Young Writers Society

I decided to revisit a Pokemon fanfiction I stopped writing almost two years ago. I have a lot planned out and have been thinking about ever since I started writing it, but I'm surprised to see that I don't know a whole ton about my main characters. Here is the personality I have for Thomas:

Thomas is a calm, collected person. He always tries to remain calm, even in dangerous situations. He has kept his mother from becoming permanently depressed, even though she is still very sad. Thomas is also very nice to people, especially his younger brother, Marcus. Thomas and Marcus have a good relationship. Thomas and Marcus do mess with each other sometimes, especially Marcus to Thomas, but they still love each other. Thomas does his best to act respectful and polite towards others, but he can still be a serious person. His father’s death has even made him more mature than he was before.
Thomas also has visions of the future. This could potentially keep him on edge after each one, testing his calm and collected nature. So far the visions have only happened at night, but I don't know if that's the only time.

Whenever I try writing through Thomas' perspective, I end up writing whatever and making him sound dry/out of what his character should be. I'm a complete noob when it comes to writing, so creating characters and writing them is really hard for me. Does anyone have any advice?
P.S. My three main characters are all serious for different reasons. Is this bad? Should I give each of them something that makes them energetic? Thank you.

Yo.
It seems like I reply to a lot of your "help" writing questions. It would be nice to get a reply back, you know.

Now, onto your question. I hate being blunt but...

I'm a complete noob when it comes to writing, so creating characters and writing them is really hard for me.

Get rid of that mentality. Seriously. It does no good AT ALL to think of yourself like that. I'm not telling you to be extremely prideful about your writing but don't have the "I'm a noob so writing is hard" mindset. It only brings you down.

Writing is hard, noob or not. But don't act like you're completely incapable of it because you are a "noob." I don't know if you think you're a "noob" because you believe your writing is "bad" or because you haven't been writing for long. I don't know your situation.

Creating characters isn't hard. All you have to do is think of a person/animal (or perhaps Pokemon in your case) and give them a name. OMG A CHARACTER IS BORN!!!! Creating personalities, traits, looks, etc. is the hard part.

So don't you dare say you can't do this (or can't do it good enough) because it's hard and you're a noob. Don't. Because you can do this.

Blunt mode over. Now to your real question.

It's funny, I have the same problem. My character Garth from a story of mine is a very antisocial person. He's shy and doesn't say much. But whenever I write about him (especially his dialogue) he comes off as very rude and jerky. That's not his personality at all. So how did I do this and what can I do to fix it?

There's this saying that goes: "Don't blame an author for what the character says." Well, actually maybe we should blame the author. When writing about Thomas put yourself in his shoes. Think about how HE would react.

Oh, and another thing. You said he's serious. Serious characters CAN be very dull. So, give him more traits than JUST seriousness! That will also help with what I mentioned above.

And finally to answer your P.S., I think it's fine as long as you give them all different traits with the seriousness.

That's all from me. Good luck.

Hey there!

One really important aspect of creating characters (which can be quite difficult depending on your writing techniques, your mindset, and what you're writing) is how they interact with the world around them. The entire world. How do they interact with their family, their culture, their town, their region, their Pokemon, authority figures around them, authority figures they don't know...?

I would argue that knowing how they interact with things is ten times more important than listing their traits. Yes, it can be important to know that Thomas is serious, but it makes less of an impact on us if you tell us he's serious than if you show that he takes authority figures very seriously, whether he knows them or not, and obeys what they say (to a reasonable degree, or even to a ridiculous degree). He can have a personality outside of being "serious"—that's just one trait!

In fact, I know plenty of people in real life who are serious and whimsical at the same time. One of my best friends is a huge Doctor Who fan, and he wears his Fourth Doctor scarf almost every single day, and he pretends he's a cat from time to time, but when it comes down to business and getting stuff done, he's the guy you want to ask to get stuff done, because he will take it seriously and be reliable about his results. Real life people are a lot rounder than just "serious" or "funny", and that's something that might be hard for you to incorporate into your characters, but it's definitely necessary.

Also, as far as Thomas's relationship with his mother goes: How does he keep her from being depressed? Does he do the chores around the house so she doesn't have to work so much? Does he do little nice things to cheer her up when she gets sad, like drawing her something or making her something with his hands or another little hobby he's good at? Is he good at gauging when she's more depressed and when she's cheerier, or does he sometimes get it off? There are a ton of layers to that relationship, and you summed it up in one sentence.

Overall, I think that you really just need to make your characters round. And remember that this is just your character at the beginning of the story! They're going to change throughout, and especially with a first draft (or a 1.5 draft, as it seems this is), it's okay to go in with vague ideas of your characters and flesh them out as you go, because you'll have time for editing later. I wouldn't bother trying to write down everything that your characters are, because if you do, you're going to be staring at that planning page forever trying to figure out their smallest fidgets.

It also sounds like you're struggling with finding Thomas's voice—or, for whatever reason, you don't think his voice is good enough? Dry and detached characters can be quite interesting, especially when they stop being dry and detached, because then they get down to Real Business. In any case, best of luck!

You have some lovely advice already, but I thought I'd add one thing.

Something that helps me sometimes, is writing down every bit of information you can think up on this character ( everything from his favourite colour, to who his family doctor is ). Than when you're done, lose the list. Put it somewhere 'safe' and forget about it. The point of this exercise is to make yourself feel like you 'got to know your character'. What normally ends up happening though, is half a year later you find the list, and realize that your character grew a lot from that tiny piece of paper. And you'll be rather amused by all the things you changed without realizing it!

Perhaps this wasn't quite what you were looking for. xP

AttackOfTheFlash wrote:Yo.
It seems like I reply to a lot of your "help" writing questions. It would be nice to get a reply back, you know.

Now, onto your question. I hate being blunt but...

I'm a complete noob when it comes to writing, so creating characters and writing them is really hard for me.

Get rid of that mentality. Seriously. It does no good AT ALL to think of yourself like that. I'm not telling you to be extremely prideful about your writing but don't have the "I'm a noob so writing is hard" mindset. It only brings you down.

Writing is hard, noob or not. But don't act like you're completely incapable of it because you are a "noob." I don't know if you think you're a "noob" because you believe your writing is "bad" or because you haven't been writing for long. I don't know your situation.

Creating characters isn't hard. All you have to do is think of a person/animal (or perhaps Pokemon in your case) and give them a name. OMG A CHARACTER IS BORN!!!! Creating personalities, traits, looks, etc. is the hard part.

So don't you dare say you can't do this (or can't do it good enough) because it's hard and you're a noob. Don't. Because you can do this.

Blunt mode over. Now to your real question.

It's funny, I have the same problem. My character Garth from a story of mine is a very antisocial person. He's shy and doesn't say much. But whenever I write about him (especially his dialogue) he comes off as very rude and jerky. That's not his personality at all. So how did I do this and what can I do to fix it?

There's this saying that goes: "Don't blame an author for what the character says." Well, actually maybe we should blame the author. When writing about Thomas put yourself in his shoes. Think about how HE would react.

Oh, and another thing. You said he's serious. Serious characters CAN be very dull. So, give him more traits than JUST seriousness! That will also help with what I mentioned above.

And finally to answer your P.S., I think it's fine as long as you give them all different traits with the seriousness.

That's all from me. Good luck.

Thank you for the advice! Sorry I never reply to your advice. I guess I've been to caught up in worrying about my writing, but I will start replying to everyone's advice.

Arkhaion wrote:Hey there!

One really important aspect of creating characters (which can be quite difficult depending on your writing techniques, your mindset, and what you're writing) is how they interact with the world around them. The entire world. How do they interact with their family, their culture, their town, their region, their Pokemon, authority figures around them, authority figures they don't know...?

I would argue that knowing how they interact with things is ten times more important than listing their traits. Yes, it can be important to know that Thomas is serious, but it makes less of an impact on us if you tell us he's serious than if you show that he takes authority figures very seriously, whether he knows them or not, and obeys what they say (to a reasonable degree, or even to a ridiculous degree). He can have a personality outside of being "serious"—that's just one trait!

In fact, I know plenty of people in real life who are serious and whimsical at the same time. One of my best friends is a huge Doctor Who fan, and he wears his Fourth Doctor scarf almost every single day, and he pretends he's a cat from time to time, but when it comes down to business and getting stuff done, he's the guy you want to ask to get stuff done, because he will take it seriously and be reliable about his results. Real life people are a lot rounder than just "serious" or "funny", and that's something that might be hard for you to incorporate into your characters, but it's definitely necessary.

Also, as far as Thomas's relationship with his mother goes: How does he keep her from being depressed? Does he do the chores around the house so she doesn't have to work so much? Does he do little nice things to cheer her up when she gets sad, like drawing her something or making her something with his hands or another little hobby he's good at? Is he good at gauging when she's more depressed and when she's cheerier, or does he sometimes get it off? There are a ton of layers to that relationship, and you summed it up in one sentence.

Overall, I think that you really just need to make your characters round. And remember that this is just your character at the beginning of the story! They're going to change throughout, and especially with a first draft (or a 1.5 draft, as it seems this is), it's okay to go in with vague ideas of your characters and flesh them out as you go, because you'll have time for editing later. I wouldn't bother trying to write down everything that your characters are, because if you do, you're going to be staring at that planning page forever trying to figure out their smallest fidgets.

It also sounds like you're struggling with finding Thomas's voice—or, for whatever reason, you don't think his voice is good enough? Dry and detached characters can be quite interesting, especially when they stop being dry and detached, because then they get down to Real Business. In any case, best of luck!

Thank you for replying! As of right now, I feel it would make sense for Thomas to be excited about training Pokemon (something he's wanted to do). Also, your friend reminded me of one of my best friends. He always dresses like the Tenth Doctor and is usually funny and outgoing. However, when something important needs to be done or when of his friends is feeling down or needs any kind of help, he's the first person to be there for you. He's one of the nicest people I know. Thanks again!

Holysocks wrote:You have some lovely advice already, but I thought I'd add one thing.

Something that helps me sometimes, is writing down every bit of information you can think up on this character ( everything from his favourite colour, to who his family doctor is ). Than when you're done, lose the list. Put it somewhere 'safe' and forget about it. The point of this exercise is to make yourself feel like you 'got to know your character'. What normally ends up happening though, is half a year later you find the list, and realize that your character grew a lot from that tiny piece of paper. And you'll be rather amused by all the things you changed without realizing it!

Perhaps this wasn't quite what you were looking for. xP

In a way, I did write down everything I knew about Thomas when I first started writing the series. He has not grown much in my mind, but I have been imagining his journey ever since. Thanks for the advice!

He has kept his mother from becoming permanently depressed, even though she is still very sad.

Why is she sad? You need to give your characters motivation. You can' trust say she is depressed. Or perhaps Thomas doesn't know why she is depressed and it is a mystery he has to solve.

You mentioned that he is serious. As stated above, that can mean a lot of different things. I think you should delve into that more. I know what you gave here is just a synopsis, but I thought I would mention that. You also need to know that people are very complex; hence your characters will be the same. One thing that helps the development of a character is to know their backstory. That, and their intrinsic nature, will show you what they are like now, and why. Not all of it has to relate to the story either. I will spend some more time on this.

An important (yet overlooked) aspect of characters is their life outside of the story. I am a homeschooled writer that is fourteen years old. Those are the defining things in my life. That is the bare skeleton of a character. But another aspect of my life is that is like to play soccer. That isn't a main point about me. But without things like that you characters can sound flat. You don't have to know that, but it adds depth to the character.

I honestly wouldn't worry about being a new writer. I would just sit down and write every day, if you can, and don't stop to edit until your work is done with a book. When you've edited it. Move on to the next work and so on until you get published (assuming that is your goal).

Finally, you mentioned that your characters are all aerious. That is something I would change. I disagree that it is "okay as long as it isn't their main trait". Your characters should be diverse. You should also try to write from the perspective of characters that might disagree with you in some areas. That is all. I hope this helped!

I know that this thread seems to have been left untouched for about a month, but I think this is a very helpful/relevant resource: The Myers Briggs Test. If you've never taken the test, it's basically a very descriptive personality definer. Not only does it sort the test taker into a group, but there is an extensive personality break-down, listing not just the typical traits, but how a person of that type may react in certain situations. I have taken this test many times in the different "POV"s of characters, answering the questions as I would expect them to. Not only does it give you a better understanding of who you want this person to be, but it spills out how they're going to act. It is very useful in keeping consistent character.
Here's a link to my favourite version of the online test: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp