This is an ultimate masterlist of many resources that could be helpful for writers. I apologize in advance for any not working links. Check out the ultimate writing resource masterlist here (x) and my “novel” tag here (x).
✑ PLANNING
Outlining & Organizing
- For the Architects: The Planning Process
- Rough Drafts
- How do you plan a novel?
- Plot Development: Climax, Resolution, and Your Main Character
- Plotting and Planing
- I Have An Idea for a Novel! Now What?
- Choosing the Best Outline Method
- How to Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method
- Effectively Outlining Your Plot
- Conflict and Character within Story Structure
- Outlining Your Plot
- Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets
✑ INSPIRATION
- Finding story ideas
- Choosing ideas and endings
- When a plot isn’t strong enough to make a whole story
- Writing a story that’s doomed to suck
- How to Finish What You Start: A Five-Step Plan for Writers
- Finishing Your Novel
- Finish Your Novel
- How to Finish Your Novel when You Want to Quit
- How To Push Past The Bullshit And Write That Goddamn Novel: A Very Simple No-Fuckery Writing Plan
✑ PLOT
In General
- 25 Turns, Pivots and Twists to Complicate Your Story
- The ABCs (and Ds and Es) of Plot Development
- Originality Is Overrated
- How to Create a Plot Outline in Eight Easy Steps
- Finding Plot: Idea Nets
- The Story Goal: Your Key to Creating a Solid Plot Structure
- Make your reader root for your main character
- Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense
- Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot
- The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations
- Adding Subplots to a Novel
- Weaving Subplots into a Novel
- 7 Ways to Add Subplots to Your Novel
- Crafting a Successful Romance Subplot
- How to Improve your Writing: Subplots and Subtext
- Understanding the Role of Subplots
- How to Use Subtext in your Writing
- The Secret Life of Subtext
- How to Use Subtext
Beginning
- Creating a Process: Getting Your Ideas onto Paper (And into a Story)
- Why First Chapters?
- Starting with a Bang
- In the Beginning
- The Beginning of your Novel that isn’t the Beginning of your Novel
- A Beginning from the Middle
- Starting with a Bang
- First Chapters: What To Include @ The Beginning Writer
- 23 Clichés to Avoid When Beginning Your Story
- Start Writing Now
- Done Planning. What Now?
- Continuing Your Long-Format Story
- How to Start a Novel
- 100 best first lines from novels
- The First Sentence of a Book Report
- How To Write A Killer First Sentence To Open Your Book
- How to Write the First Sentence of a Book
- The Most Important Sentence: How to Write a Killer Opening
- Hook Your Reader from the First Sentence: How to Write Great Beginnings
Foreshadowing
- Foreshadowing and the Red Hering
- Narrative Elements: Foreshadowing
- Foreshadowing and Suspense
- Foreshadowing Key Details
- Writing Fiction: Foreshadowing
- The Literary Device of Foreshadowing
- All About Foreshadowing in Fiction
- Foreshadowing
- Flashbacks and Foreshadowing
- Foreshadowing — How and Why to Use It In Your Writing
Setting
- Four Ways to Bring Settings to Life
- Write a Setting for a Book
- Writing Dynamic Settings
- How To Make Your Setting a Character
- Guide for Setting
- 5 Tips for Writing Better Settings
- Building a Novel’s Setting
Ending
- A Novel Ending
- How to End Your Novel
- How to End Your Novel 2
- How to End a Novel With a Punch
- How to End a Novel
- How to Finish a Novel
- How to Write The Ending of Your Novel
- Keys to Great Endings
- 3 Things That End A Story Well
- Ending a Novel: Five Things to Avoid
- Endings that Ruin Your Novel
- Closing Time: The Ending
✑ CHARACTER
Names
- Behind the Name
- Surname Meanings and Origins
- Surname Meanings and Origins - A Free Dictionary of Surnames
- Common US Surnames & Their Meanings
- Last Name Meanings & Origins
- Name Generators
- Name Playground
Different Types of Characters
- Ways To Describe a Personality
- Character Traits Meme
- Types of Characters
- Types of Characters in Fiction
- Seven Common Character Types
- Six Types of Courageous Characters
- Creating Fictional Characters (Masterlist)
- Building Fictional Characters
- Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
- Character Building Workshop
- Tips for Characterization
- Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
- Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills
Males
- Strong Male Characters
- The History and Nature of Man Friendships
- Friendship for Guys (No Tears!)
- ‘I Love You, Man’ and the rules of male friendship
- Male Friendship
- Understanding Male Friendship
- Straight male friendship, now with more cuddling
Character Development
- P.O.V. And Background
- Writing a Character: Questionnaire
- 10 Days of Character Building
- Getting to Know Your Characters
- Character Development Exercises
✑ STYLE
Chapters
- How Many Chapters is the Right Amount of Chapters?
- The Arbitrary Nature of the Chapter
- How Long is a Chapter?
- How Long Should Novel Chapters Be?
- Chapter & Novel Lengths
- Section vs. Scene Breaks
Dialogue
- The Passion of Dialogue
- 25 Things You Should Know About Dialogue
- Dialogue Writing Tips
- Punctuation Dialogue
- How to Write Believable Dialogue
- Writing Dialogue: The Music of Speech
- Writing Scenes with Many Characters
- It’s Not What They Say …
- Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue
- Speaking of Dialogue
- Dialogue Tips
- Interrupted Dialogue
- Two Tips for Interrupted Dialogue
Show, Don’t Tell (Description)
- “Tell” Makes a Great Placeholder
- The Literary Merit of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- Bad Creative Writing Advice
- The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do
- DailyWritingTips: Show, Don’t Tell
- GrammarGirl: Show, Don’t Tell
- Writing Style: What Is It?
- Detail Enhances Your Fiction
- Using Sensory Details
- Description in Fiction
- Using Concrete Detail
- Depth Through Perception
- Showing Emotions & Feelings
Character Description
- Describing Your Characters (by inkfish7 on DeviantArt)
- Help with Character Development
- Creating Characters that Jump Off the Page
- Omitting Character Description
- Introducing Your Character(s): DON’T
- Character Crafting
- Writer’s Relief Blog: “Character Development In Stories And Novels”
- Article: How Do You Think Up Your Characters?
- 5 Character Points You May Be Ignoring
- List of colors, hair types and hairstyles
- List of words to use in a character’s description
- 200 words to describe hair
- How to describe hair
- Words used to describe the state of people’s hair
- How to describe your haircut
- Hair color sharts
- Four Ways to Reveal Backstory
- Words Used to Describe Clothes
Flashbacks
- Using Flashbacks in Writing
- Flashbacks by All Write
- Using Flashback in Fiction
- Fatal Backstory
- Flashbacks as opening gambit
- Don’t Begin at the Beginning
- Flashbacks in Books
- TVTropes: Flashback
- Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: Flashback Techniques in Fiction
- 3 Tips for Writing Successful Flashbacks
- The 5 Rules of Writing Effective Flashbacks
- How to Handle Flashbacks In Writing
- Flashbacks and Foreshadowing
- Reddit Forum: Is a flashback in the first chapter a good idea?
- Forum Discussing Flackbacks
P.O.V
- You, Me, and XE - Points of View
- What’s Your Point of View?
- Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid “Stepping Out of Character”
- How to Start Writing in the Third Person
- The Opposite Gender P.O.V.
LANGUAGE
- How To Say Said
- 200 Words Instead of Said
- Words to Use Instead of Said
- A List of Words to Use Instead of Said
- Alternatives to “Walk”
- 60 Synonyms for “Walk”
✑ USEFUL WEBSITES/LINKS
- Grammar Monster
- Google Scholar
- GodChecker
- Tip Of My Tounge
- Speech Tags
- Pixar Story Rules
- Written? Kitten!
- TED Talks
- DarkCopy
- Family Echo
- Some Words About Word Count
- How Long Should My Novel Be?
- The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
- Writer’s “Cheat Sheets”
Last but not least, the most helpful tool for any writer out there is Google!
I was wondering if you had any idea or list or anything of what to do when an rp kinda stagnates. Like when you want to keep the thread going but want to spice it up a bit by throwing a curveball to make it more interesting. For example I made something embarrassing happen to a char and that revived it. But since I can't do that every time, do you have any similar ideas for something like this?
My best suggestion is to look up plot ideas and plot twists to throw in there. I’m thinking you’re talking about plots between two characters, but these could be applied to groups as well if altered a bit or introduced as personal plot drops. Here are some links:
- 2000+ Plots
- Angsty Plot Ideas
- Finding Plots in Roleplays
- List of 300 Possible Secrets to Give Your Characters
- List of Character “Plots” and Secrets
- List of Character “Plots” and Secrets Part II
- The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations
I hope this helps!
the-storytellers-flame said:
Hey do you have anything on assassin characters? :)
- On Assassins - referenceforwriters
- Resources on Assassins - clevergirlhelps
- Assassins and Assassinations - klariza-helps
- Mafia/Assassin stuff - referenceforwriters
- Writing Examples: Sizing Up Opponents (Assassins) - howtofightwrite
- When Writing an Assassin… - howtofightwrite
- Assassin Cliches - writingweasels
- Resources: Assassins - writing-questions-answered
- Tips/Resources on Writing a Hitman - benedicthelps
- Underhand Tactics with Assassins - howtofightwrite
I hope that helps you!
Guide on:
- How to play a badass
Surnames Master Post.
Surnames are just as important as given names. So, I compiled a list of the websites I use to find my surnames.
ratchet-jean:
alliaofrph:
alliaofrph:
I save a helpful links so I think “ow,i should made a masterlist”. I only found the link from my bookmarks.
**maybe i renew/add a new link that i found
WRITING HELP/CHARACTER
- writing a bitchy character (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
- writing a cocky character (1,2,3,4)
- writing a emotion character (1,2)
- How to play a hippie
- Playing the quiet character.
- Portraying the shopaholic.
- Portraying a mute character.
- Portraying a kleptomaniac.
- How to play the stalker.
- Writing distant, indifferent characters.
- How to write a character who stutters.
- Writing a character who is sassy.
- A guide to playing a southern character.
- Portraying characters with crushes.
- How to portray a teen mom.
- How to play a character who is mean.
- How to portray a character high on cocaine.
- Writing a character who is high on amphetamines.
- Playing an efficient male character.
- Portraying the asshole.
- Playing a character who suffers from shyness.
- How to play a mentally ill/insane character.
- Writing a character who self-harms.
- Writing a happy character.
- Writing a character who suffers from night terrors.
- Writing a character with paranoid personality disorder.
- How to play a victim of rape.
- How to RP a blind character.
- Writing a leader.
- Writing a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder.
- Writing a character with depression.
- Writing a character who is homosexual.
- Writing a character with schizophrenia.
- Playing a fe/male character.
- Writing a character with Nymphomania.
- How to write a worry wart.
- How to write a character with HPD.
- How to write a bad ass character.
- Playing a pansexual.
- Tips on writing a drug addict.
- Tips on writing the pregnant female.
- Writing insane characters.
- Playing a character under the influence of marijuana.
- Portraying a character with diabetes.
- How to play a prankster.
- Playing a character who has been adopted.
- Portraying a vampire.
- Playing a character with an eating disorder.
- Portraying a character who is anti-social.
- Portraying a character who is depressed.
- How to portray someone with dyslexia.
- How to portray a character with bipolar disorder.
- Portraying a character with severe depression.
- How to play a serial killer.
- Writing a tomboy.
- Playing a pyromaniac.
- How to write a mute character.
- How to write a character with an OCD.
- How to play a stoner.
- How to write an asexual character.
- How to play a bitchy/vicious character.
- How to play a character with HPD.
- Playing a pregnant woman.
- Playing the burn-out.
- Writing a “nice” character.
- How to play a gentleman.
- How to play a shy/introvert character.
- How to play a naive character.
- Playing characters with memory loss.
- How to write a character who smokes.
- How to write pirates.
- How to write characters with PTSD.
- How to play a character who isn’t ready for sex.
- How to play the geek.
- Playing the manipulative character.
- Portraying a character with borderline personality disorder.
- Playing a character with Orthorexia Nervosa.
- Writing a character who lost someone important.
- Playing the bullies.
- Portraying the drug dealer.
- Playing a rebellious character.
- How to portray a sociopath.
- How to play a swimmer.
- Portraying a ballerina.
- Playing a promiscuous male.
- Playing a character with cancer.
- How to portray a bubbly character.
- How to portray a power driven character.
- How to portray the shy character.
- Playing a character under the influence of drugs.
- Playing a character who struggles with Bulimia.
- Portraying a hippie.
- Portraying sexually/emotionally abused characters.
- Playing a character with asthma.
- Portraying characters who have secrets.
- Portraying a recovering alcoholic.
- Portraying a sex addict.
- How to play someone creepy.
- Portraying a foreigner.
- Portraying an emotionally detatched character.
- How to play a character with social anxiety.
- Portraying a character who is high.
- How to play a strong, female character.
- Writing a character with a hangover.
- Playing angry characters.
- Playing a character who is smarter than you.
- Playing and writing autistic characters.
- Portraying a trans character.
- How to portray a dominant character.
- Playing a character who is faking a disorder.
- Playing a prisoner.
- Playing the opposite sex.
- Portraying a character who has PTSD.
- Playing a character who stutters.
- Portraying characters with Aspergers Syndrome.
- How to play a depressed character who selfharms.
- Portraying the “dumb” character.
- How to portray a lesbian.
- How to play a blind character.
- How to play a sexual assault victim.
- Writing a compulsive gambler.
- Writing a closeted character.
- Playing a werewolf.
- Writing a character with an addiction to sex.
- Writing a character who is drunk.
- Portraying a character who is British.
- Playing a Brit.
- Portraying a character with amnesia.
- Playing heroes.
- Portraying a witty character.
- How to play an INTJ.
- How to play a vampire.
- How to play a character who is manipulative.
- Portraying the natural born leader.
- Portraying the character who is flirtatious.
- Writing a nice character.
- How to portray a character who has asthma.
- Playing a character with ADHD.
- Writing characters with anxiety.
- Amnesia
- Children
- A Death Scene
- Loosing Someone (2)
- Old Persons
- Physical Injuries (2, 3)
- Sexual Abuse (2)
- Fight Scenes (2, 3, 4)
- Horror
- Torture
- How to Describe the Body Shape of Female Characters
- Character Apperance Help
- Words to Describe Voice
- Body Language Cheat Sheet
- Character Development Exercises
- 101 Character Development Questions
- Art of Character Development
- Introducing Characters
- Characters You Need to Reinvent
- Making Characters Likeable
- Heros and Villains
- Describing Clothing
- Understanding Body Language
- 100 Positive Traits
- Mental Illness in Writing
- Conflicts and Characters
JOBS/HOBBIES
- Actors
- Ballet Dancer (2)
- Christianity
- Foreigners
- Gamblers
- Hinduism
- Hitmen
- Satanism
- Smokers
- Stoners
- Taoism
- Journalists
- Vegetarians
LOCATIONS
- Australia
- Boston
- California (2, 3)
- England/Britain (2, 3, 4, 5)
- New York
- Prison
- London
- The South (2)
GENDERS
- Females (2)
- Males (2)
- Transgender People
NAMES
- Female Names (2, 3, 4, 5)
- Male Names (2, 3, 4, 5)
- Last Names (2, 3, 4)
QUOTES
- Song Lyrics Masterlist
- Songs for Biographies
- Favorite Quotes: TV and Movies
- Favorite Quotes: Notable Authors
- Favorite Quotes: Celebrities
- Favorite Quotes: Popular Books (2)
- Quotes From Songs
- Character Quotes
- Masterlist of Bio Lyrics
- Masterlist of Bio Quotes
- Masterlist of Song Lyrics
- Biography Lyrics
- A Masterlist of Quotes
- +130 Quotes
SMUT
- Smut Guide: Casual Sex
- Smut Guide: For Beginners
- How to: Write a First Time Sex Scene Romantically
- How to: Smut - The Bare Bones
- How to: Smut (For Virgins)
- How to: Write Lesbian Smut
- How to: Write Smut (2, 3)
- How to: Write a Blowjob/Prepping for Smut
- Smut Guides of Tumblr
- Tips on Writing Sex Scenes
- A Guide to Language in Smut
- Domination and Submission
- Making Love
- A Smut Guide
KISSES
- How to: Write a Kiss (2)
- Different Types of Kisses
- Writing Out the First Kiss
GRAMMAR
- Placement of Speech Tags
- Grammar and Spelling
- Grammar Slammer!
- American vs. British Grammar
- HyperGrammar
- Grammar Girl
- Punctuating Dialogue
- How to Use the Semicolon
- Introduction to the Basic Rules of Punctuation
- Comma 101
- All About Dialouge
- 11 Grammar Tips
- Comma Usage
- Correct Use of Apostrophe
- Proofreading
- Transition Words
- 40+ Tips to Improve your Grammar and Punctuation
- Better Writing: Grammar & Spelling
- Semicolons and Colons
- Underlining and Italicizing
- Dashes and Parentheses
- Hyphens
- Apostrophes
- The Ellipsis
- List of 1000+ Adjectives
ART
- painting tutorial
- colour palette (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
- drawing clothe folding
- avoiding drawing the same face
- draw ice
- anatomy help
- free drawing program (1) (2)
- sai brushes (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
- draw hair
- drawing ref
- dont know what to draw?
- draw 3D room tut
- drawing eyes
- lip tutorial
- how to draw jeans
- how to draw arms
- expression tutorial
- drawing hair and fur
- drawing cats
- pose reference blog [its actually a blog full of references i-]
- download photoshop
- paint blood
- color blender
- draw hands
- hands 2
- photoshop help (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
- remove backgrounds from images online
- clouds
- brush setting ref (SAI)
- kissing ref
- how to draw curls
- realistic woman body ref
- draw knees
- draw feet
- shadow help
- male body
- lips ref
- contouring and highlighting
- draw wings
- change images using blur (PS)
- gray
- hat ref
- glowing stuff
- pastel colors
- draw grass
- eyeliner ref
- Painting tutorial
- Female/male arms
- Kneeling + Sitting ref
- Dragon head view tutorial
- SAI brushes 86786
- Drawing expressions
- Sai Brushes 1
- NGE colour palette 1
- 100+ colour palletes
- Avoiding same face
- Face contours/highlighting
- free art MyPaint
- Body anatomy help 1
- How to shift images using blur in PS
- Drawing clothe folding
- How to draw ice
- Colour palette 1
- Colour palette 2
- SAI brush settings 2
- SAI/PS pixel brushes
- Warm/Cool gray
- Flower crown tutorial
- Skin colour palette
- Pink colour sheet
- How to draw butts&thighs
- The male torso
- Drawing glowing stuff in SAI
- Drawing horse/animal legs on humans
- Drawing clouds
- Muscular male with bow stock photos
- Pastel colours
- Drawing grass fields in SAI
- Expressions&Legs
- All about the human body
- 20+ colour palettes
- Colour conversion
- Kissing ref
- Creature design
- Colour meanings
- Creating expression
- Tutorial masterpost (100+)
- Lineart
- Canine
- How to colour
- Pose studies
- Feline comparisons
- How to draw penis
- Leaf pressing
- 100+ anatomy references
- How to draw folds
- SAI brushes 3
- Sitting poses
- Colour palette 4
- Cloud painting
- How to draw 3D rooms
- Colour info
- Colouring ref
- Hair tutorial
- Clothing ref
- Bodies and poses
- SAI brushes 5
- Colour scheme designer
- Folding ref
- Heads&Angles
- Paint tool SAI masterpost
- Drawing ref masterpost (10+)
- Hair+Fur
- How to draw faces
- SAI brushes 4
- Anatomy of mutant humans
- What should I draw?
- Free art software
- pastel colour ref
- Mass art ref
- Soft SAI brushes
- ways to draw stuff
- SAI brush settings
- baseball cap ref
- Penis ref
- Drawing human wings
- Cool free art software
- Huge art ref
- Colour blender
- 2 SAI brushes
- Photoshop for free
MAKEUP
- eyeliner
- how to apply blush
- how to draw eyebrows
- ombre eyeliner
- lipstick trick
- the kitty eye ^.^
- nude lips
- smokey eye make up
- what you need to know about beauty
- 5 of the best foundations
- best powder foundations
- quick foundation tip
- how to apply liquid foundation
- breaking it down
- makeup highlights tutorial
- blush for your skin tone
- how to apply bronzer
- how to contour your face
- apply blush like a pro
- blush according to your face shape
- d.i.y. gel liner
- get the perfect winged liner
- get winged liner using tape
- awesome eyeliner tricks
- 9 different eyeliner looks
- different eyeliner styles
- guide to applying eyeshadow
- suit your eyeshadow to your eyes
- glittery smoky eye
- get the perfect smoky eye
- a shade for every occasion
- kool-aid lip stain
- best lipsticks for blondes
- hot red lips
- how to get gradient lips
- lipstick shades for fall
- how to make any lipstick look matte
- get soft kissable lips
- long lasting makeup tricks
- victoria’s secret model tips
- saving face
- beginner’s guide
- when will it expire?
- 10 makeup tips from mac
- best tips from professionals
- 18 beauty essentials
- basics you should own
- make-up brush tutorial
- brush tricks
- clean your makeup brushes
- make-up brush guide
- make up hacks
- easy make up tips
BODY CARE
- the runaway to gorgeous skin
- winter dryness
- acne foundation routine
- wash your face correctly
- how to wash your face 101
HAIR
- messy bun tutorial
- different ways to braid
- three-braid updo
- waterfall braid
- how to fishtail
- romantic curls
- braid + bun updo
- how to do pastel hair
- 8 ways to wear a bow
- 4-strand braid
- braided bun
- braided headband
- dutch braid crown
- pin curls!
- how to contour
- everyday makeup routine
- lipstick using crayons
- eyeliner ref wow
- filling in eyebrows
- banana facial mask (moisturizes)
- strawberry facial mask (acne prone skin)
- avocado facial mask (dry skin)
- yogurt facial mask (sensitive skin)
- list of oils to add to your face masks
- already made masterpost :*
OTHER
- sleep calculator
- survive nature
- rain
- tumblr music
- calming rain
- need a hug?
- like the sound of a coffee shop?
- can’t remember the name of a song?
- the thoughts room
- how to love yourself
- upload anything from your iPhone etc. to your laptop
- learn another language
- make HUGE unpoppable bubbles
- play some piano
- draw a stick man and watch the story!
- thousands of stars (you can zoom in/out and learn about them)
- check if a username is taken (any site! twitter/tumblr, etc)
- draws stuff as you move your curser
- tell your thoughts to no one
- play with cob web
- make music with balloons
- learn to play the guitar
- learn to build a ship in a bottle
- learn origami
- learn some yoyo tricks
- make your own stuffed animals
- how to decorate iphone cases
- make a candle
- important things you should remember
- how to kill your anxiety
- how to help someone with their anxiety
- look for literally any book you want (free)
- waterproof your shoes
- know what your emotion is
- how to love yourself
- ultimate writers resources masterpost
- learn how to make punk edits without photoshop
- dont know what to read?
- learn a new habit
- how to answer the top 35 asked questions when applying for a job
- want to draw?
- The quiet place
MOVIES
- Giant Movie masterpost
- Disney movies masterpost
- Superhero movies masterpost
- Movies for when you’re sick
- Scary movies masterpost
- Tumblr dedicated to finding movie links
- When to pee during a movie
HOLY FUCK
Quite a few people requested some form of trait/personality generator, and here’s the result! I wanted to keep it vague enough that the options could work for any universe, be it modern, fantasy, scifi, or anything else, so these are really just the basics. Remember that a character is much more than a list of traits, and this should only be used as a starting point– I tried to include a variety of things, but further development is definitely a must.
Could pair well with the gender and sexuality generator.
To Play: Click and drag each gif, or if that isn’t working/you’re on mobile, just take a screenshot of the whole thing (multiple screenshots may be required if you want more than one trait from each category).
Here an ultimate masterlist of everything to do with creating the greatest plot ever, from how to find inspiration and plots to writing the plot. Please like or reblog if you found this helpful!
Checklist for character development.
Created by myself, compiled from questions gleaned from several sources, and some of my own additions.
See it in action: HERE
It should be noted, that not every character will check every one of these things off. It is not REQUIRED to have all this information, but this checklist is, rather, a guideline for helping you think of your character as an entire, three dimentional being with thoughts, feelings, possessions, contradictions and background.
A character is 20% revealed to the reader, 80% writer/author/Mun knowledge. What the Reader sees is just the tip of the iceburg, but without the other 80% the character can’t help but come off feeling shallow. There’s nothing beneath the surface - KNOWING as much bout your character as possible, instrinsicly, in detail, intimately, can do nothing but help build believability and dimension to your character.
Use only the things on this list that you feel are important, but I would like to remind you that the reader learns a lot about a character NOT through exposition (that’s kind of a cheat, and always feels , to me, like a rather clunky way of conveying knowlege), but through their actions, quirks, thoughts, and even through the things they own and carry with them. What kind of food they eat and how they eat it. What they wear. What they carry in their wallets. I encourage you, as writers, to consider these things when creating a character, and encourage you MORE to leave the exposition out and tell us about your character through these other means!
If nothing else, this will give you a LOT to work with when writing with your character. Maybe it’ll spur you to write about the character’s parents. Or the relationship between them and their family. Maybe you’ll find yourself inspired to write something about how they lost everything in a fire - and the importance each remembered lost item held.
There is certainly no rule that says you HAVE to do it this way, but invariably, the most memorable characters are the ones that we as readers can relate with. It’s hard to relate with just words - but people - with beliefs and dreams and fears - that’s something we can get behind.
I certainly hope you find this useful, and since so many have been inclined to reblog and like this, I shall endeavor to add more character creation and writing tips, lists and excercises up on this blog!
Edit: Because there were requests for a Medieval and Fantasy version of this list, I have created one HERE.
I hope you find it as useful as this one!
Deflate when writing prose; inflate when writing essays for school.
Procrastinating on finding ways to add one page to my essay to get the page requirement! Thank you so much.