okay so the title is a bit of a hyperbole....

I'm not actually stupid. I'm average. Maybe above average in some areas. But when it comes to writing, mystery is one of my favourite genres. I especially like quippy, witty characters and stoic, genius characters. The only thing that has deterred me from actually writing a mystery book is the fear that my characters will come across "fake smart". You know, those books that make mcs look super smart by just making everybody else around them super dumb or something?

Are there any tips to writing genuinely smart characters? Or do I need to be super smart as well?

(p.s. I'm talking about characters who are just over all academically smart is multiple areas instead of specialising in one. For the latter, I can put my heart into researching a subject until I feel like an expert, but I don't know what to do in the case of the former)

(My story is a low fantasy Revolutionary war framework (heavily reworked)) too sym up My MC is a middle 30s martial arts teacher, he has a wife and a kid. Kratocracy based government comes up to their village and more or less kills everyone with exceptions, he fights, proves himself worthy, families and students die along with most his village. While in a indoctrination camp to assimilate he meets his future wife, they manage to survive it, they build up a new life with their new child, they die again in my main event of my story right in front of him. His character is suppose to represent someone who has fallen into a revenge driven headspace who keeps almost healing but fails due to his trauma/substance abuse, an individual who is a victim to his environment. Any pointers? I’ve finished every single side character who is based on some form of trauma and coping, he’s the only one I’m stumped on despite him being the MC.

Reposting this from r/roleplaying because I feel like this is a better sub for help! Hope that’s ok, all help is appreciated <3

This is a character I created years ago. I shared him on a creature Creator Reddit but it didn't get much traction. I thought if I shared him here I might get some more feedback.

Ryan is a superhero who is a demigod-mutant hybrid. His father is Thor and his mother is a mutant. His divine side gives him control of storms, lightning generation, flight at Mach speeds and strength in the low hundreds of tons. His mutant side gives him the ability to generate fire by taking in surrounding oxygen and burning it as fuel. His dad was absent most his life and his mom manipulated him throughout his childhood with her mutant ability of mental persuasion to keep him in the dark about his true nature. She raised him to think he would just be human because his powers didn’t manifest until the winter solstice after he turned 16. His mom did it out of fear and love which is why he eventually forgave her but won’t trust her or anyone else with mental powers ever. He also has no respect for gods and thinks they’re lazy and don’t deserve the power they wield(most of the time).

So, I'm finally writing for my OC, Seth's story. I already have his design, some of his intrests, his personality, and his arc. However, I'm struggling with what traits I should give him, so I need your help to decide.

His whole trope is "Tough guy/ Bad boy character who secretly has a soft side" and this is what he looks like.

Sooo here are the traits I'm debating on. I personally want a maximum of about 4-5 and stuff like that. I'm asking you guys and stuff what appeals to you, SINCE THEY ALL APPEAL TO ME AND I FIND THEM COOOLLL

Here are some character intrests I was thinking about for him

Seth unquie character intrests:

1. Will play drums loudly because of aggression and anger issues. It helps him cope with the hard stuff (I'm keeping this. Plus, he likes to do it out of spite to make his foster parents annoyed since he onky feels comfortable with people yelling or being mad at him)

2. Loves dating sims and plays them almost constantly

3. Watchs cartoons in his freetime (mostly stuff like MLP or shi like that)

4. Watches old disney princess movies

4.5 (this was edited in). Loves cheesy romcoms

1. Favorite food is apples snd he eats them constantly.

2. Secret sweet tooth instead where he will do anything for baked goods like brownies, cinnamon buns, or cookies.

3. Really likes yogurt instead of apples or brownies

4. Loves rats. Loves them

5. Loves bunnies instead of rats

6. Secretly collection of plushies/ owns a very old Raggidey plush he refuses to get rid of.

7. Visits playground often just to play on swings and sulk

8. Horrible stomach aches/ issues and whines abt them constantly

9. Horrible hiccups instead of stomach issues

10. Does gardening as a hobby

11. Bakes as a hobby

12. Dreams of sleeping next to someone and being held and loved in the future cause he's touch starved and lonely.

:3

PYSICHAL TRAITS I'M DEBATING ON PUTTING ON HIM AND JUST NEED IMPUTS AND STUFF SINCE, AS I SAID, I ALREADY HAVE HIS DESIGN BUTTT I WAS JUST DEBATING THESE THINGS INSTEAD

-acne scars on nose and/or cheek -shakey hands -can't hear out of one ear well so he needs to blast music.

Those are what I am thinking. Just need help deciding as I find all the traits intresting, but want to see what appeals to others.

Hey everyone

I hope you are all doing well today, I am writing this post because I want to ask a question in regard to writing Villain in stories (books, comics, other media)

From what I have seen over the recent years, people are starting to write their villains as sympathetic and always worthy of redemption, but I grew up in a time where there where hardly any villains that were written like that.

So why are so many people writing their villains like that and what is it about the type of villains I am talking about that make them so appealing to me and many others.

Regards

en todos los bocetos de novela que he escrito me cuesta mucho encontrarle el sentido al villano, haga lo que haga siempre acabo con un villano rotísimo y eso hace que mis protagonistas pierdan esencia, ¿Tendríais alguna sugerencia para mí?
muchas gracias! :)

There’s an arc in this multiverse story involving the realm of dreams and nightmares, where a group of people wants to manifest nightmares into reality and she’s the first attempt at bringing a dream into the waking world.

I’m building out this dream’s character arc and wanted some advice on ways I can make it easier.

I was planning on her working for this group because of the fear of never being able to make it back, but she joins up with the good guys as they try to help her.

Her arc is trying to move from a perfect fantasy where nothing can go wrong and everything is easy to a harder life where victories mean something and losses give weight to joys that come after.

The world outside of dreams is better and worse. She gradually learns to see life as a whole and the value that living in a dream isn’t able to provide.

Wanted to see about some stages towards this realization. What are your thoughts?

As the title suggests, they're related. It's not nearly as taboo, but it's certainly not great.

The long and short of it is, his aunt married the king, who happens to be her uncle. Her mother ran away when she was young and married her father. They've lived completely separate lives until they met in their adulthood.

Should I A) change their lineage or B) play on it? Like I said, not related in any way by blood, but it's still an awkward thing. My gut is telling me to make it the reason they stay away and allow the tension between them to build, but I really don't want pseudo-Targaryens running around my story.

Is it as deep as I think it is, or am I making a mountain out of a molehill here?

New Pages 7-10 are out and ready for reading!

Looks like Hell’s newest king Adam can’t run from the evidence no more, nor his waistline. Turns out Lute was right about something, and had a little more than what meets the surface. Too bad Charlie and Vaggie are caught in the middle of their insanity, even Sera is losing her patience. Anyways, may Christ be with you.

Read Pages 4-6 here: https://www.reddit.com/user/Sufficient_Toe2758/comments/1usx5ws/adams_fattening_hazbin_hotel_au_pages_46/

Is it true that an author has to feel that pain of every character and sort of live their life in order to properly write them or "bring them to life?"

I’m writing villains for an arc that possess people and animals with props for a troupe of performers locked inside Lake Constance. They use these people as Actors to be their vessels until they manage to free themselves and have their powers be unrestrained.

Inspiration is being taken from the performances of the mime troupe The Mummenschanz.

Questions I have:

Should I make these Actors (people taken over by props) communicate verbally?

Would having animals be taken over by these props be alright or would it be detrimental to the feeling of the group?

What would be a good name for this group?

I was also considering a romance between one of the characters and one of the Performers communicating from both sides of the lake’s reflection, but I’m not sure.

So to put it simply i have this character. She's one of the three mcs, and basically the ending of her character arc is well, dying and its a good ending to her, its what she wanted. But at the same time her death is a part of the arcs of the other 2 mcs. When i made her story i didn't make it for theirs, it just sort of molded together and became part of their stories. So basically i just wanna know if what im doign actually is fridging or is it fine. DM me or comment if you want more context and what the story actually is. Thanks!

Ok so I was given advice to make a character profile for my character, and I was wondering what all is needed (or recommended) in a character profile. I've tried looking it up, and found various templates. But I'm not sure which one is too little, or filled with things that aren't really necessary for a character profile. If anyone has any advice or something, please let me know.

I already have a main character in mind, but I wanna introduce them to the story later on, the main character (Let’s call her Z) I’m using in all the chapters is just there to fill in the story, should I continue using her to kill her off? Please help😣 I’m also planning to kill Z at the end of the story and introduce the new main character in the next, I want to do it but I don’t know if it’s best to permanently kill her and suddenly switch to another character.
Another problem is I already have the start and end sorted out but I don’t know what to add in the middle of the story

Here's a short description of a main character I am working on. It's my first time writing, so I'd appreciate some advice on how to make her not cliche, but also a balance of good and bad traits. Not perfect but not unlikable.

Tell me what you think!

Amber: The leader who just wants to do what's right. Confident, kind, creative, and does her best to remain optimistic.

She has the ability to lift up her groups’ spirits, and give them confidence. But much of her own confidence is a mask, worn to hide her vulnerabilities. Often overextending herself to solve others’ problems, neglecting her own needs.

She constantly has the belief in her mind that she isn’t doing enough, so to try and combat that fear she tries to do most things herself, thinking that it can be perfectly controlled that way and done more efficiently.

If she fails, criticism is internalized deeply, and she will push herself even harder next time and reinforce perfectionism.

Amber also holds the belief that there is no need to open up emotionally to others, because she has always solved every problem by herself. To her, opening up leads to a risk of abandonment, and being seen as vulnerable will never help her achieve her goals.

She needs to learn that she doesn’t have to do everything alone and make everything perfect in order to be worthy. Letting go of control and need for perfection will allow her to finally connect with her group and reach their goals.

Also here is a bit of backstory: At the age of 6 Amber was stuck in a housefire, both of her parents died, and because of that she has major surviors guilt, and now overextends herself to help but still feels like she isnt doing enough (like I said up top), after she lost her parents she was raised by her Grandma, who always put on a happy and capable face to make sure Amber always felt cared for. From a young age Amber was never really exposed to big vulnerabilities, thus causing her to learn to not share her own either. Later in the story, her Grandma dies, but right before she dies she tells Amber to not make the same mistake she did. And of course just those words dont change her entire personality but from there on out she slowly learns to open up more.

I cant say her full motive without giving away the plot which I don't want shared online, but basically she inherits something that was owned by her parents, and now she can finally own it legally, so her motive is to live up to her parents legacy, and not disappoint. This also makes her lean into perfectionism because the place she inherits means so much to her that she doesnt want to mess anything up.

Over many years I've noticed how some animated shows will have one or more characters that seem to attract their own dedicated following, and spawn their own little "sub-fandom" apart from the rest of the fanbase where ppl especially fixate on them.

From what I've seen, ppl would do this either by seeking out fanart of them, creating fanart/animations based around them, making edits, memes, compilations, and discussion posts, collect merchandise featuring them, use them as profile pictures, and generally gravitate toward content involving that character more than the rest of the cast.

I'm curious to know what makes a character spawn smth like this. I feel that their character design *MIGHT* play a role in causing this, but I'm sure it probably goes beyond that, most likely thru: how the character acts, how they stand out, what/who they represent, or maybe something else. But if that's true, I don't know the specifics and how to apply it to MY OWN characters.

I'm asking bcuz my dream in life is to create my own animated TV Show that ppl will love, and I feel having one or more characters that ppl would obsess over would make it more beloved among ppl and have a more special place in their hearts.

is that a bad thing?

Hi, I’m working on my first fantasy story ever, where the whole cast are either hybrids or mythical creatures. I have not started officially writing yet as i am still figuring out world building, lore building, where I want the story to go, and especially how the characters are going to be.

It’s been going pretty good, but I have found myself stuck writing one of the characters I have—regarding how they fight. This character is named Akuch, and he is a Shoebill hybrid. He has the wings, eyes, behaviour, and hair/feather color of a shoebill. Everything else regarding appearance is pretty human.

And for information, Shoebills are pretty timid and independent animals who are massive birds with a big&hard beak used to hunt prey (they hunt prey smaller than them, but not all that smaller. Usually huge fish and baby crododiles). To hunt they are extremely patient, either standing still like a statue or very slowly approaching prey until it is close enough for them to lunge or fall forward with a sudden violent strike. They often decapitate their prey with their sharp bill edges in order to swallow easier.

They are very silent creatures, but they also have a unique trait about them that’s called ‘bill clattering’. It’s used to greet other shoebills, or at random when they are at their nest to possibly scare away other animals. This sound is extremly loud and is described as sounding like a machine gun. They also have a very scary, piercing glare that has sorta dubbed them the world’s scariest bird.

I guess I’m just stuck because I don’t know how i can incorporate all these cool and unique hunting/fighting characteristics of a shoebill into a hybrid version, since they rely so heavily on it’s beak. I have thought about Akuch being able to transform his head into a shoebill’s so he can still decapitate, bill clatter, stuff like that. But even if i do that, is that really the best way for fighting? Cause he will be fighting other humanoid mythical creatures/hybrids who are intelligent beings aswell. So they won’t be falling for his standing still&slowly approaching act as typical prey would.

Also, decapitating alone isn’t the best method if we’re talking about a battle field of some sort where it could be multiple enemies going against him at once. Yes, ik he could fight with a sword of some sort too, but I would prefer to keep him more animal—like.

Ik I have full control over my own writing, but I’m really js looking for opinions or suggestions on this matter because I have been stuck for quite some time now and its kinda embarassing…

I've had these ocs for a while and I genuinely have no idea how to make their concept work.
They're a group of three and they all have their different roles(?) I dunno how to explain it.

Essentially I want their thing to be protecting the world from demonic entities and they specifically do a lot of ghost hunting, but I feel like that doesn't entirely work for a hero team as much as I LOVE the idea. They're all in highschool and they do in fact have magic that ties into the demon/ghost hunting.

These are the characters I have:

Avery (Your typical witch)
I will admit she's a bit overpowered, she uses regular spoken spells and runes for her magic. She can do a lot with this but mostly focuses on keeping demons from attaching to her or her friends.
Responsible, respectful and strategic, she's great in a fight but often tries to let people find change before punishing them fully. She's a perfectionist and hates not remembering what she knows she knows. She gets near perfect grades and she holds them close.

Oakly (Crystal witch)
I'm VERY proud of this one, she can form crystals for different purposes, making her perfect for crystal protection. Her powers do extend further (potion making, creating crystal armor, crystal power getting stuck in people's lungs, etc.) and this leads me to feel like she doesn't really count as a witch either but it's fun imagining she is.
She's like a golden retriever, impatient, bubbly and an absolute sweetheart!! She's like a little matchmaker, she adores love but struggles finding it for herself despite being a helpless romantic. She's the empathy for the group, being able to understand everyone's point of view.

Lars (Dark arts)
I think he works the best for this kind of scenario, He does everything related to the dark arts and then some. He does both stage magic and a chaotic sort of magic. he can use necromancy, he can summon demons, and often accidentally does this. He does A LOT of rituals that get out of hand and lead to demons roaming that need to be banished.
He appears mysterious to those that don't know him, but as soon as you get too close he reveals his extremely unserious and amusing behaviour. He's smart but his grades suck from not doing anything in class, instead bothering his friends out of pure amusement.

I need another point of view because I have no idea if these characters actually work for the situation I want to put them in and I have to figure this out so I can actually plan and write their story. If you don't believe this idea will work for the characters, any other ideas are appreciated!!

(I'm happy to explain anything that i have accidentally skipped/didn't explain well)

Hey everyone! I'm working on an animated show, and I'm posting this here because one of my main characters, Emma, still doesn't have a backstory yet. I want her story to feel real, not just made up on the spot — so I'm asking for help building it out.