Prose is Architecture

“Creating one interesting character is hard enough — but when it comes to writing a whole novel or series of books, you have to create dozens of them. How can you keep your supporting cast from seeming like cookie-cutter people? There’s no easy answer, but a few tricks might help you create minor characters who don’t feel too minor.” [x]

10 Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Supporting Characters

Give them at lease one defining characteristic. “…lots of people have one or two habits that you notice the first time you meet them, that stand out in your mind even after you learn more about them.”

Give them an origin story. "…Your main character doesn’t necessarily need an origin story, because you’ve got the whole book to explain who he/she is and what he/she is about. But a supporting character? You get a paragraph or five, to explain the formative experience that made her become the person she is, and possibly how she got whatever skills or powers she possesses.”

Make sure they talk in a distinctive fashion. "…you still have to make sure your characters don’t all talk the same. Some of them talk in nothing but short sentences, others in nothing but long, rolling statements full of subordinate clauses and random digressions. Or you might have a character who always follows one long sentence with three short ones.” "…One dirty shortcut is to hear the voice of a particular actor or famous person in your head, as one character talks.”

Avoid making them paragons of virtue, or authorial stand-ins. "…People who have no flaws are automatically boring, and thus forgettable.” "…Any character who has foibles, or bad habits, or destructive urges, will always stand out more than one who is pure and wonderful in all ways. And nobody will believe that you’ve chosen to identify yourself, as the author, with someone who’s so messed up. (Because of course, you are a perfect human being, with no flaws of your own.)”

Anchor them to a particular place. “…A huge part of making a supporting character “pop” is placing her somewhere. Give her a haunt — some place she hangs out a lot. A tavern, a bar, an engine room, a barracks, a dog track, wherever. It works both ways — by anchoring a character in a particular location, you make both the character and the location feel more real.”

Introduce them twice — the first time in the background, the second in the foreground. “…You mention a character in passing: “And Crazy Harriet was there too, chewing on her catweed like always.” And you say more about them. And then later, the next time we see that character, you give more information or detail, like where she scores her catweed from. The reader will barely remember that you mentioned the character the first time — but it’s in the back of the reader’s mind, and there’s a little “ping” of identification.”

Focus on what they mean to your protagonists “…What does this minor character mean to your hero? What role does he fulfill? What does your hero want or need from Randolph the Grifter? If you know what your hero finds memorable about Randolph, then you’re a long ways towards finding what your readers will remember, too.”

Give them an arc — or the illusion of one. “… You can create the appearance of an arc by establishing that a character feels a particular way — and then, a couple hundred pages later, you mention that now the character feels a different way.” “…A minor character who changes in some way is automatically more interesting than one who remains constant…”

The more minor the character, the more caricature-like they may have to be. “…This one is debatable — you may be a deft enough author that you can create a hundred characters, all of whom are fully fleshed out, well-rounded human beings with full inner lives.” “…some writing styles simply can’t support or abide cartoony minor characters. But for your third ensign, who appears for a grand total of two pages, on page 147 and page 398, you may have to go for cartoony if you want him to live in the reader’s mind as anything other than a piece of scenery.”

Decide which supporting characters you’ll allow to be forgettable after all. “…And this is probably inevitable. You only have so much energy, and your readers only have so much mental space. Plus, if 100 supporting characters are all vivid and colorful and people your readers want to go bowling with, then your story runs the risk of seeming overwritten and garish.Sometimes you need to resign yourself to the notion that some characters are going to be extras, or that they’re literally going to fulfill a plot function without having any personality to speak of. It’s a major sacrifice they’re making, subsuming their personality for the sake of the major players’ glory.”

I’m not anywhere near a gun specialist, but I’ve been raised around them and I know enough that I can tell you most things on tv you see guns doing is bullshit. So here are some simple tips:

There is no muzzle flash when a shot gun or hand gun is fired. Never. Not once. Not on hand guns or shot guns have I ever seen a muzzle flash in real life.

Guns are fucking loud. Shot guns are louder than hand guns, but if you’re not wearing protective gear, even hand guns are fuck all loud and can blow out your hearing for a while.

Bullet shells are hot. If they come out of the gun and touch you, on clothes or not, they will burn you. They literally just went through a mini explosion and came out of hot metal.

On that note: After firing, the barrel of a gun and the muzzle of a gun are hot. Hot enough to burn you. No one experienced with guns is going to grab the barrel of a shot gun after it was just fired in their face.

Contrary to Wanted you can not bend the trajectory of a bullet. Like, that literally doesn’t make any sense if you know anything about any sorts of physics.

Fucking aim. Like, very very experienced shooters can whip a gun out of a holster (or lord forbid the waist line of their pants) and maybe shoot somewhere near where they intended, but that’s also if they know their gun. But, yeah, there is no instinctual dead shot in the heart. Hence why hunting is fucking hard and why shooters that have been hunting/shooting for twenty to fifty years have a hard time dropping a buck.

There’s this thing called a kick back. So, the way guns work is that their is basically a mini explosion that happens in the gun and propels the bullet or shell forward through the barrel and out the muzzle. This explosion, in all guns, not just shot guns and high caliber rifles, can cause the gun to jerk back and can push back the entire body of an unexperienced shooter. It really hurts your shoulder, too.

This week’s diverse new releases are:

Mosquitoland by David Arnold (Viking Juvenile)

"Newcomer Arnold’s protagonist, 16-year-old Mim Malone, is as hold-nothing-back honest as they come, which makes the narrative she provides about her outlandish trek from Mississippi to Cleveland wholly enjoyable. Mim, blind in one eye from a solar eclipse and suffering from a ‘misplaced epiglottis’ that results in unpredictable spells of vomiting, is reeling from her parents’ divorce and an unclear psychiatric diagnosis when she is dragged to Mississippi by her father and new stepmother. Determined to get back to her mother, Mim hops a bus to Cleveland, beginning an Odysseus-like adventure …" — Publishers Weekly, starred review

Deviate by Tracy Clark (Entangled Teen)

"As a member of the Scintilla, 17-year-old Cora possesses the rare ability to see people’s auras, making her both an object of desire and a target for harm. … Cora, possessing both her own powers and a fierce determination to protect those she loves, is no shrinking violet. … Passion and power are the driving forces behind this series that continues to deliver." — Kirkus

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz (Simon Pulse)

"High school junior Etta juggles many identities, none of which seem to fit quite right. She’s bisexual, but shunned by her group of friends, the self-named Disco Dykes, who can’t forgive her for dating a boy. She has an eating disorder, but never weighs little enough to qualify as officially anorexic. She’s a dancer, but just tap these days, not ballet, because as a short, curvy, African American teen, she doesn’t seem to have the right look for ballet. … Moskowitz masterfully negotiates all of the issues, never letting them overwhelm the story, and shows the intersectionality of the many aspects of Etta’s identity." — School Library Journal

My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp (Little, Brown)

I’m someone who gets frustrated using character profiles because they never look anything like the character I actually end up writing. I like to discover a character through story. For me, this leads to a much deeper understanding of a character, which makes them easier to write and makes them come across as more real and developed in the story.

Tell Yourself Their Backstory

To really understand your character, you have to understand where they came from. This is important even for side characters. What kind of family did your character grow up in? What struggles did they face (or did they face few)? Tell yourself their story and watch how the events click together, their development comes naturally, and your understanding of them grows. Make sure to write this down. You’ll come up with a lot of great ideas, and I promise if you don’t write them down you will forget them.

Think About Them in Relation to the Other Characters in Your Story

Characters really show their stuff when they’re interacting with other characters. I actually like to have certain conflicts and chemistries in mind when creating characters. For example, when coming up with the idea for Bernie, a loud, aggressive, too-honest feminist, from my series Talented, the next character I created was Jared, the ridiculously attractive, ridiculously privileged boy who makes a game out of girls’ sexualities. I created Jared because of the conflict he provided for Bernie, and as I delved further into their relationship, I discovered nuance and depth I hadn’t previously expected. Their relationship became even more complex, and together they bring to the surface facets of their characters they might not have shown individually.

Push Their Buttons

Play with them. This doesn’t have to actually come into the story. This is for you.

Run your characters through scenes that stress them out, that make them happy, that challenge them. You can just do this in your head, you can write these out as bullet points, or you can even write whole scenes. Who knows, you might like what you discover and want to add it to your story after all.

The point is to test your character in every way possible so you personally know every extreme they have.

Analyze Other Characters (and Real People)

This is where I get my best inspiration. I’m a TV junkie, and half the inspiration for characters I get, I get from characters on TV. Now, it’s never me saying “I’m going to copy this character exactly.” It’s me saying, “I find the chemistry these two characters have really interesting, and I wonder what would happen if these things about them were different” or “I really hate this dude, and if I were writing him this is how he would be.” And on and on. Find what works. What doesn’t. What makes you question, and what keeps you invested. Discover and analyze and interpret into something of your own.

—

At the heart of every novel, short story or fanfiction are the characters. Whether they be good guys, bad guys, major, minor, based on real people, works of fiction, background, foreground or anything in between- your characters make up your writing and knowing them, inside and out, is the key to making them believable. 

1. Looks.

While it may seem obvious the look of your character is vital to how he, she or they are envisioned by the reader. If the character does not have a particular look in your mind then it will be ever more difficult for the reader to imagine them as being real people. Think about it, no matter how hard you try you cannot imagine a person without a face and that is exactly the principle we are putting into play here. 

I’m not saying you have to describe every single character in detail for the reader to get it, not at all. I’m saying YOU have to know how they look, every detail, right down to a little scar on their right hip or a mole on their…nevermind. This is also vital for knowing your character, inside and out, which will later help in their development. If you know the superficial details then it will become easier to know the deeper ones. 

However, when it comes down to it, these characters are, for all intents and purposes, real people and every person is flawed in some way. Nobody has flawless skin, flawless hair and a flawless body unless they have been Photoshopped and, unfortunately  you cannot Photoshop real life. (unless your piece is set in a time when real-life Photoshopping is a thing that can happen- in which case, you can). Try to bear this in mind when creating a character, everybody has insecurities and this includes the people you create.

Hint: If you’re finding it difficult then think of an actor who you would like to play your character were it a film, then try to describe them. This will aid in describing real people and may help the reader imagine them. 

2. Interests.

Everybody has interests and if you don’t then Tumblr is probably not the place for you. Whether it be writing, singing, dancing, fashion, gaming, reading, fitness, music, cheekbones with legs on the BBC, gardening, interior decorating, just lounging around in your pants watching RSPCA Animal rescue (cough cough) or anything in between, we all have something that occupies our time and the same goes for your characters. 

In order for your characters to even seem remotely real and believable they have to have things to do when they’re not saving the world/ wiping out humanity, just like any other normal person would. For example I know someone who’s novel features a Vampire who enjoys playing Tetris in his spare time. Interests make your character three dimensional  they make them real to you as well as the reader. If you can’t imagine a character in their spare time, or envision them living their day to day lives outside of the novel then the characters are not strong enough yet and need more work before they can be placed in the scenario of your choice. 

Once again, you don’t need to explain every iota of this to the reader, or even write much of it down. If its there, and you know its there, then not only will the reader pick up on that but it will be much easier to write the character into the story. 

Note: It is worth noting here that the character should have interests relevant to them. Its no use giving a character born in the underclass of society an interest in fine cuisine or a collection of rare gemstones, interests should come with the character and time, age and social status should be noted when writing. 

3. Motives. 

Why did the chicken cross the road? 

Lets face it: the answer is never to ‘just get to the other side’ and if it is then that is a really badly written chicken. Why does he want to get to the other side? whats over there for him? why does this chicken even grasp the concept of roads? 

Okay, so that may seem a bit of a stupid time to have an existential crisis over a chicken but my point still stands: Nobody ever just does things for no reason and the same goes for your characters. In order to make them believable then you need to know why they are doing what they are doing? Why is your protagonist the one to step up and defeat the villain? Are they getting paid, or just the only one brave enough? Are they trying to impress someone, or just rise above what they have been labelled as? Is your antagonist trying to blow up the world for fun or do they believe in a greater good? Do they just not like your protagonist and would much rather see his head on a spike in their front lawn? 

These are all questions you need to ask yourself before you write your characters into the plot of your story. Why are they doing what they are doing and what are they getting out of it? If a character has no motivation then they will fall flat and confuse the readers. Out of everything so far the motive of the character is the only one I advise you completely narrate throughout the story. Maybe not all at once, maybe not clearly but at least leave clues and hints as to why, let your readers have to turn back pages and go ‘OH, SO THAT’S WHY THEY DID THAT’ and help yourself feel like a cryptic genius. 

Note: If they are completely insane and just doing what they are doing for a laugh this still counts a motive. They may not see sense or reason but ‘doing it for fun’ is still a motive for doing something and it should still be documented that this is their reasoning. 

4. Other little bits and bobs. 

As we all know, real people are not built up solely on looks, interests and motives or else science would be well on their way to getting me that robot butler, but its these three things which are the core of any believable character. 

These are the roots to making them seem real but there are other things you need to consider to make them live and breathe as you write them. As writing down every single detail would take forever and make this post go on forever, I have decided to give you a checklist of questions to answer when writing your character (Not all of these will apply to your writing so just answer the ones that do). These are just a few, feel free to add your own and go into as much detail as you want: the more detailed the character the more deep the character.

Where do your characters work when they’re not saving the world/ destroying it? Whats their main source of income? Why do they work there? Do they enjoy it? Why?

Where do your characters live? Is it a nice neighborhood or a run down apartment? Why? 

What are the names of your characters parents? (Remember, these are real people too with lives they have lived, remember that while writing them) Why did they give your character the name they have? 

If your character was not born to mortal parents, how did they come about? Where did they come from? What is their purpose?

If your character has a mythical ailment (eg. Vampirism, Lycanothropy) how did they get it? Who turned them? How old are they? How have they adjusted to life? 

Where do your characters come from? Do they still live there? Why did they move?/ Why did they stay?

Does your character dye their hair? Why? Where do they get the dye from? How do they afford it? 

Where is your characters favourite place to go? Why? 

How many relationships has your character had? Why did they end? Do they miss them? 

Is your character allergic to anything? How have they coped if they are? How severe is the allergy? 

Remember, these are just basic questions to help you round off your character. I hope this helps you create a cast both you and your readers fall in love with. 

Love, 

Fiction:

Babyji by Abha Dawesar

Blue Boy, by Rakesh Satyal

Funny Boy, by Shyam Selvadurai

Ode to Lata, Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla

The Paths of Marriage, by Mala Kumar

The Pregnant King, by Devdutt Pattanaik

Quarantine, by Rahul Mehta

She of the Mountains, by Vivek Shraya

The Two Krishnas, by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla

The World Unseen, by Shamim Sarif

Non-Fiction & Anthologies:

AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories from India, by Amartya Sen and various authors

Because I Have A Voice: Queer Politics in India, edited by Arvind Narrain and Gautam Bhan

Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love, and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India, by Parmesh Shahani

Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures, by Gayatri Gopinath

The Invisibles, by Zia Jaffrey

A Lotus of Another Color, by Rakesh Ratti

Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West by Ruth Vanita

Made in India: Decolonializations, Queer Sexualities, Trans/National Projects, by Suparna Bhaskaran

Same-Sex Love in India, edited by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwal

Sexual Sites, Seminal Attitudes: Sexualities, Masculinities and Culture in South Asia, by Sanjay Srivastava

Shikhandi and Other Tales They Don’t Tell You, by Devdutt Pattanaik

Queer Activism in India: A Story in the Anthropology of Ethics, by Naisargi Dave

Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society, by Ruth Vanita

There is such a thing as your antagonist being too over-the-top. There’s a possibility that they can become static or one-dimensional if you don’t understand why they’re the protagonist. Not many people in the world are evil for the sake of being evil. There’s usually a reason behind what they’re thinking and feeling, so try to explore that with your own characters. Remember, the antagonist is usually the hero in their own story.

Focus on background

Knowing your antagonist’s personal background should add more dimensions to your story. Do they have a family? Is there something specific that happened that shaped them? Understanding where each of your characters came from and how they came to be the way they are will really help add depth. Your readers will begin to see what makes them tick.

Know what they want

Antagonists have wants and needs, just like any other character. You should always know what your protagonist wants if you want to drive the story forward and the same can be said for your antagonist. What are they searching for? Why do they want to stop the protagonist? Do they want the same thing as the protagonist? This will help you figure out your conflict.

Is there someone they care about?

Knowing what your antagonist cares about will reveal a lot about them.  Sure, sometimes mindless unstoppable villains are exciting, but it doesn’t work for every story. Smart antagonists that care about something are usually more enticing. You can make them a bit more humane if you reveal what they care about. Do they believe what they’re doing will actually save the world? Do they think they’re doing the right thing? Consider these questions.

What do they think about the protagonist?

It’s not necessary for the antagonist to absolutely hate the protagonist. Sometimes it’s more interesting if they respect each other or if they already have a relationship. Do they think the protagonist is completely wrong? Do they understand their point-of-view? Knowing what your antagonist thinks will help form a realistic relationship between the protagonist and antagonist. It will help you shape your story into something better.

Anonymous asked: Hey, your blog is great! It’s been a while since I’ve really written anything. Do you know of any exercises, aside from jumping right in to write my next story, that I can do to practice and improve my prose?

sunshineandsuperheroes said: Do you have (or know of) any information on black kids’ experiences with being adopted or fostered by white families, or any advice on writing that sort of situation? Thank you. :)

If they’re young, or in general really, they should learn how to do their children’s hair and make the effort to keep the right kind of products in the house (e.g. generic shampoo won’t do it for Black hair). There’s a potential for a strong disconnect if the parents are firm on not seeing the issues their children face and have a colorblind dichotomy so that’s the strongest thing I’d urge against. If the Black child has a problem or faced some racism or were perhaps even questioned for having white parents and confronted for that, the parents should not dismiss their experience or feelings or tell them to just ignore it. It should be discussed and comfort and assurance provided if the situation’s right.

~Mod Colette

Please do not take my word as an end all, be all to your question and I encourage you to do some research on your own.

Lack of cultural identity 

White parents adopting black children will often have the issue of getting their children to learn this history of their people and some white parents don’t think it’s their responsibility at all.

There is always the concern of assimilating their kid due to ignorance or being unwilling to see that cultural identity is essential to the child’s upbringing.

I had a friend in high school who was black and was adopted by a white couple. She didn’t fit in with the black kids or the white kids. She had natural hair because her parents knew nothing about processing her hair. Her parents discouraged her from finding out about her biological mother and she had to connect to her culture on her own, sometimes overcompensating.

You also have to avoid the white savior trope. Don’t forget that white people already have a general disconnect and lack of empathy towards black people (proven by the fact that majority of unwanted foster children are black and will remain there until their adulthood), so their adoption does not make them exempt from being racist or incapable of fucking up in regards to their black child.

~ Mod Brei

This week’s diverse new releases are:

Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation edited by Brett Fletcher Lauer and Lynn Melnick (Viking Juvenile)

"Lauer and Melnick team up to present a poem apiece from 100 "younger" poets who’ve published in media ranging from Twitter to the New Yorker. This cross section of contemporary poetry is promoted for grades nine and up, making no concessions to youth. The language and themes of a number of these selections are as adult as they come, probing suicide, mental illness, drug abuse, rape, racism, police brutality, AIDS and other cataclysmic life events, along with tamer reminiscences of home and more common rites of passage like heartbreak, sexual and recreational drug experimentation, and identity formation. … Incisive and occasionally brash." — Kirkus

The Infinite by Lori M. Lee (Skyscape)

Book Description: The walls of Ninurta keep its citizens safe.

Kai always believed the only danger to the city came from within. Now, with a rebel force threatening the fragile government, the walls have become more of a prison than ever.

To make matters worse, as Avan explores his new identity as an Infinite, Kai struggles to remind him what it means to be human. And she fears her brother, Reev, is involved with the rebels. With the two people she cares about most on opposite sides of a brewing war, Kai will do whatever it takes to bring peace. But she’s lost her power to manipulate the threads of time, and she learns that a civil war might be the beginning of something far worse that will crumble not only Ninurta’s walls but also the entire city.

In this thrilling sequel to Gates of Thread and Stone, Kai must decide how much of her humanity she’s willing to lose to protect the only family she’s ever known.

The Agency 4: Rivals in the City by Y.S. Lee (Candlewick)

"Intrigue, romance and the rich details of Victorian life are the focus in the fourth installment of this mystery series featuring a complex female detective. As the book opens, heroine Mary Quinn is living a life she could not have imagined in her earlier years. She is independent and beginning a detective agency with her fiance, James Easton, who would like to marry soon. Her sense of gratitude causes her to take one more case for the Agency, where she learned her trade. … Readers of the series will find this addition deeply satisfying as both a mystery and a historical romance." — Kirkus

The Crimson Gate by Whitney Miller (Flux)

Book Description: Harlow Wintergreen has been named the new Matriarch of VisionCrest, the powerful religious organization previously led by her father. There’s just one problem. The real Harlow is trapped inside a Cambodian temple, and her double, the evil Isiris, is out in the world masquerading as her.

With VisionCrest at her command, Isiris moves all the pieces into position for her genocidal endgame. To stop her twin from unleashing a super-virus designed to eradicate civilization, Harlow must escape the temple and reunite with the Resistance. But in trying to save the people she loves, Harlow gets a taste of the power Isiris wields … and her battle against the horror takes on a new and dangerous dimension.

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith (Dutton Juvenile)

"Smith (Grasshopper Jungle) turns in another audacious performance, this time a wild tale of summer camps, adoptive families, mad bombers, masturbation slang, illegal biological research, and an icebound 19th-century ship. Ariel, a 14-year-old orphan caught up in a civil war in an unnamed foreign nation, has been brought to the U.S. by an executive from the mysterious Merrie-Seymour Research Group. … Fans of Smith’s raunchy, profane, and provocative work will find this funny but morally serious tale deeply appealing.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten (Delacorte)

"What would it feel like to wake up normal? It’s a question most people would never have cause to ask—and the one 14-year-old Adam Spencer Ross longs to have answered. … Adam’s first-person account of his struggle to cope with the debilitating symptoms of OCD while navigating the complexities of everyday teen life is achingly authentic. Much like Adam, readers will have to remind themselves to breathe as he performs his ever worsening OCD rituals. Yet Toten does a masterful job bringing Adam to life without ever allowing him to become a one-dimensional poster boy for a teen suffering from mental illness." — Kirkus, starred review

Game Seven by Paul Volponi (Viking Juvenile)

"Sixteen-year-old Julio Ramirez Jr. dreams of being a junior Nacional and playing for Cuba against the best young players around the world. Baseball is ‘practically a religion’ in Cuba, and Julio’s father was like a Cuban god, an all-star pitcher for the Cuban National Team. Now, having defected, he’s a star for the Miami Marlins. But instead of pride, Julio feels resentment toward his father for abandoning his family to a life of poverty while he, the great El Fuego, lives the high life in Miami with his multimillion-dollar contract. … An entertaining tale of baseball, family and loyalty." — Kirkus

Out of the Dragon’s Mouth by Joyce Burns Zeiss (Flux)

Book Description: After the fall of South Vietnam, fourteen-year-old Mai, a young Vietnamese girl of Chinese descent, is torn from a life of privilege and forced to flee across the South China Sea in the hold of a fishing trawler. Mai finds tenuous safety in a refugee camp on an island off the coast of Malaysia, where a greedy relative called Small Auntie offers her a place to stay—but her hospitality isn’t free. With her father’s words “You must survive” echoing in her ears, Mai endures the hardships of the camp, which are tempered only by her dreams of being sponsored by her uncle for entry into America.

But when an accident forces Mai to leave the safety of Small Auntie’s family, she meets Kien, a half-American boy who might be the only person who can keep her alive until she’s sent to the United States.

so awhile ago someone asked me to go through process/resources for what i do when i write. this isn’t for everybody, everybody has different motivators. but some of these links have been useful for me in the past.

typing speed test - warm up your hands

writing ergonomics - take care of yourself writing for long periods

music to write by - put on a soundtrack that won’t distract

writeroom - find a program that removes temptation to browse

write or die - if you have trouble staying motivated

word count meter - keep track of your progress

stayfocused - lock yourself out of distracting sites (chrome only)

Resource: Should You Swear in YA? (And Other Rules About Cursing)

Your mother probably taught you not to curse when you were a child; as a teenager, you learned the freedom in screaming FUCK at the top of your lungs. Now you’re an adult (or at least a focused, responsible writer), and the problem with swearing has snuck back up on you: what is too much, and where do you draw the line between authentic and vulgar? While there’s no single rule for when to swear and when not to in literature, here are some resources I hope will help you avoid that long debate with your editor in the future. 

Rules For Swearing In Literature:

Everything You Need to Know About Curses, Swears, Profanities and How to Use Them in Literature

Writing Out the Swearing

How to Use Profanity in all Genres of Writing

Swearing in Screen Plays

Should You Swear in Young Adult Literature?

Blogger Thoughts: Swearing in YA

Shit Happens: Swearing in YA

Is Cursing in YA Acceptable?

Is It Authentic or Gratuitous? 

Swearing Is Now More Popular in YA

Swear Words In YA Lit

Can You Swear in YA Literature? (With Examples)

Swearing Around the World:

Egyptian Arabic Insults

Australian Swear Words

How to Swear In Hebrew

YouSwear.Com

A User’s Guide to the Best Swears in Every Language 

Some roleplays require you to write in third person deep point of view (different to third person POV). Here’s a few tips that’ll help you with this narrative voice! Please note that this wasn’t written by me, and credit goes here. [x]

So you know the rules of point of view (POV), the difference between first and third person. You understand what writers refer to as “deep POV.” You’ve decided you want to write that way, offering your reader an immersive experience in the thoughts and senses of your character. But when looking at your scenes, how do you know you’re writing deep? And if you’re not, how do you start?

As a post request, someone asked me what character types should be used more often.  While I think diversity is severely lacking in YA fiction, I decided to focus more on character types that can fit all different characters—regardless of their gender, sex, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. It always helps to think about your character in a variety of different ways before you make any final decisions. I like to ask myself “what if this character did this” or “what if I changed this about my character”. Thinking about your character in different number of ways will help you pin down what makes them interesting and will compel you switch it up a bit.

Here are a few character types I’d like to see more often:

Silent, but assertive

A strong female protagonist, or any protagonist really, is often associated only with physical strength. Many writers believe that making a female character more masculine is all you have to do to build a good protagonist. This is something I’d like to see changed. In Pacific Rim, Mako Mori proves that your silence can make you stronger. Not every hero needs to be an extrovert; introverts can be just as powerful.

While Mako is also physically strong, she is obedient and puts others before her own happiness. Her silence actually strengthens her because when she does act it makes her that much more powerful. She understands that she can learn from those who came before her and doesn’t feel the need to be the loudest and most powerful in the room.

Enthusiastic dreamer

We often associate strong protagonists will their ability to understand how dark the world can be, but there’s something so refreshing about the Leslie Knopes in fiction. There’s no reason a strong female character can’t be an enthusiastic dreamer and still be able to stand on her own two feet.

Sure, there are times when characters like Leslie Knope get sad about things and realize there’s a time and a place to give up on certain dreams and ideas, but her enthusiasm inspires those around her. Her friends rally with her and give her the support she needs. I’d like to see more of these characters and let readers know that it’s okay to feel strongly about something and to be a bit of a nerd about it.

Mary Sues with depth

I know a lot of people don’t like the term Mary Sue anymore because there’s so much more to it than just creating a perfect character. I think it’s bad when anyone creates any sort of flawless character because it makes them boring and we don’t get to see them struggle in any way. I think it’s a problem when the protagonist is overshadowed by the supporting characters that do all the work.

I have no problem with Mary Sues with depth. If a character is a perfectionist, there’s nothing wrong with that. If they’re good at what they do, there’s nothing wrong with that either. I do think, however, it’s important to add more to that character. They need to have flaws, they need to fail sometimes, AND they need to solve problems on their own.

Antagonists that can succeed

I often find myself bored by antagonists that aren’t strong enough. I think it’s important for writers to realize that antagonists are only threatening when the audience really believes they can succeed. We need to see them win from time to time. We need to see them startle our heroes and actually make them think about what would happen if the antagonist won.

When an antagonist is weak and underdeveloped, you’ll immediately have a weak story. Think about what they want and remember that most antagonists think they’re the hero. Not many people are evil for the sake of being evil. Develop them just as much as you’d develop your antagonist. Think of them as different sides of a coin.

This is just my list of what I’d want to see, not something you need to agree with. Feel free to add your own and I can build a bigger post!

Designing the world map for your novel, series, or story can be an exciting but frustrating process. If you already have a good idea about the land in your story, it might be time to build a world map. If you are only just starting to dream up your world, there are some things you might want to consider first.  

Knowing How Geography Works 

If your world is earth-like, in the sense that the world follows our basic laws of science, physics, and geography, you will probably want to keep things realistic in terms of geography. When planning your map, know the geographic types around the reasons. Does your world have mountain ranges? Rivers? Lakes? If so, you need to think of how those things came to be.  Mountains are formed by the plates in the earth’s crust moving together, or from volcanic eruptions after magma cools. Mountains lead to rivers, as rainwater gets caught in the mountains and naturally begins to flow downhill towards the ocean. Remember that downhill means it will depend on the elevation, not all rivers need to flow south. Do some research before just throwing in a landmass. Ask yourself “why is this here?” rather than throwing in convenient settings for your story. 

Drawing the Land

Once you have an idea for your world, there is nothing stopping you from beginning to draw. On a normal piece of paper, you can begin to draw a landmass. Try to avoid using straight lines, as those tend to be unrealistic, stick more to wavy edges. Also, keep in mind that the paper should not limit you. Don’t plan your world to fit in a rectangle. Take some time looking at other maps and see what you like.  Once you have the landmasses figure out, add some islands in between them. Name your oceans, draw in mountain ranges, then rivers, and some lakes. Begin to plant forests and dry out deserts. Let your land come to life. 

Plot Landmarks

It might be useful to plot major landmarks from your world. The capital city, or the castle where the royal family lives, for instance. If religion plays a large role in your world, plot the churches or temples. Perhaps draw in the main roads, or the kings road, if trade or travel is important to the society. Keep in mind that what people put on maps is dependent on what they care about.