Writing Characters - Tumblr Posts

oc asks: character design edition

FACE & FEATURES

glance: At first glance, what stands out most about your OC's appearance? What's their distinguishing feature?

face: Describe your OC's face. What's their smile like? Are their orbs cerulean? What would someone notice first when looking at them?

stature: What's your OC's body type? How tall are they? Do they wear clothing to accentuate their look or do they try to mask it?

motion: How does your OC move? How does their clothing help or hinder their range of motion? Are they flexible, coordinated, clumsy?

stillness: How does your OC act while still? Are they fidgety? Do they have any common gestures or tics? Does their clothing affect how they hold themselves while at rest?

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

CUT & CLOTHES

night: What does your OC wear to sleep? Do they have a favorite pair of PJs, or are they more the birthday suit type?

day: What does your OC wear on a normal day? Why do they default to those clothes? Do they wear similar things, or do they change it up?

formal: What's your OC's formal look? Do they like dressing up? Do they have different looks for different occasions?

informal: What's your OC's lazy-day look? How do they like to dress when they're winding down?

outerwear: What's your OC's outerwear situation? Jacket, sweater, cloak? What sort of weather do they deal with most and how do they protect themselves?

footwear: What does your OC wear on their feet?

road: What does your OC wear while traveling? Do they have high-quality equipment, or are they making do? What does their gear look like?

armor: What kind of armor does your OC wear? Is it well kept? Bonus: where does it come from? Is there a story behind it?

arms: Does your OC have any weapons? What weapons do they carry, and how do they wear them when they're not fighting?

roots: Is your OC's look inspired by any specific style of clothing or fashion trend? What are the roots and/or inspiration for their look?

texture: Does your OC favor any specific kinds of cloth or textures? Is there anything they can't wear or don't like? What sort of fabrics do they prefer?

wardrobe: How big is your character's wardrobe? Do they wear things threadbare, or can they afford new clothes often? Are they any good at mending and repairing their own clothing?

ACCESSORIES & ACCENTS

bling: What jewelry does your OC wear? Does it have any meaning?

hair: How does your OC wear their hair? Does it have some kind of meaning?

makeup: Does your OC wear makeup? How often? What kind? Why do they wear makeup, and do they like it?

favorite: Does your OC have a favorite article of clothing or accessory? What is it? What's the meaning behind it? Do they wear it all the time or do they wear it sparingly to keep it safe?

change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change?

alternate: What would your OC's alternate universe look be? If they're a fantasy character, what's their modern look? If they're sci-fi, what's their fantasy look? What AU would you want to see your OC in, and how would they dress themself? Bonus: Prompt an AU!

How I Build a Character When My Brain Never Remembers What it Needs To! (Or: the Wheel of Wow Method)

I have no idea how to explain this without visuals so let's do a quick intro and then dive in.

I gravitate toward the same sort of characters. But as I brainstorm, it can be hard for me to come up with enough details or components to make characters feel complex.

So I basically made a spreadsheet of all of these things with a list of examples to choose from! I either use it as a reference or literally have a random number chooser tell me what that one is.

Let's go!

Character Wheel of Wow

The category rows are for character elements, details, relationships, and backstory. Here is a little sample (but I will go more in-depth below!)

Then, beneath each one are examples of these elements that I would actually enjoy writing about. I put a set number for all of them so using a random number chooser is easier.

Again, I will go into more depth with more examples below.

Every important character gets one of these. For others, I pull only what is needed or as I outline/write.

The Categories

Major Trait (the driving descriptor of their personality)

Trauma + Baggage (before the story begins, the thing that changed their life and future forever)

Major Daily Complicator (how does the trauma manifest in daily life?)

Key Personal Fact or Quirk

Job

Job Complicator (what's making the job challenging?)

Hometown (and/or Family's Home Country)

Wildcard (a random element to include, will make more sense with the examples below)

Vice (the thing they indulge in maybe too much)

Key Personal Dynamic (the defining relationship of their personal life, can be one that begins in the story)

Personal Complicator (what is making the relationship different and less straightforward/traditional?)

Key Family Dynamic (the defining relationship/family member of their family life)

Family Complicator (what is making the relationship different and less straightforward/traditional?)

Their Secret

Examples of the Choices

Major Trait: serious, blunt, rough around the edges, playful, emotional, somber, cold/distant, selfish, confident, ambitious, optimist, romantic, charming, easy-going, misguided, quiet, academic, creative, kind....

Trauma + Baggage: widowed, survivor of childhood abuse, survivor of violent crime, bullied as a child, massive public or private failure, orphan, work-related trauma, turned away from dreams, religious trauma, victim of natural disaster, death of friend...

Major Daily Complicator: nightmares, trust issues, abandonment fears, depression, hyper-vigilance, phobia related to trauma, anxiety and panic, guilt, insecurity...

Key Personal Fact or Quirk: divorced, young parent, estranged from spouse, criminal history, weird tv/movie/book preference, type A, extremely messy...

Job: depends on your world but here are some real-world examples... journalist, religious leader, artist, professor/teacher, law enforcement agent, lawyer, construction worker, business owner, nurse/doctor...

Job Complicator: disgraced, forced to retire or quit, issues with superiors, they are a workaholic, suspended or put on leave, rival coworker, multiple issues with their behavior/actions at work, recently hired/promoted/reassigned, change in superiors...

Hometown: depends on your world

Wildcard: incredible liar, high school star athlete, major recent injury, important or interesting tattoo, is in the public eye, a sentimental item of theirs, dog person, cat person, has a nickname, cuts their own hair...

Vice: gambling, fast food, adopting too many animals, impulsive spending, caffeine, sweets, competition, luxury purchases, picking fights, White Knight Complex...

Key Personal Dynamic: coworker, boss, someone they are the boss of, professor/teacher, student, friends, ex-spouse, someone they are forced to work with for the story's goal, neighbor, former romantic partner, parent of their child, person somehow involved in their trauma/baggage...

Personal Complicator: having an affair/undefined sexual relationship, secretly in love, early stages of romantic relationship, palpable attraction/tension, falling in love, unrequited feelings, estranged, issues with power dynamic, failed romance in past, past betrayal...

Key Family Dynamic: parent, parent surrogate (anyone family or otherwise who raised them), sibling, cousin, aunt/uncle, grandparent, child, half-sibling, step parent or sibling, parent-in-law...

Family Complicator: estranged but one wants to reconnect, estranged but one needs something from the other, unspoken issues, abuse or toxicity, disowned by, family member has passed, the power dynamics are unhealthy, one financially dependent on the other, major lifestyle differences....

Their Secret: living a double life, has an obsession, has an artistic or scientific side (whatever would be unexpected), developing an addiction...

As you go and build the character, you will have to adjust choosing some of the categories so that they actually make a cohesive entity.

And then I highlight the chosen options and compile them in the character profile. I hope this made any sense whatsoever!!!!

As always, take what you want and leave the rest. Happy writing!

[call it good] writing

I had a lot of fun interactions with my students today so I thought I'd leave them here in case anyone needs inspo for writing kids.

Student 1 (7yo): *to student 2* I'm in second grade. What grade are you in? Student 2 (8yo): I'm in second grade too. Student 1: *silence* Student 1: *to me* Can I play a game?

Student 3 (11yo): *after spending 30 minutes logging into her google classroom* I don't have any homework.

Student 1: *forges her mom's signature* Me: I once got a detention for forging my mom's signature. Do you want to get a detention? All four students: Yes.

Me: *to student 2*: What are you writing about? Student 2: I forgot. Me: You're writing about your brother. Student 4 (12yo): Can I write about my brother? Me: Do you even have a brother? Student 4: I have a sister. Student 1: I want to write about my brother. Me: Good! What do you want to write about him? Student 1: How he makes me carry his backpack. Me: ...

Student 3: What's your mom's name? Me: Why are you asking me this? Student 3: Because I need to know. Me: Why? Student 3: I'm not telling you.

Student 4: Can I have a ticket? Me: For what? Student 4: For staying in my seat? For trying my best? Me: Did you do either? Student 4: No.

And here's my favorite interaction with a student ever:

Student (11yo): *to her friend* Technically we're still children. Me: Technically? You are still children. The friend: How old are you? Me: 20 Student: You're still in your wonder years.

One of my favorite things about writing is characterization but I’m tweaking so hard when it comes to the mystery I’m writing. Like I spent one second thinking about the missing girl who isn’t even in the book for about 90% and I was like she’s a photographer, an adventurous spirit, a prospective business owner, a dark-skinned queen, and she’s outspoken but introverted. Then I thought about my main character and was like she has braids, I guess.

I realized recently that the reason I like writing disturbing storylines is because I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory multiple times a day, every single day as a child. But today I realized it goes even further than that. One of my main characters is literally Willy Wonka. She’s socially inept, has incredibly pale skin, and is involved in a secret plot that involves killing select people. I even gave her the same stupid haircut. This whole time I thought I was just being creative 😭

Kelsee

I NEED to rant about the character I've struggled with the most in any of my wips, which is Kelsee Nightshade.

Back when I was only coming up with characters, I created her as a foil to my mc’s bestie, Catalina. Kelsee and Catalina are in the same clan, they’re the same age, and they both the same position of power as they’re each the daughter of a mistress (each mistress runs a faction of the clan). The only difference is Catalina is nice and Kelsee is a power-hungry maniac who bullies specifically her.

I started having trouble with Kelsee when I started developing the plot. I needed a way to connect her to my mc, Daron, because the story is from her perspective.

At first I doubled down on Kelsee being evil. My first thought was that she should be involved in a ritual not only her whole family, but a part of Daron's clan is a part of that involves committing mass murder. This is actually one of my favorite parts of my wip. Kelsee is the key to discovering the secrets each clan is trying to hide.

But that's the problem. It's a secret. Daron has no idea she's doing this off-screen, so how do I tie her into the plot?

That's when I made her a spy for the villain. Her purpose would be to try and befriend Daron because the villain knows Daron is powerful and wants her to join them. But Kelsee's plan backfires and she tries to kill Daron instead. Then I realized that’s stupid and I should focus more on how her bullying has affected Catalina's confidence because that was her original purpose.

However, there will still be an attack on Daron's life and Kelsee will still be a suspect. She's also still a spy but she wants Daron to join her and the villain because she genuinely likes her and thinks they will make a good team. Kelsee genuinely doesn't see anything wrong hurting people and thinks Daron will see her perspective.

While changing Kelsee’s dialogue to make her honest instead of manipulative, I realized she could be really important in Daron’s paradigm shift. They are similar in the way that they both follow whatever their families do without question, but Daron doesn’t want to be like someone she has witnessed bullying her best friend so she starts rethinking her life. But between that moment and when Kelsee is accused of attempted murder, I couldn't think of much for her to do.

Okay now that I figured out who Kelsee is, how does her arc end? I was iffy on redeeming her because I plan to redeem a lot of other characters and honestly she’s too far gone for redemption. I could have the main characters kill her, but I don't think they're capable of killing their classmate. It was then that I realized there is only one proper conclusion for Kelsee. She must be killed by the villain. It's so beautifully ironic that in her quest for power she was killed by the one who promised it to her. Rest in peace Kelsee.

One last thing about her. Kelsee has gone through many name changes. Originally I wanted her to be Jordan, but changed her to Clover per request of a friend. When that friend backstabbed me, I changed her to Kelsee, the name of one of the leads from where I worked at the time. I have nothing against her; I just like her name.

So that’s Kelsee. I hope she’s not too boring.

Yejin

Ok I also have to rant about my character that I hated the most. While coming up with characters for my mystery wip, my first thought was a crazy ex would kidnap the missing girl. Then I realized that was too obvious, but I kept the crazy ex anyways to have more suspects.

She was a trope, and one I find annoying at that, but her character was important to my story. To give her more use than just being a suspect, I gave her the role of begrudgingly helping my main character find her missing girlfriend. She has more information on the girlfriend because she dated her first and for longer.

Things really changed when I made a mood board for her. I scoured all of pinterest for a picture I thought suited her and landed on a really pretty one. I was conflicted because in my mind she was too crazy to be that pretty, but I also couldn't find any other pictures I thought could be her. That's when I thought of a solution that changed this character from crazy ex to a girlboss that I now adore. Yes, she will be pretty...and she will know it. She's weaponizes beauty and hides her crazy under her pretty girl mask, but you can still see it poking through at times. This development also led to her being smart and cunnning.

How did I get her name? Well my first year in college I had a roommate named Sejin, and I hated her. Sejin was so selfish that she once asked a friend to put up lights above her bed then went to shower instead of helping to put up her own damn lights. Sejin was so cruel that she stopped talking to me about two weeks in and never explained why. But that didn't stop her from talking about me in the halls. Sejin was so dumb that she once opened the door to our room while I was half naked. So of course I would name my crazy character after a crazy person, but I didn't want to give her the full satisfaction so I changed the first letter.

Yejin is now my favorite character to write. Under the cut is my favorite scene I've written with her. Keep in mind that I don't have a full first draft yet so this is VERY rough.

“I’m here to talk about Chinwe.” Yejin’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know about Chinwe?” “She’s my girlfriend.” Yejin’s eyes narrowed further. “And she’s missing.” Yejin sat there like that for several seconds, eyes narrowed, studying me. Then she relaxed back in her chair. The only expression in her eyes was boredom. “Well that has nothing to do with me.” “Really? Then why do you follow Chinwe’s friends on instagram?” Yejin pulled a lip gloss tube out of her purse and started applying it. “Is it a crime to follow people,” she said mid-stroke. “Why do you follow these specific people? You have no connection to them other than Chinwe.” Yejin capped her gloss and smiled at me snarkily. “Maybe I did find them through Chinwe, but I make it a habit to follow every pretty girl I see.” She held out her lip gloss to me. “Want some?”

There’s no better feeling than struggling to portray a character in a scene so I leave it as it, but when I look at it again in a few months I know exactly how to tweak the dialogue and actions to get my characters to be exactly as I imagined them

My brain is about to explode because I had the revelation last night that two of my main characters are very shipable. I’m so serious I went to sleep thinking about them and then woke up thinking about them. I want to explore this but the problem is I’ve been planning for years to put one character in a different relationship and kill the other. Now I ask myself am I willing to upend major parts of my story for the sake of romance. Probably.

Here’s my advise as someone who’s been a poc my whole life:

1. Every poc has a different experience so it would be good to give your characters different backgrounds and personality traits. A personality trait I often include in soft black girls. We get a rep for being loud and aggressive so it’s good to get this kind of representation

2. Look into culture. It’s so important to pocs to express culture. Since you do high fantasy, you can even make up your own similar to real ones. Some important things about culture to include is language (including dialects), hairstyles, music, clothes, etc.

3. I don’t know the rules of your world, but you could also address how systemic racism affects your characters to give them more depth. Things like how some neighborhoods are majorily poc because of things like redlining and white flight, and that those neighborhoods are often underfunded because no one cares. A way this can show up in your story is a character comes from this neighborhood and doesn’t have as many opportunities or something like that

4. My last piece of advice is to just be careful. A lot of poc stories are just about the suffering and we can use some joy!

Thanks for including poc characters and being mindful with them. Good luck with your writing!

I'm trying to find the best possible way to write poc characters that is respectful and also gives them immense depth and characterization that contributes to the main plot as well as their individual plots moving forward (two of my other wips are centered around these two poc characters) and I would love to know any ideas, thoughts, concerns, etc that you all have in mind!

I also have a good amount of disabled characters as well, each disability and the degree falls within a wide range so any thoughts, ideas, concerns, etc about these topics as well would be amazing!

I want to learn from the audiences. I want to know good and bad experiences with other literature and/or media, things to avoid, things to include, and anything else you have in mind!

for context this is a high fantasy novel with a lot of world building and whatnot with a wide range of characters types!

I have a hard time coming up with names for my characters and mostly steal them from people I know, so I thought it’d be fun to compare my characters to the real people I took their names from. These characters are from Spiritwalker. I’ll make another post about where I got the names for my We Faceless Folk characters.

Daron

I took Daron’s name from the manager at my first job. I mostly did it because I wanted a unique name and I was fascinated with Daron’s name because I’d never seen this spelling or seen it refer to a woman.

I thought it worked perfectly because my manager was a lot like my character. She kinda intimidated me with how monotone her voice was and how intense her gaze was. She always got right to business, like my Daron. And of course, both are leaders in charge of a lot of people.

Catalina

Catalina was the name of one of my classmates in high school. We were the only female trumpet players in our school band. I’d never heard the name before and I think that’s why I chose it. It’s one of the prettiest names I’ve heard.

The Catalina’s are completely different. My character is calm and a major part of her character is being an older sister. My classmate was energetic and younger than me, which it made it feel like I was an older sister to her.

Amiliana

Amiliana was a kindergartener I worked with at my second job. I liked her name and the nickname she insisted on being called, Milli, so much that I created a character just to name her that.

The character Amiliana, who is Catalina’s younger sister, is what I think an older version of the student Amiliana would be like. I was amazed at how smart the kindergartener was, so I made the character a magic prodigy. Both are social butterflies and have a lot of energy.

Ann Marie

Ann Marie is the name of my stepmom. I chose it to honor how much she’s done for me and because I thought it’d make a good fantasy name.

Once again, they’re completely different. My stepmom has a lot of energy and a big sense of humor. My character is more quiet and observant.

Kelsee

Kelsee was a team lead at the fourth job I worked at. We only worked together for about one week before she transferred, but I liked her and that’s why I took her name.

I feel so dirty for this but Kelsee is one of my antagonists. She’s a bully, a power-hungry manaic, and she kidnaps my other characters at some point. She’s nothing like the real Kelsee, who was nothing but sweet to me.

Last week I made a post comparing the my Spiritwalker characters to the people I stole their names from, so here’s one for my We Faceless Folk characters. Tbh I think this one is more interesting

Chinwe

My first year in college I was in a program with a girl named Chinwendu, but she went by Chinwe for short. I thought it was such a cute name, but wait there’s more. My second year in college I transferred to a different school on the opposite end of the country and met another Chinwe. When I created the character, I knew I wanted an ethnic name, so of course this one immediately popped in my head.

I didn’t really know either Chinwe so I can’t say if they’re similar to mine, but when I met the second one she had a girlfriend and my character is also queer so there’s that.

Ms. Jones

This character is Chinwe’s mom and I named her after my introduction to Africana studies professor. I chose the name because my professor was an old black woman and my character is an old black woman so I thought it fit.

Other than that, they have nothing in common. My professor was so adventurous she went skydiving for her birthday. Meanwhile, my character barely gets out of her house because she has a bad knee.

Yejin

This one’s a bit complicated. My first roommate was named Sejin, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of naming a character after her. So I named her Yejin, the name of a student in the center I work at, and it’s close enough to Sejin to be a dig.

The character Yejin is exactly like Sejin—a selfish, toxic bitch. Sure, she’s more exagerated, but is it really by that much when the real Sejin cried when I told the RA she opened the door when I was topless and made excuses to how it couldn’t have happened when she could have prevented it in the first place by paying attention to me for one measly second?

Alyanna

Alyanna is the name of one of my closest friends. When I couldn’t think of a name for this character, I used hers.

The real person and character are pretty similar. Both are college students who like going out places and posting on instagram. I think my friend has more of a sense of humor.

Too Sweet: March

Character Intro

Name: March Starling

Nickname: Marchmallow

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Role in story: Male main character

Bio/summary/description: March is an optimistic do-gooder on his way to Redwood University to start his master's degree. He’s got a scholarship and an internship with the university’s climate change research lab. He's far from home but quickly makes friends with his classmate, Jude Fox. He misses his two triplet brothers deeply, but he still feels like the world is at his fingertips. He is the love interest of Cricket St. James.

DOB: August 19, 1999 (Leo)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Ethnicity: Italian American

MBTI: ENFJ-A (Protagonist)

Occupation: Intern at the Research Lab of The Adjustment Of Phenology

Appearance

Height: 5 feet 11 inches

Hair: Brown and floppy

Eye: Blue with yellow center almost like a sunflower

Build/physique: Lean build

Notable features: Glasses, rings on his index and ring finger on his right hand as well as on his left index finger, and a silver chain bracelet on his right hand.

Clothing style: A mix of preppy and soft boy aesthetic.

Extra

Quote: “It bothers me a great deal. I can’t believe I have to rep the Redwood blue-footed boobies. This will surely tarnish the Starling family name.”

Traits/quirks:

He’s a great listener and observer.

He’s scatter brained and never knows where anything is.

He’s an overachiever who loves school and learning.

He’s extremely loyal and will do anything for his friends and family.

He has coulrophobia (irrational fear of clowns)

He’s extremely optimistic.

Fun facts/headcanons:

He has to listen to Hozier’s song Something New before falling asleep every night.

He won’t drink still water, only sparkling.

He has sudden bursts of energy where he studies and does school work from morning to 3am. Fueled only by coffee and string cheese.

His brothers have been begging him to get matching tattoos with them but he’s too nervous and afraid of infection.

He texts his brothers good night every night even when he’s pulling an all nighter because he doesn’t want them to think he’s overworking himself.

He learned to read tarot because he wanted to entertain his brothers when they were younger.

Hobbies/skills: plays piano, reads tarot, plays chess, reading, alternate history, very good with the sciences, and studying Vexillology

Likes: sparkling water preferably la croix, brunch, sci-fi and nonfiction books, abandoned buildings,babies, volunteering, talking to homeless people, and Greek mythology

Dislikes: Climate change, texting, house parties, the beach, cats, apathy, he doesn’t like not liking things he’s very optimistic and open minded so it upsets him when he can’t find joy in something

Playlist: Coming soon!

Wow, I did not expect the results to be so split! It’s amazing to me that 4 of my girls got the same number of votes. I was so sure Aria would win too.

I kinda expectated Daron to be the least favorite, despite her being my main character. I’ve been reflecting lately on comments I got about her from other writers, and I think she’s really misunderstood. Since she lost, here’s some more about her.

Daron is supposed to come off as perfect, but with something slightly off about her. Other witches practically worship her. She’s talented, patient, and elegant. Daron even sees herself as perfect, but she has a different definition of it. Her clan deals with life and death on a daily basis, and on top of that, she is their future leader. Their standards are to be emotionally reclusive, put the needs of spirits before themselves, and to uphold a system that subjugates some of them to serve witches in power like Daron. She exceeds in these standards more than most. Especially as a lady, she puts the needs of spirits and her whole clan before her own. She is in so deep she doesn’t even register her needs.

Because of this, Daron is a really hard character to write, especially as this is my first wip. Instead of displaying her personality through emotions, I mostly show it through her speech patterns. Daron is used to being a leader, so she doesn't ask people to do things. She tells them, no matter who she is talking to. She isn't trying to be malicious; it's just her upbringing. Other times, someone will thank Daron, and instead of saying "you're welcome", she will say that she is doing her duty or serving her purpose. It is so natural for her to help other people that she sees it as something she is meant to do rather than an act of kindness.

Obviously we can see how wrong a lot of this is, but Daron can’t until she is exposed to witches from other clans. It's like how fish don't know they're in water because they're surrounded by it their whole lives. Daron's arc is unlearning what she knows so she can be a better leader, and learn how to be a friend along the way.

The irony of Daron is that her strife for perfection is what causes her flaws. In the beginning, she seems so perfect that she is an idol figure. Closer to the end, when we really begin to know her and her cognitive dissonance begins to set in, her flaws grow so apparent that they manifest when she accidentally scars herself. In trying to do what she is best at, she is left with permanent reminder—right where she can always see—that she will never be perfect.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from her. It's her response to Naomi saying she is kind.

“I prefer to think I am just. . .Just people can be kind or unkind depending on what is needed.”

Spiritwalker taglist (ask to be added or removed): @the-golden-comet @pixies-love-envy

OC Poll Tag

Thanks for the tag @yourpenpaldee !

Rules: Make a poll with five of your all time favorite characters and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favorite!

I have five main girls in Spiritwalker so of course I'm going to do them! Here’s their mood boards.

Gently tagging @somethingclevermahogony @alinacapellabooks @i-can-even-burn-salad @kaylinalexanderbooks @the-golden-comet

Iris

Honestly, I constantly forget Iris exists but I was just writing a chapter with her and remembered she’s one of my favorite OCs.

Iris is a lady so she has a lot of power in the social system, but she’s very far down the line of succession. Unlike Daron, who is supposed to be the perfect image of a lady, Iris is very mischievous. She’s also lowkey a pirate, but we don’t learn that until much later.

Iris has one of my favorite designs, partially because she looks similar to me, but I also had a lot of fun with her look. She has dark brown skin and waist-length twists. She has orange eyes and red runes tattoed up her arms and across her chest.

Iris’ clan is very important to her character. The Arsonite Clan is the only clan that originated outside the mainland, so they have a different culture than the other clans. The Aquatic Clan stole their land, which started a war between all of the clans. After the war, the Arsonites were left with no land, money, or allies, and their language was on the cusp of death because they had to assimilate. Iris is very involved in her culture. She’s fluent in Arsonean and is experienced in their traditional dance.

The Arsonite Clan being left with nothing is how they ended up as pirates. They sink human ships despite the fact that humans and witches are not supposed to interact at all, and keep the spoils. When their betrayal is discovered, Iris shows absolutely no remorse. She stands by what they did to survive (as she should). I honestly want to write a spin-off of Iris’ pirate adventures when I’m done with the main story.

Iris has had a lot of development since the first draft. I didn’t know how to characterize her mischievousness, so she ended up coming off as tone-deaf and kind of annoying. In my second draft, there’s more of a balance between her causing chaos and her tenderness. I think it’s perfectly summarized when Daron asks her for a favor and Iris asks what Daron will do in return. Daron knows that Iris would help unconditionally and just wanted to stir the pot.

Fun fact: Iris was originally named Aralea after a classmate I had in second grade. Upon further thought, I realized that was too similar to Ariella—Aria’s full name—so I changed it to Iris, a goddess a learned about at a Ramses exhibit.

Spiritwalker taglist: @the-golden-comet @pixies-love-envy

If You’re Writing a Female Character, Avoid these Bad Writing Mistakes

Avoid focusing solely on how she looks, what she wears, or how attractive she is to others.

Don’t make her dependent on male characters for rescue or decision-making.

Avoid giving her unrealistic abilities without any training or explanation.

Avoid portraying her as constantly crying, screaming, or overly dramatic without depth.

Don’t make her entire character arc revolve around finding love or getting married.

Avoid creating her as the only female in a predominantly male cast just for diversity points.

Avoid having her dialogue filled with stereotypical phrases and overused expressions.

Ensure she has realistic imperfections and challenges to overcome.

Which character gave you the most problems in your writing?

That would be Kelsee. I had a clear plan for her while outline, but when I actually started writing, that all fell apart.

By now I learned how all my characters sound, but I still don’t get Kelsee. Everytime I write dialogue for her, I think she sounds so fake. That could work because a lot of her persona is fake, but I’ll still change it if I think of something better.

I think the biggest problem with Kelsee is that she isn’t that relevant to the plot because she’s meant to be an antagonist to my mc’s best friend. There’s only two scenes where I’m confident this works. One is near the middle where Kelsee is bullying Catalina in broad daylight and Daron finally calls her out on being a bitch. This is a major step for Catalina’s development because it gives her the confidence to stand up for herself. After this, Kelsee backs off a little until this second moment, when Daron and co sees her a few hours before Daron is attacked. She’s the obvious suspect and was the original culprit—when she sees that she’ll never steal Daron away from Catalina, she falls into a jealous rage. But I changed the culprit into Kelsee’s paranoid cousin when I realized it made no sense for Kelsee to attack Daron that one time and never again. Instead, Kelses poisons Catalina at the start of the second book.

I’m more confident with Kelsee’s character in the second book because she evolves from classic mean girl to traitorous megalomaniac. She has much more impact on the plot in the sequel.

Kelsee has also gone through more name changes than any other character. Originally I wanted to name her Jordyn and pitched it to a friend at the time. She wanted me to name her Clover, but I felt that was too on the nose for a plant witch. When I broke things off with her, I settled on Kelsee, which was the name of someone I worked with and admired back then. I think there were a few more names in between, but I can’t remember.

Sometimes I think Kelsee is fine and I’m just judgemental because I’m looking at her of the writer. I won’t know until I actually finish. But anyway that’s the character who gave me the most problems. Thanks for asking!

This far into my draft I can really see Daron’s character development. I’m so proud of my baby girl. Look!

Chapter one Daron

Something sweet rose up from my chest but I promptly tamped it back down.

I did not take even a single glance back at the black-brick mansion. My path had already been laid out, and it led away from Spiritwalker Mansion. I would not be able to keep moving forward if my head was turned back, even for a second.

Daron now

“How are you?” I searched Catalina’s foresty eyes and found no judgment; none of the expectation for apathy that I was used to. I only saw compassion. It broke me further. “It hurts.” “I know.” Catalina gently moved my head so it rested on her shoulder…and I let her.

Would you mind telling me a little bit about Catalina?

LOL I am finishing up her playlist right now. Great timing, friend!

Catalina is my mc, Daron's, best friend (even though it takes Daron the whole book to realize it). She's the daughter of a mistress, which pretty much equates to a duchess, and her mother is also the headmistress of the school all my characters attend. While Daron keeps a professional relationship with her mother and barely interacts with her brother, Catalina contrasts her by being very close with her mother and her little sister. Because of her relationship with her family, she serves as a mother figure in her friend group.

Catalina is an incredibly strong witch, but she has trouble believing it because Kelsee has been out to get her for years. Their families have been fighting for more power in their clan for generations, but Catalina's mother was over it and decided to run a school instead. Kelsee saw this as a bid for power and bullied Catalina into doubting herself and made their classmates believe it too, but don't worry, Catalina realizes her strength.

From the start of my writing, I intended for Catalina to have ambitions other than succeeding her mother as mistress--she thinks she suits a smaller lifestyle better--but I just added in an arc for her recently where she is put in a leadership position and learns that she is good at it. In the end, she decided she really does want to be mistress and lead with Daron, who has one of the highest positions of power in their country.

Catalina's the kind of person who always knows what to say so I gave her some of the best dialogue. A friend once told me that I have a kind smile, and I thought that was the nicest thing anyone's said to me so I wanted to immortalize it. In my first draft, Catalina already had a similar line so of course I gave it to her to say to Daron. She also says this line that was rated the best line in my wip from a poll I made: "We cannot be perfect. We can only be better."

Like other witches of the Herbneivorous Clan, Catalina's powers include being able to grow plants, tell their properties by touching them, and being able to eat poison. She's eaten so much that her blood's actually poisonous, but it's not much of a threat because she's typically calm and grounded.

Thanks for asking! That's Catalina.

Writing tips! pt. 1

Fluff advice

Use fluffy words. I mean like softy words, not a lot of hard endings or consonants. words that feel soft, you feel me? (I am autistic so maybe just me but lemme show you some examples and definitions)

snuffle

tuck

coo

murmur

mumble

smush/squish

bundle

soft (obv)

gentle

nuzzle

burrow

you feel me??? does it make sense?? as opposed to 'cuddle, mutter, smash, wrap' which mean essentially the same as above. If you use words that feel or sound phonetically like the vibe you're trying to get across, it reads much better. Paragraph example of a generic fluff scene (G rated dw) using themed words and non-themed words.

Theme:

warm cotton sheets and syrupy midday sunlight draped gently over the entwined forms on their shared bed. a hazy, drowsy blanket of pleasure made their eyelids heavy. feeling too far away, (A) shuffled closer to (B), nudging their nose into the soft space of their cheek. B murmured sweetly, caressing A back to sleep. smushed a close as can be, the two lovers drifted into a cozy pocket of love

No Theme:

warm cotton sheets and bright midday sun shone through the window over the entwined forms. sleeping soundly, wrapped in their love for each other, the day crept forward. (A) yawned and rolled closer to (B), wedging their nose into (B's) soft cheek. (B) chuckled, whispering their partner back to the safe world of sleep. together again, the two lovers drifted into dreamland.

Difference? or just me?

In other words, think of small children when you think of fluff. (NOT LIKE THAT) the tone, the softness you would approach a toddler with. toddler speech is kinda soft too, since they aren't capable of hard sounds with their teeth (or lack thereof) so their words sound sweeter. (an' instead of and, 'bubba' instead of 'papa', you get the idea). Adults also change words to fit a softer, gentler mood. "Lovey' instead of love, 'Doggy,' instead of 'dog'. this same vocabulary shift can add another layer of cuteness to ur fic.

Hope this helps! message w more questions xx