#writingtips

When character is angry:

Snapped

Spat

Snarled

Hissed

Barked

...or sad:

Choked

Mumbled

Managed

Croaked

Murmured

...or if they're feeling nervous:

Stammered

Babbled

Rambled

Muttered

Squeaked

...and even when flirting:

Coaxed

Purred

Teased

Hummed

Okay, let’s be real—dialogue can make or break a scene. You want your characters to sound natural, like actual humans talking, not robots reading a script. So, how do you write dialogue that feels real without it turning into a mess of awkward pauses and “ums”? Here’s a little cheat sheet of what real people actually do when they talk (and you can totally steal these for your next story):

1. People Interrupt Each Other All the Time In real conversations, nobody waits for the perfect moment to speak. We interrupt, cut each other off, and finish each other's sentences. Throw in some overlaps or interruptions in your dialogue to make it feel more dynamic and less like a rehearsed play.

2. They Don’t Always Say What They Mean Real people are masters of dodging. They’ll say one thing but mean something totally different (hello, passive-aggressive banter). Or they’ll just avoid the question entirely. Let your characters be vague, sarcastic, or just plain evasive sometimes—it makes their conversations feel more layered.

3. People Trail Off... We don’t always finish our sentences. Sometimes we just... stop talking because we assume the other person gets what we’re trying to say. Use that in your dialogue! Let a sentence trail off into nothing. It adds realism and shows the comfort (or awkwardness) between characters.

4. Repeating Words Is Normal In real life, people repeat words when they’re excited, nervous, or trying to make a point. It’s not a sign of bad writing—it’s how we talk. Let your characters get a little repetitive now and then. It adds a rhythm to their speech that feels more genuine.

5. Fillers Are Your Friends People say "um," "uh," "like," "you know," all the time. Not every character needs to sound polished or poetic. Sprinkle in some filler words where it makes sense, especially if the character is nervous or thinking on their feet.

6. Not Everyone Speaks in Complete Sentences Sometimes, people just throw out fragments instead of complete sentences, especially when emotions are high. Short, choppy dialogue can convey tension or excitement. Instead of saying “I really think we need to talk about this,” try “We need to talk. Now.”

7. Body Language Is Part of the Conversation Real people don’t just communicate with words; they use facial expressions, gestures, and body language. When your characters are talking, think about what they’re doing—are they fidgeting? Smiling? Crossing their arms? Those little actions can add a lot of subtext to the dialogue without needing extra words.

8. Awkward Silences Are Golden People don’t talk non-stop. Sometimes, they stop mid-conversation to think, or because things just got weird. Don’t be afraid to add a beat of awkward silence, a long pause, or a meaningful look between characters. It can say more than words.

9. People Talk Over Themselves When They're Nervous When we’re anxious, we tend to talk too fast, go back to rephrase what we just said, or add unnecessary details. If your character’s nervous, let them ramble a bit or correct themselves. It’s a great way to show their internal state through dialogue.

10. Inside Jokes and Shared History Real people have history. Sometimes they reference something that happened off-page, or they share an inside joke only they get. This makes your dialogue feel lived-in and shows that your characters have a life beyond the scene. Throw in a callback to something earlier, or a joke only two characters understand.

11. No One Explains Everything People leave stuff out. We assume the person we’re talking to knows what we’re talking about, so we skip over background details. Instead of having your character explain everything for the reader’s benefit, let some things go unsaid. It’ll feel more natural—and trust your reader to keep up!

12. Characters Have Different Voices Real people don’t all talk the same way. Your characters shouldn’t either! Pay attention to their unique quirks—does one character use slang? Does another speak more formally? Maybe someone’s always cutting people off while another is super polite. Give them different voices and patterns of speech so their dialogue feels authentic to them.

13. People Change the Subject In real life, conversations don’t always stay on track. People get sidetracked, jump to random topics, or avoid certain subjects altogether. If your characters are uncomfortable or trying to dodge a question, let them awkwardly change the subject or ramble to fill the space.

14. Reactions Aren’t Always Immediate People don’t always respond right away. They pause, they think, they hesitate. Sometimes they don’t know what to say, and that delay can speak volumes. Give your characters a moment to process before they respond—it’ll make the conversation feel more natural.

by rin t. (resident chaos scribe of thewriteadviceforwriters)

Okay so here’s the thing. You can give me all the pretty pinterest moodboards and soft trauma playlists in the world, but if your character doesn’t change, I will send them back to the factory.

Let’s talk about character arcs. Not vibes. Not tragic backstory flavoring. Actual. Arcs. (It hurts but we’ll get through it together.)

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💡 what a character arc IS:

a transformational journey (keyword: transformation)

the internal response to external pressure (aka plot consequences)

a shift in worldview, behavior, belief, self-concept

the emotional architecture of your story

the reason we care

💥 what a character arc is NOT:

a sad monologue halfway through act 2

a single cool scene where they yell or cry

a moral they magically learn by the end

a “development” label slapped on a flatline

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✨ THE 3 BASIC FLAVORS OF ARC (and how to emotionally damage your characters accordingly):

Positive Arc They start with a flaw, false belief, or fear that limits them. Through the events of the story (and many Ls), they confront that internal lie, grow, and emerge changed. Hurt factor: Drag them through the mud. Make them fight to believe in themselves. Break their trust, make them doubt. Let them earn their ending.

Negative Arc They begin whole(ish) and devolve. They fail to overcome their flaw or false belief. This arc ends in ruin, corruption, or defeat. Hurt factor: Let them almost have a chance. Build hope. Then show how they sabotage it, or how the world takes it anyway. Twist the knife.

Flat/Static Arc They don’t change, but the world around them does. They hold onto a core truth, and it’s their constancy that drives change in others. Think: mentor, revolutionary, or truth-teller type. Hurt factor: Make the world push back. Make their values cost them something. The tension comes from holding steady in chaos.

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🎯 how to build an arc that actually HITS (no ✨soft lessons✨, just internal structure):

Lie they believe: What false thing do they think about themselves or the world? (“I’m unlovable.” “Power = safety.” “I’m only valuable if I’m useful.”)

Want vs. need: What do they think they want? What do they actually need to grow?

Wound/backstory scar: What made them like this? You don’t need a tragic past™ but you do need cause and effect.

Turning point: What moment forces them to question their worldview? What event cracks the surface?

Moment of choice: Do they change? Or not? What decision seals their arc?

🧪 Pro tip: this is not a worksheet. This is scaffolding. The arc lives in the story, not just your doc notes. The lie isn’t revealed in a monologue, it’s felt through consequences, relationships, mistakes.

─────── ✦ ───────

🛠️ things to actually do with this:

Write scenes where the character’s flaw messes things up. Like, they lose something. A person. A plan. Their cool. Make the flaw hurt.

Track their beliefs like a timeline. How do they start? What chips away at it? When does the shift stick?

Use relationships as arc mirrors. Who challenges them? Enables them? Forces reflection? Internal change is almost never solo.

Revisit the lie. Circle back to it at least three times in escalating intensity. Reminder > confrontation > transformation.

─────── ✦ ───────

🌊 bonus pain level: REVERSE THE ARC

Wanna make it really hurt? Set them up for one arc, and give them the opposite. They think they’re growing into a better person. But actually, they’re losing themselves. They think they’re spiraling. But they’re really healing. Let them be surprised. Let the reader be surprised.

─────── ✦ ───────

TL;DR: If your plot is a skeleton, your character arc is the nervous system.

The change is the thing. Don’t just dress it up in trauma. Don’t let your character learn nothing. Make them face themselves. And yeah. Make it hurt a little. (Or a lot. I won’t stop you.)

—rin t. // thewriteadviceforwriters // plotting pain professionally since forever

P.S. I made a free mini eBook about the 5 biggest mistakes writers make in the first 10 pages 👀 you can grab it here for FREE:

⟢ Please support me by reposting, liking, following, and commenting on this post. If it doesn't resonate with you, please remember that a birth chart must be read as a whole.

If your Mercury is in Capricorn, in the 10th house, or tied to Saturn, writing can feel slow and deliberate. You don’t just say things, you go over them, question them, and reshape them until they feel right. There’s a constant pressure to be clear and precise. At first, it can feel like you’re holding yourself back but later, it becomes your strength. You choose your words carefully, and for that reason, they carry weight.

Genres: literary fiction, essays, long-form narratives

Examples: Joan Didion, "The Year of Magical Thinking" (2005); Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety (1987)

If your Moon is in Gemini, in the 3rd house, or tied to Mercury, you tend to run your feelings through words. You’re not just feeling something, you’re already thinking about it at the same time. Your mind keeps talking, even when you’re alone. That shows in how you write. It sounds like someone speaking, like thoughts happening in real time, sometimes going around the point before getting there. It feels natural, like you’re working it out as you go.

Genres: contemporary fiction, dialogue-driven narratives, essays

Examples: Nora Ephron, "Heartburn" (1983); Zadie Smith, "White Teeth" (2000)

If Mercury is in Scorpio, in the 8th house, or tightly aspected by Pluto, you don’t trust what’s visible. You write what sits underneath. Tension, control, unspoken motives. Your stories don’t explain everything, they imply it. There’s intensity in your voice because you don’t look away.

Genres: psychological fiction, noir, introspective prose

Examples: Donna Tartt, "The Secret History" (1992); Bret Easton Ellis, "American Psycho" (1991)

If your Sun or Mercury connects to Uranus, or sits in Aquarius or the 11th house, your writing may be observant, not immersive. You notice patterns, contradictions, and the way people function inside systems. Even personal stories expand into something collective. Structure may not be linear, but the perspective is sharp.

Genres: dystopia, social commentary, speculative fiction

Examples: Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World" (1932); Kazuo Ishiguro, "Never Let Me Go" (2005)

If your Moon is in Taurus, in the 2nd house, or connected to Venus, you don’t write emotions directly. You translate them into texture, space, atmosphere. Things are felt before they’re understood. Your writing slows down time instead of pushing it forward.

Genres: slice of life, descriptive fiction, slow narratives

Examples: Banana Yoshimoto, "Moshi moshi" (2014); Peter Mayle, "A Year in Provence" (1989)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Credits to @ariaiscursed and @academiaatitsfinest (images) and to @saradika-graphics (divider)

Akito also lost her father at a young age, but unlike in Tohru’s situation, her mother permanently rejects her afterwards. This gave Akito a fear of abandonment and causes her to aggressively cling to the other zodiac members. As the head of the family, she believes that she’s owed a relationship with them. She maintains these bonds with extreme force, lashing out at the possibility of them caring for anyone else.

Here are a handful of quick tips to help you write believable characters! 

1. A character’s arc doesn’t need to grow linearly. Your protagonist doesn’t have to go from being weak to strong, shy to confident, or novice to professional in one straight line. It’s more realistic if they mess up their progress on the way and even decline a bit before reaching their goal.

2. Their past affects their present. Make their backstory matter by having their past events shape them into who they are. Growing up with strict parents might lead to a sneaky character, and a bad car accident might leave them fearful of driving.

3. Give reoccurring side characters something that makes them easily recognizable. This could be a scar, a unique hairstyle, an accent, or a location they’re always found at, etc.

4. Make sure their dialogue matches their personality. To make your characters more believable in conversation, give them speech patterns. Does the shy character mumble too low for anyone to ever hear, does the nervous one pace around and make everyone else on edge? 

5. Make your characters unpredictable. Real people do unexpected things all the time, and this can make life more exciting. The strict, straight-A student who decides to drink at a party. The pristine princess who likes to visit the muddy farm animals. When character’s decide to do things spontaneously or in the heat of the moment, it can create amazing twists and turns.

6. Give even your minor character's a motive. This isn’t to say that all your characters need deep, intricate motives. However, every character should need or want something, and their actions should reflect that. What’s the motive behind a side character who follows your protagonist on their adventure? Perhaps they’ve always had dreams of leaving their small village or they want to protect your protagonist because of secret feelings.

Feminine

Aeliana / Paulina / Galla / Aelia

Albana / Luciana / Aquilina / Drusilla

Decima / Varinia / Aemiliana / Laelia

Germana / Iovita / Tacita / Iunia

Sabina / Liviana / Faustina / Valentina

Drusa / Marcia / Junia / Valeria

Maximina / Lucilia / Paula / Cornelia

Cloelia / Caesonia / Augustina / Domitia

Fabricia / Agrippa / Fabiola / Fulvia

Silvina / Pomponia / Ovidia / Blandina

Aurelia / Fausta / Quinta / Pompeia

Balbina / Nona / Longina / Herminia

Hilaria / Valeriana / Hortensia / Antonina

Priscilla / Aquila / Severina / Hadriana

Vita / Prisca / Saturnina / Agrippina

Tullia / Flavia / Secunda / Antonia

Domitilla / Laurentia / Hortensia / Cassia

Iuliana / Caecilia / Iulia / Rufina

Flaminia / Livia / Fabiana / Porcia

Camilla / Marina / Tertia / Helvia

Virginia / Martina / Alba / Marcella

Fabia / Vibiana / Petronia / Tatiana

Albina / Floriana / Quintina / Flaviana

Marciana / Titiana / Juliana / Aemilia

Caelina / Laurentina / Lucia / Octavia

Lucilla / Domitilla / Lucilla / Flavia

Ovidia / Hilaria / Fausta / Tertia

Masculine

Caius / Aelianus / Ovidius / Gratianus

Severinus / Aelius / Iuventinus / Postumus

Gaios / Albinus / Calvus / Caracalla

Caesar / Cornelius / Naevius / Domitianus

Flavius / Ursus / Valens / Valerius

Herminius / Varinius / Vespasianus / Horatius

Vergilius / Iulianus / Gordianus / Iuvenalis

Valentinus / Calpurnius / Manius / Decimus

Cato / Maximus / Nonus / Porcius

Camillus / Vitus / Celcus / Manlius

Silvanus / Rufus / Vibius / Agrippa

Sallustius / Verginius / Festus / Avitus

Flaminius / Martialis / Laurentius / Varius

Pertinax / Faustus / Aemilius / Marcus

Tertius / Marinus / Blandinus / Loukianos

Livius / Julius / Egnatius / Cicero

Vitellius / Pontius / Servius / Appius

Rusticus / Terentius / Sergius / Octavius

Cyprianus / Paulinus / Caelinus / Hortensius

Quintinus / Tatianus / Tullus / Aquila

Gallus / Caelius / Lucretius / Valerianus

Augustinus / Scaevola / Januarius / Nerva

Otho / Marius / Juventinus / Valentinianus

Lupus / Septimus / Thracius / Florus

Sabinus / Markos / Quintius / Laurentinus

Titus / Crispinus / Domitius / Tiberius

Caesonius / Scipio / Cassius / Quinctilius

Saturninus / Rufinus / Crispus / Hilarius

Spurius / Brutus / Maxmilianus / Pompeius

Salvius / Maxentius / Augustus / Lucianus

Avilius / Marcianus / Aurelius / Marianus

Vinicius / Silvinius / Commodus / Lucius

Septimus / Albus / Cassian / Tatius

Atilius / Nero / Aetius / Martinus

Livianus / Antonius / Severus / Florianus

Regulus / Gaius / Romilius / Junius

Petronius / Octavianus / Fabius / Drusus

Claudius / Fabianus / Antonius / Fabricus

Aulus / Marcius / Caeso / Lucilius

Varius / Maximinus / Vinicius / Aquilinus

Lucilius / Sallustius / Juventinus / Tullius

Florus / Sabinus / Fabianus / Quintinus

Fulvius / Sextus / Quintillus / Iunius

Vitellius / Horatius / Syrus / Caelinus

Severianus / Cassianus / Avitus / Manlius

Silvinus / Septimus / Duilius / Atilius

Ianuarius / Lepidus / Quinctius / Germanicus

Hadrianus / Traianus / Balbus / Plinius

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