ABCs Of Your OCs

ABCs of your OCs

a list of oc questions in alphabetical categories - i made each category based on the first word I could think of in alphabetical order, so enjoy!

A: Aptitude 1. what are your oc’s natural abilities, things they’ve been doing since young? 2. what activities have they participated in? 3. what abilities do they have that they’ve worked for? 4. what things are they bad at? 5. what is their most impressive talent?

B: Basics 1. what is their hair color? 2. what is their eye color? 3. how tall are they? 4. how old are they? 5. how much do they weigh?

C: Comfort 1. how do they sit in a chair? 2. in what position do they sleep? 3. what is their ideal comfort day? 4. what is their major comfort food? why? 5. who is the best at comforting them when down?

D: Decoration 1. how would they decorate a house if they had one under their name? 2. how would they decorate their child’s room? 3. how do they decorate their own room? 4. what type of clothes and accessories do they wear? 5. do they like makeup/nail/beauty trends?

E: External Personality 1. does the way they do things portray their internal personality? 2. do they do things that conform to the norm? 3. do they follow trends or do their own thing? 4. are they up-to-date on the internet fads? 5. do they portray their personality intentionally or let people figure it out on their own?

F: Fun 1. what do they do for fun? 2. what is their ideal party? 3. who would they have the most fun with? 4. can they have fun while conforming to rules? 5. do they go out a lot?

G: Gorgeous 1. what is their most attractive external feature? 2. what is the most attractive part of their personality? 3. what benefits come with being their friend? 4. what parts of them do they like and dislike? 5. what parts of others do they envy?

H: Heat 1. do they rather a hot or cold room? 2. do they prefer summer or winter? 3. do they like the snow? 4. do they have a favorite summer activity? 5. do they have a favorite winter activity?

I: In-the-closet 1. what is their sexuality? 2. have they ever questioned their sexuality? 3. have they ever questioned their gender? 4. would/was their family be okay with them being LGBT? 5. how long would/did it take for them to come out?

J: Joy 1. what makes them happy? 2. who makes them happy? 3. are there any songs that bring them joy? 4. are they happy often? 5. what brings them the most joy in the world?

K: Kill 1. have they ever thought about suicide? 2. have they ever thought about homicide? 3. if they could kill anyone without punishment, would they? who? 4. who would miss them if they died? 5. who would be happy they died, anyone?

L: Lemons 1. what is their favorite fruit? 2. what is their least favorite fruit? 3. are there any foods they hate? 4. do they have any food intolerances? 5. what is their favorite food?

M: Maternal 1. would they want a daughter or a son? 2. how many children do they want? 3. would they be a good parent? 4. what would they name a son? what would they name a daughter? 5. would they adopt?

N: Never Have I Ever 1. what would they never do? 2. what have they never done that they want to do? 3. is there anything they absolutely can’t believe people do? 4. what is the most embarrassing thing they’ve done? 5. have they done anything they thought they’d never do?

O: Optimism 1. are they optimistic or pessimistic? 2. are they openly optimistic, throwing it on others? 3. are they good at giving advice? 4. is there anyone in their life that throws optimism on them? 5. were they always optimistic?

P: Personality 1. what is their best personality trait? 2. what is their worst personality trait? 3. what of their personality do others love? 4. what of their personality do others envy? 5. do they hate anything about their personality/about other’s personalities?

Q: Questions 1. do they ask for help? 2. do they ask questions in class? 3. do they answer questions that make them a little uncomfortable? 4. do they ask weird questions? 5. are they curious?

R: Rules 1. do they follow rules? 2. would they be a strict or laid-back parent? 3. have they ever been consequenced for breaking a rule? 4. have they broken any rules they now regret breaking? 5. do they find any rules they/others follow absolutely ridiculous?

S: Streets 1. are they street-smart? 2. would they give money to someone on the streets? 3. have they ever gotten in a fight on the streets? 4. has anything happened to them on the streets? 5. are they cautious when out?

T: Truth 1. are they honest? 2. can they tell if someone is lying? 3. is it obvious when they’re lying? 4. have they lied about anything they regret lying about? 5. have they told truths that have been spread against their will?

U: Underdog 1. have they been bullied? 2. have they bullied anyone? 3. have they been physically attacked by a bully? 4. have they ever been doubted? 5. have they surprised people with being good at something?

V: Vomit 1. do they vomit often? 2. do they get lots of stomach aches? 3. are they good at comforting someone ill? 4. what do they like as far as comfort goes? 5. do they burp, cough, or hiccup most when nauseous? when vomiting?

W: Water 1. do they drink enough water? 2. have they learned to swim? 3. do they like to swim? 4. can they dive? 5. can they swim without holding their nose?

X: Xylophone 1. what is their favorite genre of music? 2. do they have a favorite song? 3. do they have a favorite band/artist/singer? 4. can they sing well? 5. can they rap?

Y: You 1. how old were you when you created them? 2. what inspired you to create them? 3. were they different when they were first created? 4. do you enjoy writing them more than other characters? 5. what’s your favorite thing about them?

Z: Zebra 1. what’s their favorite animal? 2. do they like animals? 3. cats or dogs? 4. what’s their dream pet? 5. do they have any pets at the moment?

I can recognize a fact when I read one. 7 even.

why would i netflix and chill when i can ao3 and sin

Priceless advice! Thanks

One of the most common problems I saw while working at a literary agency was that a lot of the character arcs felt incomplete, or not fully realized. Characters didn’t really change over the course of the story, or even learn something new. 

Basically, a character arc is the transformation of a character over the course of a story. Their starting points and ending points must be different. Note: I did not say the end point has to be better, just different. Breaking Bad comes to mind, where Walter White started out as a pretty decent, average science teacher, and it went downhill from there until he was a drug kingpin and criminal.

The story has to affect your character! We have to see those effects!

Quick & Dirty Cheat Sheet to Make a Character Arc:

Figure out where the character is at the beginning of their story. How do they react to things? Defensive? Offensive? What are their flaws? What are their strengths? Is there any trauma they are dealing with? 

Think about the course of your story. Will the story help them fix those flaws? Will it make them worse? Will the roots of their trauma be addressed? Will there be a point where their faith in their strengths falters? 

Take the course you’ve thought about in step #3, and think about where it will leave your character. They should be somewhere different than the beginning, and decidedly worse/better off than they started. Readers should be able to see the transformation and note what is new! 

Lastly: is it satisfying? Does it make sense? Are the steps that changed your character spread out & well developed? This step is being made only because of Game of Thrones. I’m thinking of Dany’s quick descent into madness that lacked actual roots. We should have been seeing that madness ages ago for it to truly feel natural. Bran ends up as king; yes, it is different to where he started, but it really doesn’t make sense. You have to think critically about your arcs and if it’s a natural progression of events!!!

Notes: Beta readers and critique partners will be huge helps with looking objectively at your WIP! They’ll be able to tell when a character’s arc is not quite right, or if it’s upsetting/unsatisfying.

Note for pantsers: If you don’t plan your WIP out ahead of time, these steps might seem fruitless. I would advise: write draft one, then retroactively look back at your character’s start and end points. Make sure you took the steps to get them to where they need to be. Make sure they’re different. Make sure it feels natural. 

Some Other Thoughts:

Your main character should undergo the largest change and have the most realized arc. Put the most time into developing your MC’s arc!!!

Minor characters should also have arcs, unless they are one-scene-wonders. Characters we see often, even if they aren’t exactly main characters, should also change a bit! Just not as much as your MC. 

If you find your minor character has a more compelling and fleshed out arc than your MC, consider: who do I want to be the subject of the story being told? Would making the minor character the main character work better? Often, arcs can be indicative of character importance. Those with more developed arcs are likely more prominent characters!

The cabbage man from ATLA does not need a character arc, and frankly trying to give him one might make the story seem clunky and crowded. Delegate your arc-developing time to characters that need it. 

Heroes should have positive arcs. They should end up better off than they started. If not? They’re probably anti-heroes. Walter White, though he is the main character in Breaking Bad, is an anti-hero.

If there’s one key thing about your character that influences all their actions, maybe make their arc about that! Dealing with trauma, looking for love, etc. If your character has been desperate to fall in love, maybe they’ll end up realizing that desperation isn’t a good look for them, and realizing they don’t need love to be happy! 

The first arc you think of may not be the best one. For the example above, that arc is more compelling to me than finding love and being happy with it, though “finding love” might seem like the immediate solution to “looking for love”!

Arcs do not mean total personality change. It can! But it doesn’t have to be! Harry was still brave and loyal to his friends at the end of his arc, but he’d undergone the transformation into a hero by learning, growing, and completing the final task of taking on Voldemort. But he was still Harry! Han Solo became more loving, more open, and a little more open to working with others, but he was still snarky and a little gruff!

There are many different kinds of character arcs as well.

Other resources: 

The Four Different Types of Character Arcs

Creating Compelling Character Arcs

Types of Character Arcs in Novels [video]

Happy writing <3 

Editing Tip: after reading through your fic/chapter for spelling & grammar mistakes, LISTEN to your story through a screen reader before posting to pick up on additional errors. Sometimes it's easier to HEAR a mistake than to READ one. If you don't have a screen reader, use Google Translate. Copy a little bit at a time (max 5k words) into the translate box then press the speaker button, sit back, and listen.

Bonus learning opportunity: you also get to hear what your fic sounds like to people who listen to fic instead of reading it, so you can edit out any weirdness before posting, thus increasing your fic’s accessibility :)

How the plot looks like in my brain:

How the plot ends up looking when I write:

My Paris.au coming to life... What dimension is this?

Lovely Jimin, as always ❤️

Edit: Hang on...He can’t be the one who tagged that mailbox “JM x ARMY”. He found it and decided to make his video here.

-Jungkook-ssi! Happy birthday! I sincerely wish you happy birthday! Eat lots of delicious food. May you live a long life. Let’s have a drink later!