I find it kinda odd how people talk about writing “flawed” characters like the flaws are an afterthought
Like “cool cool we’ve got this perfect hero now to just sprinkle on some Irritability and Trust Issues then microwave for 6 minutes on high until Done”
But I’ve personally found it feels a lot more useful to just… think of the flaws as the Good Traits except bad this time
The protagonist is loyal? Maybe that means they have a hard time recognizing toxic relationships and are easily manipulated by those they want to trust
The hero is compassionate? Maybe they work too hard and overextend themselves trying to help people and then they refuse to ask for help when they need it themselves for fear of burdening others
They’re dedicated to their ideals? Maybe they’re also too stubborn to know when to quit and they have trouble apologizing for their mistakes
If they’re creative, they can also be flighty. If they’re confident, they can be arrogant. If they’re brave, they might be reckless. If they’re smart, they could be condescending. Protective can become controlling, and someone who’s carefree could very well also be emotionally distant
In my opinion, the best “flaws” aren’t just added on afterwards. The best flaws are baked in deep, ‘cause they’re really just virtues turned upside down
Anonymous Asked: “Hi! ♡ Prompts about reversed fairytales please.”
Anonymous Asked: “Hey there! Can I first just say how much I love your blog ❤ ❤ And I don’t know if this has been asked before but have you got any Urban Fantasy Prompts?”
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1. Goldilocks was imprisoned by the bears at a young age. This is the story of her escape.
2. When Beauty kissed the Beast, it didn’t turn him back into a human. Instead, it turned her into a monster.
3. Aurora was cursed as an infant: she will never be able to sleep, until she experiences True Love’s Kiss.
4. Peter Pan was rescued by a young girl named Wendy, who showed him an amazing world where people would change and grow, instead of staying the same forever.
5. Dorothy must find a way to get back to the magical land of OZ, where her parents still live. Her aunt and uncle kidnapped her as a child, and brought her to our world.
6. Tinkerbell is a reporter who writes for the tabloids. But since no one believes the tabloids, she must try to get a respectable reporting position… Before it’s too late.
7. The Lost Boys football team never seems to change over the years, but no one notices. Until Wendy Darling, a cheerleader for an opposing team, realizes.
8. Holiday Inc. is found in a skyscraper in the middle of New York. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and such have offices inside.
9. Sleeping Beauty is a nurse. She can always help the children who are afraid of needles.
10. Alice is exhausted after staying up all night studying, so she stumbles into an unfamiliar coffee shop run by a madman in a strange hat. Everything inside seems a little…. Off.
You ever write something and you think, “I’ve used this exact sentence structure/phrasing/convention approximately eight million times before but goddammit I’m going to do it again?”
That’s about where I’m at right now.
If artists are allowed to have a signature style, then so am I, motherfucker.
This is something that happens every day in your life. A shift of your eyebrow in skepticism, or the way your lip may twitch to a half smile cause you’re trying not to laugh. These behaviors are vital for writing in character, because not only do the allow you to visually see what is happening but it is also reaffirming whatever emotion your character is showing.
So why should you write it?
Much of human communication is non-verbal which means you need to also translate this non-verbal reaction in a post. It allows you to greatly enhance the emotions of another character and always another person to ‘visually’ see how they feel in a post. Most of all, this will add depth and volume to your post to make it feel more real. IT will make your character feel like a human instead of just another fictional person you look at from above.
Below you will find a list different type of emotions and what sort of body language can be exhibited to them.
Three ways to accent an action.
When writing about emotions, there are different ways to verbally write them out. Each one is unique in their own way, allowing you to show more about the emotion.
Emphasize the Emotion.
But doing this, you are expressing both the emotion and the body language. We’ll use a simple example. It’s short and simple yet you can sense he is happy.
John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall.
Complicate the Emotion.
Sometimes, even when you are feeling one emotion, deep down rooted underneath the facade of it all, there is actually an underlining emotion they feel. This is something you have to truly express otherwise no one will know.
John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall. However, it was obvious by the way his nose crinkled that he was disgusted by the actions beforehand. Instead, John covered it up by appearing pleased today.
Contradict the Emotion.
This is a little different than complicate. Contradicting means that you are claiming one thing when in fact its the other. In many ways, this has a variety of uses, from inner depth of the truth to what you see in person, or someone creating a wall. It could be considered a lie, but when is anything that easy?
John felt so happy that he was humming a tune while walking down the hall. In truth, once he was in the classroom, his shoulders slumped and a pout crossed his lips when no one was around, showing just how displeased he was with the situation.
Remember that you do not always have to contradict or complicate anything. Sometimes all you need to do is emphasize and that will be just fine. You don’t always have to have an underlining complicated for an emotion to make it more enhanced.
Do be afraid to use the Thesaurus to also improve an emotion. Such things as “happy” is a nice emotional word, but think of how much more powerful it is when you heard some is “overjoyed” or “content.” She how these emotions matched up with a body language can give two different styles of happiness? Mix and match to find what works best for your character at the time.
More In Depth Information
What I’ve stated above is more of a simplistic overview. IF you truly want to improve yourself, go to this
To see just how much body language can reveal about a person. You will find things such as how a person lies, how the eyes reaction, the positioning of a person in personal space, mouth, and head body language and so much more.
Use these resources to greatly increase the reactions of your character to another and create a more life-like world.
me as a writer: obsessed with being original, constantly worried that ill copy another artist by accident, i can’t use that phrase i saw someone use it on may 12th, 2014 and
me as a reader: happily reads 2349460283 different versions of the exact same plot
My roommate makes coffee in the mornings. She doesn’t drink coffee, but she says she loves the smell. The ritual. She always asks me how the coffee was. Confesses to mixing two different kinds of beans because she hadn’t checked before she measured out the water that there was enough of one kind. Her family is Catholic and I think confession is just in her blood. What number of Hail Mary’s is required for the mixing of coffee beans? I don’t know. I tell her that the coffee is delicious.
She broke a heart for the first time this year. And sitting in her chair in our living room like she always does, she looked different. I didn’t know what to do. I had never seen her hands so heavy. When I offered to make tea I was grasping at straws for a way to help, she still talks about it. That one time I made tea in the face of tragedy. I think she was proud.
In this house, we are not religious but the mundane is a reflection of the divine. The week I do all the dishes because she is barely making it through, my hands raw with scrubbing and prayer. The day she cooks and sits beside me to watch hours of TV while I cry my way through the end of a relationship, her hands blessing that food like a revival tent faith healer. When I’m sick, she always makes soup but pretends it’s just for herself, because I don’t like to be doted on. There is always a bowl left out for me…you know, in case I feel like it. it’s there. whatever. no big deal.
We don’t ever seem to talk about anything real in rooms. Instead we stand in the hallway, leaning into doorjambs like if we keep it all contained in these in-between spaces it won’t touch us when we sleep, eat, drink in our home. That hall is our confessional, she hears all my sins and I hear all her anxieties and we search for meaning as we nod and slouch our way to answers. Or not.
How many Hail Mary’s for all the times I tried to draw lines in the sand and regretted it, how many for all that tea she spilled so proudly, how often do we genuflect at the alters of shame and fear and anxiety and forgiveness…always forgiveness.
We are not religious, but our home is a church, a holy place where we say what is true. Where it’s okay to not be okay, where friendship means making tea, brewing coffee, where we say come in. stay. you’re home, here. you’re holy, here. you’re you, here.
How many Hail Mary’s for friendship? For family? I don’t know. Instead have some tea. Or coffee. I promise it’s delicious.
for the self-conscious beginner: No one makes great things
until the world intimately knows their mediocrity. Don’t think of
your writing as terrible; think of it as preparing to
contribute something great.
for the self-conscious late bloomer: Look at old writing as how far
you’ve come. You can’t get to where you are today without covering all
that past ground. For that, be proud.
for the perfectionist: Think about how much you complain about things you love—the mistakes and retcons in all your favorite series—and how you still love them anyway. Give yourself that same space.
for the realist: There will be people who hate your story even if
it’s considered a classic. But there will be people who love your
story, even if it is strange and unpopular.
for the fanfic writer: Your work isn’t lesser for not following canon. When you write, you’ve created a new work on its own. It can
be, but does not have to be, limited by the source material. Canon is not the
end-all, be-all.
for the writer’s blocked: It doesn’t need to be perfect. Sometimes you have to move on and commit a few writing sins if it means you can create better things out of it.
for the lost: You started writing for a reason; remember that
reason. It’s ok to move on. You are more than your writing. It will be here if you want to come back.
Question of Smoke 