A blue bean

Character Ideas:

Character creation masterpost

Character Alignment Chart

More character alignment descriptions

Muslim Character questions

Characters with magical powers

Building a new character advice

How to create a character for an online or tabletop RPG (also a good guide on creating characters in general)

Royalty/nobility TV Tropes page

Basic character profile

OC masterpost

Random character generators - (1), (2), (3), (4)

D&D Character Building Tool

Character Design Ideas:

How clothing affects a character’s personality

Character Design Inspiration blog

Concept art, fan art, cool art to be inspired by

Character design references and inspiration

Sources for POC character design ideas and models

Create your own character model using HeroForge

For horned characters

Body and hair types guide

Random outfit generator

Naming Help:

Amazing site with an endless amount of naming resources

General advice on avoiding naming appropriation

Hispanic Surnames

Gothic Victorian names

Huge master list for character things in general

Masterlist of names of all types - including but not limited to ancient/old world names, Celtic, African, Northern European, Southern and Central American Native names, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Polynesian, and more

Another name masterlist

How to pick a character name guide

Yet another names masterlist

Creating Background/backstory:

Character Sheet/Development Sheet

Another character development list

In-depth character personality, motivations and traits sheet

320 talents and passions for characters

On writing likes and dislikes that aren’t frivolous

Why you should write non-human characters non-conforming to the gender binary

Stereotypes, tropes, and archetypes

Random backstory generator

Assassin and thief character tropes to avoid

Character Interactions and putting your character into your world/story:

Comparing character height/height references

Characters who are scientists and writing about them doing science

Describing what different voices sound like

Describing skin tones

Writing friendship interactions that are platonic

Why having one character knock their friend unconscious to prevent them from doing something is a bad idea

Advice on shipping OCs with canon characters and what to avoid doing

Sweet Polly Oliver and Sweet on Polly Oliver situations (think of Disney’s Mulan for an example)

How to write multiple viewpoints/juggling a main cast of more than 4 to 6 characters

How to make readers care about your morally gray hero/anti-hero

On platonic OC and canon character relationships

How to avoid Godmodding in RPs

When it’s cheap to kill off a character

Writing dialogue

Things you shouldn’t do to canon characters

Avoiding purple prose in writing and RPs

Slang resources

Dialogue tips

Websites to chart your story/plot/character relationships

“I’m a little OCD” vs “I’m a bit of a perfectionist” obsessive compulsive disorder doesn’t mean “need to keep things organized” it’s a complex disorder that needs more recognition and respect. Saying things like “everyone is a little OCD” when you mean “everyone likes to keep things organized” is hurtful.

“He’s such a narcissist” vs “He’s so self centered” narcissistic personality disorder is a VERY REAL disorder that people DO have. Watering it down as “bad person disorder” is ableist and harmful and you need to stop.

“She’s such a psychopath” vs “She’s so cruel and violent” I shouldn’t have to explain why this is ableist, but I’m going to anyway. Psychosis is another disorder that’s very real and effects more people than you think. Main symptoms of psychosis are delusions and/or hallucinations, and people with psychosis are more likely to be on the RECEIVING end of violence than to be violent themselves.

“He’s acting schizophrenic” vs “He’s acting erratically” once again this shouldn’t need an explanation, but it gets one anyway. Schizophrenia does NOT mean “crazy”. It’s a disorder that results most frequently in audio/visual hallucinations and delusions. Stop equating an already stigmatized disorder to “crazy person disease”.

“I get so bipolar sometimes” vs “I get so moody sometimes” bipolar disorder does NOT mean “mood swings”. While symptoms of bipolar disorder include manic/depressive episodes, it’s much more than “I felt hyper but now I’m sad”. Watering down the definition like this does nothing but prevent people with bipolar disorders from getting help.

“It’s like he’s got a split personality” vs “He’s acting completely different” not only is this using an outdated and ableist term (“split personality”) it’s incorrect. DID, OSDD, and DDNOS are typically much more subtle than media portrays it, and it’s not a “personality change”.

Seizure First Aid. 

Actual Depression: bloodshot eyes, no longer trust themselves with pencils, has not showered in five days

Quirky OCD: organized books, clean room, color coordinated outfits

Actual OCD: Intrusive thoughts, flipping the light switch 8 times so you don’t stab your brother, picking holes in your skin

Cute eating disorders: Slim trim and beautiful, shyly refusing a second helping, dancer aesthetic

Actual eating disorders: Puffy cheeks and eroded teeth from excessive vomiting, hair growing over your freezing body and refusing to eat carrots because they’re too high in carbs

Adorable anxiety: just a smol bean, soft, must be protected from the world

Actual anxiety: crying so hard you throw up, shaking, losing sleep over a period after the “okay”

RPG PTSD: flashbacks, vietnam, u don’t know what i’ve been through kiddo

Actual PTSD: Buying your first pregnancy test at twelve, flinching at high fives, i can’t feel my hands where am I what year is it

Cartoon ADHD: look a squirrel, something shiny, fidgety loveable bufoon

Actual ADHD: rereading the same page over and over because it doesn’t make sense, hasn’t done the laundry in four months, hyperfocusing on a mushroom knowing you have work to do