How To Keep People In Character: A Guide

how to keep people in character: a guide

I have gotten some requests for advice on how to write specific characters, but the underlying principles to keeping characterizations canon-compliant can apply to writing anyone in any series. Better yet, this advice may help you come up with character interpretations that feel both canonical yet original (and distinct from mine!).

You can reduce characterization to three basic principles:

1) Habits and speech patterns

Habits and speech patterns serve as “shortcuts” that immediately connect the character to the canon. The audience recognizes these cues and will associate them to the actual character.

Speech patterns are particularly important to keeping a character recognizable. As soon as the speech pattern of a person deviates from canon with no explanation, the suspension of disbelief will break for an audience. A common issue I see in shipping fics is that people will make a character give the love interest a pet name that just would never leave their mouth in canon-compliant situations.

Habits can be verbal tics (e.g. they say “babe” a lot), bodily motions (e.g. touching their hair or pushing up their glasses), behavioural trends (e.g. eating a lot), or even phrases that come up often. The latter I find is underused but very effective. Here’s the thing about people in real life: they will repeat phrases and stories, sometimes even verbatim, to different people! If you lift a line out of the show or book and re-contextualize it, it’ll immediately feel like the canon.

Habits come with two caveats:

Do not overuse the tics. It can be annoying and intrusive, especially when used more frequently than in canon! 

Do not rely too much on these habits for characterization. Your character may come off as a shallow imitation of canon without “substance” if so. 

The next two tips will help give your characterization substance and originality.

2) Drivers in decision-making and thought patterns

People in real life often have patterns in the decisions they make or the thoughts they have because of some kind of underlying motivation, whether or not they are cognizant of it. The same will apply to well-written characters in fiction. Try to think about any significant decisions the character makes in canon and why they might exist. (Hot tip: If these motivations are not explicitly stated in the canon material, this is where you can come up with some extremely juicy headcanons!)

Understanding the fundamental drivers behind the character’s actions will allow you to extrapolate and write what they’d do in the situations in your fanfic. These non-canon situations can include relationships! It’s a common issue for romantic relationships in fanfic to feel OOC because the characters act inconsistently with their canon decision-making and thought patterns solely for their love interest.

Examples of common drivers in fiction:

Abstract values such as freedom, revenge, survival, self-preservation. (If you’re writing anything political, try to figure out how they value conservatism vs liberalism, anarchy vs authoritarianism, etc).

Baggage and trauma relating to familial issues or past relationships, which can often result in maladaptive trends in behaviour or hard-lined moral codes and ideals.

Significant relationships that affect their needs, goals, etc. Pay attention to platonic, familial, or romantic bonds that are strongly featured in the canon.

All these examples are interrelated. Often our abstract values will arise from baggage, which then influence relationships, which in turn influence our values. Try to think about how each of these types of drivers may relate to one another for your characters.

Stories tend to have the most layered characterizations when the author has identified two drivers that are in conflict with one another, or one that leads to opposing behaviours. This can also be the starting point for character growth, whether it’s a hero’s journey or descent into a villain role.

3) Cultural context

Cultural context is a subcategory of drivers that I often find is overlooked. 

The culture in which someone was raised will often influence their decision-making habits, whether they conform to it or outright reject it. Recognizing the cultural context for a character can be very useful for figuring out cool little headcanons or extrapolating behaviour/opinions in the absence of canon material.

Some examples of how culture contributes to behaviour:

The kind of art and hobbies they enjoy, or at least are on their radar. 

Knowledge they would have about certain topics—even mundane things like musical instruments, certain skill sets, etc.

Their judgments on themselves and other characters, as well as the values they’d project onto their relationships.

The actions they would take when trying to conform to social norms of the time period—or even the set of actions that might occur to them!

It’s a pet peeve of mine when characters behave in a way that ignores their cultural context, simply because it won’t feel realistic! Since I’ve been relating this to shipping, I will make this point: what time period and country (or coded culture) is this character in? What are courtship norms like? And, if we’re going to go the nsfw route, what “interests” (haha) would exist?

Here are some quick examples of this analysis applied to two different characters: Hakuryuu Ren (Magi), Daryl Dixon (TWD). These are characters I’ve gotten requests for—let me know if anyone is interested in others!

Keep reading

Can you give tips on how to write slow burn? Thanks in advance!

I am going to be very honest.

I’ve never written a slow burn in my life. I’m writing (mostly just planning so far) one now for the very first time. It’s very exciting.

What I’ve done is:

Interrupted almost kisses. They shall not even kiss until maybe the very last page.

Enemies to lovers so they have to build trust first.

Have them bond but never think the other one likes them back.

Always a reason not to confess.

Halfway through one will be hurt and the other will care a lot. At the end this is switched. We like that good angst.

Lots of light flirting.

Everyone knows they’re like each other (except for them.)

It helps when there is a compelling reason why they can’t be together, not just “they won’t confess cuz drama.” If not enemies, have their love conflict with their goals in the story.

Push them together and then push them apart. Over and over again. “They almost confess but then- something is revealed.” “They almost kiss but then- they’re reminded why they can’t be together.” This is a very fine line to walk because you run the risk of aggravating your reader is it’s not a good reason.

If people could see my Ao3 history

writing tip #3011:

your work should not be judged by its length, but by its girth

Fantasy Guide to Hair

Hair is one of the facets of the characters' look as well as worldbuilding. Hair has always been important to many cultures such as the Vikings and Native Americans. So here is the Fantasy Guide to hair @cat-inthe-corner

Hairstyles

I am always asked what styles historical women wore. The truth is we can't exactly know for sure. Besides, if you spend your time describing a character's hairdo you will put your audience to sleep. Really you can paint a vague picture for your audience and that'll do.

Down and unadorned: Girls of every class wore their hair down to show they were unwed. Married women always wore their hair up and covered it. Only prostitutes wore their hair down and uncovered.

Braid/Plait: Braids were an easy tidy away hair. Braids were pinned to the head and set under headdresses. Braids lasted longer that any other hairstyle.

Wigs: Some historical women and men wore wigs. Wigs were seen as cleaner and easier to maintain. The Egyptians shaved their heads and wore wigs. The Renaissance revived wigs. Wigs were rather gross and most wearers carried long pins to scratch their heads.

Bob: The humble bob was a popular haircut throughout the Mediaeval period for men. Bobs came back into fashion in the 20s for women seen as a daring rebellion against the patriarchy.

Historical Hair Care

Women have been obsessed with having perfect hair for centuries. Women have always sought to find anything to help make their hair smoother, curlier, bigger and shinier.

The Egyptians often used castor oil and almond oil on their hair. It smoothed their hair as well as protected it. The Egyptians were rather into wigs and to keep them smelling fresh, they melted soft perfumed wax comes onto the wigs.

Tudor and Elizabethan women would use animal fat or lard in their hair. It would keep the hair in the shape it was teased into (historical hairspray) as well as smooth it. However, it drew lice and flies and must have smelt ghastly after a few days.

Assyrian women and men curled their hair by using hot iron bars and oil. Sound familiar? This was the predecessor of the curling iron (or as I call it-that-very-hot-stick-my-sister-leaves-on-the-table).

The Ancient Indians oiled their hair to prevent baldness which is still used today in parts of India.

As hair was not often washed in the 17th & 18th centuries, people turned to powders and pomades. The powder were made of flour and starch to soak up grease from the hair. Pomades were to make the hair smell nicer.

A popular conditioner of the times was made from bacon fat. Since women didn't want to go about smelling like breakfast, the fat was often cut with rosewater or lavender or another scent.

Women would have combed their hair with brushes and lice combs. Most women pre-19th century would keep their hair styled for days or weeks on end. After the 19th century, women began to brush and comb their hair regularly.

Mediaeval women washed their hair with soap made from animal fat mixed with ashes and vinegar.

Victorian/Edwardian women often washed their hair with eggwhites to get shinier hair. The Empress Sisi famously had a head of gorgeous hair which she was obsessed with. “Every three weeks it was washed with raw eggs and brandy, a procedure which took an entire day, including drying. After washing her hair, the Empress would don a long, waterproof silk dressing gown and walk up and down until her hair dried.”- Ludwig Merkle.

Dye

Hair was dyed throughout history just like it is today. Some colours were easily found, some not.

Blonde hair was the most desirable colour for Mediaeval/Renaissance women. Blonde hair was often obtained by using a concoction of olive oil, white wine, alum. Other ways of obtaining blonde locks involved using saffron, tumeric and skins of onions. It could also be washed with limes and dried in the sun.

Red hair was not a popular hair colour in mediaeval times but it became popular after Elizabeth I. The Romans often scalped Celts to make wigs from their hair. Red hair could be made from using Henna which is orange in colour.

Brown hair can be obtained by mixing indigo and henna. It is not permanent but can be after a few rinses. This is likely what Sansa Stark is currently using in ASOIAF. (Green hair like Wylla Manderly's would be obtained by either fucking up a dye job or mixing the blonde with blue.)

Blue hair if you want to go wild could likely be made from woad leaves and blackcurrants skins.

Accessories & Headresses

Pins: Most hair pins looked rather like pens. Hair would be wrapped about it and then pinned up on the head of the wearer, really not so different to bobby pins today. Pins were a favourite gift to give women of most time often made of wood, ivory, metal and were worn by ladies of all classes.

Ribbon: Ribbons were used by both classes. Thin strips of material would be woven through the hair in order to keep it neat as well as look great. Upper classes had the ribbons made of silk and other fine fabrics.

Feathers: Feathers were worn in all time periods. Elaborate towering do's were often graced with plumes to add extra height.

Headbands: Headbands have been about for years throughout most of civilization. From slim ribbons across brows to jewelled headbands of the 20s, headbands were a simple yet classic look.

Horse terms for writers

Gelding - An adult male horse (3 years or older) that’s been neutered.

Stallion - An adult male horse (3 years or older) that is not neutered.

Mare - An adult female horse (3 years or older), used interchangeable for both fixed and unfixed female horses.

Pony - A full grown horse under 14.2 hands.

Foal - A newborn horse.

Weanling - A colt or filly that is 6-12 months.

Yearling - A horse between 1-2 years old.

Colt - A male horse under 3 years old.

Filly - A female horse under 3 years old.

Hand - Measurement of how tall a horse is, one hand = four inches.

Tack - Riding equipment.

Halter - Headgear you put on a horse to lead them, can be made of leather or fabric. 

Gait - Speeds a horse can got.

Trot - Gait faster than a walk but slower than a canter.

Canter - Gait faster than a trot but slower than a gallop.

Gallop - Faster than a canter, basically the highest speed a horse can go.

Lunging - Exercising a horse by walking them in a circle, usually done with a halter and lunge rope.

Lunge Rope - A long rein/rope used when lunging a horse, typically 20-40 ft long. 

Colic - Pain in a horse’s stomach ranging from mild to severe, can be fetal if not treated.

Cribbing/Windsucking - Biting onto a fence post and sucking in air, horses do this when they’re extremely bored.

Farrier - Someone who dresses and trims a horse’s hooves.

Bridle - Headgear used to control and maneuver a horse.

Bit - The metal mouthpiece of the bridle.

Frog - The triangular part of the inside of the hoof.

Rain rot - A fungal infection horses can get on their backs, easily treatable with antibiotics.

Mucking - Cleaning out a stall.

Hot blooded - Extremely energetic, excitable horses. Hot blooded horses are used for more speed driven tasks.

Cold blooded - Very low temperament, very relaxed horses. Cold blooded horses are used for more labor driven tasks. 

Draft - Large, working horses.

Feathers - The long, fuzzy fur on a horse’s hooves, usually found in Draft breeds.