I made this today as I find it’s a helpful tool when I make characters. I call it the 1-2-3 method.
1 value: Their core belief.
2 flaws: The limitations of the character. Things that can affect their actions and abilities.
3 traits: What makes them, them. the aspects of their behaviour and attitude.
It’s important that you justify their personality through their backstory and home life, however, and it’s good to have conflicting flaws/traits within a group which will help create tension and drama.
I’m using this today to create characters for my campnanowrimo WIP and thought I’d share.
There is such a thing as your antagonist being too
over-the-top. There’s a possibility that they can become static or
one-dimensional if you don’t understand why they’re the protagonist. Not many
people in the world are evil for the sake of being evil. There’s usually a
reason behind what they’re thinking and feeling, so try to explore that with
your own characters. Remember, the antagonist is usually the hero in their own
story.
Focus on background
Knowing your antagonist’s personal background should add
more dimensions to your story. Do they have a family? Is there something
specific that happened that shaped them? Understanding where each of your
characters came from and how they came to be the way they are will really help
add depth. Your readers will begin to see what makes them tick.
Know what they want
Antagonists have wants and needs, just like any other
character. You should always know what your protagonist wants if you want to
drive the story forward and the same can be said for your antagonist. What are
they searching for? Why do they want to stop the protagonist? Do they want the
same thing as the protagonist? This will help you figure out your conflict.
Is there someone they
care about?
Knowing what your antagonist cares about will reveal a lot
about them. Sure, sometimes mindless
unstoppable villains are exciting, but it doesn’t work for every story. Smart
antagonists that care about something are usually more enticing. You can make
them a bit more humane if you reveal what they care about. Do they believe what
they’re doing will actually save the world? Do they think they’re doing the
right thing? Consider these questions.
What do they think
about the protagonist?
It’s not necessary for the antagonist to absolutely hate the
protagonist. Sometimes it’s more interesting if they respect each other or if
they already have a relationship. Do they think the protagonist is completely
wrong? Do they understand their point-of-view? Knowing what your antagonist
thinks will help form a realistic relationship between the protagonist and
antagonist. It will help you shape your story into something better.
• Biting fingernails • Jiggling leg up and down • Tapping foot • Twirling hair • Running fingers through hair or tucking hair behind ear. • Smacking gum • Whistling • Slurping • Burping • Yawning • Glancing at watch • Talking with a full mouth • Potty mouth • Eye-rolling • Constantly apologizing • Snapping fingers • Cracking knuckles (cliche) • Humming • Stuttering • Licking lips • Sniffing • Squinting • Applying Chap Stick to lips • Picking at nail polish • Raising eyebrows as they speak • Winking • Pulling at bottom lip • Pinching skin • Rubbing hands together • Pointing • Rubbing eyes/chin • Twirling a ring around finger • Picking at facial hair—eyebrows/eye lashes/moustache • Excessive eye blinking • Shifts in their seat when nervous • Cross/uncross legs • Clicking or tapping teeth with a nail • Shrugging • Slapping people on the back • Jaw clenching/jaw muscle jerking (mainly a male attribute) • Gesturing a lot when speaking • Slouching • Putting their feet on a desk or table • Toying with objects before them • Chewing on their pencil • Chewing bottom lip • Speech patterns • Nervous cough • Picking at teeth • Saluting • Constantly touching up makeup using a compact mirror • Constantly checking cell phone for messages (text or voice) • High pitch/low raspy voice depending on mood • Sliding the tip of one’s index fingernail up and down along the side of the thumb beside it • Playing with their glasses (spectacles) either pushing them up their nose or taking them off and twirling then by one of the arms.
the other character i wondered about is a girl who has a fraternal twin brother, and the brother and their parents argue and fight a lot. this leaves her with a lot of frustration because she can’t do anything to help in these situations so she exhausts herself to be perfect for her parents so they won’t yell at her too. she also can’t rly handle arguments and does anything possible to avoid them, including inconveniencing herself for other people’s sakes. i guess what i’m wondering is does that sound realistic to you? i’ve asked other people and some think it sounds realistic while others think it sounds strange, so i guess i wanted another opinion. thank you so much!
Okay, I’ll try to answer both of these… to make things easier, I’ll just split the answer into two parts.
Part One: Dyslexia
Earlier diagnosis of dyslexia is always best because then the child can get the help they need sooner rather than later. However, like with a few learning difficulties, it’s not always easy to pick up.
The child may also learn to compensate by simply doing things in a different way to achieve the same results as other children in their class/year; teachers and parents might not necessarily think the child needs any extra support if they appear to be managing on their own.
For your character to have reached their teenage years with no one having noticed her dyslexia… well, this is not an impossibility. Remember, having dyslexia does not make a person less intelligent or ‘stupid’. People with dyslexia may still be very creative, athletic and knowledgeable… they may just experience difficulties with other aspects of their education/development.
Therefore, for her mother to ‘not believe’ she has dyslexia… this could be plausible, although very sad… but if your character has managed all throughout primary school without any obvious difficulties, dyslexia might be the last consideration on her mind when faced with a child suddenly under-performing/performing poorly in school.
Hm, different subject but… for example, when I was about fourteen, my eyesight started to deteriorate. For ages, I couldn’t get my parents to believe me until a teacher forced me to sit in the front of the class after I couldn’t read out loud from the board to him. Only then did my mum think… wow I should take her for an eye test then…! She is a good mum though, I promise; please don’t think from this that she isn’t…! I love you, mum ; u ;
So… it can happen where a child with dyslexia manages right up until secondary school before a parent or teacher realises they are struggling.
The symptoms of dyslexia do vary from person to person though, so it’s important that you know the severity and specifics of the condition in your character to make your portrayal as accurate as possible.
Part Two: Striving to be Perfect and Self Inconvenience
It might sound strange to other people, but it is possible to have such a desperate need to please and pacify other people that you continuously get yourself into situations you wish you hadn’t agreed to. Some people may also inconvenience themselves for the sake of avoiding an argument.
This is how I live from day-to-day… without going into too much detail, I have severe anxiety. For me, avoiding an argument is always better than the uproar of sticking up for myself or trying to assert my own opinion over a conflicting one.
In my experience, every time I have given my own opinion or attempted to reason with somebody else, it only ever ends in hours and hours of self-loathing and a desperate wish that I hadn’t bothered in the first place. My greatest fear is that I will upset other people, to the point where I would rather be the one who is upset.
Thinking back on times where I have gotten into an argument, I feel flat and disgusted in myself. I’m also very sensitive to other people’s problems and the things that burden them from day-to-day… I therefore compensate for their feelings as often as I can to avoid upsetting them or making them feel worse, even if the issue is something completely unrelated to their current problems or unhappiness.
To me, that character type sounds very realistic because it’s just like you’re describing me and my life (without the twin…!) I’m sure there are lots of other people out there who can relate to that character too.
So… I hope this helps…! I’m sorry if I’ve focused a lot on personal experience here. I’ll try to avoid that so much in the future 🙂
For some people, yes. For other people, maybe not. Reader opinion is fickle and what can work for one person, doesn’t for another.
However, there are some ways you can get the majority of readers to see your murderous character as ‘redeemable’. Here are a few tips and pointers:
Don’t Make Them Completely Evil
Even ‘evil’ people have good sides. If we look to notoriously evil people in our own history, although it is hard to clear them of the atrocities they have committed, they are still human at the end of it all. Even Hitler, who’s time in power saw to the systematic murder of 11 million people, still had a human side, a side to him that some people would have seen as favourable and ‘nice’.
Bearing this in mind, there is a spectrum of ‘evil villain’, in which the likes of Hitler and Stalin would probably be at the very top end, whilst someone consistently stealing things from a store would be at the very bottom.
You need to decide what things your character does that are morally outrageous, and then the parts of their character that others would see as somewhat reputable.
If you haven’t read Lauren Beuke’s The Shining Girls, I would definitely recommend it as a point of research. In this book, I was surprised to – at some points – feel empathetic towards the murderer, who did unspeakable, disgusting things. However, he wasn’t intrinsically evil in every way.
Of course, one decent thing doesn’t absolve him of all the other negative things, but it puts the negative things into perspective and gives the reader a chance to understand and relate to the character more.
Give your character limits – they should never be willing to do every single ‘evil’ thing out there.
Consider Their Background
Most people aren’t born to be absolutely horrible in every way. Every person has parents who raised them from being a child, either loving and nurturing them and not expecting they’ll turn out to do the things they end up doing, or through not raising them in a safe, structured environment, inadvertently (in some cases) warp them to take a crueler, more unforgiving path.
You need to think about the kind of background your character has and whether it will be enough to make the reader understand what they do and why they do it. If they’re just evil for the sake of it and appear to have no background influence or force, then think about how they are in the present and using the tip above, present both sides of their character: the bad and the good.
Consider the Circumstances of Their ‘Evil’ Acts
What makes them do the things they do? If the answer is ‘they enjoy it’ and you don’t employ any of the other tips above and below, then you’ll have a hard time making the reader like this character.
There are many unforgivable acts, such as rape, murder, child abuse, animal abuse, etc. that people find hard to understand. In some cases, people do these unspeakable things because they are just generally awful people who do derive some sick entertainment out of it, but a redeemable character should at the very least have underlying reasons for it, even if it doesn’t erase any guilt associated with what they’ve done.
There Should Be A Visible Change
If you want to redeem a character, then essentially they have to leave the bad parts of themselves behind. There should be an overall change in perspective, motivation or circumstance.
Perspective/Motivation
This kind of change shows the once-evil villain deciding that they should join the ‘good’/other team or view life differently to how they used to view it.
It’s usually a gradual change which comes with some reluctance and the character generally won’t lose all parts of their character that can be associated with the way they used to be.
If you look at characters like Vegeta from the Dragon Ball Z series, he starts out as a main antagonist until he is forced to review his behaviour and actions. He soon finds a new life on the planet he originally sought to terrorize, softening up a little, but not losing his arrogance or short temper.
Then you get characters like Gaara from NARUTO who have a total turnaround in life, even going as far as to switch their motivations and beliefs. Gaara is at first a ruthless murderer who thinks he has to kill people in order to affirm his own existence. Then he comes to understand that things don’t have to be that way, and he goes from mindless, unstable killer, to badass leader of the Sand village. The people who once feared him now respect him, but he is still coldly strategic and brutal.
Understandably, not all people are able to trust him either, which is essential if you’re to make the transition believable. Nobody goes from devil to saint overnight, which is why you should also retain some of their more ‘darker’ traits and behaviours, even if you’re going to instead show them in a more positive light.
Circumstance
This is usually what makes a person feel sympathy for the ‘evil’ character, because they have fallen lower than ever before and have to cooperate with the people they once hated/condemned in order to survive.
The same happens to Loki, who we see disheveled and locked up after the first Avengers movie, and it is also a frequent thing in the Transformers universes; the likes of Starscream or Megatron are oft at the mercy of the Autobots, only to ‘redeem’ themselves to unite against a common foe, albeit temporarily.
Still, a lot of it derives from sympathy and the audience/reader feeling sorry for the once-villain. If you can make them fall hard, then it opens up a new side to the character that the reader might not have seen before.
They Should Show Remorse
It’s not good enough for a character to change then show absolutely no understanding for what they might have done wrong before that point. Even if a thousand apologies will never be enough for those who have fallen victim to their schemes or malice, the reader will feel something for a villainous character who is apologetic and now has to walk the long, hard road to redemption.
These are just very basic tips – please read around to get the best understanding of how to pull this off! I’ll put some resources below, but as always, keep an eye out for follower interactions via replies and reblogs.
XNTP villains: thrive on chaos and making your life hell. Their Ne-Fe will read you like an open book, their Ti will analyze you, and the scary part is, they can revise their plans on the spur of the moment, as inspiration strikes, so nothing thwarts them since they have another six ideas to make your life miserable or society implode up their sleeve.
XNFP villains: pursue their own idealistic visions and personal desires at the cost of other people’s lives. Their Fi is warped to such an extent that it makes them only care about their personal gratification and sees others as expendable; while their Ne makes them creative, able to see multiple possibilities in any situation, and likely to be delusional. They are often motivated by their own personal pain and isolation, and take great joy in forcing you to experience similar suffering.
XSTP villains: will take you for everything you are worth. Their Se makes them thrill-seeking opportunists, their Fe makes them naturally able to both manipulate you on an emotional level and mimic genuine emotion, and their Ti makes them smart enough to avoid getting caught. Like the ENTP, they can revise their plans on the fly… but even scarier, they have Ni, which allows them to go in for a long-term evil plan with futuristic implications.
XSFP villains: are thrill-seeking sadists based entirely in the moment. Their Se makes them temper-tantrum throwing individuals driven to immediate gratification, while their evil Fi makes them immune to other people’s feelings and their Te makes them want to control, dominate, and inflict pain on other people.
XSTJ villains: are hardcore traditionalists who thrive on forcing others to surrender to their will and in establishing rules where none should exist. They will rigidly be faithful to outdated systems (religious, moralistic, cultural, or otherwise) while simultaneously repressing freedom of thought and crushing any new ideas beneath an iron shoe.
XSFJ villains: never get over anything, ever, and their mission in life is to hunt you down and make you pay for what you did to them (Si). Either that, or their mommy issues and upbringing will cause them to turn on you in a remote hotel to appease and placate what Mommy drilled into their head, even though she’s been rotting for decades (Si-Fe). But their Fe makes them so sweet that you’ll trust them until it’s too late.
XNTJ villains: have a plan for total domination that includes sacrificing a large number of innocent people along the way. They are insanely ingenious long-term strategists who can revise their plans if necessary, prone to recklessness and ruling through force by implanting their larger vision either into an existing system or creating a new system.
XNFJ villains: have a long-term strategy either for personal gain, revenge, or a warped sense of idealism that either includes emotionally tormenting you in order to destroy you, or manipulating you to join their cause to annihilate humanity for the greater good of… humanity. They will use their Fe to disarm you into trusting them, then knife you in the back and leave you for dead.
I apologise in adventage for any grammatical errors. I’m not a native english speaker, so if I do any mistakes, please point them out to me, so I can edit them right away.
A few days ago I had a little talk with a friend, who is recently working on a comic project, but seems to have not yet realized the full potential of her characters. I told her about a principle that I like to use to try and build a story around pre-existing characters, that I want to share in-depth now.
NOTE: THIS IS JUST ONE WAY OF WRITING A STORY AROUND A PRE-EXISTING CHARACTER. There is no King’s way to writing a good story in general, this is just a principle that I like to use and which I hope could be useful for others.
So, let’s begin: First of all, this principle is more of a compilation of things to think of, when you have a character, that you want to build a story around. The character in question doesn’t have to be the main protagonist, but by using these tips, they might get a very magnificent role in your story, since they are the focus of it. Still, it’s a useful help to get some ideas. In order to get ideas for a character-focused story, you need to understand your character first. The easiest way is to sort out the following four points to begin with:
A character’s Background
Behaviour of the character
Triggers of action
Results from the action
These points are a basic tool for World-building as well, but in this context it helps you to realize your characters, what kind of people they are and how their being can influence your story.
I’ll continue by explaining, what exactly I mean with the points stated prior.
PHYSICAL PRESENCE AND GESTURE. 1. How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy? 2. How much physical space do they use, active and at rest? 3. How do they position themselves in a group? Do they like to be the center of attention, or do they hang back at the edges of a crowd? 4. What is their size and build? How does it influence how they use their body, if it does? 5. How do they dress? What styles, colors, accessories, and other possessions do they favor? Why? 6. What are they like in motion–in different environments, and in different activities? What causes the differences between these? 7. How do they physically engage with other people, inanimate objects, and their environment? What causes the differences between these? 8. Where and when do they seem most and least at ease? Why? How can you tell? 9. How do they manifest energy, exhaustion, tension, or other strong emotions? 10. What energizes and drains them most? 11. How are they vocally expressive? What kind of voice, accent, tones, inflections, volume, phrases and slang, and manner of speaking do they use? 12. How are they bodily expressive? How do they use nonverbal cues such as their posture, stance, eyes, eyebrows, mouths, and hands?
DISPOSITION AND TEMPERAMENT. 13. How do they greet the world — what is their typical attitude towards life? How does it differ in different circumstances, or towards different subjects? Why do they take these attitudes, and why do they change? How do these tend to be expressed? 14. What do they care deeply about? What kind of loyalties, commitments, moral codes, life philosophies, passions, callings, or spirituality and faith do they have? How do these tend to be expressed? 15. What kind of inner life do they have — rich and imaginative? Calculating and practical? Full of doubts and fears? Does it find any sort of outlet in their lives? 16. Do they dream? What are those dreams like? 17. Are they more shaped by nature or nurture — who they are, or what has happened to them? How have these shaped who they’ve become as a person? 18. What kind of person could they become in the future? What are some developmental paths that they could take, (best, worst, most likely?) what would cause them to come to pass, and what consequences might they have? What paths would you especially like to see, and why?
CONNECTIONS WITH OTHERS. 19. How do they behave within a group? What role(s) do they take? Does this differ if they know and trust the group, versus finding themselves in a group of strangers? Why? 20. What kind of individual relationships do they have with others, and how do they behave in them? How are they different between intimate relationships like friends, family, and lovers versus more impersonal relationships? 21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why? 22. How do people respond to them, and why might these responses differ? 23. How do they respond to difficult social moments? What makes them consider a social situation difficult? 24. How do they present themselves socially? What distinguishes their “persona” from their “true self”, and what causes that difference? 25. What do they need and want out of relationships, and how do they go about getting it? 26. How do they view and feel about relationships, and how might this manifest in how they handle them, if it does?
ACTIVITIES AND PREFERENCES. 27. What do they strongly like and dislike, in any category? Why? 28. What are they likely to do if they have the opportunity, resources, and time to accomplish it? Why? 29. What kind of activities, interests, and hobbies do they have? What significance and impact do these have in their lives, both positive and negative? 30. What is their preferred level of activity and stimulation? How do they cope if they get either too little or too much? 31. Is there anything that counts as a “dealbreaker” for them, positively or negatively? What makes things go smoothly, and what spoils an activity or ruins their day? Why? 32. Do they have any “props” that are a significant part of their life, identity, activities, or self-presentation somehow? What are they, how are they used, and why are they so significant? How would these props’ absence impact them, how would they compensate, and why?
THINKING AND LEARNING. 33. How do they learn about the world–what is their preferred learning style? Hands-on learning with trial and error? Research, reading, and note-taking? Observation or rote memorization? Inductive or deductive reasoning? Seeking patterns and organization? Taking things apart and putting them back together? Creative processing via discussing, writing about, or dramatizing things? 34. How do they understand the world–what kind of worldview and thought processes do they have? Why? 35. How and why do they internalize knowledge? What effect has that had on them? 36. How much do they rely on their minds and intellect, versus other approaches like relying on instinct, intuition, faith and spirituality, or emotions? What is their opinion on this? 37. Have they had any special education or training that colors their means of learning about or understanding the world? Conversely, do they lack some kind of education considered essential in their world? What kind of impact has this addition or lack had on them? 38. Is there anything they wish they could change about their worldview or thought processes? What, and why? 39. What sort of questions or thoughts recur in their lives, either specifically or as a theme? Why are these never answered, or answered permanently to their satisfaction? 40. What do they wonder about? What sparks their curiosity and imagination, and why? How is this expressed, if it is?
FREE FOR ALL. 41. What associations do they bring to mind? Words or phrases, images, metaphors or motifs? Why? 42. I have a question of my own!
Inspiration Haven 