Resources For Writing Injuries

words worth knowing:

Jaleo : (n.) A lively dance of Andalusian origin, or the music or handclapping which accompanies it.

Zambra : (n.) A kind of flamenco dance.

Elysian : (adj.) Relating to or characteristic of heaven or paradise.

Macerate : (v.) (especially with reference to food) soften or become softened by soaking in a liquid.

Airhead : (n.) an area in enemy territory or in threatened friendly territory, seized by airborne troops for bringing in supplies and additional troops by airdrop or landing.

Ergometer : (n.) a device designed to measure muscle power.

Minacious : (adj.) Menacing; threatening.

Cabasset : (n.) a morion of small size.

Zealous : (adj.) someone who spends a lot of time or energy in supporting something that they believe in very strongly, especially a political or religious ideal.

Saudade : (n.) (in Portuguese folk culture) a deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent.

Gallus : (adj.) (Scottish) (Also gallous) bold; daring; reckless.

Vomitorium - 1: (n.) Each of a series of entrance or exit passages in an ancient Roman amphitheatre or theatre./ 2: A place in which, according to popular misconception, the ancient Romans are supposed to have vomited during feasts to make room for more food.

In a visual medium especially, a large part of a character is how they look. Like, looks can be deceiving and aren’t everything about a character, obviously, but ALSO: by making a character look a certain way (especially in the character’s daily life) the creator is (whether they know it or not) saying that that character is (usually) choosing to look a certain way. 

Clothes, accessories, make-up, and hair can suggest any number of things about a person’s character. It can be a very useful tool in any story. Personal presentation can suggest things about a character’s gender, profession, religion, sexuality, personal wealth, native culture, and personality (and more). 

Which is, I think, why a lot of female characters are sort of… I don’t want to say “broken”… but their execution has ruined their concept? (This isn’t exclusive to female characters, male characters can also suffer from unsupported unrealistic appearances, but female characters definitely suffer more.) 

You have these female characters who are supposed to be relatable, realistic women, right? But you look at their perfectly curled-and-styled, super long hair and you see hours of hair-care. And you look at their perfectly made-up faces and you see at least a dozen different make-up products and at least a half-hour in the bathroom every morning. And you look at their figures and you see a strict diet and hours in the gym every week, and you see shaving or waxing, and you see well-maintained mani-pedis. And you look at their outfits and you see designer names and special tailoring, and an enormous closet somewhere in their apartment to store all this, and someone who has the time and energy for perfectly done, sorted, and ironed laundry (and is obviously not doing anything remotely physical or dangerous in those heels). 

Which would be fine if that was an intentional visual statement about the character! There are women who put that sort of time/energy/money into their appearance! There are magical and non-human characters (male and female and neither) who can just snap their fingers to look perfect, and I buy it no problem! I get that! 

But this gets done even with female characters who are supposed to be absent-minded workaholics, poor working single mothers, nerdy shut-ins, take-no-shit tomboys, post-apocalyptic survivors, and even faux-medieval warriors who shouldn’t have the time or resources for that level of personal grooming! And even with aliens and non-humans who shouldn’t know to decide to care! 

So you have these “everyday” women with busy lives, but who somehow manage to keep an unrealistic level of personal grooming in absurd situations, and they… become visually unreal. Especially when (even if they are canonically said to care about maintaining a certain appearance) they’re often never shown putting in ANY of the time or effort it would take to manage their appearance (show me their skincare routine, show me them at the gym, show me them doing laundry)! They look like they stepped out of a magazine (often so “perfect” that they’re frankly bland, actually), but it’s not factored into their personality or background or their lives? 

“I don’t wear make-up,” says the female character who is played by an actress very obviously done-up with eyeliner. “I don’t wear make-up,” says the female character who is drawn as though she is permanently wearing lipstick. There are no bad hair days and no laundry days and no moments of imperfection. What the character might be saying is immediately invalidated by the visuals. 

These female characters don’t feel like women so much as they feel like impossible creatures the creator has pretending to be pretty women. They feel fake. They feel like their purpose by the creator is to pander to pervs and unrealistic beauty standards. Especially when they’re sent into combat situations with skintight/revealing outfits with no support and loose hair that’s a blatant liability (and the creators even make them bleed prettily sometimes which is related but different conversation). It’s a stark announcement (intentional or not, knowingly done or not) of the creator’s ignorance and apathy towards women and the choices involved in female self-presentation.

And it makes it… difficult… for me personally to relate to certain female characters sometimes, even when I care about these female characters and WANT to care about these female characters. Their character design is, by their visual appearance and lack of narrative support for that appearance, broken. They’re not grounded in any reality. The suspension of disbelief required can be… a lot. 

Bruce Wayne and my genderbent version of him together, 50’s Gotham socialite style!

Nothing was going right today, and instead of moping like I usually do, I did this. |D Inspired by a spread from a Chinese fashion mag.

story outlining methods, pt. 1:

take off your pants!! (“take off your pants!: outline your books for faster, better writing” by libbie hawker)

this outline starts with a character — specifically their biggest flaw — and leads to five points that will make up the core of your story. it’s best for plots and subplots that focus on overcoming the flaw!

this outline doesn’t just have to be used for coming of age novels. it is just as important in your dystopian, fantasy, or thriller novels that the main character learns something or has changed by the end.

STEP ONE: think about your character

your main character — what is their name, and what are their important features?

what are your character’s flaws? what about their FATAL flaw? ex: hubris, overconfidence, stubbornness, etc.

STEP TWO: think about the end of the story

the story (whether the main plot, a subplot, or a facet of the main plot) is the journey lead to overcome the flaw. now that you know the character’s flaw, you know what lesson they need to learn.

the end of the story = the flaw mastered, the lesson learned.

STEP THREE: think about the external goal

the external goal is the plot, the outer motivation to push the character to the end of the story where the goal is mastered. if you remember my post on quests, you know that a quest has two reasons to be there: the external factor (shrek saving fiona for his swamp), and the real reason (the lesson learned)

the external goal should provide a chance for the character to recognize their flaw and begin to change. how does your plot tie into their character development?

STEP FOUR: think about the antagonist

thinking about the external goal should reveal who the antagonist is. the antagonist should want to achieve the same goal or a goal that impedes with the protagonist’s goal. the antagonist should be the biggest obstacle to the character.

STEP FIVE: think about the ally/allies

the character(s) that is capable of forcing the protagonist down the correct path. where your protagonist most likely will resist changing and confronting their flaw, the ally will help force them to do so anyway.

STEP SIX: think about the theme

so what’s the point of your book? if you are struggling to boil it down to one sentence, you might want to think about it a little longer. this is what keeps the story feeling coherent. what are you trying to tell us?

STEP SEVEN: think about the plot

each main plot element should somehow relate to the core of the book, aka the character’s development in overcoming their flaw

OPENING SCENE - set the stage. address the flaw or the theme

INCITING EVENT - what forces the character out of their everyday life and into the story?

REALIZING EXTERNAL GOAL - what makes the character begin seeking their goal?

DISPLAY OF FLAW - if the character’s flaw hasn’t been made blatantly clear, now is the time. make it known to the reader.

DRIVE FOR GOAL - what is your character’s first attempt to reach their goal?

ANTAGONIST REVEAL - how do you first show your antagonist’s opposition to your character?

FIRST THWART - what happens to your character that keeps them from reaching their goal?

REVISIT FLAW - show the character’s flaw again, even if they themselves aren’t aware of it yet.

ANTAGONIST ATTACKS - what does the antagonist do that makes things worse?

SECOND THWART - where your character fails most likely due to the attack

CHANGED GOAL - the character finds a new goal or focuses on the external goal in a different way

ALLY ATTACKS - what does the ally do to force the character to see the flaw?

AWAKENING - the character knows what they must do to reach the external goal. how will you show that the character has also awakened to their flaw? how will you show them changing?

BATTLE - the final showdown with the antagonist!

DEATH - the character’s flaw dies here. how will you show that the character truly is different now?

OUTCOME - show whether the character won or lost the external goal, reveal the theme of the story.

naturally, you don’t have to follow that outline exactly, but it can be a good place to start ;)

And I said: I do not want to be great, I want to be loved.

– Sue Zhao

Nie Mingjue will regret this in the morning.

Character Development : A Collection of Resources

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Resources

Resources For Creating Characters

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Writing The Mafia

Resources For Writing Royalty

Commentary on Social Issues In Writing

General Tips

Guide to Character Development

How To Fit Character Development Into Your Story

Tips on Character Consistency

Designing A Character From Scratch

Making characters for your world

Characters First, Story Second Method

Understanding Your Character

Tips on Character Motivations

31 Days of Character Development : May 2018 Writing Challenge

How To Analyze A Character

Alternative Method of Character Creation

Connecting To Your Own Characters

Interview As Your Characters

Flipping Character Traits On Their Head 

Character Driven vs. Plot Driven Stories

Traits

Tips On Writing About Mental Illness

Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits

Giving Characters Distinct Voices in Dialogue

Giving Characters Flaws

Making Characters More Unique

Keeping Characters Realistic

Archetypes

Writing Good Villains

Creating Villains

Guide to Writing The Hero

Positive Character Development Without Romanticizing Toxic Behavior

Tips on Writing Cold & Distant Characters

Balancing Multiple Main Characters

Creating Diverse Otherworld Characters

Foreshadowing The Villain

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

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Oh my gosh lqg zl is too perfect. Would sy still transmigrate? What would that look like?

yes sy will still be there to be a disaster

but z!lqg is not gonna have any of his bs. this is on the premise that there’s a system (bc without a system, all of sv falls apart) he’ll be skirting the line of driving sy!sqq crazy with ‘does lqg actually know things or am i just crazy?!’ and lqg is ‘god this face and its monosyllabic grunts are perfect. no one knows i noes’

but seriously, he’d try to help with lbh’s single-minded obsessive love (his attachment issues, essentially), but unknowingly get roped in a la the lqg/lbh/sqq ot3 type bs

(”look i’m only here because none of you know how to suck dick to save your mom’s life i- okay sorry, i meant, none of you know how to suck dick. just. okay. stop looking!” “asking shishu, how can we learn if we cannot watch?”)

Z!lqg is waiting for the perfect moment to drop the transmigrator fact. let’s say he’s escorting both sqq and sqh soemwhere and they’re being all secretive and millennially, and at them talking semi-seriously and trying to convince z!lqg to take them somewhere with z!lqg refusing their cheap excuses and grievances bc it’s funny, they just drop a ‘hmm. so sad. alexa, play despacito’ and walks away

(airplane and cucumber go insane trying to figure out which username z!lqg is. finally: “i’m not any username, i’m a reader of your own transmigration novel. so technically, my god-mode tier is higher than either of you”)

(sqh: ”you can’t just say shit like that!” sqq: “you fucking douche, you -” lqg: “cucumber man, i hold the secrets to keeping your chrysanthemum unplucked, i suggest you shut your mouth” sqq: “okay... chrysanthemum-bro” lqg: “okay fuck you, good bye, you can ride airplane express home” sqh: “no, liu-juju, come back pls, don’t leave me with this bitch” sqq: “airplane you fucker, you’re the btich)

the peaks will have no peace. everyone feels like they’re in a mass hallucination at the sight of their friend-amosity.