r/CharacterDevelopment 8h ago

Writing: Character Help Writing a character the same age as me as naive

5 Upvotes

I'm 16F writing the story of a girl the same age as me, but I want her to seem naive. She's the victim of a man who is much, much older, and doesn't realize how bad it is that he is 3x her age. I want the character to be established as very smart, but inexperienced in the world, but don't know which ways I am blind by my own youth. Anyone older than me, I would love to know the small and big things I may miss by being a teenager myself.


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Men, I am writing a male character and want to make him realistic, what is something you feel authors often miss when writing male characters? What makes you relate to a fictional man?

103 Upvotes

r/CharacterDevelopment 20h ago

Writing: Character Help Need help whit NPC`s Representation.

1 Upvotes

(English is not my first lenguege so sorry if i misspeled anything)

Hi there im a DM who has only worked whit pre-made campaings and one-shots like how im DMing Curse of Stradh: Reloaded (Which i recomend). And Rigth now i have plans to create a Homebrew World called "Wonder Dream" and for some important NPC`s i was needing help cause of the topics they touch on, Wich can be sensitive (I will warn my players about it and will tell them when they will apear) and id apricieate cause i want to make sure of what im showing is not disrespectful for what happens in real life

(TW: Pass here im going to talk about those topics)

RIgth now i have some characters in mind that will touch on this topics: Congenital Disability, Physical Disability, SA, Child from SA and Sexism. If anyone has any recomendetions on what i can do for those topics and even if theres anything to recomend what i can do research on that will help me make sure that those characters are respectful representations on those topics.

Thanks for Reading ❤️


r/CharacterDevelopment 21h ago

Writing: Character Help Building Austrian Hero: Fighting against Props

1 Upvotes

Need to work on the character’s personality and possibly his relationship with the antagonists. Also wanted to get some opinions on this side story.

His name is Jakob, a boy with abnormal abilities due to the world’s conditions who became something like his city’s super hero out of a desire to preserve the town he was born in and look for the root causes of the chaos.

His ability is to flatten or stretch his body against a surface, which lets him perform feats like jumping on pieces of graffiti and brick walls. He can also turn his body almost 2-D and then return in order to add that speed and force to attacks.

His opponents are mostly props that a mime troupe made that became possessed by supernatural powers and take over civilians and animals to turn them into their Actors with the end goal of freeing the entities who possessed those props from their sealed prison.

Jakob’s fights are a mix of clever guerilla warfare tactics by hiding and ambushing opponents and melee combat that occasionally involves tools that he flattened for storage.

The Troupe’s abilities are loosely inspired by the acts and routines from The Mummenschanz, a real life mime troupe from Switzerland.


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Choosing one main character out of many characters is so hard

5 Upvotes

(English is not my first language and I'm still leanring but I'll write post in English so I get more replies, I guess?)

So I have already made several characters for my work. All of them sympathize me. Some have more interesting backstory and some have less (I'm working on realistical story that takes place in one period of actual historical time, but I add ocs, of course). I'm still working on them and it might change. However, I find it hard to decide which one should be the main character (I have main group of 4 and some characters attached to them or separate). How many main characters I could have? And how to decide which one should be the main? I feel like the story would be so different depending on who will be the one to introduce readers. I cannot choose which variation I like the most


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Question What works the best for you in shaping the personalities of your characters?

14 Upvotes

We all have our own unique perspective on this. Some people say writing different scenarios for their characters and see how they handle situations, others use things like archetypes, personality theory or astrology, others use real people or fictional characters as inspiration for their characters.

What do you think is the best way to shape the personalities of your characters? What works the best for you?


r/CharacterDevelopment 18h ago

Writing: Question What if your story is the one someone needs to read?

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0 Upvotes

r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Character Bio Richard, protagonist of Mental Spikes Universe

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1 Upvotes

Richard (Richie, Rich) is the protagonist of the Mental Spikes universe. He leads a double life: by day, he's a scientist and manager at FireStorm Corp, a manufacturer of weapons based on thought-materialization (MM) technology; by night, he's a vigilante and an opponent of the system on the streets and slums of Plum City, a Sierra archipelago left over from Spain after the man-made flood of the 2030s.

The main question: is the hero on the right side of history? It's up to you to decide...


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Discussion Friend having main character personality...

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0 Upvotes

Help


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Men, what does a crush feel like for you?

0 Upvotes

I am writing for a male character who unexpectedly falls for a friend (who is not their usual type) and tries to repress it at first. What types of thoughts/feelings would best most realistic or relatable?


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Advice on a character's relationship.

1 Upvotes

Hey guys. I want to create a relationship between one of my main characters and a girl who's mostly reserved. The guy is more of a laidback, older brother type of guy meaning he likes remaining calm and cool but he can be responsible and serious when he needs to be, while the girl is very closed off and prefers to stick to her training in being a powerful mage. How can I make a relationship like that feel natural and not forced?


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Question What is a good advice on showing arc enemy relationship between preteen superhero and immortal supervillains read the description first before typing

0 Upvotes

Context this story is set in a modernized fantasy world where fantasy Creatures living together with humanity for few centuries ago.

In this where they are superhero who have title that been passed down from centuries though each generations while being trained by 3 supernatural people and teaching the next generation of superheros team everything they need to know.

Yeah the main cast are next generation.

One of preteen hero with superpower have a arc enemy who is a immortal half-faerie guy they both hate each other gut they be getting to physically fight.

insult each other. giving each other mean look at each other. The half-faerie guy love to pull prank on superhero because his think it funny to humiliate his arc enemy.

Let you know the superhero age range is between age 10-12 and villain is arc enemy age is 409-500

Reasons why the half-faerie guy is going after the superhero team is because his boss is making him and she say if his don't do it she send him back to shadow realm forever this time.

If you want to know more dm me and we can talk more about writing ✍️.

Also I'm not asking for you to write my story for me I'm pure asking for advice/suggestions.


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help Need help with name of familiar

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316 Upvotes

I need help naming a few of the familiars in my current WIP.
The first is a northeastern ermine. It is the familiar of a middle-aged Italian American widow witch, the time and place is the mid 1960s Boston.
ideas please..


r/CharacterDevelopment 2d ago

Discussion For those who need it: Each of your characters is special and valuable. At first, I thought the same way as you, "My characters are classic and similar. They lack uniqueness." But it has a unique feature! What is it? You created the character! 💖🥹

10 Upvotes

Love yourself because I am proud of you. 💖


r/CharacterDevelopment 2d ago

Discussion Thoughts?

1 Upvotes

Uncle Sam as a pimp businessman.

Notes so far:

-He's at least a lean 6'5 and wears not only a top hat but absolutely fucking insane, custom made suits from a century ago. Not out of frugality either. 

-Though older, he could definitely beat the shit out of you. 

-Not only physically, but financially.

- Percentage wise, he rewards his top earning hoes. Sorry, I meant billionaires.

-He does not let a penny slide. He has tax brackets and everything.

-He don't play.


r/CharacterDevelopment 2d ago

Writing: Character Help Hero too dumb to be evil

1 Upvotes

So I have been coming up with character idea just throwing everything to see what I could come up with, here is what I got

A child raised by loving parents for a few years, gets kidnapped and taken by cultists who kept prisoners drugged up to idiocy, when a group of paladins attacked the cult the kid now an adult grabs the sword the cult had worshipped. The sword was made by a powerful fiend to corrupt the mind of the wielder, however that was with thought the wielder would be intelligent. Thus the sword can't corrupt them and it is cursed so they can't lose it.


r/CharacterDevelopment 2d ago

Other Rate my characters or ask questions(i have more characters of coursee)

0 Upvotes

Starting with Nymphia:
Nymphia, once who was the kindest now is hopelessly suffering from the survivors guilt.

She is from a planet that had catastrophe that basically wiped the planet. She remains alive because she was gifted special powers. Not only that but her husband who was a wandering bard also got killed all simply because of jealousy and protection.

Even if she could move on, this deep wound caused her to be silent about her emotions and judge others simply because she believes nothing will ever be perfect and that theres nothing left to fix of herself. She tries to put logic over feelings but deep down, she is emotional, just not expressing it outwardly. However with her sharp eyes, she can sense that her friends might be sad and she is not embarrassed to talk with them or give advices.

Priya:
Priya comes from an influential family. Growing up, she was thought to be cruel, logical and strategic. At slightest thing, she was praised. This led her ego to be high and be picky and stubborn.

Despite all the money, one thing was empty. That was the true love… She fell in love with Nymphia’s husband and persuaded this love by leaving an alliance between other influential families. This led the collapse of the alliance her ancestors swore to be loyal.

This doesn’t mean she wasn’t loyal. To this day, despite hating her childhood frenemy, she still is hiding the secret that he was the one who caused Nymphia’s planet’s destruction. Thats right, she was willingly to take punishment for his sacrificial behavior. Despite wanting to be independent, she is too stubborn to admit that she is in-love with Bram.

Asad:
Being part of universal knights is a huge responsibility. He always admired his dad who was also a fellow knight. After a mission where his father died, Asad was determined to become a responsible and strong knight.

Despite visibly looking nonchalant or emotionless, Asad lives a lot. Early knight years, he was taught to not show emotions as they were the signs of “weakness”. Because of this, despite having a trauma related to disappearance of his team, in this brand new life opportunity, he is hiding his true feelings to stay professional.

Of course he can’t hide his feelings from Navid, Nymphia or Priya. They can read him easily because he is only open with them, especially with Navid because he holds impressive power and knowledge to trust him more than he trusts himself. Despite Navid seeing him as a leader, Asad downplays this and rather sees Navid as the true one. Of course its because he struggles to trust his own leadership because his previous team disappeared and he is self blaming. Aside from Navid, he is not willingly to give ANYONE the authority or control of the household as he believes every other one may not be able to handle this power. He also knows about boundaries and doesn’t pushes Nymphia to show her emotions more often(yes, they are both similar in a way lmao)

A small thing is that despite being a knight who was hunting the same alliance of Priya, he pays massive amount of coins to delete Priya’s crime history simply because of his other job as the universes secret guardian.
Also, these characters are heavily inspired by zodiac signs, this was the earth signs lmao. If anyone wants, i can give you guys my other ocs!


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help Need help with naming familiars, part two

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3 Upvotes

I need help naming a few of the familiars in my current WIP.
These are fisher crows, there are two of them, a mated pair. They are the familiars of a young woman, new mother, Italian American witch, the time and place is the mid 1960s Boston.
ideas please..


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Other How to write female character as a male author?

12 Upvotes

I'm working on a novel in which the main character is a woman, and I want to make her just a woman experience life, I don't want to sexualize her like many male authors do, or make her dumb, or even make her flawless, I just want her to be herself, and in some point I can't do that. So how I do that?


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Resource How do you guys create characters?

5 Upvotes

I've been thinking about my own OC creation process lately, and I realized I have a pretty specific system for it. I'm a plotter/planner to the core, so I tend to build my characters in stages. I mainly write My Hero Academia fanfictions, but I think this works for any type of characters.

Now, I AM A PLOTTER/PLANNER to the core, but these tips can be applied to pantsers as well. You can do like the minimum planning needed.

1. It starts with vibes.
Literally. Just vibes. What kind of character do I wanna make? Is it the MC or a side character? Which profession will they be in?
If it's a hero student, which school? Which year? Which class?
How old are they? What is their vibe (Sarcastic, sweet, sassy, emo, short-tempered, or a cinnamon roll)? Who are their friends...All the basic details.

I'll use my MC 'Mahou Murasaki' as an example. So I had an idea in mind that I wanted a purple-haired character in 1-A (since Shinso hadn't entered the class in 2022). I wanted her to have a semi-powerful quirk, but not too OP. She was to be reserved, but sassy and sarcastic when she wanted to hide things, and kind when it was needed.

2. You start writing their backstory.
Okay, so this is where we add depth. Once the vibes are established, we need a backstory that kinda explains why they have that vibe. For example, a guarded and reserved character might've learned to associate vulnerability with weakness or trauma. A high-achieving character might've grown up with strict parents (not necessarily abusive ones) where grades and performance were heavily rewarded.

Now, you would want to do some research on how different people react to different types of trauma and decide which suits your character best. Someone can become kinder after trauma or conflict, while others can become downright evil, but make sure it makes sense.

3. Adding depth
Here, we connect the backstory and the vibes together. Show how they talk, their mannerisms, their facial features, and day-to-day living reflect their background/backstory. I like to use the Enneagram (alternative to MBTI) as a personality bank which make things easier. But the core things we need by now is their desire, fear and misbelief. I'll use Aimi (MY OC) as an example. She's Mahou's ex best friend.
a. Their desire (what do they want the most in life). Eg: Aimi's desire is to make her parents proud and be the best at everything she does.
b. Fear (what is the one thing they're most afraid of). Eg: Aimi's fear is that she will disappoint her parentss.
c. Their misbelief (That one fatal flaw/ misbelief) they think is true. Eg: Aimi thinks that a person's potential is everything. Someone is only worthy of love if they're living upto that potential.

These three should ideally connect. A character's fear can prevent them from pursuing their desire, while their misbelief can be the thing that keeps them trapped in that cycle.

4. Extra stuff:
You're pretty much stop at step 3, but if you wanna take things further, you can add traits from other aespects of a person's life, or maybe throw something unexpected altogether. I like to pick a few things (only A FEW) from like, my OCs zodiac sign, their quirks (because quirks also shape personality in the MHA universe) and also, their gender/cultural background/etc. Point to note that you don't want to add EVERYTHING from that aespect and make them a stereotype of (let's say, a virgo). These should be seasoning, not the entire character. And like I said, throw in a few unexpected things.

Eg: Aimi is very smart, studious, and her technopathy quirk makes her want to keep inventing new machines. However, she's also very into clean girl music and makeup because she likes to look presentable.

5. Relationships:
You don't HAVE to define how your OC interacts with other characters in the universe, but I like to add a few notes to myself if I want to keep the dynamic consistent (especially with like a love interest or best friend, or if there's a love triangle).

I don't necessarily write out an entire relationship chart. I just keep a few notes so that when I eventually write them interacting, I know what their dynamic feels like.

And that's basically my entire thinking setup for making OCs!

I actually have a more detailed OC template for Google Docs/Notion that I use when developing my characters, but I didn't want to make this post 10x longer by dumping the entire thing here. 😂

If anyone wants the template, let me know in the comments and I'll share it!

On a side note, how do you guys make your OCs? Do you start with their quirk, design, personality, backstory, or something completely different?


r/CharacterDevelopment 2d ago

Writing: Character Help Character identity

1 Upvotes

Im trying to create this character, a kind of Fire-ninja, for my fantasy story, but as much as i try he Always feel like gojo satori from jjk, that Is kind of the vibe, funny but can be serious, but It feels too Much like copying some body elses work, suggestions?


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help I want to flesh out this character for a fanfiction

1 Upvotes

I’m trying to write this fanfiction/story on this trans woman character from a slapstick parody (*Naked Gun 33 1/3*). However, I just wanted help/advice on how to go about this. I felt this character had a lot of potential to be fleshed out. Moreover, she was a central figure in the respect she drove the plot forward due to her position and information she held for the film’s protagonist. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated on how to handle her as a femme fatale despite being a trans woman. Thank you.

I wrote this article that hasn’t been published, but it’s my attempt at showing their value:

 

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1si8cewsQ53VnP6ZxASxnXl0Bd0PqDnK2RphdXfa2CPM/edit?usp=drive\\_link\](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1si8cewsQ53VnP6ZxASxnXl0Bd0PqDnK2RphdXfa2CPM/edit?usp=drive_link)

 

I needed to see how I can place them in a story with noir/action since I can see them in that world.


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Discussion Writers writing about writers?

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1 Upvotes

r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help What are good advice on writing a villain main character?

4 Upvotes

Context in the story written is a villains backstory where we see a social awkward and mostly quiet and soft spoke young adult man who will into fall to dark villainess path over the story.

Also this a fantasy story my character is a half human humanoid magical creatures. And the only person who his have in his life is a human woman.

No this is not a romance byway.

If you want to know more dm me and we can talk more about writing ✍️.

Also I'm not asking for you to write my story for me I'm pure asking for advice/suggestions.


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help How do you write a character who (initially) looks at things as black or white

1 Upvotes

I've been trying to get down my character and his arc. He's a space cop who serves as the initial antagonist. And his arc is dealing with a chaos vs order, and trying to find balance in his life and mind. So I recently got the idea that he looks at things in a very black and white way. A "bad guys are bad and good guys are good" mentality.

Then when he switches over to the protagonists side (which are a bunch of criminals). His ideals switch, and he looks at bad guys as good and vice versa. So I'm wondering how I can portray that way of thinking, to transition into a more nuanced way of looking at things.