#round characters

Like, I love super malicious characters where like they have a super complex backstory on how their arm was cut in half by a sea monster, making them want to get their revenge on said sea monster's family as much as the next person

But a character doesn't have to be complex to be a good villain

Let's use a bully character, for example. The Bully character can have two forms: flat and rounded

In the round version of her character, she bullies her sister. They got along most of their childhood, and they had a wonderful time growing up. But as they got to middle school, the Bully got meaner. Her friends slowly shaped her into something she wasn't. Making her act malicious to her sister. She's too far gone. So far gone, in fact, that she doesn't even see anything wrong with what she's doing

But in the flat version of her character... she's just that. A Bully. She likes the thrill, she likes knowing how small she makes others feel. There's nothing deep about her. She's just an asshole with room to grow.

But that's what makes flat character so fun, they can grow with the narrative

Let's say the flat Bully finds out she's one of the last survivors of an extinct tribe. The surviving members of the tribe tell her that she needs to save the rest of them by retrieving an item.

The flat character, though begrudgingly, accepts it

Through the journey, she gets humbled time and time again. She feels so powerless. So small. It's through her journey that she learns from her past mistakes and ultimately becomes a better person in the end

Problem: The Characters Are All Stereotypes

Solution: To be more than a collection of tropes, characters must be emotionally differentiated, possess myriad insecurities, battle visible and invisible vulnerabilities, willingly blur their own logic to achieve what they perceive as necessary, and debate their own flaws. Solid characters, well-rounded characters, and well-defined characters give readers a reason to stay engaged.

To craft these characters, authors should be conscientious of what internal rules the story's characters follow, what flaws these characters must overcome, and what trajectory each character arc takes in parallel to the overall narrative arc. Not every character needs to know who they are or how they want to influence the story to stick in readers' minds, but the author should have a good grasp how the character grows (or regresses) relative to how they engage the story's central conflict or theme.

Writing Resources:

10 Traits of a Strong Antagonist (Fiction University)

The No-Effort Character Sheet for Lazy Writers (justsomecynic; ahbwrites)

How to Write Deep P.O.V.: 8 Tips and Examples (Now Novel)

Character Flaws: Creating Lovable Imperfections (Now Novel)

How to Use Character Flaws to Enrich Your Writing (Perpetual Stories)

Character Flaws: When Is Too Far Too Far? (The Character Therapist)

20 Powerful Romance Tropes (and How to Make Them Original) (Jericho Writers)

Does Your Character Have a Secret? (Writers Helping Writers)

Creating Villain Motivations: Writing Real Adversaries (Now Novel)

Some Quick Character Tips (Coffee Bean Writing)

Dynamic vs. Round Characters: Who Needs a Character Arc? (The Novel Smithy)

There’s a lot of tropes in the manga Kaichou wa Maid sama: the ace, the tsundere, etc. However, it’s also appeared on lists of shoujo manga with non-whiny female leads.

A lot of sub-par shoujo is just wish fulfillment. Take a female whose main distinguishing characteristics are being unattractive and stupid and whiny and then inexplicably give her a hot, smart love interest. I understand the message behind this storyline (everyone deserves love), but it would be helpful if the protagonists had something resembling a personality.

Misaki defintely has a personality, and we’re told from the beginning that it is unattractive. Even Usui tells her that she may be going too far. Ultimately, Misaki is right most of the time, and I admire her ability to stay strict despite knowing that it will makes her unlikable. Over time, Misaki learns to take a step back to see when she is going to far, to take the long view, and even to confront her violent tendencies. She also becomes more honest about her emotions and her “girlish” wants. Despite these changes, Misaki says pretty consistent in other ways: her preference for plain clothing, her dedication to working hard, her obliviousness to danger and female modesty (despite Usui’s frequent reminders that she is a girl). In some ways Misaki’s narrative is vindicated against Usui’s, such as when she is able to defeat rapists on her own, without Usui’s help. Misaki and Usui’s physical accomplishments are over-the-top, obviously, buy it’s fun to see a female protagonist who doesn’t always need to be saved physically. Usui does save Misaki several times, but you can make the argument that she saves him too.

Usui seems like the typical shoujo male lead in some ways. He’s attractive and smart and cool and popular and an asshole. For some reason shoujo love interests are usually assholes in some way. Their casual cruelness is part of what makes them “cool.” Usui is something else though—specifically an outer space pervert from planet pheromone. He’s popular and admired, but he’s also a loner who’s never fit in. Rereading the manga, I’m struck by how terrible he is—and not just in an author-has-some-chauvinistic-ideas-I-don’t-agree-with terrible. He is mangaka and protagonist acknowledged terrible. See Misaki’s dialogue in chapter 65 of the manga:

He’s creepy (a self-acknowledged stalker, according to the anime), treats most people like air, definitely has a weird and/or perverted sense of humor, is apathetic about most things, casually says cruel things, teases some people relentlessly, and is pretty egotistical. When Misaki’s father shows up, we also see it openly acknowledged that he finds it hard to get along with talkative people. He’s a loner, but he also genuinely finds most people annoying.

In other words, who would want to be with this guy? Well, by that point Misaki does. Usui definitely had faults, but he has some good qualities too. His perverted sense of humor seems to be a front specifically to tease Misaki. That and his cruelness are entertaining at least (much like Misaki’s violence). He can be polite or restrained when he needs to be. He grows to be more empathetic and responsible and less secretive as time goes on. He basically becomes a functional member of human society. That being said, though he does take responsibility as a member of the Walker family, Usui is pretty much only nice to Misaki or nice to people for Misaki’s sake.

Why do we like him again? Because he’s hot. Because he pushes Misaki to do perverted stuff that she wants to do. Because though he does kiss her without permission early on (and then later harasses Yukimura too), he is much more careful about consent later on. He even “holds himself back” when he senses Misaki is embarassed. Because even though kissing (and other stuff) with Misaki is definitely one of his goals, he’s also content just to watch her, sometimes from afar, and to support her and talk with her. While Misaki’s unexpected cuteness (and amusing tantrums) are big draws for him, Usui is also obviously attracted to her protectiveness and hard-working personality.

Of course!

Do not force yourself to write. Ever. If you are feeling a block in creativity, or just burnt out, try going someplace new because it really helps. Go somewhere you’ve never been, go to a museum, a park, a cafe, anywhere with a new environment, because it can really help the creativity start to flow again.

If you’re writing from the perspective of a character and not yourself, try not to write while you are experiencing strong emotions. You want to keep the tone and mood intentionally set throughout the book, so if you’re character is on a journey of love or something, you don’t want to be writing while you’re incredibly pissed off at everything (and vice versa).

Research everything. Fact check things, sometimes if you’re writing something with action you might have to make calculations to ensure that what you’re writing is accurate (who knew those math formulas would actually come in handy, right?) but it makes your writing more believable when you do. We’ve all seen people on the internet picking things apart, and when the reader can do that to something you write, you lose your credibility. 

If you’re writing something with a plot, make sure what you write is progressing the plot in some way. Don’t be killing off characters unnecessarily because you’re in the mood to do it (see #2) because events like killing a character off should further the plot in some way, even if it’s just to make the protagonist realize something about themselves/the world/etc.

If you’re writing poetry/a poetry collection, stick to a theme! I had to revise and revise so many times to figure out which poems were staying, which weren’t which were going next to each other, and all of that. I highly recommend printing each poem on a page (or half page and cutting them) and shuffling them around in front of you to order them. It really helps to have a physical version of that poem in front of you.

Try to break certain archetypal patterns and overused plots! Don’t always go for the mentor being an old person. Don’t always make it the daughter with only her dad or the son with only his mother, switch that up. Don’t always make the lead/love interest/etc. a heterosexual blonde with sparkling blue eyes blah blah, unless you genuinely want to characterize them that way. 

Make sure to create well rounded characters!!!!! This is so important. There are so many charts on the internet that help you do this. 

Don’t just talk about what your character is good at, or what their positive attributes are. Talk about how they are really caring and loyal, but they are also incredibly obstinate and can be selfish. Maybe they’re cheerful and extroverted, but really short-tempered. Maybe they’re spoiled and ungrateful. 

This goes for physical qualities, too!! Maybe their hair is perfectly straight and parted, but they have a scar on their chin from falling off their bike as a kid. Or they have a pretty face, but a few of their incisors are crooked. No person or character is perfect, and they are so much more believable when they are well rounded. 

Rounded characters are complex and conflicting, so maybe create some contradictions among their actions and what they say/believe.

Probably the most important: Don’t write while keeping in mind what you think people want to read. Write a story that you think is worth being written down and retold. 

You’ve probably heard terms such as: round characters, 3D characters, and flat characters. That is what I’ll be discussing today.

For those of you who haven’t heard any of those terms, or maybe you have and you just haven’t understood what people mean: Round (or three dimensional) characters are those that are well thought out. These are the ones that are not just characters, they are people. They have personality: Quirks, flaws, strengths, etc. And for those aspects of their being, there is a reason behind it.

Now, when you write the character, you do not need to mention every detail of this character but it helps for YOU as the writer to know and understand them. There will be plenty of things that need to be explained to a reader for them to connect with your character more. In addition to that, your protagonist should also have strengths AND flaws. If there is absolutely nothing wrong with them, they are perfect in every way... well... who wants to read that?

An antagonist should be strong and formidable, but there needs to be some sort of weakness otherwise the protagonist would never win. A protagonist could be an intelligent, witty, and dashing man that could charm any woman, but maybe he still lives with his mother, haha. Or the last woman that he loved died and he was just left broken after that, so now it is hard for him to create close relationships.

On the flip side we have flat characters. These are the ones that are not very thought out and lack depth. If this is just a minor character such as a barista at the local coffee shop, then that is OK. You do not need an entire personality mapped out for them. If your main character(s) are flat, that IS a problem. I recently read a short story that was work in progress of one writer. There were only three active characters in the story. While at least two were flat, one was much worse and a bigger part of the story. I won’t divulge too many specifics of the story, but the character in question had a major problem with cleaning. To the point of breaking down crying. However, there was no real explanation or even an insinuation as to why. This made the story a hard read because it leaves the reader wondering what is going on. Why should they care about what is happening?

TIP: Find a questionnaire online. Fill out the answers from your character’s perspective and know why they would give the answers that they do.

Additional hints/tips:

1. If your character has a strong hatred for specific people, it helps to know WHY they do. While many people have their own judgments or prejudices, it would still be beneficial. If your protagonist is a dwarf, but they cannot stand to be around humans-- why is that? Maybe a human killed his mother in front of him when he was a boy and he has not worked to overcome that yet. Or maybe it is your antagonist and he is set on ridding the world of all humans, wizards, elves? But WHY?

2. If the character is a privileged, stuck-up, self-centered, heinous bitch... would it really make sense for her to all of the sudden start helping the homeless? Reading to the elderly? Volunteering at a soup kitchen? Maybe not, right? Unless it fits with the character you’ve mapped out. Maybe all of that is just an act at school because she wants to keep being one of the popular girls, and at her last school she was bullied and doesn’t want that again. Which means she pretends to be something she’s not. Then in her spare time she does the things that actually suit her true personality and give her enjoyment? 

3. If the protagonist grew up seeing her mother abused and she herself assaulted by the mom’s boyfriend, and now as an adult she has major trust and anxiety issues with men, and remains a virgin... would she really go have sex with a man after only meeting him three times? Not likely. By the end of the book after she has had chance to get to know him, open up, and trust him? Absolutely! Always be aware of little things like that, where there seems to be a disconnect in the personality you’ve tried to construct.

These are just some thoughts to help you get started! There is a lot more information out there, but I hope this helps you understand it a little better!