Character Analysis: Mitsuhide

Character Details to Hide from Your Readers

Hiding information from your readers on purpose will help you create tension in your novel. I know this doesn’t work for every novel, but if you’re writing something with elements of suspense and mystery, hiding details and revealing them later will improve your story. This also helps add dimensions to your characters and explore their motivations on a deeper level.

Here are a few things to hide about your characters to create tension:

Whether or not your protagonist is lying

Even good characters lie, especially if they feel like it will protect other people in the long run. There are ways to hint that your character is hiding the truth without actually revealing what the truth is. If your protagonist gets nervous or changes the subject when they’re asked about a specific detail, this will help show your readers that something isn’t quite right. If your character’s deception is hidden and then revealed at the right time, you’ll be able to add exciting tension and shock value to your story.

Who the real villain is

Some of the best tension is created when we’re uncertain about who the real villain is. In mystery/crime novels, for example, there’s often evidence that points to one person who ends up not really being the one we need to worry about. If you hide this information from your readers, you keep them guessing throughout the course of your novel and this will aid in creating suspense.

The truth about their past

When you hide your character’s past from your readers, you have the ability to use it as an explanation for something important later on. For example, if you character has these mysterious powers they can’t explain, you can use their parents and back story in order to reveal later on why it’s happening. Revealing past details slowly over the course of your novel helps build the mystery.

What their secondary goals are

Sometimes characters will have goals no one else knows about but them OR they will have a false goal that their using to cover up their real goal. For example, a character might say they’re rescuing another character because they want to help, but it really might be all about finding some hidden treasure along the way. There are many reasons why a character might want to hide their goals. Explore character motivations on a deeper level and you’ll be able to realistically include this type of deception in your story.

-Kris Noel 

I actually started on the losing team then betrayed to winning team...then back to losing clan and had the 3x fever. Dunno why it happened but I guess 3x fever is triggered when you satisfy the "betray to LOSING team 1x", since "betray to WINNING team" has a different tracker.

Downside: I lost a pearl.

Hi! I haven't joined yet but I assume that you just need to be in one of the winning clans to betray to a losing clan in order to get the fever? Would you mind posting the winning clans in the SLBP battle? Thank you.

Yes, that’s correct.

Winner: Orange, Green, Purple. 

But usually if you just pick whichever one has Saizo in it, you can’t go wrong LOL

What otome players really want

As the result of my otome survey with 800 respondents, here is an in-depth analysis of the results, comparing and finding common links between players.

Survey Results

It seems the biggest two groups in otome are those that self-insert and those that don’t. Then there’s the groups who enjoy more focus on story, and those that enjoy more focus on romance.

Basically, otome players have a variety of likes and needs. Any otome developer will find it useful to read through this article!

Please share so that more indie devs can find this article and better understand their players :)

Reblog for future reference

Actually

The question I get the most is how I write characters that feel like real people. 

Generally when I’m designing a human being, I deconstruct them into 7 major categories:

1. Primary Drive 2. Fear: Major and Secondary 3. Physical Desires 4. Style of self expression 5. How they express affection 6. What controls them (what they are weak for) 7. What part of them will change.

1. Primary Drive: This is generally related to the plot. What are their plot related goals? How are they pulling the plot forward? how do they make decisions? What do they think they’re doing and how do they justify doing it. 2. Fear: First, what is their deep fear? Abandonment? being consumed by power? etc. Second: tiny fears. Spiders. someone licking their neck. Small things that bother them. At least 4. 3. Physical desires. How they feel about touch. What is their perceived sexual/romantic orientation. Do their physical desires match up with their psychological desires.

4. Style of self expression: How they talk. Are they shy? Do they like to joke around and if so, how? Are they anxious or confident internally and how do they express that externally. What do words mean to them? More or less than actions? Does their socioeconomic background affect the way they present themselves socially?  5. How they express affection: Do they express affection through actions or words. Is expressing affection easy for them or not. How quickly do they open up to someone they like. Does their affection match up with their physical desires. how does the way they show their friends that they love them differ from how they show a potential love interest that they love them. is affection something they struggle with?

6. What controls them (what they are weak for): what are they almost entirely helpless against. What is something that influences them regardless of their own moral code. What– if driven to the end of the wire— would they reject sacrificing. What/who would they cut off their own finger for.  What would they kill for, if pushed. What makes them want to curl up and never go outside again from pain. What makes them sink to their knees from weakness or relief. What would make them weep tears of joy regardless where they were and who they were in front of. 

7. WHAT PART OF THEM WILL CHANGE: people develop over time. At least two of the above six categories will be altered by the storyline–either to an extreme or whittled down to nothing. When a person experiences trauma, their primary fear may change, or how they express affection may change, etc. By the time your book is over, they should have developed. And its important to decide which parts of them will be the ones that slowly get altered so you can work on monitoring it as you write. making it congruent with the plot instead of just a reaction to the plot. 

That’s it.

But most of all, you have to treat this like you’re developing a human being. Not a “character” a living breathing person. When you talk, you use their voice. If you want them to say something and it doesn’t seem like (based on the seven characteristics above) that they would say it, what would they say instead?

If they must do something that’s forced by the plot, that they wouldn’t do based on their seven options, they can still do the thing, but how would they feel internally about doing it?

How do their seven characteristics meet/ meld with someone else’s seven and how will they change each other?

Once you can come up with all the answers to all of these questions, you begin to know your character like you’d know one of your friends. When you can place them in any AU and know how they would react.

They start to breathe.

Our daily greeting...

Brother: Hey, B*tch!

Me: Hello, Hent*ii

it really is next to impossible to write realistic sibling dialogue, I just passed my brother on the stairs and instead of greeting each other like human beings I said ‘born survivor’ and he said ‘youtube rewind. let’s set it to rewind.’ like you ain’t gonna find that shit in a novel

If people insult you, that you are a failure, not good enough and your WIPs are useless...it is the devil that speaks. Treat them as if they are madmen, not worthy of your attention.

If people criticize you, like grammar is lacking, need improvement on certain theme, plot or character development, that your phrasing is "wrong" you don't update as often as people hoped ...pause and think about what they say...for even in these harsh feedback you can learn something.

And should the inevitable happen that people give you harsh comment and insults, examine yourself...why did I post my work?

I want to post it for fun...That is good!

I want to post it for likes...well...

If there is anything I learned, I never post my work without accepting these facts...

...THAT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PEOPLE WHO WILL HATE IT...

...THAT PETTY RIVALS WILL USE ANON TO ATTACK ME, THINKING IT WILL DESTROY ME...

Cheers!

On Anon hate

“Totalitarianism begins in contempt for what you have. The second step is the notion: ‘Things must change—no matter how, Anything is better than what we have.’”

— Hannah Arendt, “Interview with Roger Errera”, The New York Review of Books (26 October 1978)

Plot Question Tag Game

From my other sideblog @sageandwizard

I would like to thank @practising-writer for tagging.

Rules: Summarize your WIP in one (possibly teaser-y) question

Arashi (嵐):

Would you chose your duty over everything else or your bonds despite anything else?

Tagging @pseudofaux @frywen-babbles @dear-mrs-otome @reinasescape to take part!

God, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the worst person.

This is the moment Hideyoshi realize...