So happy exploring!
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Somebody who finds and recommends original fiction :)
That sounds awesome!
… Fancy applying for our original reader position? *winky face*
When creating a character, there’s a lot of questions you ask yourself. Whether it’s an original character or one you’ve been playing for a long time, using a character sheet to get to know your character better can always be a nice idea. With it’s help, you’ll be able to think about things you didn’t necesarily thought about, and ask some important questions to yourself that might activate your character’s voice, or help you to get your muse back with them. Everyone has their favorite character sheets, some people prefer to have a lot of questions, some others like it a bit more vague, so here’s a masterlist of the character sheets I found on various websites and found quite interesting, plus some other things that could be used to help you see, for example, how other character view yours.
- Blank Character Sheet (+370 Questions)
- Abridged Character Sheet (100 Questions)
- Big-Ass Character Sheet
- Character Creation Form
- Character Sheet by Jody Hedlund
- Creating a character Bio Sheet
- Character Analysis Worksheet
- 100 Character Development questions for writers
- Create a Character Profile
- Character Development Worksheet
- Original Character Bio-Sheet
- Character Chart for Fiction Writers
- A Character Chart By Charlotte Dillon
- Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
- Detailed Character Sheet
- Character Sheet Template
- Character Twenty-Question Worksheet
- In-Depth Character Sheet
- Character Worksheet
- Character Interview Sheet (First Person)
- Background Questionnaire (First Person)
- Characters Perceptions (How do other people perceive your character?)
- A lot of questions to develop your character here
With these sheets, you could also try to find your character’s Jung and Enneagram Type or use the Moral Alignment tool. All of these things can be really useful to get a better grip on a character.
Then, if you’re trying to create a character, and do not have many ideas, or get stuck, I’d suggest for you to roam around TVTropes, which gives you a lot of tropes used for character creation. Maybe you could try to mix a few of these and create an original character?
Or, if you’re a skillful writer and know how to make your character different from another, make a list of characters in fiction you happen to find interesting and why. Try to keep it short. Then, maybe, try to mix and match things from two or three characters, take a character and change their backstory, to see what would change. Play with them to inspire yourself and create something new, original and truly yours.
Oh, and here’s a little guide to Mary-Sues and OCs, just in case you want to make sure your character isn’t going to become a Mary-Sue or a Gary-Stu
And last but not least, this article about building fictional character definitely seemed interesting to me, and is full of many other links that could guide you during the creating of your character and help you file one of these sheets.
100+ Males Who Can Pass For High Schoolers
There are even more actors, these are just the first 100+ that came to mind. The FCs are separated by grades. Each actor is put into the youngest grade they can pass for, but most can pass for older. This is all a personal opinion. This list may be added to.
The RCHWA Bootcamp is a blog geared towards making helpers and critics alike better at what they do….Check this out, guys! I think its an awesome idea. :D - Penrole
- Tutorial by itsphotoshop
- More examples (x) (x)
- Like/reblog the post if you find this tutorial useful
A collection of tips to improve your villains.
Make sure you show your villain personally doing something despicable.
A villain that does nothing but sit on a throne (or peer down from the top of a giant tower) is hardly a villain at all. It’s hard to feel even remotely intimidated by a guy or gal who just sits around giving scary orders all day.A perfect example of this is Galbatorix in the first book of The Inheiritance Cycle, whose most villainous acts are ordering the destruction and torture of some terrorists (because yes, that’s what the Varden are), taxing the people, and destroying some villages we didn’t even care about.
Don’t make the same mistake. Put some grime on your villains’ hands. If they don’t personally torture someone, at least have them watching in approval - or better yet, interrogate the protagonist.
Have the villain get personal with the heroes.
The most despicable villains are the ones who personally make the heroes lives’ miserable. Voldemort may have been Harry Potter’s big bad (and there’s no denying that he was about as bad as they come) but Voldemort loses the anti-popularity contest to Dolores Umbridge, who tried to expel Harry from Hogwarts, banned him from the Quidditch team, and tortured him in detention.Sauron in The Lord of the Rings fails to scare anyone because he’s just a giant eye on top of a tower - it’s the ring you come to loathe because it constantly puts Frodo into life-threatening danger and threatens to corrupt him and those around him, coupled with the agony and torture Frodo has to endure just to destroy it. When Loki killed eighty faceless people in two days in The Avengers, most people didn’t care too much - but when he killed off a major character, then they cared.
A Writer’s Rule Book
From Hunter’s Writing
Just as in real life, characters on a page change and develop throughout your story. This is natural and should happen. You can write a story without any character development, but those types of stories are usually noted just for that reason – a character’s refusal or inability to learn or respond to the events around them.
Don’t let your character drift around in this developmental arc. Plan your character’s growth and reactions with events, interaction with other characters, and from inner turmoil or conflict. Often characters are at war with themselves or their beliefs, and this can affect their overall character change.
Use these 10 tips to keep your character arc on track for believable development.
1. Who Is the Character at the Beginning?
Decide who your character is and why they need to change. In the Christmas favorite A Christmas Carol, Scrooge changes from a cantankerous, heartless man into a caring and generous one. Think of Dr. Seuss’s Grinch.
2. Inner Demons
Secrets your character hides can be a driving force in who they are. Denial can keep your character falsely happy and guilt can haunt your character into madness. This was one of Shakespeare’s favorite devices.
3. Perception of Self
Your character’s self-image may be their worst enemy. Something your character sees as a fault may be exaggerated or may not exist at all. A character thinking they’re too fat, too ugly, stupid, or even superior to others are perceptions that can be changed or altered within the storyline. In the play and movie The Seven Year Itch, a pulp fiction editor sees himself as a skirt-chasing fiend trying to corner the blonde from upstairs – but he’s not. His fantasy life is exaggerated in his mind and has invaded when his wife and child are away for the summer.
4. Show the Character Changing
Give the reader the eyewitness view of the character changing. Show the obstacles overcome, the decisions made, the failures and wins. It doesn’t always have to be pretty.
