Lei Bea

updated 18.01.22

Who’s the primary protector of the two?

Who sleeps in and who is the early bird?

Who is the least patient?

Which of the two listens to old music and which one is more into the newer stuff?

Who’s the first one to quit a new hobby because they’re not great at it on the first try?

Who holds a grudge the longest?

Who secretly knows all the lyrics to the other’s favorite songs but refuses to expose themselves?

Who’s more likely to cry about a plant dying?

Which of the two is the most outspoken?

Which of the two is quick to speak and which one is quick to listen?

Who’s the most eager to have kids?

Which of the two rolls their eyes the most often?

Who’s an open book and which one is more reserved?

Who gets the most invested in their hyperfixations?

Who’s into Eurovision?

Which one’s the first to help a stranger in need?

Who’s had the same pair of jeans for years and refuses to change them out?

Which of the two is the most gullible?

Which of the two acts bothered by the other one but secretly enjoys every second of it?

Who’s more likely to get into a bar fight?

Who’s the optimist and who’s the pessimist?

Who gets more easily embarrassed?

Which of the two would you rather team up with for a game of laser tag?

Who gets a little too invested in board games?

Which of the two is more likely to take care of the other’s elderly parents?

Which of the two is more likely to stand out in a crowd?

Who will be the one baking banana bread on a Sunday after a week of complete mayhem?

Who brings CapriSun to a frat party?

Who’s the designated driver?

Who sugarcoats and who shoots it straight?

Who insists they’re the best at everything and who lets them believe it?

Who’s the first to apologize?

Who takes on boring tasks around the house so the other person doesn’t have to do them?

Who’s the more skeptical of the two?

Who picks up languages faster?

Who’s better at dealing with emotional trauma?

Who’s more foulmouthed?

Who’s more in touch with internet culture? Alternatively, if they live in a world where the internet doesn’t exist, who would be more in touch with it if it did exist in their world?

Which of the two is more artistic?

Who’ll be the first to snap if someone makes a bad comment about the other person?

Who’s the most self-aware?

Who has the most self-control?

Which of the two would be more likely to make a family album with physical pictures?

Who would confess their love first?

Who gets most excited about holidays? e.g. Christmas

Who gets most intense during a fight?

Who’s the cheapest?

Who’d refuse to pay the others bail just to mess with them?

Who’s the most concerned about details and semantics and who doesn’t care at all?

Who invites the other to dance for the first time?

Who overthinks the most?

Who whines the most when they get sick?

Who’s the most ambitious?

Who’s the most likely to get stage fright?

Who’s the best cook?

Which of the two is the most competitive?

Who’s got the highest pain tolerance?

Who’s the most fashionable?

Who’s the most stubborn?

Who’s the most childish?

Who’s the best at throwing axes?

Who’s more likely to buy some stupid NFT just because it looks cool or cute?

Whose grammar is so bad it’s a miracle they graduated 5th grade?

Who starts gearing up for Christmas first?

Who’s got the most scars (physically)?

Who would survive the longest in the wild?

Who’s the most spiteful?

Which of the two would you choose to be stuck with in an emergency situation?

Who’s the most likely to hurt the other’s feelings unintentionally?

Which of the two has the most dominant traits, aka., which of the two would their child end up resembling the most?

Who makes their bed in the morning and who's more of a slob?

Who'll be caught saying "rules are made to be broken"?

Whose hobbies/interests change every 2-5 business days?

Who'd be able not to talk for the longest?

Whose I-Hate-Everything-And-Everyone teenage phase was the most intense/lasted the longest?

Who'd take the gingerbread house decorating contest just a little too seriously?

Who's more likely to execute their threats?

Who has the more embarrassing Spotify Wrapped? + Give a run-down of each character's Spotify Wrapped, in as much or little detail as you want.

I get this all the time, and it hurts ;-;

I have these characters, these beautiful people I’ve invented with goals and complex thoughts and they feel so real to me. I have this world, this poignant place I’d rather live in than in my own world (unless it’s a death zone ofc haha). I have vibes that I get from it, the tone, the theme, and I have motivation to write???

But…uh, no plot. 

Thanks. Real helpful. 

So basically, if you’re like me and this is something that happens to you, here are some ideas to get your brain working so you can come up with a plot for your story. Not all of these work together, they’re just different ways to do it. 

Start with character wants.

What does your main character want? Do they want to win a competition? Find a missing/kidnapped parent? Stop a zombie apocalypse by finding a cure? Whatever that goal is, it should correspond with their motivation. 

The goal is what they need/want to do. (ex: Win a competition)

The motivation is why. (ex: To prove themselves to their peers)

THEN. What could stop your character from getting that want? (ex. a fellow competitor)

Start with theme.

The theme is the lesson you want to teach your readers, so what’s the first plot or second or third or fourth plot that comes to mind when you take your theme?

If the theme is about accepting yourself as you are, then…what series of events might teach an audience (and your characters) that?

Write down basically everything you want to happen. Every scene. 

Got some scenes and random things you want to include? Write ‘em down. Something might come up that sparks your interest. 

What could change your character’s current world?

- Journal from their perspective. It can be hard to write compelling, realistic motivation for characters if you don’t understand them yourself. By journalling from their perspective, even if the content of the journal isn’t included in your story, you’ll essentially be thinking as the character. This should help you understand who they are and how they make choices and react to things, like a real person would.

- Answer “character questions”, but be careful when using lists found online. The internet is full of lists of questions for writers to answer when building characters, but not all of them are actually that important or useful. The fact is, it really doesn’t matter what a character’s favourite colour, animal or day of the week is (unless it’s relevant to your story… but it usually isn’t). When looking for question lists online, or making your own, focus on questions that have to do with your character’s personality, such as how they’d react to a situation or which values matter more to them.

- Make character charts! I can’t stress this enough — character charts are incredibly useful tools for writers and I don’t know what I’d do without them. They’re a great way to keep track of important information about your characters in an organized way that’s easy to access when you need to quickly check a detail. I’d also strongly recommend making your own charts, not using templates online (I find it a lot easier to stay organized when I’m using my own organizational system). If you need a place to start, though, I normally create charts with 4 categories: role (protagonist, antagonist, etc.), name, identities (gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.), and description (just a brief few sentences about them). You can also make personality charts with things like their greatest flaw, greatest strength, story goals, etc.

- Come up with a few detailed memories/anecdotes from their past. Think of them as mini-stories you can drop into your main story to build a more realistic life around the character. These don’t have to be crucial to the plot, and should be brought up in a natural way, such as in conversation with another character or in the main character’s thoughts. For example, your MC’s best friend might compliment her necklace, and she tells them how her sister gave it to her as a birthday present before moving away. You can also use these anecdotes to drop in important information in a non-obvious way. Continuing the example above, the MC could mention that her sister has the same design necklace, but in green. Later, this becomes a clue, when she finds the green necklace outside the villain’s lair.

- Keep a record of their backstory. This one doesn’t really need much explaining… Just keep notes of your character’s backstory as you come up with it so you don’t risk inconsistencies, which tend to break down realism. 

I’ve seen a lot of fanfic writers ask for tips to write Deaf characters so I thought I would write some out to help make authentic.  Also feel free to send ask for any questions! 

Deaf characters exist on a spectrum- it’s rare to have no residual hearing.

Deaf characters can’t magically hear perfect with assistive devices. Hearing aids are in the name- an aid.  They make it easier to pick up some sounds.  They are also expensive and a lot of insurance won’t cover.  

ASL- American Sign Language.  Deaf characters raised by hearing family might not have access to ASL until later in life.  Percentage of Deaf kids educated in fluent ASL is low.

ASL has own grammar and syntax totally different from English,  But! It is okay to write ASL in spoken English grammar, especially if you don’t know ASL.  We know what you mean!

Avoid Deaf and hearing characters signing and speaking long sentences at the same time. It’s called Sim-Com and ASL users who can do it are rare because sentence structures are totally different.  It would be like trying to write a sentence in English at the exact same time (word for word) as someone speaks it in French.   Sim-com usually used with SEE and still hard for fluent ASL Deaf to follow.

Deaf characters can be dizzy!  Many many Deaf have tinnitus and vertigo.  Comes with many hearing loss conditions.  Vertigo can also be triggered by flashing lights, heavy bass sounds.  (very annoying in the car when driving and someone has loud, shake your car bass)

Deaf characters can also can have balance problems from inner ear issues.

Deaf characters can enjoy music!  Many ways to enjoy music besides hearing all of it.

Lip reading is hard.  You need to start at the beginning of the conversation, need constant context, and when you lose the thread it’s hard to get back.  Many many words look the same on lips that sound totally different.  Avoid magic lipreading in characters.

Character doesn’t need to have a Deaf accent.

Deaf character doesn’t need to talk loud.  Many Deaf talk very soft because they feel vibrations before the vibrations make audible noise.

Deaf characters can be very fluent in written English and great writers but still have very poor sentence skills when being casual in texting or conversation (like me!)  Hard to go from ASL to English brain, and makes you tired.

Deaf characters can use ASL Slang!  ASL has colloquial signs that have no direct English translation but we use all the time (peh peh, train go sorry, champ, etc etc)   Here are some examples!

what is their name? and how does this fit their character?

last name?

do they have a middle name?

name a song that describes them

what are their pronouns?

gender and sexuality?

do they like someone romantically?

list five words to describe them

what about five dialogue tags to use consistently on this character?

what is their motivation?

do they consider themselves a good person?

colour that describes their personality

MBTI type

enneagram type

character they're based on

person they would bring down whilst dying

person they would kill if they had the chance

character they would get along with if they were in the same universe

character they would hate if they were in the same universe

artist they would listen to

artist they would hate

give them a theme song

make them a playlist! (see my other post for songs to put on that playlist, here)

make them a mood board

assign them an aesthetic

what are their strengths?

what about fatal weaknesses?

the one person who can convince them to do something they're stubbornly against

who would they kill for?

what tropes do they fall into?

fatal weakness (food edition)

book they would definitely read

language besides their mother tongue they would (have) learned

murder accomplice

thing that makes them go weak at the knees

most obscure thing they HATE

while we're there, biggest phobia

are they (would they be) a book or movie person?

are they a romantic

childhood experience that defines an aspect of their life

what is their age?

birth sign? / zodiac?

what constellation would they be

name a famous myth could they would have been the main character

old or new soul

assign them a smell

assign them a smell they like

can they swim?

street smarts or brain smarts?

I often struggle with creating distinct characters, so I came up with some questions about your OCs that I haven't seen in any other lists.

I recommend answering these for each character once you've already spent some time with them on the page.

What irks other people about the way they converse?

What kind of conversations do they usually have?

Are they a good listener?

How do they react to confrontation?

How do they react to being corrected?

How do they correct others?

Do they tend to speak in long sentences, short & clipped sentences, or somewhere in between?

How likely are they to heed social cues when talking to others?

How likely are they to use body language rather than words to express discomfort and other emotions?

Do they care more about getting their way, or more about how others feel?

What's their favourite skill?

What niche thing are they competent at?

What trait immediately draws them to other people?

What trait immediately repels them?

Even if they haven't met (or even if they're not even in the same universe!), what would your other OCs' first impression of them be?

What makes them angry?

What makes them sad?

What makes them happy?

What's their posture like?

How do they want others to see them?

How do they move through a room?

Do they prefer being barefoot, and if not, what kind of footwear do they usually like best?

What kind of climate do they prefer?

What would make them distrust somebody?

Talks over others/interrupts

Always has to one-up others

Can’t take criticism

Always plays the victim

Selfish

Pathological liar

Makes everything about them

Bad at sharing

Guilt trips others

Makes special events about themselves

Their way or no way at all

Makes up excuses for everything

Has a reason why nothing is ever their fault

Not a team player

Does jobs halfway

Makes everything a joke

Can’t take a joke

Is overly literal

Can’t let others enjoy anything

Body

descriptors; ample, athletic, barrel-chested, beefy, blocky, bony, brawny, buff, burly, chubby, chiseled, coltish, curvy, fat, fit, herculean, hulking, lanky, lean, long, long-legged, lush, medium build, muscular, narrow, overweight, plump, pot-bellied, pudgy, round, skeletal, skinny, slender, slim, stocky, strong, stout, strong, taut, toned, wide.

Eyebrows

descriptors; bushy, dark, faint, furry, long, plucked, raised, seductive, shaved, short, sleek, sparse, thin, unruly.

shape; arched, diagonal, peaked, round, s-shaped, straight.

Ears

shape; attached lobe, broad lobe, narrow, pointed, round, square, sticking-out.

Eyes

colour; albino, blue (azure, baby blue, caribbean blue, cobalt, ice blue, light blue, midnight, ocean blue, sky blue, steel blue, storm blue,) brown (amber, dark brown, chestnut, chocolate, ebony, gold, hazel, honey, light brown, mocha, pale gold, sable, sepia, teakwood, topaz, whiskey,) gray (concrete gray, marble, misty gray, raincloud, satin gray, smoky, sterling, sugar gray), green (aquamarine, emerald, evergreen, forest green, jade green, leaf green, olive, moss green, sea green, teal, vale).

descriptors; bedroom, bright, cat-like, dull, glittering, red-rimmed, sharp, small, squinty, sunken, sparkling, teary.

positioning/shape; almond, close-set, cross, deep-set, downturned, heavy-lidded, hooded, monolid, round, slanted, upturned, wide-set.

Face

descriptors; angular, cat-like, hallow, sculpted, sharp, wolfish.

shape; chubby, diamond, heart-shaped, long, narrow, oblong, oval, rectangle, round, square, thin, triangle.

Facial Hair

beard; chin curtain, classic, circle, ducktail, dutch, french fork, garibaldi, goatee, hipster, neckbeard, old dutch, spade, stubble, verdi, winter.

clean-shaven

moustache; anchor, brush, english, fu manchu, handlebar, hooked, horseshoe, imperial, lampshade, mistletoe, pencil, toothbrush, walrus.

sideburns; chin strap, mutton chops.

Hair

colour; blonde (ash blonde, golden blonde, beige, honey, platinum blonde, reddish blonde, strawberry-blonde, sunflower blonde,) brown (amber, butterscotch, caramel, champagne, cool brown, golden brown, chocolate, cinnamon, mahogany,) red (apricot, auburn, copper, ginger, titain-haired,), black (expresso, inky-black, jet black, raven, soft black) grey (charcoal gray, salt-and-pepper, silver, steel gray,), white (bleached, snow-white).

descriptors; bedhead, dull, dry, fine, full, layered, limp, messy, neat, oily, shaggy, shinny, slick, smooth, spiky, tangled, thick, thin, thinning, tousled, wispy, wild, windblown.

length; ankle length, bald, buzzed, collar length, ear length, floor length, hip length, mid-back length, neck length, shaved, shoulder length, waist length.

type; beach waves, bushy, curly, frizzy, natural, permed, puffy, ringlets, spiral, straight, thick, thin, wavy.

Hands; calloused, clammy, delicate, elegant, large, plump, rough, small, smooth, square, sturdy, strong.

Fingernails; acrylic, bitten, chipped, curved, claw-like, dirty, fake, grimy, long, manicured, painted, peeling, pointed, ragged, short, uneven.

Fingers; arthritic, cold, elegant, fat, greasy, knobby, slender, stubby.

Lips/Mouth

colour (lipstick); brown (caramel, coffee, nude, nutmeg,) pink (deep rose, fuchsia, magenta, pale peach, raspberry, rose, ) purple (black cherry, plum, violet, wine,) red (deep red, ruby.)

descriptors; chapped, cracked, dry, full, glossy, lush, narrow, pierced, scabby, small, soft, split, swollen, thin, uneven, wide, wrinkled.

shape; bottom-heavy, bow-turned, cupid’s bow, downturned, oval, pouty, rosebud, sharp, top-heavy.

Nose

descriptors; broad, broken, crooked, dainty, droopy, hooked, long, narrow, pointed, raised, round, short, strong, stubby, thin, turned-up, wide.

shape; button, flared, grecian, hawk, roman.

Skin

descriptors; blemished, bruised, chalky, clear, dewy, dimpled, dirty, dry, flaky, flawless, freckled, glowing, hairy, itchy, lined, oily, pimply, rashy, rough, sagging, satiny, scarred, scratched, smooth, splotchy, spotted, tattooed, uneven, wrinkly.

like, it isn’t always “person who has tons of motivation and spends a ton of time making this thing *just* right”

wayyyyyy more often than not it’s:

”I know that if I try to make this thing, it won’t be perfect, so I simply won’t try.”

which definitely sounds bad, right? but when you realize that it doesn’t just apply to voluntarily making art, then you realize how perfectionism is not at all a good thing in any context. 

“i know that if I try to work on this assignment right now, it won’t be good enough, so i’ll wait until the last possible moment so that I have something forcing me to do it.”

”i know that I should start going to the gym, but I won’t see any improvement right away, so I just won’t.”

”i know that i should brush my teeth tonight, but that won’t be good enough to undo the fact that i haven’t brushed them 4 days in a row, so I just won’t.”

perfectionism isn’t the uncontrollable impulse to make things “just right”. (although it can occasionally manifest as this.)

the fact that they got rid of the old tagging system makes some very useful guides i've seen previously so hard to find but here are a couple i've found; one compiles quite a few different guides into a masterlist which is useful ! if you have any other questions, or any guides you want to see for writing mental health in particular let me know ! i have a masters in psychology; obviously i'm not going to know everything still, but it's a good starting point and i'd be happy to find all the relevant research.

THIS is a good list, though obviously it's not comprehensive but it's a good start THIS is a list of bad tropes to avoid with writing a character with mental health issues THIS is very helpful for if you're writing a character with DID

i got those three from the tag 'writing mental illness', but honestly i'd be happy to put some guides together about the topic, especially as a lot of them that are out there are older and could now be outdated as new info about mental health and mental illnesses come to light all the time !

yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

- Keep in mind this is from my own experience and these are my own opinions. If you feel I missed anything important, please tell me. 

WARNING: This mentions mental health, depression, and death. If you don’t feel comfortable reading, please don’t. 

- Something that has become common place in writing is the romanticizing of mental health issues like depression. A while back I wrote about how love is not a cure-all. But really that was just the surface. 

If you’re writing a book about teens, it’s always nice to touch on this sensitive topic because it can make a lot of readers feel less alone. After all that’s why a lot of people read, as an escape from reality. Often times people look for pieces of themselves in their favorite characters and it makes them feel less alone. That’s why it’s always good to add any type of diversity, race, sexuality, ability. 

So how do you avoid the romanticization of bad mental health? Here are three things to keep in mind. 

1) Keep in mind love is not a cure-all. If your character is suffering from depression, a love interest is not going to make them suddenly better. And if one does, that’s not depression. People can help someone with depression by being there and supporting them, but their going to need professional help as well if it is really bad. 

2) A big part of romanticizing mental illness looking for the good that comes out of it. This includes things like looking for the upside of a character’s mental illness related death. Don’t do this. You can show how your character views the upsides. Like “I would be less of a burden if I was dead.” But that’s not true. By actively looking for the positives in instants like this (making the characters death have meaning rather than their life) is romanticizing it. This includes something that happens a lot in shows and books, having the other characters find something good out of another character’s mental illness related death. Stuff like, I’m going to avoid what they did, I wasn’t there for them but now I know how to be there for people and I saved someone else from killing themselves, or this was a message for me to stop doing ____. This shows an audience of young kids that if they do end up doing something to themselves, than it would give them meaning and help others.  You have to show the fall-down. The bad stuff and how other characters view it. You have to show all the little things while still assigning meaning to the character’s life. Because, let’s be honest, every person’s life has meaning. 

As you can see from the title, I am going to be talking about writing characters with mental illnesses.

Do your research

Like in my previous post about writing characters with disabilities, you should also do your research about the mental illness(es) you are planning to write. The misconceptions people get about mental illnesses are way too much. For example, not all people with schizophrenia hallucinate. No, OCD is not "being a germaphobe" or "giving a lot of attention to cleanliness". And no, being depressed isn't just being "sad" and/or "lazy". If you have read my last post, then you know I have depression myself, so this stigma about depression hits especially hard for me.

2. Don't trivialize them

I am sick and I am tired of shows and books and other media trivializing symptoms of mental illness. And I know I'm not alone in this. For example, people who have eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa think that the symptoms they have aren't serious because it is shown as less severe than it really is on media.

So show the bitter truth about mental illnesses. You have no idea how happy we are when we see that people actually show what it's really like to live like we do. Do not sugarcoat anything when writing mental illnesses. You want to write mental illnesses? Do it right.

3. Make characters more than their mental illness(es)