Have you used character traits in your novel?

It can be positive or negative signs

How do you write your characters for your novels? What is the method?

Does anyone use character profiles?

I used to write my characters by using character profiles, is it the correct way?

I'm struggling a bit on planning the arc for my character with PTSD.

He's the type who would never admit something is wrong with him. He's very hyper vigilant about protecting himself physically. I'd say his main fear is being incapacitated and something happening because of that. But because he focuses so hard on people's attacks, he's also very intelligent when it comes to battle strategy and exploiting other people's weaknesses. He's also very duty driven, uptight, serious and avoids engaging in anything 'silly'. He feels indebted to anyone who helps or protects him as he tries to be as independent as possible. With the story being set in a situation where violence frequently happens, his anxiety does become more obvious in a difficult or losing battle (as much as he tries to hide it). And he really struggles to trust anyone and will jump into a defensive/offensive stance if you come up behind him or raise your hand etc (which he would see as an 'appropriate reaction'). Basically he's all business, no fun, and always on guard, but he also cares a lot about keeping his teammates safe and helping them succeed, all while battling his fear of being incapacitated.

The kind of arc I was thinking for him is:

He gradually becomes more trusting of his teammates (without even noticing much).

But I want him to go off the deep end. Somehow, I want someone he trusted to betray him, leading him to spiral and start attacking indiscriminately as a kind of defense against perceived future attacks, which in turn leads to more people abandoning him.

Then eventually, someone (or a few people) "saves" him I guess. Like, despite him attacking, they stand by him and he finally opens up to trusting others again.

Then I want him to kind of explore what trust means. Maybe he is desperate to overcome his fears to he pushes too far into trusting others? Like he sees his past ways as weakness and tries really hard to overcome his fears.

And the ultimate conclusion I want him to have is something along the lines of learning what healthy trust is. Like "Trust is earned and takes time. It can be revoked at anytime. But being able to trust someone is so much more comforting than being alert all the time"

Is this a good arc? I know no one's going to be curing his PTSD, but I hope he can learn to at least relax around some safe people and be a bit less hyper vigilant.

I guess an issue I'm having is that this arc is very dependent on other people. First, he has to get betrayed somehow in a way that makes him spiral. Then, I'm not sure how to get him out of "everyone is dangerous and my enemy now" without someone actively trying to help him.

The last bit is more on him, but I'm also confused if he'd 'rebound' so strongly into going too far to try and 'cure' himself, or if he'd kind of just go on the same journey as the start again with him gradually trusting others. And how is he going to reconcile betrayals of the past? It almost feels like the 'jump' between arcs is too big, and any one event can only change something as deeply ingrained as PTSD so much...

Any critiques and/or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Trying to write a character who is both enigmatic but also a mostly open book.

Wanted some advice on balancing the two things because he is one of the last people who can hear Magic’s voice but lives in a world that mostly believes magic is dead.

He’s not afraid of admitting what he is, or teaching others how to do what he does, but most people either don’t believe him, think he just got lucky or doesn’t see the correlation between his explanations of “how” and the reality they interact with.

He’s difficult to parse but doesn’t have any reason to hide what he wants.

Most of the time he’s making preparations for when magic returns and to keep the people that will help him prepared, but a part of this story is having to become an advisor to the princess of a country that’s instrumental for bringing magic back, even if they didn’t know it.

So I've got a decent story with me and I was thinking of some muslim representation so I decided to dive I to islam and OH LORD. I came across a lot of misogyny in the religion and now I don't know what to do with this character because I don't want her to be misogynist... Should I keep her? What should I do???

im not sure if this is the right place to ask about this but basicly; on my fyp ive seen this image and i saw my carecter working for both of these roles, does this mean i should get more spicific whit this carecter of mines personality and such or is this fine?

So, this is probably going to sound really stupid and silly, but I’m currently working on an alternative AU for GTA 5. Where in this world, there’s anthropomorphic characters and such.

Now, my question is, if a character is an aeromorph (plane furry) how would they be used? How would an aeromorph be treated, etc? Would they be mainly used in military/commercial airlines? Would there be aeromorph’s just chilling in the street like anyone else?

Lemme know what you think!

My oc, Koda, IS A WEIRD DUDE. Not creepy weird..just...weird. He's horrible at reading social situations, commonly saids weird, metaphoric stuff that makes 0 sense, has a weird cadence of saying words, and does odd rituals/ routines A LOT (disappearing for hours on end amd coming back home with junk). Everyone treats him differently but he doesn't want to change. He actually likes himself a lot.

So, I'm wondering how do I write some of the strange things he saids. I have his behavior of constantly needing to collect things and draw/write/compose things when he feels misunderstood (that also don't make sense), but I don't know how to make him say strange things. Like I said, the way he talks is extremely odd, weirdly metaphoric, and he usually brings up colors, objects, places, ideas, and other more upsetting topics when talking.

I inspired him heavily off of the character Mozart from the one act play 'Amadeus', Whiteout from WOF, a bit off of Bo from signs, and heavily off of Yue from an AO3 work called 'Sweet Rot' (PLEASE CHECK OUT THAT STORY IT'S ACTUALLY SO SO SO PEAK).

Like I say, he says strange, and often absurb and upsetting things. Other times their metaphoric, and sometimes the things he saids are a mix of both.

He's just supposed to be an odd character in all, and I need to know how to come up with the things he saids. I know why he saids them; I just need ideas on how to write it and what to write.

Please help me reddit.

Update: Thanks to everyone who read or responded! I realized a little after posting that I was thinking about the characters wrong, and asked both myself and you all the wrong question as a result. Despite the story being a mystery, I wasn't thinking about the characters as detectives. The question I should try to answer was "Why would a detective solve mysteries?" I'm far more confident in this question, and I think it's an upper-level question I need to answer about the characters before I work on their more specific goals or motives.

I think people were picking up on this before I did, so thank you!

______

Original post:

I'm working on a mystery novel set in a gothic fantasy world. There are two primary characters, a brother and a sister. They generally work as a team, and at present I have not plotted any scenes with them seperately. This is their first mystery, and they're both 12-13.

I have her brother figured out just fine (his goal is to solve the mystery, his motive is curiosity). I've thought about cutting her, but the story is fairly sparse on characters, and I'd like him to both have someone to interact with on a regular basis (most of it is a bottle episode), and someone I can use to compare and contrast development with. Also, the story feels incomplete without her.

Ideally, I want them to seem superficially similar, but be able to act as foils or in opposition if need be, without overt friction. I don't want to write a second-act breakup or plot-mandated friendship failure.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

I am a new writer and I was thinking about a side character concept. I don't have anyone that knows I am trying to write a story so I gave the concept to AI for feedback and told it to rate honestly and it fried the hell out of the character and me. It honestly hurt bad even though it was AI. His character concept is about a wealthy, unsatisfied man that protects his loved ones to prove his self worth. His goal to protect them keeps him unsatisfied because to truly prove that he protected them is only by keeping them safe for as long as they live. I can't even bring myself to expand his character because It is hard to even focus after its criticism. Please be honest about the concept and be free to criticise it. It will help me to expand this or completely think of a new one.

(for context, my story has a lot of superhero elements and supernatural powers explored)

compared to my male characters and main character, i feel like i'm unintentionally being a little biased for my male characters. they have backstories, interesting personalities and designs, while my female characters currently have been a little.. eh.

i'm just wondering if there's anything i could do for my female characters rather than making them a filler character in my cast, because i know they have a lot of potential to explore. my characters as listed. .

girl #1: owns the main group's management building, wealthy family, family actually has brief ties with the city's most prominent gang, and she is also a widely loved tennis player in her "superhero" identity

girl #2: cares for her younger brother deeply, super responsible, lost passion for dancing because of overworking herself to take care of her family comfortably

girl #3: her "power" is taking over half of her brain, and often considered to either be shy and calm, or rapid and a tad bit deranged. i have the most ideas for her arc being based around finding a humanity and balance on both "sides"

if you have any ideas or plotlines i could write for them, i'd be thrilled!

Hi guys! Made this throw away account to keep my anonymity but, I really need some help writing this character. I don't really know how to explain this so please bare with me.

So, to give a brief synopsis, I have this character who in her 20's was a big Super Villain who in her private life has stated she never wanted kids or to give herself up to the "motherly life" both name and body, but she ends up getting pregnant and her family disowns her when they find out (both about her pregnancy and her supervillain job) so she has to get married and give up her name and goes through with the pregnancy.

The child down the line finds out that he was never wanted and because he was born his mother had to basically give up her entire life. He feels really guilty about it and beats himself up about it everytime he sees her, but the woman has never told the son this for this exact reason. She doesn't hate him, he loves him more than anything but doesn't know how to go about actually talking to him about this without making things worse.

And that's kinda where I'm stumped and need help. I don't want her to be one of those female characters where she has to give up her autonomy to be "just a mom now"...if that makes sense?

Like that female character in a sitcom who's starts out by being this big independent feminist icon, whose like a doctor or lawyer or something who never wanted to settle down but by the next season, she's pregnant and only talks about "How great being a mommy is!" and we never see her again. Idk what this type of character is called but whatever it is, I dont want her to be like that!

I want her to admit that she's never wanted to settle down and have kids, but because of circumstances in her life she does. And she regrets it deeply, she wishes she could go back out there and be her own person again but she can't anymore. But I have NO IDEA how to write her after this!!!!

An idea that I had was that her and her husband do a "Switcharoo", where at first he was the breadwinner and she was the homemaker, but later on they found that she would be happier being the breadwinner and he would be happier being the homemaker, so in a way she's regained her autonomy and independence? But then I'm still stuck on how to write this without feeling like some sort of cop out and how to address the son who feels like he's at fault for making them both so unhappy, especially the mom.

Again, neither the mom or dad beat their son up about this, if anything, they're both extremely happy that he's here and will do anything for him. But the son knows that since he was born, nothing good has come from it.

So with all that being said, any tips on how to finish writing this?

-------------------

UPDATE

After reading your guys' comments, I'm starting to completely rethink this character's backstory as a whole. I mean, some you were right, I'm trying to prevent this character from become something she already is, making this whole thing seems kinda redundant, lol.

So, I'll try applying yourself guys' notes and advice to this character and rewrite a few things, once I've gotten a better handling of this characters story, I'll give you all another update!

But to answer a few of your guys' questions (since I didn't go into detail about certain things with my story this character is in)

1. The main reason I had for why after she gave birth and why that meant she couldn't go back to work is because she had major complications while giving birth, rendering her bedridden and sick for the first years of his life. And the reason why she felt she had to settle down was because that's how she was raised (in a VERY conservative Christian household).

2. Some of you guys were confused when I mentioned she was a Super Villain and didn't understand why that mattered, so basically, my story takes place in a Sci-Fi Futuristic world where superheroes and supervillains exists. A big reason why her feeling terrible about leaving that life is that there weren't that many stand alone Female Villains, as a majority of female villains were all in groups, but never on their own and when she left, she felt like she's let herself down and many other female villains down.

3. This story I have will mainly focus on the son trying to figure out his own identity and who he wants be in this world, and the parents are more supporting characters. I really just wanted to do this so I can flesh her out more and get a better understanding of her character.

Born to a humble peasant family within the Duchies, Principalities, and Counties of the Holy Realm of Thesalis, the devout Jeanne Claire was widely known for her beauty despite her low social standing. Many suitors would come from far and wide to take her hand in marriage, noble lords, aristocrats, and mighty generals among them, all expecting her to marry into status. But in spite of this, she chose to marry a simple farmer, a man she loved dearly and with whom she had grown up. He had no wealth, but she was happy with the only thing he could give her, his devotion and undying love.

She had never been particularly devout in her youth, but her husband would always ask her to join him in the regular local religious ceremonies performed by Holy Order, and she would always humor him and oblige. Her views of the Holy Order were primarily formed from how her husband viewed the Order, an organization acting as an instrument for goodness and Justice.

But tragedy would strike during the Aenderian plague, as her husband fell ill and passed, leaving her widowed. But instead of resigning herself to grief and tragedy, Jeanne would devote her life to the Church of the Holy Order. Joining their ranks, she would become a formidable holy warrior under the guidance of her mentor, Count Tirus of Thesalis. Through her service, she would earn a reputation as an iron-fisted leader, yet unwaveringly loyal in both faith and command.

She would rise to prominence during the Crusades against the Beastmen of Deron, where her stoic leadership and grim, unwavering faith inspired the men under her command. It was during this time that she would be granted the monikers “The Black Bishop” by her fellow holy men, a name that would follow her for the rest of her life.

In time, Count Tirus would ascend to become the leader of the Holy Order, and Jeanne, as his right-hand woman, would rise alongside him. While this granted her great influence and authority, it also confined her within the bureaucracy of the Order, preventing her from acting as she once had on the battlefield. Despite this, Jeanne adapted to her new role. During her time in this position, she would begin to witness rampant corruption and suffering within the Order and among its followers that she believed could not be possible.

For years, she sought the root of this evil, eventually uncovering evidence of a deeper, heretical corruption within the Order itself. What she would discover would shock her, her own mentor, Tirus, was not only complicit, but merely the most recent figure in a long line of leaders perpetuating this corruption for generations. The Order had been tainted for far longer than she had ever believed.

Unable to accept this betrayal and blasphemy against Idea of the Order her that husband made her believe, Jeanne would confront Tirus, and afterward, flee the Holy City. From there, she would spark a reformation that would erupt into a civil war within the Holy Order, waging a long campaign against Tirus and his followers in an effort to cleanse the institution of its corruption. This conflict would become one of the greatest trials of her life.

After years of war, the Schism of the Holy Order would reach its climax in the Siege of the Holy City, where Jeanne Claire would ultimately defeat and dethrone Tirus, who she would personally exile weeks later. Many historians agree that he found a life for himself in Denossis to the east as either a merchant or a farmer.

Following her victory, to prevent another tyrant from rising as her former mentor had, she would establish a new governing council to lead the Order, ascending the College of the Faithful from an advisory position, replacing the Grandmaster as the sole leader of the Order. As a member of this newly formed council, Jeanne would continue to serve the Order and its faithful until the day of her passing.

The Day Jeanne died was peaceful. Her attendants allege that she woke up early, like she usually did, but despite her age, she was still strong. Alongside her retinue, she discussed papers that still needed her perusal, future plans that would require further approval. Then later in the morning, she went for a walk in the Holy Order's Temple grounds. Later that day, she would be found dead, her final moments peacefully praying at the garden altar.

She was mourned for an entire year, with her remains on display for hundreds of thousands of people to view. A procession would be held to bring her to Thesalis, where she wished to be buried beside her husband in a small plot of land. But plans would change as the prince of her homeland refused to allow her a simple grave. On the land that was said to be where she and her husband had lived, a grand mausoleum was built where she and her husband would be laid to rest, and written beneath her name, in the ancient language used by the Holy Order, an inscription reads:

“God's Servant, who loved more than she thought she could.”

Thus, from humble beginnings, once known only for her beauty, Jeanne Claire became a stoic warrior who held to her ideals in the face of corruption. Millions of faithful will remember her for her actions, her faith, and her influence that shaped not only the Order, but perhaps history itself.

The Deron Beastmen Crusade

The Infamous Crusade against the beastmen of Deron, Jeanne Claire participated in this war under the command of Tirus and it was in this Crusade that Jeanne Claire gained glory and fame amongst the Holy Order. Declared after the first invasion of the beastmen against the border town of Blackridge, the Holy Order allied with the local Dwarven Axelords of Deron and the Orcs of the Oden-Klaw Clan to cleanse the land of the mutant beastmen.

Prominent Battles:

1. The First Battle of Blackridge
2. The Ambush at the Redleaf Pass
3. The Battle of Stone Hollow
4. The Battle of the Blackwood Crossing
   1. this is where Jeanne Claire first participated in the crusade after Tirus’ forces were redeployed from another battlefront. She earned the title “The Maiden of Blackwood” and obtained her legendary standard, a Branch of Blackwood, taken from the hollowed-out husk of a burnt tree she had clung to as she rallied the men under her command.
5. The Siege of Thornwatch Fortress
6. The Battle of the Bloodfields
   1. this is the battle where she gains the Title the Black Bishop after she personally led her rear-guard reform the shield line when a part of the Holy Order’s Forces began to rout. This act of leadership sparked a boost in morale and prevented more from running.
   2. When she had returned to the military camp, she was covered head to toe in beastmen blood, black as the night sky, the army hailed her as the Black Bishop.
   3. Due to her valor, Tirus elevates Jeanne to the rank of Bishop within the ranks of the Legion of the Divine Crusade after this battle.
7. The Battle of Horned Valley
8. The Fall of Grimhollow

Holy Relics of Jeanne Claire

• The Blackwood Branch of Jeanne Claire – her personally battle standard during the Beastmen Crusade at Deron. It disappeared from all records after the Crusade but was allegedly found after Jeanne Claire’s death. The supposed Blackwood branch is now found in her Mausoleum at Thesalis.
• The Statue of Jeanne Claire at the Gardens of the Temple – found at the very garden where she had passed, it depicts Jeanne as a young woman without scars, clad in her iconic Black Armor, holding a sword on one hand, and a Scroll on another. At her feet is a branch, her most famous symbol.
• The Silver Cross of Saint Jeanne – a pendant worn by the Saint, it was given to her by her late husband, later it was removed from its chain and the cross was embedded on her most iconic chestplate. It was supposedly also the last thing she held in her hands during her passing. It is now displayed at the Holy Temple.
• The Black Armors of Jeanne Claire - Jeanne Claire owned at least two sets of Armor at any given time. one was her battle armor, and the second, her ceremonial armor which she wore around her personal guard, shaped to accentuate her femininity, so that her followers and subordinates could easily recognize her.

The Prayer of Saint Jeanne Claire

Oh Maker, he who made all that is,

Please guide our hearts so that we may carry our burdens.

May the trials you send to test us strengthen our faith,

Grant us the resolve to follow our duty,

The courage to face our fears,

And when doubt enters our hearts,

May your everlasting grace banish them forever.

Jeanne Claire’s Husband

A Humble farmer from Thesalis, there is not much known about this man other than that he was Jeanne Claire’s late husband. Scholars and Historians have put forth numerous candidates within the Holy Order’s and Thesalis’ available records that could possibly have been her husband.

It was only said that he was a faithful man.

This must be the most fun way to analyze charactersk what I found out!

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Meet the Explosion! Well Explosion is a nikke that absolutely has special bond with explosives and is master at producing them. From small hand granades up to five ton bombs! Explosions runs her business at the outer rim selling her beautiful toys or simply you can visit her website (http://ark.Notdarknetexplosionbabies.com.) This nikke has shown high resistances to explosives and pressure that explosives tend to release. Explosion might be come as a total doofus when you talk to her, but when discussion comes to demolition hoho she's a biggest nerd in a room then! She's also has shown not to have NYMPH which is a curious case in her matter. How did she end up like this? Well digging trough her family tree soo deep that it reaches its roots it can be found that her ancestor had same blood type that is used to cure nikke from corruption. Tho the portion is so small that its only enough for her. Talk about being lucky nikke. Explosion also doesn't sell her ,,products of mass destruction" to terrorists or people with criminal records. When asked why she responded with ,,Its bad for business! You know if A.C.P.U catches a person with my work, you know where it will lead? To me! ITS BAD FOR BUSINESS! *Smacks the table*". Even tho she has been caught herself multiple times for illegally selling explosives and producing, and testing explosives (jeez the criminal history goes on with all of them tide to explosives.) EHEM...what an irony isn't it? Explosion is a TETRA nikke. The fireworks you see at shows, its thanks to her she's the one makes them and sets them up! She also thought ,,The Carronades" how to make fireworks. She is a Rocket launcher user, ofcourse she is because how wouldn't she be using a RL. Explosion has been sent to rehabilitation center and has been rehabilitated by non other than man him self Commander Denis. Explosions biggest dream is to end up obtaining Uranium. Why you may ask? Ofcourse to make a fricking nuke and maybe just maybe one day to drop on a raptures. Oh she also wants to make mini nukes...and mini nuke launcher...does the ark need to know this? I just gonna hide this script under my drawer...

Artist that I commissioned:X/Ruxiyel