how the scouting trips operate. scouts start at either upriver or downriver base camps just outside the forest and try to follow the river the entire way to avoid getting lost.

it is so easy to get lost.

most people lose sight of the other scouting teams about half a mile in even though they're all following the same river and going in the same direction. best case scenario is that you make new discoveries, map out a few things, and make it out the other side in way more time than it should really take to walk to the other side. worst case is you can't find your way out before the river starts to dry up and you hope the rain is heavy next year. 

pictured above are the little Companions ready to hike in with someone this season. you will only learn their names if you connect with one, but in loose power typing terms we've got:

a prophesy type (omens good and bad. tea leaves, smoke, tiny bones)

a wander type (never settled and never has to be. a shifter of sorts)

a fungal type (more than it seems. eager for friendship)

a celestial type (looking into the void. navigating by starlight)

a dirt type (grounded and persistent. a terror to terrors)

and a sylph type (the air in your lungs. the invisible belief)

which Companion will you choose? what name comes to you when they choose you back? 

#body horror #monsters #they're just little guys #what if someone gave me a million dollars to make the weirdest pokemon game ever created? #if i actually did this i think the player character would also be non-human. probably make them a goblin. #you shepherd the creature and also you are a creature :)

[canisalbus]

Blood and Gold

#got inspired by the stimboards that were created for these guys and thought that maybe I should come up with moodboards as well #haven't made any in years and years #just for fun and kicks #own characters #Machete #Vasco #CanisAlbus

[3hks]

Flaws to Add to Characters

So, are you searching on how to make your character a little bit less perfect without giving them too many extreme deficiencies? Well, I have a few examples, and some of you guys might've not even realized that they're flaws!

Inability to get over the past - This doesn't have to be as serious as people think! Maybe the past just influenced your character in a way that affects their modern life!

Self-reliance - This doesn't sound like a flaw, doesn't it? Well, in some cases, it could be an issue a character struggles to overcome, and other times, it can actually be a part of a character's development! However, the act of never accepting help from someone is most definitely a shortcoming.

Apathy - I think that this is pretty self-explanatory. Over-passionate people are dangerous, but worse than that are people who don't care enough.

Over-passionate - It's still a flaw, guys! Having too much passion for one thing to the point where nothing else matters is harmful to your character.

Vengeful - Revenge is a strong fuel, but never the answer.

Detached - Almost like self-reliance, but to a more severe degree, where they don't see the need for not only anyone's help, but for anyone in general.

Possessiveness - If a character is too possessive towards another character, it could harm the latter's mental health and ruin any relationship between the two.

Manipulative - Manipulation is detrimental to people's mental health and stability, as they are being used carelessly and left with confusion about their identity, beliefs, and/or purpose!

Self-destructive - Honestly, this has a pretty wide range of examples, it could go from neglecting oneself to actual self-harm. Either way, it's definitely not healthy for a character.

Superiority/God complex - The problem is in the name: a character with these complexes simply believes that they are better than everyone else. It's similar to arrogance, but not quite the same.

Here you go! Ten flaws that you can incorporate in your characters!

Happy writing~

3hks ^^

#writeblr #writing #writing tips #writerscommunity #character flaws #character flaws examples #writing advice #writing inspo #creating a flawed character