To add to this: Real people can make mistakes. Real people can be tricked into doing bad things without realizing they are bad. Real people can be mislead to doing bad things that they think are good things, then realize later that what they did was wrong and try to atone for it. Not all villainous characters have to be so EVIL that they kick puppies in their free time. Not all heroic characters have to be wholly virtuous with their only flaw being that they think about the horizontal mambo sometimes. Your villains can have friends or family or people they love, and your heroes can have some bad habits outside of horniness (or having repulsion to it otherwise, especially when it comes to other characters of the same gender). I could make this rant longer but I won't.
A really useful tip I got from my English teacher about writing good characters is the use of paradoxes. For example, having a character be a devout Christian, but does things that go against God's teachings.
Woah, that's an actual tip! Here I though I was just making up my own stupid rules lol. Back then I was trying to write a kinda religious, Christian surgeon, but murders people and harvests their organs. XD
@@bxttercxp_swxxts A character like that will probably also have reasons why it is VERY CHRISTIAN to do what he's doing or why God is making an exception for him.
Just here with my secretly an assassin character who kills people who they believe are doing something morally wrong while also doing morally wrong things that they twist their morals to justify. Like that time they killed a kid after killing that kid's parents and justified it as "didn't want that kid to end up like me", when they actually just panicked and made a poor decision for the whole no witnesses things.
I usually just put little snippets of things I do in some of my characters. Not enough that it's like a self-insert. But maybe one character has dry humor, or another sometimes can't be bothered to do things. If it's something I don't experience personally, I do a lot of research to make the character feel both real and respectful.
That’s what I do! For example, my MC is a total forensics nerd, her gf can (and will) kick anyone’s ass in Cards Against Humanity, and their friend knows how to juggle.
Plugging an aspect of ourselves into certain Characters helps us as writers connect and empathize with them... AND it makes it easier to put ourselves in their figurative shoes as we write, which we absolutely should do. It's as important to connect on some level with your Villain as it is to connect with your Hero... It's also harder to take those steps when you don't already fancy yourself a vicious son of a b*tch. ;o)
@@ravenstower Well, what I meant about "certain characters" is that not every "set dressing" character necessarily has time enough in any scene (or even collectively in all of them) to show any personality... In RPG's, we call an abundance of Characters "NPC" or "Non-Player Characters... The Game Master who runs the world, has to play them... and only some of them become important enough to get personality... even a lot of monsters or henchmen NPC's are just "set dressing" for the Players to fight and kill... The same can be said of non-main Characters in a book... Some side characters are interesting and repeated enough to almost be Mains... but they're still sides... NPC's... Others are like the clerk in a shop who always serves "the usual" to the MC's... always knows what they want when they come in, but rarely says more than 2 words to any of them... no show... no real purpose, other than they come for a specific meeting over a meal at a certain time of day, and everyone has a "usual" there... to cut text down because what everyone likes at that restaurant or diner isn't really relevant... SO certain characters "interesting enough" to be relevant get some bits of ourselves when and where appropriate... Just to clarify my meaning... ;o)
One of my characters are kind of a self insert but I put my more negative traits and exaggerate them into one big joke. I took myself took a couple traits from me gave them to my character. Then I took my traits and exaggerate them to the point where she is realistic but not me
I do that often with my OCs, especially now working on my own Object Show concept. While one of them is my self-insert (Diary), she mainly represents how my poker face makes it hard for me to express myself, and some other characters represent different things: Pudding represents my people pleaser traits, Cartridge and Shopping Bag represent my love for games and shopping (exaggerated) respectively, Cheesecake represents how seeing myself as cute doesn't mean others will agree (but in the sense of expecting others to think you're the cutest being alive despite not having the best attitude), Turrony and King Kong represent my old friendships and my peruvian nationality, Glowstick represents my childish nature, and Lunchbot represents how my love for cooking isn't the main thing about me nor the only thing I can do, as well as how I have trouble concentrating or sometimes doing well in activities I'm not really interested in.
When it comes to character profiles, I'm actually a huge fan of the interviewing your character. I forget the first person who came up with this idea. I first heard it from Brandon Sanderson, but he got the idea from somewhere else.
@@ravenstower it find it easier character interviews I can't think of anything to ask haha I did one last year for a crime novel I was planning to write but I scrapped it I'm doing a romance novel now
Tip one hits home, considering how much I like writing himbos and I've been blessed with having a few in my life. Like the friend who stuffed his jacket pockets with jerky before going to jury duty and was more than willing to share when I realized I forgot to eat breakfast. Also, with tip seven I like to do this with my dnd character's backstories. I just enjoy making up the details and have no immediate need to share them, so they never usually come up unless it ties with the plot. My party will probably never find out why my bard hates the lute so much because it's something they don't know about him yet.
There's a place for all the irrelevant information about Characters and the world in general when you write a book... It's usually called a "Book Bible"... In the case you decide to write sequels, a proper Book Bible will definitely help you... and help avoid reading through the first book(s) again to continue... which by the time you get it/them published, is probably the LAST thing in the world you ever want to do... Think of Tolkien's "Vermerillion" or even pick up a Cliff-Notes version if you can (and haven't read it yet) to understand more or less what a Book Bible is... NOT that you should write like Tolkien, but to get the general idea... Think of him as writing "Vermerillion" first, out of which he developed the whole "Lord of Rings" series... I know. I know, he didn't actually do it that way, and frankly, neither do you... BUT filling in and fleshing out your Book(s) Bible as you go is a good way to build the references so you can check in and avoid missing nasty details while you're creating the stories you WANT to be writing... Bonus points, if you keep it relatively organized and tidy, you have something to release years later when (and if) a fandom develops to beg for it, because you've got a "classic" or even "cult classic" on your hands... It can be fun to build relationships with your fans even if it's not the biggest fandom in the world... ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 oh yeah, now that I think about it I do have a tendency to just dump all my info about a writing project into one document. Always been a habit of mine, didn't know it had an official name in the writing community! It just kinda carries over into DnD for me, even when I'm a player. I just kinda wanted to go all out with my bard since the other players wanted to get into the roleplay aspect of DnD and I built my character to facilitate that. It's working, so yay! I may check out the Tolkien thing, cuz I knew he did that, I just didn't know it got published. I've only recently gotten more organized about what I write down, once again through DnD. I take player notes in character, which has session dates, highlights on NPC names, a quest log, stuff like that. Basically I type the highlights/a shortened version in the moment then flesh it out when I get home. It helps that I live with the DM of that campaign so if I need to confirm any NPC names/location spelling and events I can ask him. Most of my actual fiction writing used to be for comics, so a lot of my bard's past events that I write out are in script form, which might come in handy since I've started drawing again. We had a scene from our last session I want to draw so badly, since monsters and body horror are my favorite subjects. Party grifted a merchant into giving us a magic item by convincing him it was cursed, with the help of our warlock's eldritch patron corrupting it so it'll horrifically warp any non-warlocks who try to wear the item into, to quote our DM, "a fleshy mass of tentacles and eyes." Fun times, fun times.
@@pLanetstarBerry As a practicing GM, myself (and Player, too) I also keep "World Bibles" for the particular setting(s) we're playing in at the Table at the time... AND with bouncing between Player and GM... At the Table and at home... you can see my organization... well... isn't. "Total bloody clusterf***" would be an understatement, but somehow I've got a patronage from the Gods of Chaos, because I manage to find everything on time (mostly)... I don't know that Vermerillion is the entirety of Tolkien's world bible... Only that from the Lord of Rings to the published version, it went through several upgrades and revisions before a published work was actually finished (probably like most projects of the type)... You might also find Jody Lynn-Nye (my spelling might be off)... She caught my attention back in the 90's with "The Dragon-lover's Guide to Pern" (Anne McAffery's "Dragonriders of Pern" world) and others ranging as far as Piers Anthony's "Xanth" world and series... They're not quite World Bibles, but some other perspectives on organizing and composing a reasonable such book... if you're interested... I found them useful to "flavor" Campaign-settings for the Table while it was still technically D&D, I didn't have to restrict us to "stock Forgotten Realms" to keep playing... As to bouncing GM - Player... We have a fairly solid single rule at our Table... EVERYBODY takes a turn as "Acting GM"... You don't have to do more than a one-shot, and you get to complete an Adventure or Arc that you start, before you have to pass it around... BUT I've used that not only to get new Players less afraid to throw dice and ideas around, but to catch a break as GM, myself (I can be a subtle cad)... and just RP the hell out of it once in a while...We also tend to be more tolerant since each of us plans a little around GM'ing sooner or later, so we're not horribly abusive to the GM on duty at any time... choosing to actually adventure, in spite of theatrical grumbles and Role Playing (reluctant adventurers are still adventurers... haha)... BUT I digress... AND I think I ran into a "World Bible" specifically with animators, though I'd always tried to keep a decent journal for every setting I developed for Campaigns, just for consistency. I think the lack of consistency (especially in "hard rules") is what irritates most audiences worst about sequels... if I had to guess. ANYWAYS... at least for D&D and GURPS (my other favorite RP-system) it certainly helps... It can't hurt for novelists, so long as it's used well... ;o)
0:00 intro 1:20 sponsor 3:25 tip 1: observe 4:42 tip 2: layers 5:52 tip 3: character profiles 6:26 tip 4: diversity 7:38 tip 5: characters can share traits 8:38 tip 6: uniqueness 9:26 tip 7: info-dumping = bad 10:28 tip 8: self inserts 11:41 tip 9: small traits matter 12:40 tip 10: get people to read ur book 14:00 outro
One thing I try to remember is that the profile, personality, etc. of any character probably won't survive the first draft. Let your creativity of the moment grow them as you write then update the profiles before the first self edit. As long as you trim off anything that goes awry, this tends to make much better characters.
This!! Creating character profile often holds back the story because you start forcing these traits into the story and motivating them to make dumb choices because it's "who they are."
I tend to agree. I haven't done any detailed profiles, and don't intend to because most of the info would never be pertinent to a story anyways. I just try to come up with three or four primary motivations of a character that got them to where they are (story setting) and where they hope to go from there. Anything else will come up as I write.
Oh yes!!! There was this one character that changed oh so much. My initial idea for him was this evil cocky gladiator dumbass who was the antagonist. Now the only thing that’s still the same is that he’s a gladiator. He’s a polite pushover now and he was the protagonist. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I went with the original
I do internal armchair therapy with my characters, taking important story beats and asking, "Why would you do that?" and, "How did that make you feel at the time?" then finally, "Do you regret that moment and how do you cope with that regret/ what will you do in future moments like this?"
havent tried yet, and i may miss the point of it, but doesnt it make feel forced to flesh out a character, Isnt it more intriging to confront a character's spontanous side to stakes that will make them do mistakes that are actually the writter's subscionsness's mistake. Maybe i dont make any sense. My point is, not fleshing out a character before hand will make him take raw decisions that he might not take if he is fleshed out in the writter's mind even if it is outside the story itself.
@@umauma5537 Everyone goes into life with a personallity. There are happy and fussy babies. There are good and bad childhoods. There are traumas and triumphs that lead you to the first decision you make on-screen. And if there isn't, then it's not a character. It's a tabula rasa. Something onto which characterizations are later placed. These kinds of characters are generally inconsistent, and a lot of their stsrting attitude falls flat if it doesn't come from something rather than being made up on the fly as a reaction to the story.
@@umauma5537 Also speaking as an ex-pantser, my stories that had no clear vision or storyboard are some of my worst writing projects. There is a degree to which things MUST be planned, and character and setting are the most important puzzle pieces, even IF you want to pants your story and play out raw reactions, there is no "reaction" if the character doesn't have a personallity compatible with the given scene, which means they necessarily must have an established mindset. If the story changes their mind then that's fine but they need a mind to have it changed.
I think creating characters for stories is my favorite part of the writing process, and it’s definitely easier for me to write them than to write a plot🤣 (then again, I don’t actually _write_ them; I just make up scenarios in my head and put them in those scenarios bc I’m too busy making excuses to not write)
Alright - Jenna is the MOST HELPFUL content creator when it comes to writing tips. SO MANY creators give you a bunch of information that doesn't really tell you anything. I've watched 3 of her videos and I've found A TON of ways I can improve my writing. If there was a guardian angel in the writing community, Jenna is she.
*Insert joke about her being a cyborg and her reading my mind about what kind of video I needed.* But seriously you seem to always upload videos of something I struggle with
Jenna, I've just finished my first draft and I'm now working on fixing my dialogue. Recently I've noticed that all of my characters sound exactly the same. They all sound like me! What tips do you have for giving them a unique and recognizable character voice? How do I make the female characters not sound like males? Thanks!
I'm no expert and you probably would need to change more things fundamentally than just this, but different dialects and use of words can help a lot So for example, in a story I'm writing, one of the characters swears like a sailor-- one has a stutter, and frequently rambles on anxious tangents -- and one learned all of his English from memorizing dictionaries and grammar books, so he speaks in long, sometimes awkward sentences and uses strange words like defenestration and trepidation.. haha In general, though, the voices of your characters should develop sort of naturally from their personalities, so you might want to look deeper and ask yourself how different those characters' personalities are from yours, because it might be that they ARE like you, not just that they SOUND like you. But if somehow you've made plenty of distinct characters with different personalities who still sound the same, you should also consider their educational background (that is, what kind of jargon or words they might use), their religion (whether or not they'd use swear words or other expletives or jargon familiar to one religion), and their personality (for example, one character might speak very little while another might ramble a lot, or one character might be anxious and unsure of themselves when they speak, so they are constantly saying things like "well, that's what I think anyway" or "I might be wrong, but...") It's also good to consider speaking quirks. For example, if you've seen the movie Rio, a speaking quirk of the main character is saying "cheese and sprinkles" Quirks can come in many varieties. You might have one character who says "well" or "so" or "like" a lot more than the others, or a character who trails off on a lot of their sentences, or a character who ends all of their verbs without the G (for example, runnin instead of running, workin instead of working... This is an example of dialect as well as a quirk)
Here's a great start... As Moblofett up there said, "She has videos on this..." ua-cam.com/video/RLm6agZN2Iw/v-deo.html {I promise it's not a rick-roll} ;o) ...oh... and tips on GOOD dialogue would probably help... ua-cam.com/video/i-1LMPaR2GM/v-deo.html {also NOT a rick-roll} ....Hey... This might help, too! ua-cam.com/video/dQw4w9WgXcQ/v-deo.html ;o)
@@iferawhite7661 I agree wholeheartedly with that assessment. Personality plays a major role in character voice. You have to understand their upbringing and their social lense the most for this. "What are they looking to do in a conversation? What do they want to say most right now? What will they say to character x when plot y happens? Would they speak differently in the presence of different groups of people? Am I delivering this exposition to an audience or is this character legitimately trying to inform another character of something in their own words?" And on quirks, I think it's important to add at least a few small ones for variety, but the main goal is to make each character stand out in such a way that if any two important characters were to, for example, speak the same paragraph of exposition, it would almost always come out differently, whether it be the words, the dialect, speaking ticks or even just the parts they put emphasis on. For example, a Hero would describe super powers of their world as "A taste of the divine spared upon the dying mortal world." The villain can't just say it's "A taste of the divine wasted upon the mortal world." He would instead say "We twist god's creation to do our bidding. How does that make us holy?" Or something like that.
Well one of many things is different 'language' and vocabulary. One character can use noble vocabulary with perfect english, other will swear in every single sentence. They can have some special sentences after some things happened and they using things like:' I was thinking i was on tobogan in my home town.' and it can mean it was fun, if character enjoyed it or it can mean character was scared to death because he/she nearly drown in the toboggan before. About women and men... It depends on personality. There can be woman who is using more swear words than some man and vise versa. But in public opinion women often talk about feelings and stuff like clothes.
One theme I like exploring with my characters is: The lies we tell ourselves. So I look at where they came from, their childhood, experiences, self-view and such things, and then ask myself which lies they believe about themselves, and how it drives their internal narrative, choices and actions.
My cousin is an editor, and she helped me with getting Rat Bastard Jack ready to publish. Her critique stung like a bitch, but she was absolutely right about damn near everything! It's a real novel now, and I have nothing but thanks for her being so blunt. Take the kick to the nuts, walk it off, and rewrite it! You'll be better off in the end!
As a teenager I used to think a character profile was pointless, but omg I was sooo wrong! Writing out a character profile is sooo amazingly helpful for getting to know my characters, also I think it’s great for helping with the need to info dump. You can info dump into the character profile, then whether or not it ends up in your book will depend on what info you need to include. But having all that extra backstory and seemingly irrelevant details are so helpful!
I think self inserts can work if the author is a humble and self aware writer. The MC in my main project started out as a bland self insert (bc I was in middle school), but after a lot of introspection and tweaking the intensity of various traits to hone the characterization, think I've made someone who can be rather compelling. I avoided wish fulfillment like the plague. In fact, most of the stuff that happens to her and a lot of the other characters is pretty brutal, and no I'm not a masochist. At this point she's her own character now, just some superficial traits stayed the same, like how she has long hair or really like sweets.
Relatable) I got something similar going on with a few of my character concepts. Some start off with an a bit exaggerated version of myself and ends up being an own character with their own story. So yeah, good luck with your writing, I'm sure it's gonna be cool)
My first OC was based on myself too😅 I’m actually unsure if she’s interesting but um yeah 🤷♀️ but I tried my best to give her traits different from me as time went on too
Same boat, I’m still brainstorming and on the character profile phase. Overtime and with fine tuning it has become its own character, still with some quirks. The only bad habit I still have is imagining the character as twin of myself, a twin brother I guess is weird, 😅gotta work a bit better on that. Good luck on your work
One of my characters is similar to that but in a different way, like they're physically completely different from me, their background is pretty different from mine, but they have ADHD like me and A LOT of the same interests as me. I didn't base them off myself but the're by far my favorite character (they're not even the main protagonist though)
Thank you so much for uploading this! I'm currently working on a fan fiction with a Black female protagonist and I want her to be realistic as possible
Something I was told that stuck with me, and I'm paraphrasing: Write down three things about your character that the reader will never learn. (Like they like the color red, or had four dogs as a toddler, or hates cinnamon.) It will bleed naturally into your story through their actions and speech.
I especially like the tip about "interchangeable" dialogue. I definitely find that if I read a line of dialogue that sounds like it could have been spoken by any one of a number of characters, I pretty much always want to rewrite it to make it more personal to the character who actually speaks it. As to quirks: I HIGHLY recommend Harlan Ellison's essay "Tell-Tale Ticks and Tremors." Single best writing article I have ever read.
@@IjazAhmed I read it in Ellison's big retrospective collection, which I believe has a 30 year edition and a 40 year edition. It's a mix of his fiction and his articles.
I love filling out character sheets I find it a lot of fun! Since I use templates, sometimes they bring up things I didn’t think of before, and I get to consider new things about them.
I like having all of the information on the main characters also, so I can use it casually when it seems appropriate. One of my main characters’ favourite show is Invader Zim because he watched it as a little kid, he’s really fond of it, his favourite character is GIR. In writing the script for my comic, I’ve never mentioned it directly, but he has a phone charm of GIR (It’s low detail so it’s essentially a little green triangle with black ears) so when he has to use his phone you might see it jangle around ! Some people have shown concern about that for copyright reasons but I don’t really intend to monetise the comic so I’m not afraid of being sued, plus it’s not like GIR is the only green & black cartoon dog (There’s also Chuck from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt! Who is explicitly based on GIR and who Jhonen Vasquez is actually a fan of)
Something I like to do is tell the story in my head and see were certain character explanation needs to happen to I don't info dump I charceter all at once
I’m testing out a rewrite with self insert of character is who is most decidedly not better than me. Other than the fact he gets super powers. But his depression and anxiety are worse. He’s more clueless than I am and he’s the worst at reading emotional cues even within himself. All of things I have slightly improved upon but he’s at the stage of me before I improved.
Regarding the character profiles, one of my favorite templates is the one used by Hirohiko Araki, writer of the anime and manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. He put a copy of it in his book Manga in Theory and Practice. I like it because It gives you a lot of things to fill in to flesh out your character, including seemingly unimportant things like blood type or what kinds of plants your character tends to. To augment this, I also use Ginny Di's 50 character building questions, which can be found here on UA-cam. It's mostly geared towards D&D players, but I've found it works well in any situation.
@@warriormaiden9829 Not to Araki's character profile template, but I made a copy of it on Google docs for my own convenience. Here's a link to that: docs.google.com/document/d/138peLtG1onGlRtMEYFmfZ7iyzwVgnUNxhhtIj3Vpbqo/edit?usp=sharing The short form is actually unrelated, and it's something I put together from other character profile things I've found. The long form is Araki's template. As for Ginny Di's 50 character building questions, here's the link to her video: ua-cam.com/video/sS2LROYk230/v-deo.html
@@SimonClarkstone That’s why I said “seemingly unimportant.” At a glance, those details may not seem important, but in reality, those minor details can give deeper insight into what the character is like. Or, for blood type, it’s like an alternative to astrological signs, giving you an idea of what the character is like without directly saying anything about them.
Character profiles are absolutely a great way to help build out a character. Being the Dungeons & Dragons addict that I am, I put together a full (slightly modified) D&D character sheet for all of my main characters. It helps SO MUCH. Not only does it hit the usual appearance and background stuff, but it also goes into so much more than that. Once the sheet is done, I have everything about that character (including even stats assigned to their various attributes) that I can use as a quick reference throughout the process.
One of my fave characters was a tall, beanpole of a kid. I was trying to find a name for a different character completely but up pops this kid called Godsgift Amorous Moonbeam. Within half an hour I knew exactly who he was, his entire family, his deepest regret and most embarrassing moment. I knew his hopes and dreams and goals and the moment where he realises that everything he wants is going to be crushed under the weight of duty and it won’t be until he’s much older that he will find a balance between the inherited role he must shoulder and the freedom he so desperately wanted and that there is no such thing as normal. G is my most precious of fictional babies and everyone who’s read him loves him to pieces.
I wanna make my characters realistic, but most of the time it falls flat and out of character. I’m trying to realistic teen antagonist. She’s one of the mcs close friends, but she does some pretty crappy things
My main character Name : Aster pythagoras gailwind Age : 14 Appearance: she has long ,mahogany hair that almost reaches her ankles. She's got almost paper white skin as she doesn't leave her dark room much and she always wears the same French court style whit laced dress no matter how much clothes she has . Personality: she serious and almost never smiles . The doesn't care about socialising and is constantly studying. Background: she the youngest of 5 children with 4 older brothers who constantly pick on her for wanting to be queen even though she is last in line .
My tip: Talk with other human beings. You think writers get jobs at fast food places or retail because they NEED money? No. It's because they need to interact with people. They study their habits, have interesting conversations and take notes of their lives. That old man buying clothes for their nephew can be a character. That child asking for chocolate milk instead of soda at McDonald's can be a character. Those stoners you delivered pizza to at 11pm. What adventures did they get into before you rang the bell? People are complex, weird and interesting. Learn from them.
Okay so, on specifically character physicality as far as weight and such goes, I think the type of story or genre you're writing is entirely relevant to this topic. If your story has a lot of basis on something that is highly physically active and your cast is the best of the best in that field for the most part, it actually does make perfect sense for the majority of the cast to have a certain physicality about them due to the nature that these would have to be highly physically active people to make sense to be the best of the best in this sort of physical activity. Like if someone said it would be realistic for a top fighting in Dragon Ball who wasn't made out of magic bubblegum to be fat, I'd have to stop them right there because the sheer amount of physical activity abd calories they have to be burning to do the things they do do not allow for that to make sense. There are a million other examples, but this was the easiest and most well known one to bring up as far as fictional worlds go.
I think this should count for characters in graphic novels too as I'm planning one out myself. It's difficult to see them as realistic or relatable when they don't emote through facial expressions, have stilted dialogue or they don't do anything other than stand straight as a statue, unless they're actually statues. I've seen this in a few graphic novels and it takes me out of the story.
And so the track record of perfectly timed videos to a new writing project continues I needed some thinking time on a realistic outlook for a story I was gonna do which got reinforced by a greentext of all things that I happened to see that same day of starting the concept Seems things are aligning to write this
I believe being detailed with traits is especially important in the sense of how does it reflect in the characters behaviour, body language, way of talking,…
I’d like to say that’s I’ve been planning a book for the last few months in and off and your videos have really help me go back and see things I’ve overlooked, didn’t pay attention to or change in order be the story I want. While it’s still in the beginning stages I want to say thank you for all you videos. BtwI love your personality 💜
Im glad you refined your "cast so white" tip from long ago. At the time I was in the military the "strait white muscleman" was kinda the norm there, but we did all eat crayons.
I’ve been writing a book for years but I keep going back to the goal, I’ve never been able to figure out what my character’s goal is. I know his need, his misbelief, what isn’t right in his life and what makes him happy, I know everything except for his goal, I can’t think of what his goal should be.
I don’t self-insert but I do like to make character profiles for myself in order to see the faults in that kind of character building and what I might be missing when creating my own characters
My main character at the start of my story is trilingual having had to learn additional languages due to his family moving. He’s constantly mixing words and phrases up and his Older sisters tease him because of this. This causes him to be rather withdrawn when speaking to people he’s unfamiliar with and has resulted in him being seen as rather standoffish. One of the other characters one day says something in the language that he’s most fluent in and then the two start jabbering nonstop. Gonna be part of their meetcute 😌
What I'm getting from this video is that it's always better to write a character while first knowing where they come from before putting them in your story.
The real cool thing with realistic characters is also how you can imagine them interacting in daily activities with other people and also , how they can interact with people you know . At least , that is what I tend to do ...
7:25 I'll take this time to remind that hello, countries other than America do exist. I mean, I _might_ know some "people of color", possibly, it's kinda hard to judge somebody's skin color when all you have is an internet nickname and a drawn profile picture.
I'm typically very good at world building an construction of good scenes. Especially decent action moments. It's particularly complex characters that usually gets me
One of my favorite character quirks is this one from my character Alastair, his father is this heavily religious sort of man, and he's banned alcohol from any home that his family lives in. So when shit hits the fan, Alastair turns to chocolate milk.
Ome how you said it's like you are playing god! Yes I always feel like that every time I write in all of my stories I feel like it's a great responsibility and great power to have but with great care, you limited yourself down some ideas and let them fly but don't take this power for glanded if you over power a character or make something too huge and too hard to handle then that will kill the world you have created, please I know that they are just characters and they are fake that doesn't mean you should take advantage of the power over them
A good tip to write realistic characters is to make sure they have consistent motivation, and have them evolve throughout the book. Like, let's say we have a MC that enters some form of ritual in his society he dislikes, but do it to help his family, he shouldn't forget about them and never mention them again as soon as he gets to know a healer girl from the tournament who is totally not the princess in disguise.
Something I’d like to add a year after this video was published is the difference between the terms ‘realistic’ and ‘believable’. You can have characters that are realistic but not at all believable. You can also have characters that are believable but not realistic. In fiction, believable is what you are aiming for. Everyone accepted that Harry Potter could perform magic but a lot of people questioned how a teenager with PTSD could form a healthy relationship with no noteworthy issues, as displayed in the epilogue of the final book and film.
One thing I find helpful is personality theories. MBTI and Enneagram both give a rather useful set of traits and motivations that you can sort of hang other things onto. An ISFJ being rather traditional and focused on making others comfortable makes them a lot different from a ESFP who’s. Kind of a wild party animal who acts before they think and is different from a INTP who’s a nerdy thinker.
But Jennaaa! I focused on one character too much, and now the rest of them are like cardboard cutouts! What shall I do? But seriously though, thanks for this :D
Thank you for helping me with this! I am writing a book called : The flame of war : it’s about a kid who has his parents killed in an explosion along with all of his friends and he sorta becomes an anti hero and tries to kill the bomber.
2.44: I hear you...I keep having people claim they are editors and cover makers, or some sort of professionalised platform, yet, there is nothing on thier pages, and upon questioning, they change what they said. Had one yesterday showing me random covers when I asked to show me thier work lol...so many fakes around.
Wait, some people don't want other people to read their work before it's published??? Personally I try to show some amount of that to as many people as I can to get as much input possible on it and make the best piece of work that I can.
Thank you for the note about Easy A. I liked the characters' delivery, but yeah, it all sounded the same, but the thing that bugged me about the dialogue was that while Stone's character and her family were all witty, dynamic folks, all of the antagonists were flat, goofy cliches. They weren't afforded the same care and craft that went into the main and her circle.
I'm a writer, I recently got back into it. The main character I'm writing is a good guy who struggles with psychosis due to his past. He has psychotic episodes induced by certain events and those are really fun to write. I'm weird I know.
A snap! I actually don't agree with something Jenna said. (Que riot) "It's helpful to mention character skin color." You don't have to really. People have a tendency to shape how characters look on their own. Even if physical features are mentioned. I've had people say to me via T1 text-style roleplay. "Oh wow I swore Ryoku was a black samurai." Theirs no real need to list skin color. Unless the author deems it to be important. Readers will often imagine a character to be whatever their imagination see's. So long as clothing, hair and eyes are mentioned. Readers can build around that base on their own. It's such a subtle thing to do to readers, sometimes they'll go through an entire story and never realize they dont know what a characters actual skin color is.
Yeah, also, not every country (if you're writing a book like that) is that diverce like usa when it comes to race. Like, here in Czechia (and I thinks this applies to other slavic coutries), the only time you meet black person is most probably in capital and they're 99.9% of the time, tourists.
Just curious here. In my book, mental health doesn't really come up (and this character is lower class so he would never be getting a diagnosis) but I based the mc off of the stereotypical "boy with adhd" personality. Very much to the rules of it. I don't directly state he has adhd anywhere, nor does it ever come up but I'm trying to imply it with the hyperactive, chatty, forgetful ect and all. Is that ok?
This video as well as many other as been very helpful as I'm working on my very first book. My main character's eyes are sensitive to bright lights that can cause very painful headaches. She literally at times has to close them and rest. She wears dark goggles so she can go out during the day.
Thanks, this highlights two problems I'm running into writing my book. Do you have suggestions on how to describe what the characters say? Do I tell the story in third person or from the view of a specific character and how to know what is the best option?
"AND BEHOLD, you've written a pile of SHIT", that's how I felt after my first draft.
Good. First drafts are meant to be shit. But now you have nowhere to go but up.
If you have that perception then you should likely do a do over before sending out to betas. You want the beta readers to find things you don't.
@@whosaidthat84
We've all been there lol!
I felt that.
To add to this: Real people can make mistakes. Real people can be tricked into doing bad things without realizing they are bad. Real people can be mislead to doing bad things that they think are good things, then realize later that what they did was wrong and try to atone for it. Not all villainous characters have to be so EVIL that they kick puppies in their free time. Not all heroic characters have to be wholly virtuous with their only flaw being that they think about the horizontal mambo sometimes. Your villains can have friends or family or people they love, and your heroes can have some bad habits outside of horniness (or having repulsion to it otherwise, especially when it comes to other characters of the same gender). I could make this rant longer but I won't.
horizontal mambo lmao
W homophobe
@@rehany3401Stay in school kiddo, work on those reading skills! 🌟
@@NyssasOrbit are you not a homophobe?
@@rehany3401 no, no he's not.
A really useful tip I got from my English teacher about writing good characters is the use of paradoxes. For example, having a character be a devout Christian, but does things that go against God's teachings.
Woah, that's an actual tip! Here I though I was just making up my own stupid rules lol. Back then I was trying to write a kinda religious, Christian surgeon, but murders people and harvests their organs. XD
Oooo sounds interesting
@@bxttercxp_swxxts A character like that will probably also have reasons why it is VERY CHRISTIAN to do what he's doing or why God is making an exception for him.
@@adde9506 YES, like they’re taking organs from “sinners” (however they define that) and providing them to “good people”.
Just here with my secretly an assassin character who kills people who they believe are doing something morally wrong while also doing morally wrong things that they twist their morals to justify. Like that time they killed a kid after killing that kid's parents and justified it as "didn't want that kid to end up like me", when they actually just panicked and made a poor decision for the whole no witnesses things.
I’m trying to create this character for this book I’m writing, and I’m having trouble making her realistic. Thank you so much for making this!
Indeed. I have some traits and trials they go to but still...
That's very specific.
same, I'm writing a character man who's a mafia. And I wanted to make him smooth at least, but in character of being a mafia.
I usually just put little snippets of things I do in some of my characters. Not enough that it's like a self-insert. But maybe one character has dry humor, or another sometimes can't be bothered to do things. If it's something I don't experience personally, I do a lot of research to make the character feel both real and respectful.
That’s what I do! For example, my MC is a total forensics nerd, her gf can (and will) kick anyone’s ass in Cards Against Humanity, and their friend knows how to juggle.
Plugging an aspect of ourselves into certain Characters helps us as writers connect and empathize with them... AND it makes it easier to put ourselves in their figurative shoes as we write, which we absolutely should do.
It's as important to connect on some level with your Villain as it is to connect with your Hero... It's also harder to take those steps when you don't already fancy yourself a vicious son of a b*tch. ;o)
@@ravenstower Well, what I meant about "certain characters" is that not every "set dressing" character necessarily has time enough in any scene (or even collectively in all of them) to show any personality...
In RPG's, we call an abundance of Characters "NPC" or "Non-Player Characters... The Game Master who runs the world, has to play them... and only some of them become important enough to get personality... even a lot of monsters or henchmen NPC's are just "set dressing" for the Players to fight and kill...
The same can be said of non-main Characters in a book... Some side characters are interesting and repeated enough to almost be Mains... but they're still sides... NPC's... Others are like the clerk in a shop who always serves "the usual" to the MC's... always knows what they want when they come in, but rarely says more than 2 words to any of them... no show... no real purpose, other than they come for a specific meeting over a meal at a certain time of day, and everyone has a "usual" there... to cut text down because what everyone likes at that restaurant or diner isn't really relevant...
SO certain characters "interesting enough" to be relevant get some bits of ourselves when and where appropriate...
Just to clarify my meaning... ;o)
One of my characters are kind of a self insert but I put my more negative traits and exaggerate them into one big joke. I took myself took a couple traits from me gave them to my character. Then I took my traits and exaggerate them to the point where she is realistic but not me
I do that often with my OCs, especially now working on my own Object Show concept. While one of them is my self-insert (Diary), she mainly represents how my poker face makes it hard for me to express myself, and some other characters represent different things: Pudding represents my people pleaser traits, Cartridge and Shopping Bag represent my love for games and shopping (exaggerated) respectively, Cheesecake represents how seeing myself as cute doesn't mean others will agree (but in the sense of expecting others to think you're the cutest being alive despite not having the best attitude), Turrony and King Kong represent my old friendships and my peruvian nationality, Glowstick represents my childish nature, and Lunchbot represents how my love for cooking isn't the main thing about me nor the only thing I can do, as well as how I have trouble concentrating or sometimes doing well in activities I'm not really interested in.
When it comes to character profiles, I'm actually a huge fan of the interviewing your character. I forget the first person who came up with this idea. I first heard it from Brandon Sanderson, but he got the idea from somewhere else.
Do you guys have a favorite character interview template you like to use? I’ve been think of doing one but never really tried
@UCVh6VMHCFwgfqtw44WV0H2Q thanks 🙏
I tried doing that it wasn't for me tbh it felt lifeless I enjoy writing character profiles
@@ravenstower it find it easier character interviews I can't think of anything to ask haha I did one last year for a crime novel I was planning to write but I scrapped it I'm doing a romance novel now
Omg I do this too! It’s so awesome. You really get a good sense of your character when you do it, I can’t even.
Tip one hits home, considering how much I like writing himbos and I've been blessed with having a few in my life. Like the friend who stuffed his jacket pockets with jerky before going to jury duty and was more than willing to share when I realized I forgot to eat breakfast.
Also, with tip seven I like to do this with my dnd character's backstories. I just enjoy making up the details and have no immediate need to share them, so they never usually come up unless it ties with the plot. My party will probably never find out why my bard hates the lute so much because it's something they don't know about him yet.
There's a place for all the irrelevant information about Characters and the world in general when you write a book... It's usually called a "Book Bible"... In the case you decide to write sequels, a proper Book Bible will definitely help you... and help avoid reading through the first book(s) again to continue... which by the time you get it/them published, is probably the LAST thing in the world you ever want to do...
Think of Tolkien's "Vermerillion" or even pick up a Cliff-Notes version if you can (and haven't read it yet) to understand more or less what a Book Bible is... NOT that you should write like Tolkien, but to get the general idea... Think of him as writing "Vermerillion" first, out of which he developed the whole "Lord of Rings" series... I know. I know, he didn't actually do it that way, and frankly, neither do you... BUT filling in and fleshing out your Book(s) Bible as you go is a good way to build the references so you can check in and avoid missing nasty details while you're creating the stories you WANT to be writing...
Bonus points, if you keep it relatively organized and tidy, you have something to release years later when (and if) a fandom develops to beg for it, because you've got a "classic" or even "cult classic" on your hands... It can be fun to build relationships with your fans even if it's not the biggest fandom in the world... ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 oh yeah, now that I think about it I do have a tendency to just dump all my info about a writing project into one document. Always been a habit of mine, didn't know it had an official name in the writing community! It just kinda carries over into DnD for me, even when I'm a player. I just kinda wanted to go all out with my bard since the other players wanted to get into the roleplay aspect of DnD and I built my character to facilitate that. It's working, so yay! I may check out the Tolkien thing, cuz I knew he did that, I just didn't know it got published.
I've only recently gotten more organized about what I write down, once again through DnD. I take player notes in character, which has session dates, highlights on NPC names, a quest log, stuff like that. Basically I type the highlights/a shortened version in the moment then flesh it out when I get home. It helps that I live with the DM of that campaign so if I need to confirm any NPC names/location spelling and events I can ask him. Most of my actual fiction writing used to be for comics, so a lot of my bard's past events that I write out are in script form, which might come in handy since I've started drawing again. We had a scene from our last session I want to draw so badly, since monsters and body horror are my favorite subjects. Party grifted a merchant into giving us a magic item by convincing him it was cursed, with the help of our warlock's eldritch patron corrupting it so it'll horrifically warp any non-warlocks who try to wear the item into, to quote our DM, "a fleshy mass of tentacles and eyes." Fun times, fun times.
@@pLanetstarBerry As a practicing GM, myself (and Player, too) I also keep "World Bibles" for the particular setting(s) we're playing in at the Table at the time... AND with bouncing between Player and GM... At the Table and at home... you can see my organization... well... isn't. "Total bloody clusterf***" would be an understatement, but somehow I've got a patronage from the Gods of Chaos, because I manage to find everything on time (mostly)...
I don't know that Vermerillion is the entirety of Tolkien's world bible... Only that from the Lord of Rings to the published version, it went through several upgrades and revisions before a published work was actually finished (probably like most projects of the type)... You might also find Jody Lynn-Nye (my spelling might be off)... She caught my attention back in the 90's with "The Dragon-lover's Guide to Pern" (Anne McAffery's "Dragonriders of Pern" world) and others ranging as far as Piers Anthony's "Xanth" world and series... They're not quite World Bibles, but some other perspectives on organizing and composing a reasonable such book... if you're interested... I found them useful to "flavor" Campaign-settings for the Table while it was still technically D&D, I didn't have to restrict us to "stock Forgotten Realms" to keep playing...
As to bouncing GM - Player... We have a fairly solid single rule at our Table... EVERYBODY takes a turn as "Acting GM"... You don't have to do more than a one-shot, and you get to complete an Adventure or Arc that you start, before you have to pass it around... BUT I've used that not only to get new Players less afraid to throw dice and ideas around, but to catch a break as GM, myself (I can be a subtle cad)... and just RP the hell out of it once in a while...We also tend to be more tolerant since each of us plans a little around GM'ing sooner or later, so we're not horribly abusive to the GM on duty at any time... choosing to actually adventure, in spite of theatrical grumbles and Role Playing (reluctant adventurers are still adventurers... haha)... BUT I digress...
AND I think I ran into a "World Bible" specifically with animators, though I'd always tried to keep a decent journal for every setting I developed for Campaigns, just for consistency. I think the lack of consistency (especially in "hard rules") is what irritates most audiences worst about sequels... if I had to guess.
ANYWAYS... at least for D&D and GURPS (my other favorite RP-system) it certainly helps... It can't hurt for novelists, so long as it's used well... ;o)
I write crime fiction and what I find challenging is creating characters that are realistic, plausible and yet larger than life.
That's definitely a tuff balance.
@@FM95.5 Thankfully the history of true crimes is not short of larger than life cops and robbers, so I have plenty of material there.
@@ludovico6890 good point, you gotta draw inspiration from somewhere.
0:00 intro
1:20 sponsor
3:25 tip 1: observe
4:42 tip 2: layers
5:52 tip 3: character profiles
6:26 tip 4: diversity
7:38 tip 5: characters can share traits
8:38 tip 6: uniqueness
9:26 tip 7: info-dumping = bad
10:28 tip 8: self inserts
11:41 tip 9: small traits matter
12:40 tip 10: get people to read ur book
14:00 outro
Thanks.
Thanks man! I was actually about to do this lol
Thanks!
One thing I try to remember is that the profile, personality, etc. of any character probably won't survive the first draft. Let your creativity of the moment grow them as you write then update the profiles before the first self edit. As long as you trim off anything that goes awry, this tends to make much better characters.
This!! Creating character profile often holds back the story because you start forcing these traits into the story and motivating them to make dumb choices because it's "who they are."
I tend to agree. I haven't done any detailed profiles, and don't intend to because most of the info would never be pertinent to a story anyways. I just try to come up with three or four primary motivations of a character that got them to where they are (story setting) and where they hope to go from there. Anything else will come up as I write.
0:51 vWhat 😅
Oh yes!!! There was this one character that changed oh so much. My initial idea for him was this evil cocky gladiator dumbass who was the antagonist. Now the only thing that’s still the same is that he’s a gladiator. He’s a polite pushover now and he was the protagonist. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I went with the original
I do internal armchair therapy with my characters, taking important story beats and asking, "Why would you do that?" and, "How did that make you feel at the time?" then finally, "Do you regret that moment and how do you cope with that regret/ what will you do in future moments like this?"
I think that's funny and genius at the same time.
havent tried yet, and i may miss the point of it, but doesnt it make feel forced to flesh out a character, Isnt it more intriging to confront a character's spontanous side to stakes that will make them do mistakes that are actually the writter's subscionsness's mistake. Maybe i dont make any sense. My point is, not fleshing out a character before hand will make him take raw decisions that he might not take if he is fleshed out in the writter's mind even if it is outside the story itself.
@@umauma5537 Everyone goes into life with a personallity. There are happy and fussy babies. There are good and bad childhoods. There are traumas and triumphs that lead you to the first decision you make on-screen. And if there isn't, then it's not a character. It's a tabula rasa. Something onto which characterizations are later placed. These kinds of characters are generally inconsistent, and a lot of their stsrting attitude falls flat if it doesn't come from something rather than being made up on the fly as a reaction to the story.
@@umauma5537 Also speaking as an ex-pantser, my stories that had no clear vision or storyboard are some of my worst writing projects. There is a degree to which things MUST be planned, and character and setting are the most important puzzle pieces, even IF you want to pants your story and play out raw reactions, there is no "reaction" if the character doesn't have a personallity compatible with the given scene, which means they necessarily must have an established mindset. If the story changes their mind then that's fine but they need a mind to have it changed.
I think creating characters for stories is my favorite part of the writing process, and it’s definitely easier for me to write them than to write a plot🤣 (then again, I don’t actually _write_ them; I just make up scenarios in my head and put them in those scenarios bc I’m too busy making excuses to not write)
Couldn't relate more😂
True I think a strong character makes a more flexible plot.
Bro same I’ve tried actually writing so many times, but I suck at describing things. I think I’d be better off as a filmmaker
Exactly 😂😭
Alright - Jenna is the MOST HELPFUL content creator when it comes to writing tips. SO MANY creators give you a bunch of information that doesn't really tell you anything. I've watched 3 of her videos and I've found A TON of ways I can improve my writing. If there was a guardian angel in the writing community, Jenna is she.
*Insert joke about her being a cyborg and her reading my mind about what kind of video I needed.* But seriously you seem to always upload videos of something I struggle with
Jenna, I've just finished my first draft and I'm now working on fixing my dialogue. Recently I've noticed that all of my characters sound exactly the same. They all sound like me!
What tips do you have for giving them a unique and recognizable character voice? How do I make the female characters not sound like males?
Thanks!
She has videos on this look it up. Just search jenna mereci how to create character voices.
I'm no expert and you probably would need to change more things fundamentally than just this, but different dialects and use of words can help a lot
So for example, in a story I'm writing, one of the characters swears like a sailor-- one has a stutter, and frequently rambles on anxious tangents -- and one learned all of his English from memorizing dictionaries and grammar books, so he speaks in long, sometimes awkward sentences and uses strange words like defenestration and trepidation.. haha
In general, though, the voices of your characters should develop sort of naturally from their personalities, so you might want to look deeper and ask yourself how different those characters' personalities are from yours, because it might be that they ARE like you, not just that they SOUND like you. But if somehow you've made plenty of distinct characters with different personalities who still sound the same, you should also consider their educational background (that is, what kind of jargon or words they might use), their religion (whether or not they'd use swear words or other expletives or jargon familiar to one religion), and their personality (for example, one character might speak very little while another might ramble a lot, or one character might be anxious and unsure of themselves when they speak, so they are constantly saying things like "well, that's what I think anyway" or "I might be wrong, but...")
It's also good to consider speaking quirks. For example, if you've seen the movie Rio, a speaking quirk of the main character is saying "cheese and sprinkles"
Quirks can come in many varieties. You might have one character who says "well" or "so" or "like" a lot more than the others, or a character who trails off on a lot of their sentences, or a character who ends all of their verbs without the G (for example, runnin instead of running, workin instead of working... This is an example of dialect as well as a quirk)
Here's a great start... As Moblofett up there said, "She has videos on this..."
ua-cam.com/video/RLm6agZN2Iw/v-deo.html {I promise it's not a rick-roll} ;o)
...oh... and tips on GOOD dialogue would probably help...
ua-cam.com/video/i-1LMPaR2GM/v-deo.html {also NOT a rick-roll}
....Hey... This might help, too!
ua-cam.com/video/dQw4w9WgXcQ/v-deo.html ;o)
@@iferawhite7661 I agree wholeheartedly with that assessment. Personality plays a major role in character voice. You have to understand their upbringing and their social lense the most for this. "What are they looking to do in a conversation? What do they want to say most right now? What will they say to character x when plot y happens? Would they speak differently in the presence of different groups of people? Am I delivering this exposition to an audience or is this character legitimately trying to inform another character of something in their own words?"
And on quirks, I think it's important to add at least a few small ones for variety, but the main goal is to make each character stand out in such a way that if any two important characters were to, for example, speak the same paragraph of exposition, it would almost always come out differently, whether it be the words, the dialect, speaking ticks or even just the parts they put emphasis on.
For example, a Hero would describe super powers of their world as "A taste of the divine spared upon the dying mortal world." The villain can't just say it's "A taste of the divine wasted upon the mortal world." He would instead say "We twist god's creation to do our bidding. How does that make us holy?" Or something like that.
Well one of many things is different 'language' and vocabulary.
One character can use noble vocabulary with perfect english, other will swear in every single sentence. They can have some special sentences after some things happened and they using things like:' I was thinking i was on tobogan in my home town.' and it can mean it was fun, if character enjoyed it or it can mean character was scared to death because he/she nearly drown in the toboggan before.
About women and men... It depends on personality. There can be woman who is using more swear words than some man and vise versa.
But in public opinion women often talk about feelings and stuff like clothes.
You never desapointed me Jenna..thank you for making me laugh and cry at the same time while I'm learning.
Her comedy is gold 👍
One theme I like exploring with my characters is: The lies we tell ourselves. So I look at where they came from, their childhood, experiences, self-view and such things, and then ask myself which lies they believe about themselves, and how it drives their internal narrative, choices and actions.
Funny, this video dropped just when I'm doing some character work.
Honestly I do feel more confident that I'm on the right track now, thanks Jenna!
My cousin is an editor, and she helped me with getting Rat Bastard Jack ready to publish. Her critique stung like a bitch, but she was absolutely right about damn near everything! It's a real novel now, and I have nothing but thanks for her being so blunt. Take the kick to the nuts, walk it off, and rewrite it! You'll be better off in the end!
She sounds great, and so does the book name! What is it about?
Do you have a podcast? I usually don’t like them but I could listen to you for hours!!
Am I the only one that likes to imagine my character in random scenarios that don’t happen in the book, but just to experiment on how they’d react?
You're not the only one, welcome to the club!
I have been summoned
As a teenager I used to think a character profile was pointless, but omg I was sooo wrong! Writing out a character profile is sooo amazingly helpful for getting to know my characters, also I think it’s great for helping with the need to info dump. You can info dump into the character profile, then whether or not it ends up in your book will depend on what info you need to include. But having all that extra backstory and seemingly irrelevant details are so helpful!
"What do you really like in a huan being, its really that simple"
Me who doesnt like human beings: It is??
I think self inserts can work if the author is a humble and self aware writer. The MC in my main project started out as a bland self insert (bc I was in middle school), but after a lot of introspection and tweaking the intensity of various traits to hone the characterization, think I've made someone who can be rather compelling. I avoided wish fulfillment like the plague. In fact, most of the stuff that happens to her and a lot of the other characters is pretty brutal, and no I'm not a masochist. At this point she's her own character now, just some superficial traits stayed the same, like how she has long hair or really like sweets.
Relatable) I got something similar going on with a few of my character concepts. Some start off with an a bit exaggerated version of myself and ends up being an own character with their own story.
So yeah, good luck with your writing, I'm sure it's gonna be cool)
My first OC was based on myself too😅 I’m actually unsure if she’s interesting but um yeah 🤷♀️ but I tried my best to give her traits different from me as time went on too
Or if you make your villains self-inserts and use them to process negative personality traits.
Same boat, I’m still brainstorming and on the character profile phase. Overtime and with fine tuning it has become its own character, still with some quirks. The only bad habit I still have is imagining the character as twin of myself, a twin brother I guess is weird, 😅gotta work a bit better on that. Good luck on your work
One of my characters is similar to that but in a different way, like they're physically completely different from me, their background is pretty different from mine, but they have ADHD like me and A LOT of the same interests as me. I didn't base them off myself but the're by far my favorite character (they're not even the main protagonist though)
Thank you so much for uploading this! I'm currently working on a fan fiction with a Black female protagonist and I want her to be realistic as possible
I’m trying to make a black female character too…it’s not going well.
Something I was told that stuck with me, and I'm paraphrasing: Write down three things about your character that the reader will never learn. (Like they like the color red, or had four dogs as a toddler, or hates cinnamon.) It will bleed naturally into your story through their actions and speech.
I especially like the tip about "interchangeable" dialogue. I definitely find that if I read a line of dialogue that sounds like it could have been spoken by any one of a number of characters, I pretty much always want to rewrite it to make it more personal to the character who actually speaks it. As to quirks: I HIGHLY recommend Harlan Ellison's essay "Tell-Tale Ticks and Tremors." Single best writing article I have ever read.
Where can I find this article?
@@IjazAhmed I read it in Ellison's big retrospective collection, which I believe has a 30 year edition and a 40 year edition. It's a mix of his fiction and his articles.
Alright, thanks!@@r.michaelburns112
I'm in the self editing phase and I've been binging your videos recently! Hope you and the family are doing well!!!!
I do journalism and documentary, so my characters are literally real people.
This is still valuable advice in my case.
watching your vids mades me accidently more critical of all the books I read lol. You bring up some super great points!
I love filling out character sheets I find it a lot of fun! Since I use templates, sometimes they bring up things I didn’t think of before, and I get to consider new things about them.
I like having all of the information on the main characters also, so I can use it casually when it seems appropriate. One of my main characters’ favourite show is Invader Zim because he watched it as a little kid, he’s really fond of it, his favourite character is GIR. In writing the script for my comic, I’ve never mentioned it directly, but he has a phone charm of GIR (It’s low detail so it’s essentially a little green triangle with black ears) so when he has to use his phone you might see it jangle around !
Some people have shown concern about that for copyright reasons but I don’t really intend to monetise the comic so I’m not afraid of being sued, plus it’s not like GIR is the only green & black cartoon dog (There’s also Chuck from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt! Who is explicitly based on GIR and who Jhonen Vasquez is actually a fan of)
Something I like to do is tell the story in my head and see were certain character explanation needs to happen to I don't info dump I charceter all at once
I’m testing out a rewrite with self insert of character is who is most decidedly not better than me. Other than the fact he gets super powers. But his depression and anxiety are worse. He’s more clueless than I am and he’s the worst at reading emotional cues even within himself. All of things I have slightly improved upon but he’s at the stage of me before I improved.
Jenna decided today is Stan Cliff Day and I love it!
I love how you called the Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters a self insert…and I laughed so hard I nearly snorted coffee out my nose.
What did you think it was called?
Regarding the character profiles, one of my favorite templates is the one used by Hirohiko Araki, writer of the anime and manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. He put a copy of it in his book Manga in Theory and Practice. I like it because It gives you a lot of things to fill in to flesh out your character, including seemingly unimportant things like blood type or what kinds of plants your character tends to. To augment this, I also use Ginny Di's 50 character building questions, which can be found here on UA-cam. It's mostly geared towards D&D players, but I've found it works well in any situation.
Do you have a link, perchance? :)
@@warriormaiden9829 Not to Araki's character profile template, but I made a copy of it on Google docs for my own convenience. Here's a link to that: docs.google.com/document/d/138peLtG1onGlRtMEYFmfZ7iyzwVgnUNxhhtIj3Vpbqo/edit?usp=sharing
The short form is actually unrelated, and it's something I put together from other character profile things I've found. The long form is Araki's template.
As for Ginny Di's 50 character building questions, here's the link to her video: ua-cam.com/video/sS2LROYk230/v-deo.html
@@brokenursa9986 Thank you so much!!
Blood type isn't unimportant; there are some stereotypes in Japan about personalities of different blood types.
@@SimonClarkstone That’s why I said “seemingly unimportant.” At a glance, those details may not seem important, but in reality, those minor details can give deeper insight into what the character is like. Or, for blood type, it’s like an alternative to astrological signs, giving you an idea of what the character is like without directly saying anything about them.
I was asking myself this question! Thank you for the great timing queen! 😭❤🌻
Character profiles are absolutely a great way to help build out a character. Being the Dungeons & Dragons addict that I am, I put together a full (slightly modified) D&D character sheet for all of my main characters. It helps SO MUCH. Not only does it hit the usual appearance and background stuff, but it also goes into so much more than that. Once the sheet is done, I have everything about that character (including even stats assigned to their various attributes) that I can use as a quick reference throughout the process.
I'm an aspiring novelist working on my first draft and I'm so happy I found your channel. Great stuff here!
I just love how blunt Jenna is.😂 Another amazing video. 👍
One of my fave characters was a tall, beanpole of a kid. I was trying to find a name for a different character completely but up pops this kid called Godsgift Amorous Moonbeam. Within half an hour I knew exactly who he was, his entire family, his deepest regret and most embarrassing moment. I knew his hopes and dreams and goals and the moment where he realises that everything he wants is going to be crushed under the weight of duty and it won’t be until he’s much older that he will find a balance between the inherited role he must shoulder and the freedom he so desperately wanted and that there is no such thing as normal. G is my most precious of fictional babies and everyone who’s read him loves him to pieces.
I'm autistic. I... really couldn't care less if a character is or isn't autistic.
I wanna make my characters realistic, but most of the time it falls flat and out of character. I’m trying to realistic teen antagonist. She’s one of the mcs close friends, but she does some pretty crappy things
Took notes because this video definitely will help you to write realistic characters.
My main character
Name : Aster pythagoras gailwind
Age : 14
Appearance: she has long ,mahogany hair that almost reaches her ankles.
She's got almost paper white skin as she doesn't leave her dark room much and she always wears the same French court style whit laced dress no matter how much clothes she has .
Personality: she serious and almost never smiles . The doesn't care about socialising and is constantly studying.
Background: she the youngest of 5 children with 4 older brothers who constantly pick on her for wanting to be queen even though she is last in line .
My tip: Talk with other human beings. You think writers get jobs at fast food places or retail because they NEED money? No. It's because they need to interact with people. They study their habits, have interesting conversations and take notes of their lives. That old man buying clothes for their nephew can be a character. That child asking for chocolate milk instead of soda at McDonald's can be a character. Those stoners you delivered pizza to at 11pm. What adventures did they get into before you rang the bell? People are complex, weird and interesting. Learn from them.
But…I’m a reclusive writer because I don’t like interacting with other humans irl…
Okay so, on specifically character physicality as far as weight and such goes, I think the type of story or genre you're writing is entirely relevant to this topic. If your story has a lot of basis on something that is highly physically active and your cast is the best of the best in that field for the most part, it actually does make perfect sense for the majority of the cast to have a certain physicality about them due to the nature that these would have to be highly physically active people to make sense to be the best of the best in this sort of physical activity.
Like if someone said it would be realistic for a top fighting in Dragon Ball who wasn't made out of magic bubblegum to be fat, I'd have to stop them right there because the sheer amount of physical activity abd calories they have to be burning to do the things they do do not allow for that to make sense. There are a million other examples, but this was the easiest and most well known one to bring up as far as fictional worlds go.
I came to the wrong video for writing object show characters-
One of them is my self-insert
I can't get enough of how much I love Jenna and how she has no mercy on us LMAO 😭❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💗💗💗
When I tell you Queen Jenna always makes such helpful content-
Thank you so much for another amazing video!!
I think this should count for characters in graphic novels too as I'm planning one out myself. It's difficult to see them as realistic or relatable when they don't emote through facial expressions, have stilted dialogue or they don't do anything other than stand straight as a statue, unless they're actually statues. I've seen this in a few graphic novels and it takes me out of the story.
And so the track record of perfectly timed videos to a new writing project continues
I needed some thinking time on a realistic outlook for a story I was gonna do which got reinforced by a greentext of all things that I happened to see that same day of starting the concept
Seems things are aligning to write this
I believe being detailed with traits is especially important in the sense of how does it reflect in the characters behaviour, body language, way of talking,…
Currently writing my first novel, always find these videos so helpful. 🖖
I always use your videos to write the storylines and characters for video games instead of books, but it still works just the same. Love your content!
My character profiles even include favourite ice cream flavour and favourite candy! Character profiles for the win!
I’d like to say that’s I’ve been planning a book for the last few months in and off and your videos have really help me go back and see things I’ve overlooked, didn’t pay attention to or change in order be the story I want. While it’s still in the beginning stages I want to say thank you for all you videos. BtwI love your personality 💜
6:41 So, you're telling me the average author doesn't give their characters trauma? I'm not believing that for a second
I tend to jam my books full of characters so I'm always game for hearing ways to get them to stick out!
Agreed
@@thepokemonprofessor1650 holy crap! A pokemon professor entered the chat 😁
(Epic battle theme intensifies)
Im glad you refined your "cast so white" tip from long ago. At the time I was in the military the "strait white muscleman" was kinda the norm there, but we did all eat crayons.
Lmaoooo SAME
Oh thank fuck, you said something about souped-up self-inserts. I know you don't read a lot of YA but there is so much of this in that genre.
7:45 "And this book is the worst"
helpppp I spat out my drink lmao
I’ve been writing a book for years but I keep going back to the goal, I’ve never been able to figure out what my character’s goal is. I know his need, his misbelief, what isn’t right in his life and what makes him happy, I know everything except for his goal, I can’t think of what his goal should be.
3:24 WHERE IT STARTS
Thanks
I don’t self-insert but I do like to make character profiles for myself in order to see the faults in that kind of character building and what I might be missing when creating my own characters
My main character at the start of my story is trilingual having had to learn additional languages due to his family moving. He’s constantly mixing words and phrases up and his Older sisters tease him because of this. This causes him to be rather withdrawn when speaking to people he’s unfamiliar with and has resulted in him being seen as rather standoffish.
One of the other characters one day says something in the language that he’s most fluent in and then the two start jabbering nonstop. Gonna be part of their meetcute 😌
You need to write a book with all of this wisdom in it. And don't leave out your attitude. That makes you endearing to all of us.
What I'm getting from this video is that it's always better to write a character while first knowing where they come from before putting them in your story.
The real cool thing with realistic characters is also how you can imagine them interacting in daily activities with other people and also , how they can interact with people you know .
At least , that is what I tend to do ...
7:25
I'll take this time to remind that hello, countries other than America do exist.
I mean, I _might_ know some "people of color", possibly, it's kinda hard to judge somebody's skin color when all you have is an internet nickname and a drawn profile picture.
I'm typically very good at world building an construction of good scenes. Especially decent action moments. It's particularly complex characters that usually gets me
"actually I did it because I’m a bitch" literally me when I do anything petty
One of my favorite character quirks is this one from my character Alastair, his father is this heavily religious sort of man, and he's banned alcohol from any home that his family lives in. So when shit hits the fan, Alastair turns to chocolate milk.
Ome how you said it's like you are playing god! Yes I always feel like that every time I write in all of my stories I feel like it's a great responsibility and great power to have but with great care, you limited yourself down some ideas and let them fly but don't take this power for glanded if you over power a character or make something too huge and too hard to handle then that will kill the world you have created, please I know that they are just characters and they are fake that doesn't mean you should take advantage of the power over them
Omg I was literally JUST thinking of how to do this. How does she keep reading our minds?
A good tip to write realistic characters is to make sure they have consistent motivation, and have them evolve throughout the book. Like, let's say we have a MC that enters some form of ritual in his society he dislikes, but do it to help his family, he shouldn't forget about them and never mention them again as soon as he gets to know a healer girl from the tournament who is totally not the princess in disguise.
3:30 is when the actual video starts
Yayyyyyyy i really needed Jenna rnnn
As someone neurodivergent I have to admit that the first tip is extremely hard for me ksksks
Something I’d like to add a year after this video was published is the difference between the terms ‘realistic’ and ‘believable’. You can have characters that are realistic but not at all believable. You can also have characters that are believable but not realistic. In fiction, believable is what you are aiming for. Everyone accepted that Harry Potter could perform magic but a lot of people questioned how a teenager with PTSD could form a healthy relationship with no noteworthy issues, as displayed in the epilogue of the final book and film.
i personally find it helpful to pick their role then just keep adding what would make since till i have a full character
Jenna, I need your opinions on finding your story's theme. I couldn't find anything on your channel but if there is one I'd love to watch it!
One thing I find helpful is personality theories. MBTI and Enneagram both give a rather useful set of traits and motivations that you can sort of hang other things onto. An ISFJ being rather traditional and focused on making others comfortable makes them a lot different from a ESFP who’s. Kind of a wild party animal who acts before they think and is different from a INTP who’s a nerdy thinker.
8:40
For when I've hit a wall again and can't remember what I usually fail at
Good information. Talk about "quirks" - Jenna's hand-talking, dark features, and edginess tells us all about her Italian-American heritage. 🙂
The one thing I personally don't think I need help on, but am still 100% interested in your take. I always walk away with an opinion to chew on.
"don't fret my pet," 😂 we all play God from time to time, but some people (like Jenna) get paid for it
But Jennaaa! I focused on one character too much, and now the rest of them are like cardboard cutouts! What shall I do?
But seriously though, thanks for this :D
Thank you for helping me with this! I am writing a book called : The flame of war : it’s about a kid who has his parents killed in an explosion along with all of his friends and he sorta becomes an anti hero and tries to kill the bomber.
It sounds chaotic
Nice
2.44: I hear you...I keep having people claim they are editors and cover makers, or some sort of professionalised platform, yet, there is nothing on thier pages, and upon questioning, they change what they said. Had one yesterday showing me random covers when I asked to show me thier work lol...so many fakes around.
Wait, some people don't want other people to read their work before it's published??? Personally I try to show some amount of that to as many people as I can to get as much input possible on it and make the best piece of work that I can.
Thank you for the note about Easy A. I liked the characters' delivery, but yeah, it all sounded the same, but the thing that bugged me about the dialogue was that while Stone's character and her family were all witty, dynamic folks, all of the antagonists were flat, goofy cliches. They weren't afforded the same care and craft that went into the main and her circle.
I'm a writer, I recently got back into it. The main character I'm writing is a good guy who struggles with psychosis due to his past. He has psychotic episodes induced by certain events and those are really fun to write. I'm weird I know.
This is good, your follower from Morocco
A snap! I actually don't agree with something Jenna said. (Que riot)
"It's helpful to mention character skin color."
You don't have to really. People have a tendency to shape how characters look on their own. Even if physical features are mentioned. I've had people say to me via T1 text-style roleplay. "Oh wow I swore Ryoku was a black samurai." Theirs no real need to list skin color. Unless the author deems it to be important. Readers will often imagine a character to be whatever their imagination see's. So long as clothing, hair and eyes are mentioned. Readers can build around that base on their own. It's such a subtle thing to do to readers, sometimes they'll go through an entire story and never realize they dont know what a characters actual skin color is.
Yeah, also, not every country (if you're writing a book like that) is that diverce like usa when it comes to race. Like, here in Czechia (and I thinks this applies to other slavic coutries), the only time you meet black person is most probably in capital and they're 99.9% of the time, tourists.
You have those nice elementary teacher vibes as well as the bad b vibes so it’s super interesting to see them merged
Just curious here.
In my book, mental health doesn't really come up (and this character is lower class so he would never be getting a diagnosis) but I based the mc off of the stereotypical "boy with adhd" personality. Very much to the rules of it. I don't directly state he has adhd anywhere, nor does it ever come up but I'm trying to imply it with the hyperactive, chatty, forgetful ect and all. Is that ok?
Thank you Jenna I love making characters
This video as well as many other as been very helpful as I'm working on my very first book. My main character's eyes are sensitive to bright lights that can cause very painful headaches. She literally at times has to close them and rest. She wears dark goggles so she can go out during the day.
Thanks, this highlights two problems I'm running into writing my book. Do you have suggestions on how to describe what the characters say? Do I tell the story in third person or from the view of a specific character and how to know what is the best option?
Jenna: You're around people *all the time!*
Me: "Nah"
Jenna: "You see them on the internet!"
Me: "Oh, yeah..."