How I Outline My Characters

Intro

Hey guys! Today I’m going to be talking about how I outline and build my characters. I used to be so uninspired when I was building characters, because to me it just felt like I was filling in blanks, and I couldn’t really connect to the character. So I just decided to take a bare-bones character profile (specifically Reedsy’s, which I highly recommend) and cut and add things as I saw fit. I want to stress that it’s in no way comprehensive--in fact, I’m always adding new things--but it does cover quite a bit, and so far, it’s worked well for me!

1. Identity and appearance

This section involves all the fundamental parts of a character. First, I begin with names: the character’s name in English (or in another language, if applicable) and their nickname(s). Then, I go through all the details of birth, location, age, etc. etc. Next, I dive into nationality and heritage, the languages the character understands, and their gender and pronouns (I know there's a difference between the two, I just group them together because it's easier to keep track of). Finally, I go into all the statistics of appearance and health, along with a description of what they look like in the text!

2. Personality and psychology

In the second section of my character profile, I nail down the basic personality and psychology of the character. "General” includes their normal temperament, preferences, moral compass, and more. The second subsection delves into “plot-significant” elements of the character’s mind, such as the heart’s desire, weaknesses, insecurities, and fears. “Classifications,” the third subsection, is just about categorizations like zodiac signs and personality types. Last is a list of miscellaneous “favorites” of the character. I pay a lot of attention to the first two parts of this section, as they are essential for me to figure out the story!

3. Communication and mannerisms

Next, I delve into the communications and mannerisms of the character, whether that’s vocal, physical, or emotional. Most of this is pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll just elaborate on a few. A swear word can tell you a lot about a character, surprisingly enough--whether it’s religious or not, whether the character whispers it or yells it, etc.

Under the “physical” subsection, “gestures” refers to the level of gesturing that a character does, as well as what kind of gestures they make--e.g. big and sweeping gestures, or small and confined ones? In the “emotions” subsection, "humor” refers to what the character finds funny, e.g. dark humor. “Smile” refers to what the character’s smile looks like, which can be very telling. For example, do they have a close-lipped smile or a wide, toothy grin? Do they have both but show one of them more often, and if so, why?

4. Social media and related

Here, I decide what social media platforms the character would use if they had them, and if so, what type of content they would post. This is a fun character exercise and it can be taken further by actually creating social media profiles for your characters on certain websites!

I also make a miniature playlist of what songs I think they would listen to, specifically songs that would be on their all-time most played Spotify playlist. Making playlists is one of my favorite ways to flesh out characters!

5. Backstory

Probably the most important part of the profile plot-wise, “Backstory” covers the entire background of a character--their childhood, memories, aspirations, abstract details, and everything to do with the past and what their life and mind was like prior to the story. Under “Description,” I simply write out a longer summary of the character’s backstory.

6. Family

Here, I just build the character’s family, noting their names, ages, birth/death, history, their relationship with the character, etc. This is pretty self-explanatory. After going into immediate family, I mention extended family. Both can reveal insights into the character--are they closer to one side of their family than to the other? Why? Is there any conflict that may be shown between the character and their family in the story?

7. Relationships

This section is all about relationships; familial, platonic or romantic. This helps me figure out the dynamics between characters. I also include a “Perception” section, which allows me to view the character from multiple angles. If this character is involved in romance, I note what qualities they want in a relationship or in their ideal partner(s).

8. Story elements

Finally, I figure out the current situation of the character: where are they right now and where do they want to be? What’s their goal? What motivates them? These questions let me build a plot. Lastly, I plan out their character arc--how they change and develop during the course of the story.

Rating First Lines of My WIPs

There once was a very young filly named Mirabelle who lived on a lovely farm. She had a kind owner, and the horses who lived with her were very nice.

5/10

Major horse girl vibes

This might make a good children’s book, so it gets a couple extra points for reaching its target audience

I used to have a thing for writing stories from the POVs of animals, I think it was because I was a big fan of Erin Hunter books at the time

Author’s Note: This font I am typing in is Happy Monkey, for the story, and this is Handlee, which is my friend’s font. Remember, this font is mine and this font is hers. In this story, I am Ivy Keid, and my friend is Hailyn Keid. (My friend wishes to remain anonymous.) Got it? Cool. Let’s get on with the story. (Oh, and this may not make sense in some parts. So what? It’s a story. It doesn’t HAVE to make sense.

3/10

Younger me, I hate to break it to you, but a story does have to make some kind of sense

If it isn’t clear, I was going through a qUiRkY phase when I wrote this

I wrote this with my best friend, so I remember having fun writing it despite cringing at it now!

Heart racing, feet pounding the ground, Alara ran for her life, the monsters that would soon snuff out her life like a candle pursuing her relentlessly. She leaped over a fallen branch, and heard a series of loud thumps. She didn’t stop to check whether they’d fallen. She zigzagged through the streets and ran on into the darkness, where her people were hiding, where they had been chased out by the creatures of the darkness.”

7/10

Younger me was really trying to be hardcore huh

Actually I like this first line, but why is it so wordy, and what’s up with the confusing writing style?

This entire story was literally plagiarized from inspired by The City of Ember and I have fond memories of writing it

“You still reading that science fiction crap?”

A voice interrupted Joseph. He looked up from his copy of The Cyber War. It was Arnie, the class bully. He was one of those kids who never was caught when breaking the rules. The kids all complained about him, but the teachers never did anything because they never caught him. Make fun of his name, and he’d have you in a headlock giving you his infamous Sandpaper Noogie. No one ever sat in front of him. Kids would rather pull a desk to the other side of the room than sit near Arnie Jones.

6/10

Oh, look, a main character who likes books :) it gets a point just for that

This is unironically funny now, but I don’t think I was trying to be funny while writing this

Arnie Jones may be one of the best bully names I’ve ever come up with (for some reason, bullies featured prominently in my early stories--I wasn’t even bullied, so I have no idea why that was)

There’s nothing more awkward than being with four complete strangers and knowing that you might die with them.

6.5/10

If I want to know what I was reading at a point in my life, all I have to do is open up a WIP from that time, and I’ll immediately know what books I was liking at the time. This is one of those WIPs. In this case, it’s from my YA dystopia phase (yeah I had a lot of phases, don’t @ me)

From this first line alone, I’m getting huge Divergent vibes with some Percy Jackson flavor (it gets half a point solely for that)

I ended up abandoning this WIP after 4 pages, so I’m not really attached to it

“Halt!”

The soldier’s voice easily cut through the bustling plaza, as did its owner. Aydin pretended not to have heard and hurried on.

8/10

Points for the en media res, a point off for the second line being confusing

I wrote this around 7th-8th grade, which was when I started to get more serious about writing (although I abandoned it after 10 pages...in the middle of a sentence)

I might return to this one someday, I had a lot of fun with it!

Everyone says that time heals all wounds, but no amount of time could have prepared me for seeing my sister in her casket.

9/10

The intrigue? The hook? The mystery? Amazing, immaculate, we love to see it

Maybe I’m a little bit biased, but I think this is the best first line I’ve ever come up with!

This is from my current WIP, Pawn, btw ;)

1 note View Post

the-writer-muse

3 years ago

the feminine urge to spend the rest of my life traveling the world and visiting libraries dressed in dark academia clothes is kinda unreal rn

Tips For Designing a Book Cover

Credit: https://dribbble.com/stories/2021/01/26/book-cover-design-101-how-to-design-a-cover-that-sells

1. Gather book cover design inspiration

Before you start designing, you should always gather visual inspiration first to help guide your cover’s overall look and feel. Gathering different book cover ideas will help you to understand what you’re drawn to, what works, and what doesn’t, so you can narrow down what you want to accomplish with your cover design. As a good rule of thumb, aim to collect between 10 - 20 pieces of visual inspiration.

Once you’ve gathered enough ideas, you should start to notice certain patterns of visuals, themes, imagery, and layouts that you’re drawn to. Keep this in mind throughout the next steps.

2. Outline the book’s main themes

A book cover needs to support the themes the book explores. It also needs to support the mood of the book. What is the book about? Is it a serious exploration of modern society? Is it a fun, adventurous memoir all about finding yourself? A serious book should have a relatively serious cover, while a fun beach read needs an entirely different kind of aesthetic.

Outline your book’s main themes and keep these at the front of your mind when deciding on the kind of imagery you’ll want to use on the cover.

3. Consider the genre

Different genres have different conventions when it comes to covers. Most fantasy books show protagonists with weapons or fantasy creatures. Romance books typically have the romantically involved characters on the cover. Contemporary books frequently feature cute, modern art. True crime books usually feature dark covers that hint at the crime.

To get a sense of what the genre expects, look to competing books. If they all follow a certain convention, you’ll likely want your cover to also fit that convention so that readers of that genre can immediately recognize it!

4. Use visual hierarchy

Visual hierarchy on a book cover is key. You need to make sure that the reader browsing the shelves sees the most important part of the cover first. For most books, this will be the title. But for certain bestselling authors, you might want to consider emphasizing their name so that it’s even more prominent than the title. That’s because fans of that author can immediately recognize that it’s one of their books.

In general, your hierarchy should place the title and cover graphics most prominently, followed by a subtitle (e.g. “a novel”), followed by the author’s name. There may also be endorsements or prizes to include on the cover, but those are usually placed less prominently than other elements.

5. Get rid of the clutter

Cluttered covers don’t work well when viewed at small sizes. Since a lot of book browsing happens online, covers are usually shrunk down to thumbnail size. If your book cover looks cluttered at thumbnail size, you will risk turning away potential readers.

Choose one focal element for your cover. This could be part of the image used on the cover, or it could be the title of the book. Once you know your focal point, you can design the rest of the cover to emphasize that point. Also make sure you leave plenty of white or blank space around that focal point.

6. Think in terms of thumbnails

When people are browsing Amazon or other online publishers such as Bookshop.org, they’re presented with a series of cover thumbnails. These are often pretty small—less than 200px high. That means that if your title isn’t prominent enough on the cover, it won’t be legible. It also means that if your cover has a ton of fine details that are important to its meaning, that will be lost in thumbnail size.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t include those details on a cover, though. What it means is that you need to make sure that your cover still has a powerful impact at thumbnail size. Make your title legible at small sizes and ensure that the most prominent part of your graphics are recognizable (i.e., a mountain should be recognizable as a mountain, a person should be recognizable as a person, etc.).

7. Choose an appropriate font and color palette

Choosing a typeface for your book cover can be tricky. It needs to look great when viewed on the full-size cover, but it also needs to remain legible at small sizes on thumbnails.

For the most part, try to avoid any super detailed display or complex script typefaces. When searching for the perfect typeface, try it out both at large display sizes and at smaller body sizes to see if it’s still readable when displayed at 12px or 14px sizes.

Color palettes can be a book cover’s biggest asset—or biggest downfall. The right color palette draws the reader’s eye and gives them an idea of the tone and mood of the book, while the wrong colors risk confusing your audience. For example, neon colors typically indicate that a book will be fun to read and not too serious. Dark colors? This book could be serious or scary (depending on genre).

However, remember that color palettes are only one part of establishing a mood. You can, for example, create a scary mood with a pastel cover with the right visual elements (for instance, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White has a pastel pink cover).

8. Don’t overlook the spine or back cover

While a book’s front cover gets all the glory, the spine and back cover are also important design elements. Spines, especially, are important when a reader is browsing bookstore shelves, where most books are arranged on shelves with only the spine showing.

You also need to take into account that due to the way offset printers work, your front cover, back cover, and spine may not always align perfectly. By continuing the basic background design around the entire cover, you avoid the spine or back cover looking bad due to printing errors. This ensures that your entire book cover looks professional and consistent.

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the-writer-muse

1 year ago

I love "i would kill for you" ship dynamics but what about "i would stop killing" ship dynamic??

I would lay down my sword for you. I would change my nature and go against everything i've known. I would resist the easy way out of solving my problems. I would give up the adrenaline of battle to stay by your side and make tea instead. I'm not sure I know who I am without a weapon in my hand because I've had to fight for so long but for you I'm willing to try and figure this out.

It must be hard. To put down your weapon that's protected you for so long. It's allowed you to stay alive it's kept you from getting hurt--physically and mentally. Because you've never had to worry about a real relationship if you think you'll be dead at the next battle. And you feel naked without it and it feels like you're ripping off an extension of yourself. Are you even whole without it? Are you worthy of being loved if you can't prove it by risking your life? And yet they've found someone who's asking them for something much harder than dying in battle on their behalf. They've found someone who wants them to live. And that's much more terrifying.

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the-writer-muse

3 years ago

my favorite trope isn’t really “forbidden love.” it’s “strongly disapproved of love.” no one can stop the two characters from being together; it’s not illegal, but, boy howdy, nobody likes it very much.

34K notes View Post

the-writer-muse

3 years ago