“You Must Go On Adventures To Find Out Where You Belong.”

how to determine whether your characters are developed enough or not

There’s a fool proof way to determine whether your characters has been developed enough or not. Ask yourself:

‘’Would my story still work if I removed this character from it?’‘

If your answer is:

“No, my story wouldn’t work, because this character is intertwined into the story to such an extent that if I were to remove them, the story is feels incomplete, and certain storylines won’t work.”

You’ve got yourself a well developed character.

If you can’t remove a character without causing inconsistencies to the plot, you’ve got a character that is dimensional enough to work on their own.

Hence, by removing said character, you’re removing a fundamental piece of the puzzle, which in turn forces certain storylines to be incomplete.

But let’s say the answer to the question above is yes. 

Let’s say, that you could easily remove a certain character from your story, without the risk of screwing with any current storylines. Let’s even go as far as saying that you could replace said character with another character, and it still wouldn’t make a difference to the story. 

In a scenario like this, your character has not been developed enough to stand their own ground. If you can give your character’s storyline to another character, or simply replace them with another, without noticing a difference in your story, you need to go back to the drawing board.

Your character is not fleshed out enough. They don’t bring personality to your story, because their departure from it is not noticeable. 

For a character to be dimensional, or developed properly, their loss needs to recognized, and if they’re not part of the narrative, the story should feel incomplete, because a fundamental piece of the puzzle is missing. 

“And so it seems I must always write you letters that I can never send.”

— Sylvia Plath 

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

— Benjamin Franklin 

“You will always be too much of something for someone: too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy. If you round out your edges, you lose your edge.Apologize for mistakes. Apologize for unintentionally hurting someone — profusely. But don’t apologize for being who you are.”

— Danielle Laporte 

How I Edit A First Draft

*Repost*

What is UP y'all I got like four hours of sleep which is always fantastic! This is a wicked old post I made that the majority of y’all haven’t seen! As always, any more stuff you want to ask/add specifically feel free! As a young author myself with limited experience, I just wanted to help those who don’t really know where to start or are looking for other methods! 

First, Don’t Get Discouraged!

This sounds like a basic thing, but nobody really likes editing their own stuff! It’s so easy to call it bad and just shove it in a folder to never look at again. Just remember everything you do is to make it the best it can possibly be and it’s pretty darn heccin good now! Completing drafts are fricken hard, and you’ve made it so far! Writing routines and Pinterest are my major sources of inspiration. 

Read it through!

I know, it sucks. You finished your first draft—comgratulations! And you want to get the editing over with. You think to yourself, “I wrote this and I know what to fix!” Maybe for some this is true, but for people like me, I forget so much. Do not start editing during this step. It is basically just a refresher. Take notes on what to fix later (what scene feels flat, parts that are confusing, etc). The only editing I allow myself to do here is grammar and spelling. Most times you’ll see too it’s not as bad as you think it is! 

How Do I Know What To Cut?

Not everthing that doesn’t work has to be cut. Recycling awesome lines that juts dont fit or even characters into different WIPS. That being said, soemtimes things just won’t work. Ask yourself these starting questions:

Does this supporting character have a purpose or can their role be taken over by a pre-existing character?

Is this action in character?

Does this scene contribute to the plot, character development, or offer a break in tension?

Work From Big To Small

You know those notes you took? The ones on plot and characterization? Fix those first. These big problems usually lead to the smaller issues or even fix them, like if a scene isn’t flowing naturally or something just fells off. If stuff doesn’t fall into place, look at the chapters before it.

Common Questions Ig

Q: Hey, Strange, what do you even know?

A: Nothing

Q: But I like this scene and I don’t want to cut it.

A: Cool. Keep it. If you like it and don’t have any doubts that it’s good, so will your readers and it will add to the book. Stuff like this can be for characterization and establishing relationships, and you can always add to scenes to make them seem more necessary. 

The point is that you like your book.  The point is that you are an amazing writer, even when it’s hard to believe. First drafts are usually trash, and each draft is better than the last. No draft will ever be perfect, it’s the draft that you think is the best you can do and you’re happy with that’s the final. 

“Without goals and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”

— Fitzhugh Dodson 

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable…It means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.”

— Neil Gaiman (via quotemadness)

Writing Masterpost

Character Help

MBTI Personality Test

MBTI Personality Descriptions

123 Character Flaws

Character Trait Cheat Sheet

List of Personality Traits

Character Virtues And Vices

Underused Personalities

7 Rules For Picking Names

Character Names

Character Name Resources

Surnames Masterpost

Write Real People Generator

Types of Voice

55 Words to Describe Someone’s Voice

Showing Character Emotion

Character Motivation

Writing Characters Of Colour

More On Writing Characters Of Colour

Describing A Character’s Skin Colour

All Characters Talk The Same

Character Description

100 Character Development Questions

Character Development Questionnaire

30 Day Character Development Meme

Character Development Check List

Character Development Through Hobbies

List Of Character Secrets - Part 1 - Part 2

Mysterious Characters

Flat Characters

European Characters

Creating Believable Characters

Writing A Character Who Has Lost Someone Important

Writing A Drunk Character

Writing Manipulative Characters

Writing Vampires

Writing Witty Characters

Writing Natural Born Leaders

Writing Rebellious Characters

Writing Hitmen

Writing Indifferent Distance Characters

Writing Bitchy Characters

Writing Popular Characters

Writing Rich Characters

Writing Child Characters

Writing Villains

Villain Archetypes

Writing Stalkers

Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes

Writing Homosexuals as a Heterosexual

Writing Males as a Female

Writing Convincing Male Characters

Writing Characters Of The Opposite Sex

Revealing A Characters Gender

The Roles Of Characters

Creating Fictional Characters From Scratch

Creating A Strong, Weak Character

Writing Characters Using Conflict And Backstory

Writing A Character Based On Yourself

Switching Up A ‘Too-Perfect’ Character

Help I Have A Mary-Sue!

Dialogue

Dialogue Tips

Realistic Dialogue

Flirty Dialogue

On Dialogue

General Help

Alternatives To Said

Avoid Saying ‘Very…’

100 Ways To Say Good

Avoiding Unfortunate Implications

Begin A Novel

Finishing Your Novel

Creating Conflict

Show Not Tell

Words For Emotions Based On Severity

Getting Out Of The Comfort Zone

A Guide To Writing Sci-Fi

Naming The Story

The Right Point Of View

Essential Story Ingredients

Writing Fantasy Masterpost

Five Rules For Thrillers

Pacing Action Scenes

Writing Races

Using Gender Neutral Pronouns

Dos and Don’t of Writing

General Writing Tips

How To Avoid Tense Change

Seven Steps To A Perfect Story

Plotting

Outlining Your Novel

Creating A Compelling Plot

The Snowflake Method

Beginning and End, But No Middle!

Prompts and Ideas

Prompt Generator Lists

Creative Writing Prompts

Story Starting Sentences

Story Spinner

Story Kitchen

Writing Prompt Generator

Quick Story Generator

Dramatic Scenes

Plot Bank

Masterpost of Writing Execrises

Writers Block?

Visual and word prompts on pinerest boards 

Research

Survival Skills Masterpost

Mental Illness

Limits Of The Human Body

Stages of Decomposition

Body Language Cheat Sheet

Importance Of Body Language

Non Verbal Communication

Tips on Drug Addiction

Depression

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Anxiety

Schizophrenia

Borderline Personality Disorder

Degrees of Emotion

List Of Phobias - Part 1 (A - L) - Part 2 (M -  Z)

Psychology In Writing

Psychology Of Colour

Mob Mentality

How Street Gangs Work

Street Gang Dynamics

How To Pick A Lock

Death Scenes

Realistic Death Scenes

Fighting and Self Defence

Fighting Scenes

Problems With Fighting Scenes

Every Type of Fight Scene

How To Fight Write Blog

Fantasy Battle Scenes

Body Language Of Flirting

Flirting 101

Kissing

Sex Scenes

Friends With Benifits Relationships

Ballet Terms

Torture Guide (Trigger Warning)

Sibling Abuse (Trigger Warning)

Dream Sequences

Kleptomania

Psychiatric Hospital

Understanding issues, -isms and privilege

Guide to writing smut

Post-Apocalyptic Cliches To Avoid

Revision

General Revision Tips

Cliché Finder

Reading What You’ve Wrote So Far

Synonyms For Common Words

Urban Legends On Grammar

Common Grammar Mistakes

Revising A Novel 

Setting

Average Weather Settings

Apocalypses

World Building 101

Bringing Settings To Life

Creating A Believable World

Mapping A Fictional World

Mapping Your World

Religion in Setting

5 Editing Tips

Sounds to listen to whilst writing

Coffitivity

August Ambience

Rainy Mood

Forest Mood

SimplyNoise

Soundrown

iSerenity

Nature Sound Player

myNoise

Tools

Tip Of Your Tounge

Write Or Die

Online Brainstorm

Family Tree Maker

Stay Focused

Writeometer App

Hemingway App