sherbert

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

Congrats @positively-pan, your ask has been chosen as one of my Long Posts™. Sorry It took so long to make this!

Tips on How to Write A Good Villain

Oh no! It’s the big baddy!

They’re the worst of the worst!

They’re ruthless antagonists!

They’re ready to kill!

They’re………the weakest and most uninteresting character in your entire story.

A lot of the times when I’m reading, I come across books that are great. Their plots are amazing, their protagonists are believable and incredibly well-developed, but I find myself disliking them because the antagonists are, well, awful to say the least.

I don’t understand when it became a common misconception that villains don’t have souls.

“They’re edgy™ and don’t need souls, all they need to do is wreak havoc, take lives, and bask in sweet, sweet wicked malevolence”

This mindset has completely ruined many villains, especially in YA, because what people claim is “edgy” and “emotionless” and “evil” just comes off as “I was too lazy to develop this character.”

Yes! That’s right! Villains ARE characters, and that means you have to develop them just like all your other characters, and I’m talking the character charts and everything. The whole nine yards. Just because they’re the villain doesn’t mean you can slack, you bum.

There are, however, special measures you have to take to develop a villain that makes it different from developing a protagonist. So I’m going to list of some tips that will help make your villain just as great as your heroes!

1. Personality, Personality, Personality

Yes!!!! Villains have to have personality!!!! They’re characters!!!! How!! many!! passive!!! aggressive!!!! exclamation points!!! do I have to add!! to get this through everyone’s heads!!!!!!!!!!!!

“I can skip this step, Maddy,” you tell me smoothly, sliding a picture of your Man Crush Monday villain over to me with twenty bucks taped to the back.

I burn the picture and take the twenty bucks.

Here’s how you know your villain is underdeveloped/doesn’t have a personality:

If I asked you to write down all of your villains traits and you only have things like “Evil. Mean. Bad. Really bad. The baddest. [Insert synonyms for evil here]” then you have a problem.

Just because you’re character is a villain doesn’t mean they don’t do other things. Being a villain may be their life’s work, but they also do other things on the side; there isn’t a villain who should be only evil and nothing else.

Maybe your villain likes knitting. Fishing. Maybe your villain is very family-oriented. Maybe your villain is very smart. And I’m not talking cunning smart, I’m talking like geek/nerd smart; give me a villain who has a passion for history or marine biology or something! Do it, you cowards!

2. They Need to Have a Motivation

Like with personality, they can’t be doing what they’re doing to the protagonists “because they’re, like, evil”.

They need to have a reason to strive for what they’re doing. They need to have an incentive to perform all of these atrocities, need to have something that spurs them on to work for their goal.

Here’s a list of motives that you can choose from:

Money

Power

Love

Vengeance

Survival

Glory

Serve a master

“Save” humanity

Ambition

Persecution

Respect

Religion

New ideas

Status

3. They Need to Be a Do-er

Yeah, this book was great! The protagonist saved the day! The supporting characters were amazing! The antagonist…was just sort of there.

Nuh-uh. Nope. I will NOT stand for this.

Your villain has to be an active participant in the plot. They need to be doing everything in their power to keep the protagonists from defeating them/achieving their goal, and if your villain is just mentioned and never really does anything, what’s the point?

I once read a book where the antagonist didn’t do anything until halfway through the plot. Like???? No??? That’s not how it’s supposed to work?????

If they’re an antagonist, they need to be making obstacles for the protagonist. These obstacles are essential for your plot, which is the reason why your antagonist is essential for the plot; they need to create conflict like the antagonists they are!

… as a promise

… as a declaration

… as a joke

… as reassurance

… as a friend

… as family

… as a last attempt

… as a dare

… as a question

... as a confession

... as a manipulation

… as a sign of happiness

… as a goodbye

Saying I love you…

breathlessly

happily

desperately

anxiously

romantically

woefully

ecstatically

quietly

angrily

hesitantly

timidly

passionately

anticipation - bouncing legs - darting eyes - breathing deeply - useless / mindless tasks - eyes on the clock - checking and re-checking

frustration - grumbling - heavy footsteps - hot flush - narrowed eyes - pointing fingers - pacing / stomping

sadness - eyes filling up with tears - blinking quickly - hiccuped breaths - face turned away - red / burning cheeks - short sentences with gulps

happiness - smiling / cheeks hurting - animated - chest hurts from laughing - rapid movements - eye contact - quick speaking

boredom - complaining - sighing - grumbling - pacing - leg bouncing - picking at nails

fear - quick heartbeat - shaking / clammy hands - pinching self - tuck away - closing eyes - clenched hands

disappointment - no eye contact - hard swallow - clenched hands - tears, occasionally - mhm-hmm

tiredness - spacing out - eyes closing - nodding head absently - long sighs - no eye contact - grim smile

Hey guys! As a writer myself, it’s hard to have a lot of resources for writing in one place. That’s why I decided to create this masterpost, and maybe make more if I find future resources. I hope you like it, and expect to see more masterposts like this in the future!

Generators

Character

Appearance Generator

Archetypes Generator

Character Generator

Character Traits Generator

Family Generator

Job/Occupation Generator, (II)

Love Interest Generator

Motive Generator

Name Generator

Personality Generator, (II)

Quick Character Generator

Super Powers Generator

Names

Brand Name Generator

Medicine Title Generator

Name Generator

Quick Name Generator

Vehicle Generator

Town Name Generator

Plot

First Encounter Generator

First Line Generator, (II)

Plot Generator, (II), (III)

Plot Device Generator

Plot Twist Generator

Quick Plot Generator

Setting/World-Building

City Generator

Fantasy Race Generator

Laws Generator

Pet Generator

Setting Generator

Species Generator

Terrain Generator

Prompts

Subject Generator

”Take Three Nouns” Generator

Word Prompt Generator

Misc

Color Generator

Decision Generator

Dialogue Generator

Journey Generator

Title Generator, (II), (III)

Some Tips

Just a few I found from the writing tips tag!

Writing action / @berrybird

How to create a strong voice in your writing / @collegerefs

How to plot a complex novel in one day! / @lizard-is-writing

8 ways to get past writer’s block / @kiramartinauthor

psa for writers / @dasakuryo

”Write Using Your 5 Senses” / @ambientwriting

How People Watching Improves Your Writing / @wherethetransthingsare

Writing Science Fiction: Tips for Beginners / @fictionwritingtips

Creating Likeable Characters / @authors-haven

Vocabulary

Descriptive words / @somekindofstudent

Words to replace “Said” / @msocasey

Obscure color words / @mintsteelpeachlilac

Words to spice up your stories / @busyibee

Words to describe someone’s voice

Words to Use Instead of Very / @gaybybirth

Touchy Feely Words / @gaybybirth

Some Advice

Stephen King’s Top 20 Rules for Writers

”But my plot isn’t UNIQUE or BIG enough!” / @youreallwrite

8 Things Every Creative Should Know / @adamjk

(How To) Get Over Comparing Yourself to Other Creatives / @adamjk

How to Get Over Common Creative Fears (Maybe) / @adamjk

14 Tips From Stephen King On Writing / @i-can-give-you-prompts

Playlists

Electronic Thoughts / @eruditekid

“Mix About Writing” An Instrumental Mix / @shadowofemirates

Shut Up, I’m Writing! / @ninadropdead

Chill / @endlessreveries

Breathtaking Film Scores / @tweedskirts

Music to Write to Vol. 1: Starlight / @crestadeen

Music for Written Words / @ghoulpatch

Dead Men Tell No Tales / @scamandersnewt

Fatale / @dolcegf

All These Things that I’ve Done / @referenceforwriters

Feeling Soaking into Your Bones / @verylondon

I Can Feel Your Pulse in the Pages / @rphelper

Morally Ambiguous / @scamandersnewt

Wonderwall / @wheelerwrites

Pythia / @mazikeene

Ballet: To Dance / @tanaquil

Websites and Apps

For Writing

ZenPen: A minimalist writing website to keep you free of distractions and in the flow.

The Most Dangerous Writing App: A website where you have to keep typing or all of your writing will be lost. It helps you keep writing…kind of. You can choose between a time or word count limit!

Evernote: An online website where you can take notes and save the product to your laptop and/or smartphone!

Writer, the Internet Typewriter: It’s just you and your writing, and you can save your product on the website if you create an account.

Wordcounter: A website to help check your word and character count, and shows words you’re using frequently.

Monospace: An Android app for writing on the go when you feel the inspiration, but you don’t have your laptop on you!

For Productivity

Tide: An app that combines a pomodoro-esque timer with nature sounds and other noises! (Google Play / Apple Store)

ClearFocus: An Android app with a pomodoro-type time counter to let you concentrate easier and stay productive.

Forest: An app with a time counter to keep you focused and off your phone, and when you complete the time limit, a tree grows in your garden! (Google Play / Apple Store)

SelfControl: A Mac downloadable app that blocks you from distracting mail servers, websites, and other things!

Prompt Blogs

@writeworld

@dialouge-prompts

@oopsprompts

@prompts-for-the-otp

@creativepromptsforwriting

@the-modern-typewriter

@theprofessionalpromptmaker

@writers-are-writers

@otp-imagines-cult

@witterprompts

@havetobememes

@auideas

@putthepromptsonpaper

@promptsonpaper

@fyotpprompts

@otpisms

@soprompt

@otpprompts

@ablockforwritersblock

@awritersnook

Writing Tips Blogs

@writeworld

@anomalously-written

@awritersnook

@clevergirlhelps

@referenceforwriters

@whataboutwriting

@thewritershelpers

@nimblesnotebook

I got these words from a picture on Tumblr and I wasn’t thinking and forgot to save the post. If you find it I encourage you to link it so credit can be given where it’s due.

limp

pithy

pulpy

satiny

silken

coarse

stiff

strong

firm

sharp

barbed

horned

itch

throb

grainy

mirrorlike

flush

even

uniform

frictionless

porous

rubbery

springy

elastic

supple

wobbly

stirring

charged

stimulating

electrifying

arousing

energizing

hair-raising

vibes

tingles

burning

curious

eerie

prickling

strange

tingling

spongy

gritty

jagged

soft

smooth

hard

slick

prickly

bristly

fluffy

furry

hairy

wiry

leafy

blazing

sizzling

hot

warm

cold

dusty

rough

abrasive

crumbly

lumpy

powdery

sandy

scratchy

tufted

wooly

unruly

stiff

silky

blistering

broiling

burning

feverish

fiery

flaming

parching

roasting

scalding

stuffy

stale

humid

fetid

muggy

stagnant

airy

breezy

rumpled

feathery

artic

cool

dry

freezing

calm

frosty

glacial

nippy

delicate

creamy

elastic

flexible

mushy

pliable

supple

thin

velvety

cottony

cushiony

doughy

flabby

fleshy

fluid

formless

gelatinous

pointy

serrated

spiked

splintery

thorny

glassy

sweltering

needlelike

suffocating

malleable

intolerant

he's literally just.. always in my brain. im literally never not in an armin rot bye

im gonna be honest.. i haven't been reading a lot of fics lately, especially for him,,, since a lot are sub!armin or have kinks im not comfy with..

but here are a few armin blogs i really like! (this is really a non exhaustive list)

read their rules and dni lists before interacting or i'll steal ur kneecaps

going as each other’s “platonic” date to a mutual friend’s wedding

agreeing to kiss each other “just to see what it’s like”

punching the guy who broke your best friend’s heart at prom

refusing to admit your feelings but making up ridiculous excuses to spend time together

“i’m not in love with my best friend” but everyone knows you're full of shit

there’s only one bed, which we decide to share (obviously been waiting for this moment)

friends and family think we’re dating because we’re always acting like a couple

sharing clothes, we're just that comfortable with each other

accidentally blurting out “i love you” during a conversation

“i’ll kiss you right now to prove i don’t feel anything for you” but the kiss proves the exact opposite

finding old letters you wrote to each other as kids and reminiscing

is there a reason you're always staring at me in class?

knowing your best friend inside out, everything from their favorite song, to the name of their stuffed animal in second grade

hiding your feelings, not wanting to ruin the friendship, even going as far as avoiding each other completely, yet always ending up sharing an intimate moment

immediately choosing each other for a group project, but spending more time making out than working

the first kiss and the realization of “it’s always been you”

starting to see each other in a different light

i’m watching you date all these other people and i don't know what it is i'm feeling but it's definitely not jealousy

you don't have anyone to go to prom with, so i volunteer, but we end up ditching early, instead driving around town, stopping for some cheap burgers and incredible sights

complimenting your best friend over small things, that realistically only someone who’s in love with that person would notice

that “oh shit” moment when the realization hits you

the “date” that isn't really a date but feels like one

showing up at each other’s house late at night

you're upset and disappear for a couple hours, and i'm the only one who knows where to find you (which is at the location we always hung out at as children)

one dropping hints about their feelings, the other one is completely oblivious

hearing your best friend say you’re nothing more than friends, dying a little on the inside because you wish it was more than that