Writing Good Characters?

[vivien_sivvus]

Heylo all, sorry I haven't been around for a while- my exams have all finished now and I'm still re-adjusting to the real world

Comments

[anait]

My preference is for realism in characters. In fanfic, it's fairly straightforward to take a canon character that you know more or less well, and either fill in some missing pieces or give them your own spin. It's trickier if you're writing your own characters, because you start from scratch. I usually end up drawing on bits and pieces of people I've met in real life to make an original character seem like a real person and a unique individual. We write from our imagination, and that is always going to be based on the sum of our experiences and memories. Also, since we did that Hogwarts character thing at the_swoop, I've been looking at characters in terms of their houses. That probably sounds really silly, but it's useful to me, because it makes me decide what values the character holds foremost in their life. That helps me decide how they view the world, and how they will react in their own unique way to situations and to other people

[heather_neather]

You don't necessarily have an accent, but you do have a style in your writing (it's a good one, I just can't explain it). Gavin Gunhold and lyrdenfers have a similar style in some ways -it made me wonder, when I was exploring the realms of fanfiction, if you were related or you were just close friends and so bits of you washed off on the other.
Yes, I am weird like that. But style through diction is one of the first things I notice.

[anait]

That's funny! We're sisters, actually, who all grew up reading the same books.

you do have a style in your writing (it's a good one, I just can't explain it).

Woot! I has a style.

[lyredenfers]

Yes, we all read The Saddle Club many times over.

(Mix this with a dose of Roald Dahl, Lucy Maud Montgomery, YA Fantasy, Cynthia Voigt neurotic coming of age stories, Gordon Korman and you might get something that resembles how one of us writes.)

[ochre54]

Actually, I was a doorstep-baby, left by the aliens. Or so my dad swears. But yes, I did read many of the same books. The assimilation is very convincing.

[lyredenfers]

Sock puppets, actually. We're all just sock puppets.

(I can not attest to Sally's above claim, alas. It was before my time. But entirely believable.)

[anait]

Sock puppets, actually. We're all just sock puppets.

The characterization is very convincing... ;)

[vivien_sivvus]

And how are things on the Home Planet? XD

[ochre54]

Dropped off on the doorstep. We don't keep in touch. Duh.

[vivien_sivvus]

They might have left a letter. Or a very advanced communications device.... or a message tattooed in morse-code under one of your eyebrows...

[ochre54]

OOkay.. I really for a second there thought about checking.

So cruel to play with me this way.

[vivien_sivvus]

Mwahahahahahaaaa....

[vivien_sivvus]

"Style through diction is one of the first things I notice."

Is because you really work on it. Your narrative styles are very distinctive!