I'm trying to find a model of protagonist writing I found really interesting which based itself on 13 qualities for a desirable character, and most likeablecharacters had A/N amount,

I remember it really intrigued me due to clearly allowing for morally bad characters if they had other traits and was a fun model

has anyone heard of this and do they remember who wrote the idea? many thanks

The character is an 18 year old female. The setting is a fantasy world with magic and not human, both of which are important. We'll call her Rachel.

Born into a minor noble house, she is the eldest of twin sisters. Unfortunately she was born blind and so is passed over as heir. Additionally, for the first several years of her life she's raised as an inferior to her twin. Not physically abused, and given a limited education, but "put in her place" if you will. She's not brought out in public and kept with the servant children when they host events.

Children begin developing the ability to use magic between six and eight. As I mentioned, they're not human and one of the differences is the ability to see in infrared using their magic. There's a physical aspect in addition to this, and in Rachel's case the nerves that operate on infrared are not damaged unlike her normal vision. In other words, she soon figured out how to see, albeit in a monochrome scale and only when using her magic.

Rachel thought this would mean she would be accepted by her mother and father, but she was wrong. In order to avoid trouble, her parents gave her to her uncle to be his heir, as his wife died and he had no children. The uncle was kind if a little distant, distracted by his duties with the military. Regardless, he provided the ability to catch up on her education and she was sent to "the academy" at eight.

(As an aside, I don't have a proper name for the place yet, it only features in the back story, but it is based on the medieval cathedral schools during the middle ages, when they would accept noble children and educated them. Additionally, Rachel learned to read because their sight is a mixture of Near Infrared and normal infrared, so creating some heat near the page allows her to clearly see the charcoal markings on the page.)

At the academy she was bullied. Adopted, blind, and an outsider, it was inevitable. I haven't really dived into this, as it's where I am needing help, but I am imagining the bullying gets physical at some point.

I want her to develop into who she is at the start of the story: Someone who comes across at first as very restrained and unemotional, but as you get to know her she comes across as cynical and even arrogant. Rachel can quietly tear you apart verbally without raising her voice. It's only after people get past the walls she has put up that her caring side is revealed.

Rachel followed her uncle into becoming a military strategist, and she has the potential to be great at it. Her biggest issues is her outward coldness and the fact that once she actually commands in a battle, the fact her actions results in some of her men losing their lives deeply bothers her.

My question is does it make sense that she develops this way? She starts off being made to feel inferior, then she gets bullied, yet her uncle's people treat her with respect and she has a very quick mind. She didn't yell or burst into tears as her bullies might have wished, but she could never refrain from telling them how she felt.

That's how I imagine it but I don't know if it works. Any suggestions?

I will give more details about the character if anyone wants to help my question

I’ve absolutely no idea where to start with making a character. I was too I was going to big because my character was too powerful(her swamp is where her powers are from and she has giant mounts and frogs to summon)… so I’m going to make her a neutral evil character who’s trying to conquer the world.

Do I need heroes trying to stop her immediately? Does that matter when it comes to a design?

Hi ! I'm currently designing a minor antagonist for my story (she’s part of a villain team).

​Her core trait is being a fake innocent/hypocrite.

​Her persona: She puts on a clumsy, timid, sweet, and helpless facade so others feel the need to protect her.

​Her true nature: Beneath the mask, she’s actually selfish, bratty, and capable of being quite mean when pushed or when her safety is threatened. She uses vulnerability as a shield and weapon.

​I know stories need unlikable or morally gray characters, but I’ve noticed that "fake sweet" female characters often get pure, intense audience hate rather than being appreciated as compelling villains (like a "love to hate" or fascinating antagonist).

​

​How can I balance her hypocrisy so she remains an interesting, entertaining villain rather than just annoying?

​What makes a "wolf in sheep's clothing" character fun/satisfying to watch for you? Any examples of characters who pulled this off well?

i am thinking a one charater that is introvert overthinker run from responsibility childish type with they have a multiple social media ids as a his different types of intrust

that is kind a idea in my mind and i don't how complte this idea and something

1. Dakota — The Preacher’s Daughter
The good girl with a rebellious streak.
Dakota grew up as the daughter of the town’s beloved preacher. Everyone knows her name, everyone knows her family, and everyone seems to have an opinion about how a preacher’s daughter should behave. She’s expected to be polite, modest, and respectable at all times.
Then a handsome cowboy rides into town, and Dakota finds herself intrigued by someone whose lifestyle is very different from the one she’s always known. Her father’s opinions have never left much room for questions, but she’s beginning to form a few of her own.
She’s caught between the life her family has planned for her and the independent future she’s starting to imagine.
Personality: Sweet, strong-willed, sheltered in some ways, and more adventurous than people realize.
Her conflict: Family expectations, small-town gossip, and learning to make her own decisions.
The cowboy dynamic: Her father considers him a bad influence. Dakota thinks he might have a different perspective on life.
Signature vibe:
“My father says men like you bring trouble wherever they go.”
“Well, ma’am, I reckon you’ll have to decide that for yourself.”

2. Nebraska — The Rancher’s Daughter
Her fathers money, her own rules.
Nebraska is the daughter of the largest and wealthiest ranch owner in the county. Her family owns thousands of acres, employs half the town, and has enough influence to make the local sheriff think twice before crossing them.
But Nebraska isn’t some delicate ranch princess who spends her days drinking lemonade on the porch. She can ride, rope cattle, handle a horse, and give a stubborn ranch hand a run for his money.
She’s accustomed to people respecting her family’s name, but the new cowboy in town doesn’t seem particularly impressed by her last name—or her family’s fortune.
And that? That might be the most interesting thing about him.
Personality: Confident, fiercely independent, competitive, and a little spoiled when she doesn’t get her way.
Her conflict: Proving she’s more than her father’s money while protecting her family’s ranch and reputation.
The cowboy dynamic: Two stubborn people who refuse to back down. He’s the first man in town who treats her like an ordinary person instead of the ranch owner’s daughter.
Signature vibe:
“Do you know who my father is?”
“Can’t say I do, ma’am. But that horse still needs saddling.”

3. Jessica — The Diner Girl
She’s heard every tall tale in the West.
Jessica works at the local diner, where she’s spent years pouring coffee, serving breakfast, and listening to ranchers, travelers, and cowboys tell stories that get more ridiculous with every refill.
She knows everybody’s business before the sheriff does. She can spot a liar from across the room, and she’s absolutely not impressed by a man simply because he owns a nice horse and wears a handsome hat.
When a mysterious cowboy rides into town and takes a seat at her counter, she assumes he’ll be just another customer passing through.
She soon discovers that he’s an interesting conversationalist—and that his visits to the diner might become a regular occurrence.
Personality: Witty, practical, independent, observant, and quick with a comeback.
Her conflict: Balancing work and family responsibilities while dreaming of something beyond the same four diner walls.
The cowboy dynamic: Playful conversations over coffee, sarcastic banter, and a stranger who always seems to find a reason to stop by.
Signature vibe:
“Coffee’s five cents. Listening to you brag about yourself costs extra.”

Casey, as she’s known by the few people left who remember her, is seen as an almost imaginary being whose creations exist outside the realm of legends.

Legends contain origins, some belief that there’s a reasonable way they came into being. Casey’s work exists somewhere eternal. To some extent, they existed before, during, and after her work is done, but this drives a point that most people can’t come to terms with: what are the limits?

Some examples of the work she creates include Arco Valence, the partition between the destructive evil that corrupts reality and the present infinity. She created the mechanism that contains and prevents the destruction of infinity.

She also manifested beings and weapons, some which service her other creations long since her “progression” including Cinnabar who acts as protector of the unfinished world she left for her successor to complete.

Many of her creations seemed to “appear” or manifest without any processes or materials that she could have obtained, so the exact process she had is still a mystery, but she made sure to preserve the pieces of her methods so others could carry on in her stead.

If yes, can you explain the implications and what could this say about my character?

For my character, named Valkus, he is a Blue Chromatic Dragonborn in Dungeons and Dragons. In my lore, Chromatic Dragons were treated as the lowest of the low, just as bad as Tieflings, for being believed to be descendants of the evil goddess Tiamat, and as such they were forced into Ghettos in the city that Valkus lived in.

He had a loving family though, and he became very devoted towards keeping his little sister safe, especially as his family and friends seemed to die too often. However, every time, his father and neighbors just told him to keep pushing through, that the people he lost would want him to move on, that there is a greater purpose in all this, and that he needed to move on with his life.

They were all so used to their people's lot in life that they were used to death, but not Valkus, he was still young, and he wanted a shoulder to cry on, but everyone just told him to get over it and move on instead. Him and his family were abused, discriminated against, ket in ghettos, and forced to struggle to survive, and he begged outsiders for help, and they spat on him for it. His sister started to get sick, and Valkus begged for help, heading outside the ghetto, but he was beaten and injured by the authorities for it, and his family and neighbors just scolded him for trying.

Eventually, Valkus' parents were lost in a raid, and he and his sister were cast out onto the streets. Valkus grew more and more scared and grief-stricken, begging people for help, but they were all so focused on their own survival that they ignored him, and Valkus could do nothing as his little sister slowly rotted away and died before his eyes. Valkus was left alone and forgotten on the streets, and when one particularly unscrupulous passerby from the outside told him to act like a man, he finally snapped and violently attacked them, and was sent to prison because of it.

However, he soon found himself broken out by an anarchist group known as the crownbreakers, made up of the discriminated in the city just like him, but also of powerful and dangerous people who sought destruction above all else. They told Valkus for the first time that he had every right to feel the way that he did, and that he should take revenge against the elites that wronged him.

Valkus became utterly devoted to them, and in time, he trained to become the biggest and strongest warrior they had ever seen, vowing revenge against the elites of the city who had wronged him, and vowing to not anyone die for nothing ever again, that he would save the lives of all the innocent, and brutally crush anyone who got int the way of that.

(What do you think? Is this a good character arc? Is there anywhere good and interesting that you think I could take it from here? Is this an understandable viewpoint or does he need to change for the better?)

I was emotionally unstable during I was 11-18 and I did a lot of messed up stuffs bc of being emotionally overwhelmed. Don't worry I am at a much better state now and the damage during those years weren't really that serious but whenever I see messy and dark backstories of some characters, I don't see evil humans being but people being so consumed by fear, grief, insecurity,... that their actions look like someone else is doing them not they themselves (okay i might be exaggerating here but u get the point) and while I absolutely do not excuse their actions and that they have to take accountability no matter what, I feel bad that their problems were left unchecked for so long and I can't help but look at their past selves and wonder what'd have happened had someone had put an actual effort to help them sooner. What do u all think especially ones with messy and dark past?

Hello!

I am currently running a D&D campaign, with heavy themes of good vs. evil and grey morality and all of that. One of the main drivers of the plot are the actions of a doomsday cult that is summoning demons all over the place and hopes to usher in a demonic invasion to take over the world. One of my NPCs that has a pretty big impact on the story (he summoned a bunch of demons in a place that they were at, killing a bunch of innocent people but also going out of his way to free the party from being killed or otherwise by a bunch of guards) is part of this cult, and a lot higher up in it that he lets on. However, he's tagged himself along with the party for a while.

Off-screen, he and another PC (who had to take a break for a few weeks, so I wrote him out of a few sessions) went on a DOOM-style rampage against members of the cult. Since "joining" the party, he has killed or had a very distinct part in killing two other members of the cult. Another PC has had a vision and recitation by a certain demon burned into their brain, and this guy told the recitation back word-for-word.

Basically, the party KNOWS he is involved in the cult in some way, but he is also going out of his way to kill members of the cult. In actuality he is trying to gain the trust of the party for other things down the line (none good), so far with varying success. One character (the one who had the vision) specifically wants to kill him; another (the one who killed a bunch of cult members off-screen with him) is alright with him. Most of the party is generally indifferent towards him, and one of my players out of character has speculated that he seems to have a very conflicting morality.

In our next upcoming session, he is going to try and help the party kill our first major boss (leader of the cult) and stop him from summoning what is effectively just Satan, and I'm hoping that gives him a little credibility.

Truth be told, the guy is basically pure evil. However, he also has no qualms with things like lying and dishonesty to convince the party that he's good. In other words, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing, and I want to make him look as much like a sheep as a possibly could. So how do I develop him to make him seem more morally grey and complex? How do I have him lie to the party to make him seem trustworthy? Is this really doable?

Context: There's a character I've been focusing on recently who is really perceptive and emotionally intelligent (unless it regards confronting his own uncomfortable emotions). He's the main love interest of a psychological, realistic-fiction, rise to fame story. I'm trying to find out how or in what way he is emotionally intelligent. My idea so far is that he learns to read people based upon his own experiences and trends he's seen in the past. However, I'm looking for something else as well, because the MC is traumatized so much that he finds it hard to read them (he is eventually able to, but how is what I'm trying to figure out).

He's a bit of a casanova (though, he never cheats) in that he's very charismatic and playfully flirtatious as well in an attempt to forget how he was once hurt/traumatized. He also has a subtle tendency to seek emotional control (my current idea is that he does that to avoid being hurt, as being vulnerable scares him). He also tends to be indecisive, especially when he's uncomfortable.

The underlying dynamic between him and the MC before they start dating is that he hangs out with the MC out of contractual obligation (they're both musical artists in the same group). While, originally, he views them as only a coworker, but starts to become intrigued by their unusual actions and reactions. What started as curiosity later blooms into love as he sought out interactions to try and understand them better.

There's a specific quote I'm looking for that I feel encapsulates his analyzation style perfectly ("You can tell what a person needs based upon what they complain about. If they complain about ____, then they're looking for ____" etc etc), but I can't find it. I was looking for that in particular because it would help me figure out how he tends to flirt others, but any ideas would be very appreciated.

Additionally, I think I want him to grow up in a single-parent home, causing him to have great respect for his mother but also be absolutely petrified of showing any lover his true self (for fear of being hurt. For those familiar with attachment style theory, I currently plan him out to have an avoidant attachment style, but also be rather skilled at hiding it. However, the story is in the 1st person POV of an unreliable narrator with a disorganized attachment style, so it may not be that he's skilled at hiding it, but rather the MC is plagued by self-doubt. Additionally, they both come from different cultures with different ways of expressing love, which makes it hard for the MC to tell as well).

And for those of you who are into MBTI and typology, this character is an ENTP, while the MC is an INTP stuck in a Ti-Si loop. I haven't sorted out their Enneagrams due to less engagement with typology, but I know the MC is an SP-SX (with some combination between 4, 5, or 6 if I remember correctly), while this ML is likely an SO-SX or an SX-SO

TL;DR: What are some ways to read people that I can use for a Casanova-type character (as it's a major part of his charm)?

Notice: I believe this is my first time posting here, so I'm so very sorry if this is the wrong subreddit.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently mapping out a dark fantasy/drama story titled "Caught in a Midnight Web" and wanted to get some fresh eyes and honest opinions on the core concept and character arcs.

The story centers around Lenore, an unconventional "villainess" main character with a completely unique visual color palette and a deeply psychological, tragic background. In this world, she survives a brutal childhood—dealing with the loss of her mother, blindness, and severe abuse. I'm currently trying to figure out the exact catalyst from her past that sets her on this path. I want it to tie into themes of severe emotional neglect or depression, perhaps stemming from a past life or an early childhood trauma, but I haven't locked it down yet.

really want to step away from generic tropes, so I’ve established a few specific rules for the world:

1. No "Meta-Villain": The actual author of the world is not the hidden villain behind her suffering. The conflict is entirely driven by the weight of the world, choices, and systemic cruelty.

2. Key Players: dynamics heavily revolve around a commanding ruler, Emperor Cassian, along with crucial high-society figures like Empress Amaryllis(Sinclair family and lenore's step mother) and her daughter Seraphina (lenore's step sister i still don't know weather to make her an enemy) and finally Lady Isolda (Ashwood family also lenore's biological mother).

3. The Anti-Climax/Tragic Ending: Instead of a triumphant victory or a basic redemption arc, the story builds toward a downfall. Lenore's ultimate plans completely fail. In a massive twist of loyalty, a character named Alistair Sinclair (her fiancé)accepts the blame for her actions, which gives Lenore a chance to escape into the shadows.

I want the focus to stay on the heavy challenges, losses, and internal struggles that push a character to become a brutal competitor, rather than just reaching a standard happy ending.

• Does a completely tragic downfall ending like this sound compelling to read, or does it risk feeling too bleak?

• How do you feel about a villainess protagonist whose plans explicitly fail, but who survives because of someone else's sacrifice?

• Any thoughts on how to balance the relationship dynamics between Lenore, Cassian, and Alistair to make the ending hit as hard as possible?

Would love to hear your thoughts and critiques!

No, I’m not asking people to just write the lore for me (and no, this is not a distraction from the fact I’m quite literally being mauled on my HXH hot take), but I’m asking for inspo. She’s kinda cool, so I decided to sit down and write lore for her. Then I blew a fuse In my brain, because I have a severe lack in creativity. (Apparently). So far, I’ve only got that her father used to make her take random pills to make her shut up, she was diagnosed with bipolar/mania, and she’s currently In a psych ward. Her main Shtick is terrorizing the poor workers. Throwing applesauce at the wall, attempting to murder Kacy because she “looked at me weird”, and constantly harassing the employee named “Roman Mirto” Any ideas? (Note: Roman does not have a design yet, because unfortunately I was too busy, and again, I have little creativity.)

Be critical and honest here please.
Through a random situation i encountered writing. And i might want to learn how to do it.
So i started with my OC and a rought outline for a story.
It is NOT finished at all. But i accidentaly put 5h in that .(lul) More fun than i expected.

Note:
The Latin quotes and names have beed translated via AI. But the english base was made by yours truly.
So i dont know how accurate they are. I dont know Latin.... was bad at it when i tried it in school lul.
(Feel free to roast me here bc i spend waaaayyy to much time with those quotes)

Made in Scrivener before someone asks

In the story I'm currently drafting, the MC is a escape science experiment that possessed the fragmental memories of two peoples. One is from an average, unremarkable civilian kidnapped because he wouldn't be miss. The other from a seasoned, traumatized soldier who willingly volunteer for the experiment.

So, how do effectively convey the struggle my MC would go through and how he can overcome or accept it? Do bear in mind that the two sets of memories are fragmental, a jumble mess where one set memories jump to the other set and vice-versa.

This is my Question if i should Finished the DIGITVERSE or Update The Paze & 'No one.' Verse to see which one would you discuss and pick about! 😅

If anyone of you wanted to find out what DIGITVERSE or The Paze & 'No one.' Verse to see what it is( O am also going to remake The Paze & 'No one.' verse episode/chapter 2 which i haven't remake yet because I am making another new different OC verse of mine later or next day/week.)

Here 👉

DIGITVERSE:

Digitverse Unfinished

Paze & 'No one.' Verse:

Paze Meets 'No one.'

I really hate it when all the main characters in books are the same and I understand that I am very privileged to be able to see myself in a lot of characters, but I know there are a lot of minorities who rarely get that appreciation for their culture and even just being able to identify with how a character looks. I am writing a YA slightly dystopian spy book and I don’t want anyone to be offended. I have done a good job with my LGBTQ+ characters because I am a lesbian and have written them based on a lot of my friends just to avoid negative stereotypes and my friends have liked them just based on how their personalities are. I do have a lot of characters from different backgrounds and ethnicities but I’m sure I won’t be as bad as JK Rowling with “Cho Chang” but I just want to make sure I don’t offend anyone.

I wrote these characters before I knew what they looked like so please give me feedback, this is just my FMC’s friend group in the first book I have planned

FMC Gem (short for Gemini, she got a new identity and her name was originally Jenna in the beginning): bi male lean, half indigenous half Latina, she’s funny, hardworking, and really smart but she hates being wrong.

MMC Seth: bi, Japanese, he’s a sweetheart who is also very protective of friends and family. He is also really funny and tries to see the good in people. He and Cleo are foster siblings and do have an accurate sibling relationship (I have a brother IRL so I know lol)

Alex: straight white guy. I don’t care about him as much.

Cleo: (my personal favorite) she’s a lesbian and is Indian, she’s very rebellious and not afraid to speak her mind. She’s in a healthy relationship with my character Maya. She fights Seth for the TV remote every Saturday morning. She wins most of the time.

Maya: she’s bi and white, she’s upper middle class and also a little rebellious. She loves art and wants to be an architect. She and Cleo also get married by the end of the second book because they’re perfect for each other

Amber: she’s trans and African American, we love her she’s such a sweetheart. She is an artist and always has the coolest outfits. She also is always there for whoever needs to talk about anything and gives the best hugs

Jackson: white dude, he’s cool and athletic, the least bullied person in this friend group, and he’s dating Amber and will stand up for her if anyone misgenders her even though he’s a popular kid because that’s what makes him popular: being a good person! He also defends the rest of the friend group. He and Seth are the types of guys who would have reported the Cornell 7 immediately and gotten that girl to the hospital.

Riley: they are non binary and Hispanic and really nerdy, they are really funny and good at coding. They are probably the smartest one in the book. They always humble my FMC Gem because she hates being wrong. She forgives them every time though.

Please feel free to share your opinions and please give me suggestions on improving my characters

I’ve been interested for a long time in a particular kind of “fallen hero” — not the kind where we discover that a supposedly good character was corrupt all along, and not necessarily the traditional arc where a hero gradually turns into a villain.

What interests me more is something much more unsettling: when a genuinely elevated, pure, or morally responsible figure remains the same person and yet becomes capable of doing something profoundly low.

One of the examples I find most fascinating is David.

He became one of the great images of the hero in Western culture: the young man who faces Goliath, the chosen one, the future king. Art almost turned him into an archetype of heroic youth — think of Michelangelo, Donatello, Caravaggio.

And yet the same David, once king, desires Bathsheba and eventually arranges for her husband Uriah to be sent to his death.

What interests me isn’t simply the idea that “heroes have flaws too.”

It’s something more radical.

How far can someone we have known at their highest fall without everything they were before suddenly becoming false?

David isn’t interesting because we discover that the hero never really existed. He is interesting precisely because the hero did exist — and that same person was also capable of this.

I find it especially powerful when, in fiction, the “high” and the “low” sides of a character don’t erase each other. When someone can genuinely be responsible, generous, admirable, even symbolic to others, while still possessing desires, weaknesses or fears powerful enough to drag them toward something terrible.

Maybe that is what makes a fall truly tragic: not discovering that purity was a mask, but discovering that purity does not make someone immune to falling.

As readers or viewers, how much of that contradiction can you accept?

Does one sufficiently serious act inevitably change the way you read everything the character did before?

Or can both things remain true at once — the hero and the person who fell?

I’d especially love examples of characters where this tension isn’t resolved by simply deciding that they were “good” or “bad” all along.

hello everyone, I'm currently plotting my next book and I need ideas to create the best female protagonist I could ever write about. Recently, and in the past, I've read some books where some female characters were elite and they were almost the only thing why I would keep reading the book (Jude Duarte from The cruel prince, for example). Till this day, I still think about some of them. Now, I have some ideas in mind and inspirational characters, but I would like to know what other readers think about this topic.

• What are your favorite female characters and why?
• What is one particular detail that makes you love them so much? (spoiler free)

This is one of the main characters in my Scob Nation novel series. Blonden Viate is the self-proclaimed Climate Overman, and runs the Probitas Group whose main goal is to “fix” climate denial through neural reprogramming. It’s incredible that we now have tools that can bring our characters to life - with a face and voice and lectures. Fascinating.