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 Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 5:17 pm
Well, right now I'll just offer my sage *coughcough* advice on creating characters.
1. This is obvious: Do NOT make them perfect at more then one thing. That's when you get Mary Sues and Gary Stus. They are bad.
1b. However, it's okay to make perfect people if they're sub-characters and don't show up very much (i.e. A Legendary Hero who pops up two or three times to save the heroes and give them advice)
2. Give some funny quirks to your characters for humor purposes. For example, a character who's normally serious might go crazy at the thought of good food. It's weird, it'sfunny, and it's VERY Out of Character for that person.
3. Remember: You can't bcome a master at any sort of combat technique/style overnight. People do not learn to use swords one day and kill an army the next. That usually takes years.
3b. Of course, you can still do it if you've got a good explanation. Say, magic taught them how to do it really fast.
4. Try to avoid cliche's. You'd be surprised at the sort of interesting characters you can come up with if you make them different from the normal character. ^_^
I'll give some more later when I have the time. ^_^
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 12:37 am
Various people have mentioned how important it is to keep the flow. I'd like to add to that.
This is poetry, not a biography.
It took me ages to write poems that didn't fall to pieces halfway through because I insisted on reporting, not feeling. Chances are, anyone who reads your poems won't know you, so it doesn't matter if all the facts arn't right. So, instead, just cut up lines and use words that fit, or sound pretty, or just have the right amount of syllables.
If you're writing about a girl you fancy with beautiful brown eyes, but your rhyme requires it to be blue, don't try to find something different to say about her that rhymes with blue, just lie and say she has blue eyes. The thing is, the emotion will be the same. So don't worry. It takes some time to get used to "lying" in poems, but it really does help.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:21 pm
Niahm Could anyone post some character's charts? I'm having a rough time keeping my characters the same until the end of the story, or they're actually too vague and contradictory. (If this has already been posted somewhere, tell me, it would be useful) ^^ Woah there! Character charts? The only place I see the need for using a character chart would be for writing for a videogame. Which I've done. A character chart cannot exist in fiction- because people are not static, and if you expect someone to remain unchanged throughout a story, you've got something else coming. Characters are intended to change just as much as a person would through a situation. A character should be dynamic - adjusting or not adjusting to a situation the same way a person with their personality would. Remember, you're creating a person when you characterize. There should be an even balance on qualities. Like if you've got a stupid villain, you don't just make them a stupid villain that just loses every time. On their side, they have an occaisional stroke of luck. Well, taking a really extreme view on it, anyway. Most characters have good qualities and bad qualities- like the hero whines "Why me?" as in the Belgariad series by David Eddings. You might have immortality, but you've also got the weight of all that time on your shoulders. Static characters tend to kill themselves off. I have never successfully written a short piece of prose that had a static character where they didn't get killed or suicide in the end. It doesn't make a good story to have the main moral lesson learnt go unlearnt. Now, if you're having problems keeping a character in check, write out a short piece beforehand about that character. Make it an item of their history. They're irritable, they're happy, give them reasons for it, and try to think like this character would think. Mostly, writers tend to write extensions or extremist versions of their own personalities in. Or their fantasy life. Taking for example Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown. In Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress AND Angels and Demons- the primary male character is the same, fundamentally. Personally, I'm not too big a fan of this guy, but he serves as a good example. When you've got well planned characters, they practically write themselves.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:53 am
Chaos_of_Destruction Niahm Could anyone post some character's charts? I'm having a rough time keeping my characters the same until the end of the story, or they're actually too vague and contradictory. (If this has already been posted somewhere, tell me, it would be useful) ^^ Woah there! Character charts? The only place I see the need for using a character chart would be for writing for a videogame. Which I've done. A character chart cannot exist in fiction- because people are not static, and if you expect someone to remain unchanged throughout a story, you've got something else coming. Characters are intended to change just as much as a person would through a situation. A character should be dynamic - adjusting or not adjusting to a situation the same way a person with their personality would. Remember, you're creating a person when you characterize. There should be an even balance on qualities. Like if you've got a stupid villain, you don't just make them a stupid villain that just loses every time. On their side, they have an occaisional stroke of luck. Well, taking a really extreme view on it, anyway. Most characters have good qualities and bad qualities- like the hero whines "Why me?" as in the Belgariad series by David Eddings. You might have immortality, but you've also got the weight of all that time on your shoulders. Static characters tend to kill themselves off. I have never successfully written a short piece of prose that had a static character where they didn't get killed or suicide in the end. It doesn't make a good story to have the main moral lesson learnt go unlearnt. Now, if you're having problems keeping a character in check, write out a short piece beforehand about that character. Make it an item of their history. They're irritable, they're happy, give them reasons for it, and try to think like this character would think. Mostly, writers tend to write extensions or extremist versions of their own personalities in. Or their fantasy life. Taking for example Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown. In Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress AND Angels and Demons- the primary male character is the same, fundamentally. Personally, I'm not too big a fan of this guy, but he serves as a good example. When you've got well planned characters, they practically write themselves. What Chaos said is very true, and main characters can't be static. But in my experience if I have a whole host of minor characters a character chart can come in really handy. I found an RPing character chart that was really detailed, modified it slightly, and use it. The general list is something like this. (Obviously, it changes depending on what I'm writing.) Name: Nicknames: Gender: Age: Pyhysiognomy: Height: Weight: Hair: Eyes: Identifying Marks: Status: Education: Job: Languages spoken: Few things they like: Few they Don't: Others: Another thing I've found that helps tremendously is a story triangle. It works like this. 1. Name of the main character. 2. Two words that describe them. 3. Three words that describe the setting. 4. Four words that describe the main problem (the overall problem) 5. Five words that describe the first problem. 6. Six words that describe the second problem. 7. Seven words that describe the third problem. 8. Eight words that describe the solution. If you stick to it, it tends to keep you focused on the plot and not wandering. Hope that helps!
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Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 5:40 pm
Wow...this stuff really got me inspired to write!!
Really good advice here!!
Unfortunately....I have to study for exams.. gonk
Stupid school... crying
Anyway...anyone have any REALLY good tips for writers' block? That's my main problem right there. I get stuck on one story, then I come up with an idea for some other thing, and then I get stuck on that, and then.....yeah....
It's a vicious cycle..... xp
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Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 11:12 am
You have to learn the rules of grammar, punctuation, etc before you can know how to break them and get away with it.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 1:25 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 1:28 pm
Yami_no_Eyes You have to learn the rules of grammar, punctuation, etc before you can know how to break them and get away with it. Urm... then what's the purpose of editors and beta readers?
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:34 pm
I've seen a lot of people who try to cram a broad subject into one poem. Love is huge. Death is huge. There's too much to say about them for one sonnet. So break it up a little. Write a poem for each part of how it affects you. If you've found somebody you love, write a poem about your first kiss, then a poem about dancing with them, and then a poem about how you could spend forever in their arms. Your list can go on for miles and be a never-ending supply of inspiration.
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