Link to Morphing Grid!

Interpersonal

Chronic people-pleaser who quietly resents everyone they've pleased

Can't apologize without immediately over-explaining or justifying

Confuses control for care (over-plans other people's lives "for their own good")

Ghosts conflict instead of having the conversation

Weaponizes humor to deflect anything real

Self-perception

Preemptively self-deprecating so no one else gets the chance

Secretly competitive with people they claim to admire

Can't accept help without feeling indebted

Mistakes stubbornness for integrity

Needs to be the one who "figured it out first"

Practical/Behavioral

Hoards small grudges but forgets big ones

Terrible at endings — leaves things (relationships, jobs, books) unfinished rather than face closure

Compulsive over-preparer who panics without a plan B, C, and D

Says yes to everything, then quietly sabotages the thing they didn't want to do

Nostalgic to a fault — idealizes the past to avoid dealing with the present

Sharper/nastier ones

Enjoys being needed more than being loved

Tests people's loyalty in ways they never admit to

Generous publicly, stingy privately

Believes their own myth a little too much

Artwork Copyright © Tyler Spangler

"remember when you didn't make eye contact with me when I walked in the room this morning? Why isn't that on here?"

Whumpee apologizes and gets beaten twice as hard. Eventually they end up in a perpetual state of analyzing their own behavior for mistakes.

Even worse, sometimes Whumper gets mad at them for things they didn't even do. If Whumpee insists it never happened they'll get punished both for the thing and for "lying".

Whumpee gets so paranoid that they end up writing things down that Whumper probably would never know otherwise, giving Whumper so many more reasons to punish them.

One day Whumper gets mad at Whumpee because Whumpee didn't put "having angry thoughts about Whumper" on the list. Whumper convinces Whumpee they know what they are thinking and that there is no point in trying to hide it.

Whumpee ends up conditioned to write down the "bad" thoughts they have, to be punished for them. They now aren't only desperately analyzing everything they do, but also everything they think. Whumper now officially has control over Whumpee in their own head.

Be prepared to get comments like "Your hair is so pretty. You wrote her hair so pretty. Why is she so pretty?" And "Your writing is so good. I can really tell what he's saying and oh he smells so nice. That's a cool looking bag. Your beta has awesome shoes I bet. What's her name?"

Analytical, critical thinking type characters: These character's tend to think about grief by separating themselves from it with logistics. initial reaction will be shock followed by how to fix the problems this is causing. maybe they deal with it by hyper focusing on planning a funeral, or they move onto a different project and completely throw themselves into it. this will probably culminate in one big breaking point where they can't run from it anymore they end up having an uncharacteristic but necessary breakdown. When writing this, the character should not consciously think about distracting themselves, they convince themselves they're fine. Everything is fine. I'm doing fine.

Recipient of a third-degree burn in front of witnesses. IE, "I won't take that shit from a man dressed like a ghostbuster"= "Gostbuster" or "Buster"

A distinctive personal feature or quirk. IE, "Have you noticed how that new guy is always eating bell peppers?" = "Peppers", or "That chick has a massive forehead" = "Forehead".

An embarrassing thing you said or did. IE, "Did you seriously call Dale "Dad"?" = "Junior", "Baby boy", "Sport"

A game of name-mutation telephone. IE, "Donny Clyde" = "Bonnie 'n' Clyde" = "Bonnie" = "Bon-bon".

Irony. IE, calling a tall person "short stack" or a particularly dour person "sunshine".

A 'wrong place wrong time' one-off incident. IE, "He spilled oil on his pants and had to borrow a pair that were way too big and Jim saw him with the waistband pulled up to his nipples and called him 'Parachute'"

A batman-style origin story but not in a cool way: "One time she hit a deer with the company car and when she called the boss to tell her she was crying so hard we thought she was dying" = "Bambi"

The incredibly rare 'admiration' nickname, bourne only once a millennia under the light of the blood moon: "We saw him lift a truck once so now we call him 'iron man'"

+ How Nicknames Stick:

Your fate is determined by The Counsel

You hate it

Whatever you do, I want you to know there's someone out there that will appreciate what you're writing.

I believe that fully.

In the moments of doubt, I wish for everyone to remember why they started crafting stories in the first place. The passion of putting words on the page for your own joy.