The first 500 people to use my link skl.sh/briellewrites07241 will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare premium! Thank you again to Skillshare for sponsoring this video, dream come true 💌
I love the one about describing character appearances through the lens of the MC. My MC has an insecurity over people with bright, coloured eyes like blue and green, so he sees them more negatively or suspiciously for example
😆 the novel takes place in an era with a lot of superstitions so I tried to give him a few too lol. (I really love your videos BTW 🫶🏼❤️ binging since the 1st of July :D)
I watch a lot of these videos, I tend very opinionated, half the time I don't even agree with advice given by professionals so I'm especially leary of "newcomers." Having said that I especially like what you had to say about your protagonist's subjective view on attractiveness, and how it's tied into her emotional state, in addition to your assertion that characters should be more complex than a handful of character traits in a word document. It shows you're not just playing lip-service to complexity and appreciate it for its own sake. Sidenote: did you know at least one study showed we find people more physically attractive the more time we spend with them. I don't know for sure your characters spend a TON of time together, since they're enemies, but it makes sense that she would find him more attractive over time. Even in the most basic sense. Some things I would keep in mind: I don't think a character flaw needs to be a "flaw." As in something that potentially ethically undermines your character. It just needs to create tension for them. So it can be something that's completely acceptable to your audience, but not to the characters' culture. Or their strengths and weakeness (being assertive, for example) can be the exact same thing. Some people will argue that this isn't enough, in my experience, as an observer, it's all you need. Because this is all relative anyway. As long as it incites tension it's enough. If your character seems "too perfect" it's because you haven't thought enough about what obstacles they would come up against realistically. People will say "clumsiness" is not a flaw. It absolutely is if it makes you look incompetent. If it strains public perception in a fragile political environment, or costs you a minimum wage job. It's a formative issue for Powder early in the Arcane series. When you take a loose cord out of a bag the wire is always tangled. Characters that are "too perfect" are immune to that kind of entropy regardless of how much pampering they get from the other characters. It's why the villains plans always work. Character traits are inherently conditional. The more conditions you seek out the better defined your character will be. You can have a character who would do absolutely anything for their mother, but draws the line at putting a close friend in the ground. Any reason they give will flesh out the character. Maybe they value friendships more than they thought; perhaps they don't have many friends, and that could even be her fault. Maybe they made that friend a promise. Maybe they made their mother a promise, that they wouldn't let her cross a certain line. Maybe they're just tired of doing things for her, or tired of people getting hurt. Maybe it's all of those reasons, or none of them. Which leads me to two more points. The more reasons you character has for doing something the more complex they'll seem (as long as they have viable alternatives) this is because the audience will miss things, if any of them are reinforced then they might be surprised to learn that the reason they understood was not the only reason. I'm not saying it's necessary to find the maximum number of justifications for a given action. It simply helps to have a few, and let the audience decide which was the most instrumental if any. Instead of always focusing on your characters' changes, maybe consider instances where the audience is likely operating under a misconception about the character based on "standard operating procedure" - and disabusing them of that.
You reminded me of something, Brielle. What I was going to do on a second-draft pass of one of my projects was incorporate more environmental effects on characters' condition, i.e. rain, dust, wind, indigestion after a meal. That will be part of the third-draft pass now. Thank you. :)
This was insightful! Since the main character in this project i just started is more or less a child, he is malleable enough to be shaped by the events that happen to him and around him. This is easier to start out with in my opinion, especially since I'm a "gardener" according to GRRM's classification. He leaves his childhood home (which he doesn't know is a religious cult) with nothing but a congenital sense of morality!
I really needed this! I’m a chapter or two into my first draft and wanted to dive a little deeper into my characters personality to hopefully find the right voice for her. I definitely also realized after writing a chapter or two she was not who i thought she was and i needed to figure out just exactly what she’s like! Everything mentioned is and was so helpful, thank you for these tips! ❤
Very great advice. I'll use this info to better understand my characters and who they are. The routines and core memories is a good idea to comprehend my 3D character / make them feel realistic
Wow!! This was so helpful to me! I had been struggling to flash out one of my characters. One of my main characters is a female, she was the most difficult to figure out, and I'm not sure why that is. But watching your video oh my God I started writing things like crazy with your great examples and you really helped me to flush her out and I appreciate you very much.❤️
I 100% agree with what you said about personality ‘traits’ feeling flat! (And basically everything else in this video). My favorite way to approach characters is to think of every ‘trait’ as the manifestation of a coping mechanism. A sweet character shouldn’t be sweet 24/7, she’s sweet in specific circumstances because that’s the way she’s learned to handle specific emotions. The same goes for someone who’s broody, impulsive, cautious, self-sacrificing, etc.
@@eggggsbenedict ooooh I love that!! Exactly. Plus one of my favorite things to play with is when the characters break out of those “traits” (either because they’ve grown or reached some sort of breaking point)
I don't want to stomp on your toes, but that seems reductive to me. Being sweet doesn't have to be triggered by an automatic defense mechanism. It makes it sound kind of robotic, or vaguely disengenuous. Manipulative even.
@@futurestoryteller I could see that, however what I’m trying to describe isn’t really a robotic instant response OR an intentional decision on the character’s part (although both of those interpretations could make for interesting character traits, just not ones that could be simply described as “sweet”). What I’m talking about is less of a situational thing and more so that a character being “sweet,” or anything else, isn’t an inherent quality of a person that manifests in every situation, or a static trait unaffected by experience. We can only know a character has a trait because of their action/words/thoughts, all of which are reflections of some deeper worldview. The fact that a character is sweet doesn’t actually say much about them. WHY they are says a TON. Sweet isn’t a trait that can exist in isolation. Are they sweet because they’re an optimist and see the best in people? Where does that belief come from? A past experience with a loving family? Or maybe they’ve actually had a really hard life and their optimism is all that’s keeping them going? Are they sweet because they care about other people’s perspective of them and don’t want to accidentally hurt people or scare them away? Here they also care about people and want others to be happy, but it speaks to an inner insecurity in a way the other explanations don’t. Or maybe their sweetness is merely an extension how they were raised and the culture they grew up in? To them, treating other people with almost reverent kindness is just what a person does. Or conversely they might treat everyone with so much care as an active form of rejection to a culture that values a might makes right mentality that they had to break free from. All of these what ifs lead to very different characters, none of which could be fully encompassed by describing simple traits, and all of which would act “sweet” in slightly different ways. Sorry for the essay response lol, but that’s the actual point I was trying to make here.
@@eggggsbenedict Yeah, this reminds me of a recurring thought I've had recently that any element in a story for a writer should potentially be taken as opportunity to tell another story. Not like a subplot, but maybe like maybe it's just stories all the way down, you know? And that's how you do it - the right way. As a basic story everything is structured somewhat linearly. It's all, "This. Because of this. Which means _this."_ Then the theory is you do that with *everything.* An example would be Bethany loves chocolate chip cookies, because as a child her mother convinced her to help bake them whenever Bethany was sad. Her mother's now passed, which means chocolate chip cookies trigger warm memories that make Bethany sad. This also means Bethany has a conflicted relationship with chocolate chip cookies. Which possibly means she has a more complex relationship with baked goods than most fictional characters have with each other. Despite this promising observation, I think I mostly abandoned the idea because, for one, it sounded kind of self-important, _and_ it sounded perhaps unrealistic. Like maybe Bethany can just like cookies with chocolate chips in them. Even in a story it might not be important for _everything_ to be a grand reflection, or observation. Which could also get quite tedious, no? I don't know, maybe I'm teaching myself the wrong lessons. But I don't want to disappear down my own navel either. That seemed like the danger there, for me.
@@futurestoryteller One of my favorite parts of writing is this exact thing-building characters out of a whole bunch of little stories they tell themselves. It’s definitely an easy way to get stuck in a rabbit hole though. Going into every little detail can be fun, but also a huge waste of time if it’s not relevant to the plot, character arcs, or themes of the story as a whole. You’re right that it’s super easy to go off the deep end and sound pretentious without actually doing good, meaningful characterization too. Execution is everything. Too much can feel like a ham-fisted philosophical info dump rather than a legitimate peek inside a character’s head, but not enough can leave them feeling like shallow archetypes.
This is such a treasure trove of good tips!! I'm developing new characters for the first time in a while and i'm so excited to put some of this to use ❤ (also ty for the kind words!! 🫶)
The first 500 people to use my link skl.sh/briellewrites07241 will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare premium! Thank you again to Skillshare for sponsoring this video, dream come true 💌
I love the one about describing character appearances through the lens of the MC. My MC has an insecurity over people with bright, coloured eyes like blue and green, so he sees them more negatively or suspiciously for example
Interesting!!!
😆 the novel takes place in an era with a lot of superstitions so I tried to give him a few too lol. (I really love your videos BTW 🫶🏼❤️ binging since the 1st of July :D)
this was such a helpful video -- loved how you broke it all down! I also love it when characters have consistent drink orders lolol
@@AriBPK right!!! it’s so endearing for some reason lol
I watch a lot of these videos, I tend very opinionated, half the time I don't even agree with advice given by professionals so I'm especially leary of "newcomers."
Having said that I especially like what you had to say about your protagonist's subjective view on attractiveness, and how it's tied into her emotional state, in addition to your assertion that characters should be more complex than a handful of character traits in a word document. It shows you're not just playing lip-service to complexity and appreciate it for its own sake.
Sidenote: did you know at least one study showed we find people more physically attractive the more time we spend with them. I don't know for sure your characters spend a TON of time together, since they're enemies, but it makes sense that she would find him more attractive over time. Even in the most basic sense.
Some things I would keep in mind:
I don't think a character flaw needs to be a "flaw." As in something that potentially ethically undermines your character. It just needs to create tension for them. So it can be something that's completely acceptable to your audience, but not to the characters' culture. Or their strengths and weakeness (being assertive, for example) can be the exact same thing. Some people will argue that this isn't enough, in my experience, as an observer, it's all you need. Because this is all relative anyway. As long as it incites tension it's enough. If your character seems "too perfect" it's because you haven't thought enough about what obstacles they would come up against realistically. People will say "clumsiness" is not a flaw. It absolutely is if it makes you look incompetent. If it strains public perception in a fragile political environment, or costs you a minimum wage job. It's a formative issue for Powder early in the Arcane series. When you take a loose cord out of a bag the wire is always tangled. Characters that are "too perfect" are immune to that kind of entropy regardless of how much pampering they get from the other characters. It's why the villains plans always work.
Character traits are inherently conditional. The more conditions you seek out the better defined your character will be. You can have a character who would do absolutely anything for their mother, but draws the line at putting a close friend in the ground. Any reason they give will flesh out the character. Maybe they value friendships more than they thought; perhaps they don't have many friends, and that could even be her fault. Maybe they made that friend a promise. Maybe they made their mother a promise, that they wouldn't let her cross a certain line. Maybe they're just tired of doing things for her, or tired of people getting hurt. Maybe it's all of those reasons, or none of them. Which leads me to two more points.
The more reasons you character has for doing something the more complex they'll seem (as long as they have viable alternatives) this is because the audience will miss things, if any of them are reinforced then they might be surprised to learn that the reason they understood was not the only reason. I'm not saying it's necessary to find the maximum number of justifications for a given action. It simply helps to have a few, and let the audience decide which was the most instrumental if any.
Instead of always focusing on your characters' changes, maybe consider instances where the audience is likely operating under a misconception about the character based on "standard operating procedure" - and disabusing them of that.
You reminded me of something, Brielle. What I was going to do on a second-draft pass of one of my projects was incorporate more environmental effects on characters' condition, i.e. rain, dust, wind, indigestion after a meal. That will be part of the third-draft pass now.
Thank you. :)
Yay!
Honestly, great timing. I'm brainstorming a new side character and this is very helpful.
@@NiveaK. yay!!!
This was insightful! Since the main character in this project i just started is more or less a child, he is malleable enough to be shaped by the events that happen to him and around him. This is easier to start out with in my opinion, especially since I'm a "gardener" according to GRRM's classification.
He leaves his childhood home (which he doesn't know is a religious cult) with nothing but a congenital sense of morality!
Sooo much good stuff! I feel like I never do my character work until revision so this is perfect timing 😊
@@alyssa.and.the.books. yay!!!! Love that
I will for sure add family dynamics and insecurities / how a character changes their self-value. Great video these are interesting questions
I really needed this! I’m a chapter or two into my first draft and wanted to dive a little deeper into my characters personality to hopefully find the right voice for her. I definitely also realized after writing a chapter or two she was not who i thought she was and i needed to figure out just exactly what she’s like! Everything mentioned is and was so helpful, thank you for these tips! ❤
so glad it was helpful! best of luck with crafting your character, you got this!
Perfect timing about to start character planning
Yay 🕺🏼
Very great advice. I'll use this info to better understand my characters and who they are. The routines and core memories is a good idea to comprehend my 3D character / make them feel realistic
THANK YOU BRIELLE!!
@@bluebookstufff 💖💖
Wow!! This was so helpful to me! I had been struggling to flash out one of my characters. One of my main characters is a female, she was the most difficult to figure out, and I'm not sure why that is. But watching your video oh my God I started writing things like crazy with your great examples and you really helped me to flush her out and I appreciate you very much.❤️
Yay! That’s so great to hear
I love the detail-oriented tips ❤ the goals and misbeliefs are very important to keep in mind
This was such a great video! I definitely need to consider some of these questions with my characters in my Camp NaNo project
Yay!!
Your character template and tips are very helpful. 😍
Yay! ❤
your tips + skillshare class = new york times best seller
also you look so great in the necklace bestie
Thanks bestie ❤️❤️ so obsessed w the necklace 😍
Great video!!! So many useful tips! ❤
RUNNINGGGG to skillshare
@@micslibrary 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
Thanks for your help!
Glad it was helpful!!
I 100% agree with what you said about personality ‘traits’ feeling flat! (And basically everything else in this video).
My favorite way to approach characters is to think of every ‘trait’ as the manifestation of a coping mechanism. A sweet character shouldn’t be sweet 24/7, she’s sweet in specific circumstances because that’s the way she’s learned to handle specific emotions. The same goes for someone who’s broody, impulsive, cautious, self-sacrificing, etc.
@@eggggsbenedict ooooh I love that!! Exactly. Plus one of my favorite things to play with is when the characters break out of those “traits” (either because they’ve grown or reached some sort of breaking point)
I don't want to stomp on your toes, but that seems reductive to me. Being sweet doesn't have to be triggered by an automatic defense mechanism. It makes it sound kind of robotic, or vaguely disengenuous. Manipulative even.
@@futurestoryteller I could see that, however what I’m trying to describe isn’t really a robotic instant response OR an intentional decision on the character’s part (although both of those interpretations could make for interesting character traits, just not ones that could be simply described as “sweet”). What I’m talking about is less of a situational thing and more so that a character being “sweet,” or anything else, isn’t an inherent quality of a person that manifests in every situation, or a static trait unaffected by experience.
We can only know a character has a trait because of their action/words/thoughts, all of which are reflections of some deeper worldview. The fact that a character is sweet doesn’t actually say much about them. WHY they are says a TON.
Sweet isn’t a trait that can exist in isolation. Are they sweet because they’re an optimist and see the best in people? Where does that belief come from? A past experience with a loving family? Or maybe they’ve actually had a really hard life and their optimism is all that’s keeping them going?
Are they sweet because they care about other people’s perspective of them and don’t want to accidentally hurt people or scare them away? Here they also care about people and want others to be happy, but it speaks to an inner insecurity in a way the other explanations don’t.
Or maybe their sweetness is merely an extension how they were raised and the culture they grew up in? To them, treating other people with almost reverent kindness is just what a person does. Or conversely they might treat everyone with so much care as an active form of rejection to a culture that values a might makes right mentality that they had to break free from.
All of these what ifs lead to very different characters, none of which could be fully encompassed by describing simple traits, and all of which would act “sweet” in slightly different ways.
Sorry for the essay response lol, but that’s the actual point I was trying to make here.
@@eggggsbenedict Yeah, this reminds me of a recurring thought I've had recently that any element in a story for a writer should potentially be taken as opportunity to tell another story. Not like a subplot, but maybe like maybe it's just stories all the way down, you know? And that's how you do it - the right way.
As a basic story everything is structured somewhat linearly. It's all, "This. Because of this. Which means _this."_
Then the theory is you do that with *everything.*
An example would be Bethany loves chocolate chip cookies, because as a child her mother convinced her to help bake them whenever Bethany was sad. Her mother's now passed, which means chocolate chip cookies trigger warm memories that make Bethany sad.
This also means Bethany has a conflicted relationship with chocolate chip cookies. Which possibly means she has a more complex relationship with baked goods than most fictional characters have with each other.
Despite this promising observation, I think I mostly abandoned the idea because, for one, it sounded kind of self-important, _and_ it sounded perhaps unrealistic. Like maybe Bethany can just like cookies with chocolate chips in them. Even in a story it might not be important for _everything_ to be a grand reflection, or observation. Which could also get quite tedious, no?
I don't know, maybe I'm teaching myself the wrong lessons. But I don't want to disappear down my own navel either. That seemed like the danger there, for me.
@@futurestoryteller One of my favorite parts of writing is this exact thing-building characters out of a whole bunch of little stories they tell themselves. It’s definitely an easy way to get stuck in a rabbit hole though. Going into every little detail can be fun, but also a huge waste of time if it’s not relevant to the plot, character arcs, or themes of the story as a whole.
You’re right that it’s super easy to go off the deep end and sound pretentious without actually doing good, meaningful characterization too. Execution is everything. Too much can feel like a ham-fisted philosophical info dump rather than a legitimate peek inside a character’s head, but not enough can leave them feeling like shallow archetypes.
Hola como la ustaria que fuera la vida
Hola guapa, que cosa cambiaria en la vida
loved this, it was so thorough and helpful!!!!!🥹🥹
Yay 🥹❤️
This is such a treasure trove of good tips!! I'm developing new characters for the first time in a while and i'm so excited to put some of this to use ❤ (also ty for the kind words!! 🫶)
Yay! Thanks Lynn ❤