Morde24's Guide to writing

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord.gg/wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well.​

Chapter 1: Giving your MC Goals
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Question: How does my character gain motivation?

Moving the plot along is, amazingly enough, a very important part of having a well written fic. If you would like to keep your story interesting to the reader you need to provide them with a clear idea of what your character is aiming for. This goal pulls double duty, informing the reader of what is at the end of the line, and provides the MC with a reason to keep grinding, to keep improving and not just rest on their laurels.

There are two types of Goals: Long-Term and Short-Term, and they have different uses. In a very well written fic, the Long Term goal is enough motivation for the character to succeed, a basic example would be defeating the big bad guy before the world blows up. If well written this goal is theoretically all that you need to draw a reader in and motivate the character. Short-term goals by themselves are more like bandaids than permanent fixes, you want your character to get to level 10 so you give them a quest to get to level 10, boom you have a reason to grind, provide some rewards and you are all good.

The best of fics combine their short-term and long term goals. They interweave their goals such that each short term goal helps the character build towards their long term goal. It is not necessary to tell your reader what the long term goal is, but you should definitely know it. You can get as fancy as you want with how you set up the long term goal, if that is your intent, but always remember that the reader needs to be interested enough in the short term goals to keep reading and get to the long term goal. It doesn't help anyone if you have the MC learn 30 different languages for seemingly no reason only to reveal that really the big bad alien just speaks a combination of all 30 and that's why the MC needed to learn those languages, and now the MC can just talk to the big bad and diffuse the situation.

Having an MC that does not possess a goal at the start is OK, and that is true. But having an MC that just lazes around isn't very exciting so eventually you might want to give him a goal. Furthermore the goal of the story does not have to be the goal of the MC the MC can go through the story and just want to laze around in bed, but maybe his sister or girlfriend or friend asks him to take care of something, and he does so (this is quite common for most overpowered MC fics, where the MC usually just can't be bothered, but a friend asking him to do something is what moves the plot along.

Alternately, the MC can just want to fight for the sake of the fight, or just sow chaos. The goal doesn't have to be a huge world shattering problem, but it has to matter to the character and you have to make it matter to the reader in order for it to serve its function properly.


Here is a short "list" of the level of goals in a story, beware, for the difficulty rises accordingly so don't try to overreach, you can always implement a better goal structure in your next story arc.

1. Villain of the week:
   1. It's probably easiest to just throw in a villain of the week. That's why so many anime and novels are built around that stuff. It's why superheroes have shit lives. Villains of the week can be anything from an unkillable monster you will eventually one hit KO to finish the arc or a really bad breakup that the MC needs to get past to keep their grades up. Or even keeping the MCs grades up. While it is the easiest to just out yourself and say the "goal of the week", the story gets better the more the goal of the week integrates with a larger goal.
2. End Goal:
   1. On the level above just endless villains of the week is an end goal that produces its own goals of the week. For example, proving yourself to your father by winning an Olympics. Then you start 4 years before the Olympics winning qualifiers and different events, stumbling sometimes but generally an upwards trend and this continues till the MC wins (or fails, failing is definitely an option, though fanfics don't really go down that route as an end goal, at least not the ones I read). Then the more relatable you make the MC the better it gets. For fanfiction you want the MC to generally win. So maybe for the next level you would start 5 years before the intended Olympics. And the MC fails somewhere before the end. This level is where it gets really tricky because you want to cheer for the MC, so there is now a gray line. The MC can't fail too hard because that's not fun, or doesn't really help you connect to the character. And the MC also can't grow to a ridiculous level early on because you want continuous character growth. Supernatural stories are easier than IRL based stories in that sense, because you can always just make the end goal bigger and badder without spending an immense amount of time focusing on the trivial details that might separate a 6 minute mile from a 4 minute mile.
3. Interweaving the two:
   1. From there the difference in story quality is just in the gradient. Just like in art, where the better the artist is at drawing, the more seamless colors will flow. When writing the gradient of a story's peaks and valleys are what take stories from good to great to perfect, but I wouldn't focus on perfecting a story. That is something that only really comes with lots of writing experience or an immense amount of work that I wouldn't really ask anyone to put into something they aren't being directly paid for.

Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions

Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO discord server for helping me round out my ideas.

 

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord.gg/wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well
​

Chapter 2: Dialogue
​

Dialogue is super interesting, the world of dialogue follows its own rules, and they are a microcosm of normal english rules, except that really you can do anything you want. Dialogue is supposed to imitate people's speech patterns, so if someone likes to say 'aight or you 'oughta do somefin if that is in character for them, it is perfectly OK to write that.

Here is an example of extremely clever dialogue:

"You," he growled, turning to the coms officer. "Find six other soldiers nearby. I need runners. If we can't use our electronics, we need to trust word-of-mouth." He turned to another officer nearby, one who had been running towards his office air, then his secretary, who had had a house nearby. "You," he said, pointing at the secretary. "Fetch me a loudspeaker. Let us hope that whatever is happening with our communications and electronics hasn't spread that far down the technological chain. You," he went on, turning to the officer. "once you have those runners, gather 10 men with you. You're in charge of my protection detail."
-Taken from Vimesenthusiast FILFY25

Something to note is how the dialogue is completely interwoven throughout the paragraph. Note how the dialogue sentences follow their own structure and are lowercase at the start even when there is a period right before the quotes. Dialogue is a huge Exception to the Capitalization rules. You can put anything in dialogue however you want as if the dialogue was its own contained sentence that doesnt really follow most English rules. Similarly you can capitalize a letter of dialogue "In the middle of a sentence because fuck the english language"

With regards to writing normal dialogue, here are some basic rules

1. If someone new is talking it is ALWAYS a new paragraph. Give each person talking their own paragraph, and if you plan on having one person talk for multiple paragraphs make sure there is a clear indication that the same person is talking. Maybe the person shuffles while walking. Maybe the person walks to his seat and sits down. Takes off their glasses and glares at you. All are good ways to show that the same person is talking, and they flesh out the scene better
2. In normal dialogue the sentence, and the descriptor are part of the same "Capsule". Basically unless you are doing something super complex, like the example I gave, then you want to continue the sentence with the character's actions: so the character can say:
   1. "yes I think I can do that," he said as he walked to his chair and signed the agreement. "40% it is."
      1. In this example the dialogue and the action are part of the same idea, that the character is agreeing something and so the movement is a direct result of the dialogue
      2. The main difference between my first example and my most recent example is that in the excerpt from Vimesenthusiast, the action and the dialogue are happening at the same time, whereas in the above example, the action and dialogue are sequential

Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions
Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO server for helping me round out my ideas.

 

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord .gg/ wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well.

Chapter 3: Bad Habits, and building good ones
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One of my biggest pet peeves is the overuse of ellipses (...) and capitalization. So this chapter will be all about building good habits, by eliminating bad ones.

I will start with commas.
The comma exists for two reasons:

1. To section off a portion of the sentence when the portion would be too long and otherwise ruin the flow of a sentence. This is usually used to section off an aside about something that is tangentially related to the topic at hand. For example: I love going to the local Carvels with my family, I have been going there since I was ten, and I always get oreo cookies and cream. In that sentence, I have been going there since I was ten. It is completely unnecessary to the sentence as a whole, if you remove the phrase the sentence flows just as well and is still a proper sentence. But what it has done is added context to why I love going to carvels, it's because I have been going there since I was ten and have an emotional attachment to it. That same sentence without commas I love going to the local Carvels with my family I have been going there since I was ten and I always get oreo cookies and cream is wordy and all over the place. The comma tells the reader that you are going on a related tangent and will be back shortly, connecting before and after the commas.

• As a pause commas are pauses in a story. If you think the character should pause in his dialogue add a comma. A good example that is basically automatic for most people is when you are listing something. Why do you add a comma? Because if you were talking you would pause to indicate each separate item on a list. For example: My favorite flavors of ice cream are chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and I also like Raspberry Sorbet. There is no need for ellipses as "extra pause space" because that is what the comma is for. (The only real place I think ellipses have to be used as an "extra long pause" is during thought, to indicate that there is a couple seconds of thought between one word and the next.

Overusing caps:
As a computer programmer I totally get the urge to just capitalize things to provide extra impact, but you must restrain yourself. The reader isnt dumb, and things like exclamation points (!) and interrobangs (‽) exist for a reason, to add excitement and indicate tension. There are other great ways to include tension: For example when writing a fight scene you can write in shorter sentences then you normally use in order to convey a faster more urgent pace to the reader (but that will be addressed in my fight scenes chapter).
According to google you can use ctrl+shift+/ to type an interrobang, but IDK if that actually works

Finally:
Paragraph length. A paragraph should always be at least a few sentences long. In theory a paragraph represents one idea, and after the idea is over you move on to the next paragraph, think of it like a bigger sentence. In practice, try to keep your paragraphs between 3-5 sentences.

In summary, to build good habits you have to focus on fixing your bad ones. If you consciously try to avoid bad habits you will eventually build yourself a good habit and eventually your writing will be improved subconsciously.



Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions
Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO server for helping me round out my ideas.

 

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord .gg/ wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well.

Ch4. Fight Scene Basics​

Here is my beginners guide to writing a fight scene, these tips should serve you well whether you are a beginner or an advanced fight scene writer. I will publish an advanced fight scenes guide, but that will be when I have time to really sit down and bang out a chapter. Likely it will just be me mentioning this chapter, and just describing each point in greater detail.

1. Use sentence length to your advantage, shorter sentences mean the action is happening quicker.
2. 2. In line with rule 1. Description is key. Use shorter, more "doey/actiony" words. Longer words are bad unless they replace several words. (Word choice is very important)
3. Make sure that all the actions are reasonable. That means when the character draws his sword and holds it in his right hand, he slashes from right to left, and then his sword is on the left. Keep in mind how hands are positioned for blocking. My advice is to watch a couple mock fights to get a general idea of what is reasonable.
   1. In line with this, everything that is happening must be reasonable according to your universe's physical limits. Always keep in mind the terrain, fighting on a cliffside or other such precarious position should always make more mention of the terrain then say, fighting on a flat plain with grass for miles around and nothing to trip you up.
4. Keep to the limits of your character, the MC has limits, keep those in mind as anything he does once can be done again, it's better to exchange more blows then to just one shot open sword sheath killer move boom dead
5. You don't have to describe every little bit, that's a great way to make the story drag on and the fight scenes boring, you have to describe the first time every move happens. But after that you can say things like "MC uses ultra instinct mega slash and is blocked" or some dumb shit like that and it's still better then the 5 paragraphs you previously used to show the MC charging up for the attack the first time. In the same way MCs can "exchange blows" while your character thinks about shit.
6. Finally, anything that isn't fighting takes away from the urgency of the fight. So it's a precarious balancing act making sure that the reader knows the surroundings but is also invested in the fight.

Here are some additions made as comments by vimesenthusiast you can find him at (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4785338/Vimesenthusiast) I highly recommend all of his stories, and A third path to the future is a great introduction to his writing style

I would further add that the larger the battlefield, the less you need to concentrate on specific body movements of all the characters. Use Leaping from one point to another, dodging enemy fire instead of going into detail. The kind of detail you would want to see in a one-on-one confrontation is different than which you would see in a mass melee.

Be certain however on the setting - this can tie into the overall description, but a problem I know i've run into is often not relating accurately the difference between fighting in an open space as compared to a hallway, or a tunnel. Remember where you are LOL.

Dialogue in a combat setting can also be difficult. If it's in keeping with your character fine (there is a reason why one-liners and a certain merc with a dumb mouth are popular) but don't force it. Instead, if you want to break up blocks of combat, use the thoughts of the characters. Let them plan out or analyze what is going on."

Click to shrink...

Happy writing, practice definitely makes perfect for fight scenes


Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions
Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO server for helping me round out my ideas.

 

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord .gg/wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well.

Chapter 5: creating and managing a work ethic​

Let me start by saying straight up that I have ADHD and a health issue, that causes me to do my work sooner rather than later, lest I not have time to do my work at all. That being said, having a schedule is extremely important for general life, and even more so for writing.

The main problem with writing that people encounter is just not having any ideas for what to write, getting stuck on the start of a scene, or stuck on the exact way you want to write a scene (often referred to as your muse deserting you). The thing is, that there is almost always something you can be doing for your fic:

• For those of you who have meticulous documentation as to the various characters, their power levels, faction alignment, and a general bio of the character, you have your path towards working on your story laid out in front of you. When for whatever reason you can't write the words of the actual story, you can just fill out more of those character sheets, updating them for past or planned decisions, and adding characters that will be seen later.

General things to do while your muse has deserted you.
If you have already done everything with regards to your background planning for the characters of that chapter, there are several other options.

1. You can write the outline of the chapter you are working on (or future chapters)
2. Remember that you can even outline what you want a paragraph to say. One method for getting past your muse is to simply outline things, then outline how the individual idea will be expressed and so on. Eventually you will have a written paragraph that you or your beta can go over and make better word choices for. (Or worst comes to worse, you will have a subpar chapter)
3. You can write individual scenes for later in the chapter. Maybe one specific scene is kicking your ass, just skip that scene and write the next one. You should know generally what scenes should be in your chapter, and if you don't, then go back to step 1 and outline your chapter. You are allowed to deviate from your outline (and in fact you should, if you feel like it, the outline is more of a guideline then a rule, intended to help your creativity not constrict it) but having an outline is extremely useful.

With regards to when you write I highly recommend having some sort of scheduled time in a week in which you work on your story. I definitely recommend you working on your story once a week, but if you have a biweekly schedule, or just don't have the time, feel free to make whatever time you want. The important thing is that you have times to write down what you've thought about the story over the week (not thinking about your story for a few days doesn't make you a bad author). (In a future chapter I may go over how to make a proper outline, but that will likely not be for a while, as I would like to write something like that by giving examples of a chapter that I wrote).

A few additional thoughts:

• Taking a break if you feel overwhelmed or just dont have the time is fine.
• Interacting with your source material is a good way to get your head back in the game:
  • Rewatching episodes
  • Rereading books
  • Watching youtube compilations
• Interacting with people and talking about your story can give much needed perspective as to where your story should go. People think differently and often someone else will see what you should be doing next as the obvious extension of your story, while you have been bashing your head against it for hours.
• Taking a break from your writing session is fine, a fresh mind often does better than an overworked one. Let your subconscious do some of the work.

Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions
Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO server for helping me round out my ideas.

 

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord .gg/wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well.

Chapter 6: How to start your fic
​

So you want to start a fic. You have a wonderful, brand new idea that's never been seen before for the "mid-game" of the fic. Or maybe you have a sick new fangled interpretation of cannon that you really want to get out into the world. Don't forget that foundations are important.

When you write a fic, you build expectations. As scenes pass, characters are introduced and changes are made to cannon, you begin to build up your Alternate Universe. No matter how good the main universe of your fic is, if you don't build up your AU properly then it will not be a good universe no matter how good the plot twist you have created. Just because something works in your head doesn't mean that it will work on paper; the hardest things to write are the coolest things you think of because you want to rush to the end, but rushing means that you will miss out on important middle parts.

Here are the basics for how to properly build a fic.

1. The introduction: How you open up your fic sets the tone for the rest of the fic, and often determines your reader retention. Often you may want to make a cool play on a normal trope. For example: If you are writing an Isekai fic with a gamer system you might feel encouraged to mix things up a bit and skip part of the intro, but you have to remember to include the important points.
   1. The MC was resurrected.
   2. Does the MC know about the new universe?
   3. How does the system work? - you need at least the basics of how leveling and power ups work unless figuring that out is a huge plotpoint.

If you fail to include at least the basics of how your universe works the reader will be forever confused. As an added bonus, try not to get too complicated with the start. Odds are both you and the reader knows the general direction this fic will go, so dont try to obfuscate.

1. Plan out your fic. Do some thinking as to how the MC will evolve from the start of the fic until at least the middle of the fic. You don't need anything concrete, but you should have thought out a general idea and maybe bounced some ideas off of others to make sure that there aren't any huge holes in your idea, hopefully you will be able to fix major issues and avoid having to retcon your own fic. (which is basically retconception).
2. Try to smooth out your fic. No jagged starts. This means that you shouldn't jump an MC in power after you start the fic when they get to the first hurdle. The MC's powers should be easy to understand and easy to explain, no one wants to read a fic where the first chapter is 5k words that are just lists of the MC's powers with detailed explanations. Explain the MC's powers AS THEY STAND, let the reader learn how the MC's powers grow in the fic alongside the MC.
3. Finally, try to help the reader learn with the MC, don't give them extra information, and don't just give the MC knowledge that the reader doesn't see the MC get and know the source of. Just deus ex machina ing information to the MC is a quick way to make the fic extremely confusing and lose the reader's attention.

Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions
Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO server for helping me round out my ideas.

 

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord .gg/wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well.

Chapter 7: Managing ideas and community feedback​

Ideas

Ideas are crazy in their number and scope, while writing your fic you will receive hundreds of ideas or requests from reviews and your own brain, way too many to implement. In a previous chapter I discussed how to navigate your way around writer's block, but an influx of Ideas can be equally as bad. Trying to implement too many cool ideas is a problem and sorting through ideas should be a two step process.

Step 1: Does the idea actually make sense?
At first glance tons of ideas can look like they must be sick and need to be implemented immediately, but often the coolest ideas are just cool at first look, upong further inspection they are actually dumb and would make a huge mockery of everything else that happens.

Step 2: Does the idea work in your fic?
Even if the idea is theoretically feasible, it might not work in your fic. Remember that everything new that you put into your fic must jive with everything you have already written. This means that if you have already given an expected power scale, you cannot introduce something to throw that out of whack. If you have fleshed your characters out in a way that would lead them to certain decisions, just throwing that out the window for shits and giggles, or the "better idea" is a BIG no no. You should keep to the central ideas of your fic and any idea that strays from that should be thrown out the window or shelved for a later fic.

Step 3: Is it necessary?
This may sound like a superficial question at first, but really think about it. Is this idea necessary? As I have previously noted, and will likely note again, simplicity is the heart of any good fic. As a fic gets more complicated it gets exponentially harder to write, ideas need to be balanced against every single other idea in the fic, each new element must work with every single element that has already been used. Straying from this idea will lead to your fic becoming a huge jumbly mess, you will hate it, all but the people who recommended the ideas will hate it, and people will stop reading. You might even stop writing it. So keep your fic simple, keep the ideas manageable, go through with a max of one crazy idea per fic and make sure you thoroughly work through it before even entertaining the idea of another one.

If an idea looks good and yet doesn't pass muster for this fic, or even for the fic as it is, but might be useful later, write it down. Keeping copious notes is the perfect way to keep yourself organized and your thoughts cohesive. Not remembering an idea that you once had is the worst, so do yourself a favor and just write it down.

Feedback

Feedback is a huge two faced sword, on the one hand it can be amazing, fun comments that give you great ideas, help point out problems in your fic, and generally make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. On the other hand reviews can be scathing, insulting you and your fic, nasty words that would hurt anyone to the bone.
For hate reviews just remember, fuck them, they didnt have to read your fic, they read it, and then decided that the free content that you so nicely made an option for them was worth being a complete fucking tool and sending you a hate review. Its hard but you have to ignore those dicks, especially guest reviewers (if it applies). The SGO server is filled with guest reviews, posted for the amusement of all, these are hateful dickwads that are usually so dumb it beggars the mind, people so unbelivably naive and lacking in common sense that receiving one of these reviews should be more a badge of honor than it is something to be sad about.

For Critical reviews, its criticism is usually intended to help you. Read it, think about it, and if, after much consideration, you feel that not only do they have a point, but it is a good one, alter your fic to match if you feel it appropriate. At the end of the day it is your fic not theirs and you should write it the way you feel you want to. It might not become the best fic or the most viewed fic, but you should write what you want to write, you aren't getting paid, the only thing you get out of it is your own enjoyment of watching the fic become what you wanted it to be. Even if the idea is amazing and way better than your own, if you feel like it would take away from your enjoyment of your own fic, don't use it.
For mistake correction, it's just a mistake. Take heart in the fact that people like your fic enough to point out small mistakes or huge errors. Fic breaking problems can crop up and can almost always be written around. If you have followed my guide up until this point (specifically ch6, how to start a fic) it is unlikely that you will actually find anything that is truly gamebreaking. If you didn't know enough about the universe to learn that one obscure fic breaking power. FUCKING IGNORE IT you aint perfect, if you dont write it into the fic then there is no reason for it to break the fic. Your fic is an Alternate Universe, whatever you want to exist there exists, and what you don't want to exist just isn't written in. You can address those problems with an AN that simply says "hey thanks for pointing that out but that doesnt exist in this fic bc i said so" or "To those that mentioned X super mega OP breaker power, no fucking way that shit exists in this universe/timeline/whatever your fic is." Just because something exists doesn't mean it has to be used.


When it comes down to it. This is your fic, write what you will and don't write what you won't, the ideas you use are up to you, this is merely a guide to help your fic be as good as it can be.


Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions
Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO server for helping me round out my ideas.

 

[Morde 24]

A/N: I'm starting this because I have betad quite a few stories and when I hang out on Shiro's Gaming Omniverse, - discord .gg/wd3tUYWVCd - I often see questions about similar topics. Often knowing more about these topics can help you grow as a writer, and in my humble opinion, I have a pretty decent grasp of the English language. So here are some of the questions that I have answered, in the format of a guide to writing, may it guide you well.

Chapter 8: How to write a character
​

Characters are the driving part of any story, they are the focal point of the story and often the point from which the reader observes the universe that the character exists in. As such it is extremely important for your character to possess a compelling story, and for his interactions with the world to hint at a bigger world than just what the character sees.

I have already discussed how to properly motivate your character with the use of short and long-term goals, so here I will discuss how to write the character itself, and keep to its essential being even as the character changes over the course of the story.

The most important part of writing a character is to let the character make its own decisions. This may sound a bit weird to first time writers, and is extremely hard to explain in certain terms, as the act of writing a character is an ambiguous thing, but as I have tried with the series so far, I shall try to give a concrete set of guidelines to be followed.

Makeup of a character

A character is composed of several things and just like a normal human, these all play a part in his decision making.

• Upbringing
  • For Example: If the character grew up poor, the character is likely to be more in tune with the shadier elements of life, if an opportunity comes that isn't completely against their morals, and guarantees a better life then the character is more likely to take it, even if a more well off person might hold out for more. Similarly, this character would be more likely to be less in tune with the fancier elements of life, likely to thumb his/her nose at the thought of "proper manners" as thought of in high society. Alternatively the character could dive into their riches, spending excessive amounts of money on everything to make up for what he/she lacked growing up.
• Surrounding environment
  • For Example: A character who lives in a first world country, like America or the EU is far more likely to take having the necessities of life for granted, if such a character was moved to a more third world environment, they would likely struggle regardless of their intellect or abilities. Whereas, a character used to a third world environment would be much more likely to operate just fine in a third world environment, but would struggle more if moved to a first world environment where being used to having to scrounge for necessities would more than likely be completely useless, and possibly even detrimental.
• Motivation - I have already discussed how to give a character motivation, but the character's motivation is just as important to his/her character. The motivation is the single most important factor when talking about a character's decision making and should always be the first thing referenced.
  • For Example: A character whose motivation is complete and total equality for mutants would be highly unlikely to work with anyone/anything that could negatively impact that goal
• Wants - a character's wants are not necessarily so important to their decision making, but need to be taken into account. Often a character's wants will make the difference between two seemingly equal decisions.
  • For Example: A character has a job that will pay for him/her to get a nighttime degree (for this example, the degree is one in electrical engineering, but its not so important). If the character wants to read, or play games with friends at night, they will be far less likely to dedicate that reading/gaming time to that degree if it isn't so necessary. On the flipside, if this character is super interested in how computers/electrical systems work then getting a degree in electrical engineering might be worth sacrificing some of his/her free time.
• Flaws - while it may seem obvious at first, a characters flaws are generally what makes a character compelling. A perfect character that always makes the right decisions and follows the law and is the perfect citizen does not a compelling character make.
  • For Example - A character can have a very hard time looking into the future, or thinking critically about what impact their decisions have. This will lead to short term satisfaction and likely long term harm, for example cheating on your wife (let us assume for the sake of this example that you have a good relationship in general, whatever that means to you) with your really hot secretary might seem like a good example in the moment, but long term it is likely to affect the health of your marriage even if your wife never finds out, but a short sighted character would just see the positives, assume no one will ever know, and get hit with the consequences later.`
• Needs: Most importantly, the characters' needs impact their short term decision making, and to some extent their long term decision making. Needs are things that need to be taken care of in the moment. Needs can change, and so their impact on long-term decision making is less obvious and far more varied then their impact on short-term decision making.
  • For example: If one job offers 100k/yr and one job offers 60k/year but a 100k signing bonus, the 100k/yr job is better long term, but say the character has a debt of 100k to the mafia that they need to pay back that week, the 100k signing bonus is obviously more beneficial even if long term the character will make less money.

Once you know a character's general decision making, crafting dialogue and shaping the story around him are far easier, but no less important. Each and every decision and piece of dialogue should ideally be weighed against the character, his/her way of speaking, way of dress, and manners all impact their perception of the world and the way the world perceives them, and straying from this is often extremely jarring to a reader and severely detracts from the character as a whole. As such it should be avoided at all costs.

In general the way the parts of a character interact differ between short and long term (and of course by the character itself)

Short term order:

• Needs - as the name suggests these need to be addressed now, if left to fester they can severely hamper the person and so come first
• Motivation - what the character determines that it needs comes in right behind physical needs
• Surrounding environment - what is expected of the character can impact if say, the character goes to the movies or stays at home studying
• Wants - if the character wants to game and not study, depending on their personality, they may want good grades or to relax
• Upbringing - what a character expects of themselves is always subtly in the background but rarely impacts short term decision making

Long term:

• Motivation - a character's motivation is their long term plans, correspondingly it is the most important part of any long term decision making
• Surrounding environment - where you live impacts if say you move away for a job or you stay at home and work in fast food
• Upbringing - what you expect from yourself changes what options you might actively consider, and will dismiss options that others might thing to be good ones
• Wants - If a character wants more free time, it is likely to impact what job decision they make, maybe they want to eat good food, so living near good food is important (or maybe learning to cook) the possibilities are endless
• Needs - needs change, especially physical ones, as you grow these change or can be mitigated, as such they impact your long term decision making but nearly as much as the other things on this list

The basics of a character - Professor of Hiding

I think the basis for a character are:

1. Compelling/Interesting qualities
   • It's something that draws the viewer in. Whether it's intelligence or humor (very common), kindness (also very common), creativity, curiosity or even being sarcastic all the time... It doesn't need to be a 'good' quality, but it must be written in an attractive way, and be the defining attribute behind the MC's voice and actions.

1. Clear goals, whether they're stated at the start or they develop
   • The MC is the MC because his goals are what drive the story forward. Whether they're short-term or long-term, they are the reason why things are happening, or they should be to some extent. The MC can suffer consequences or events that he didn't create, in fact, that's what starts the journey of the hero, the big bad comes in and destroys something most of the time, but it's to give the MC a goal--to get out of his farm and face the big world. They're also important because the reader has the most insight on the MC's thoughts, and unless being aimless is the point of the novel, people without goals are often boring--and that will show in the writing.

1. Something to lose, which is often times glossed over I feel like.
   • If there are no stakes, then it doesn't really matter whether or not the MC achieves his goal. One of the easiest way to introduce something to lose is death. It's present in nearly every novel, but unless the MC comes near to dying, or is actively fearful of dying, much more than the average person, it won't shine through the writing. Simultaneously, death is often not enough to get good stakes, because it's everywhere. We don't go about in our day-to-day life thinking about death all the time, but if something dangerous happens, we know the risk is there. Emotional stakes are much more powerful in that regard, because not only are they not permament, which leaves room to grow, but they're also more vast in applications to behavior, which then makes a character more interesting.

1. Room to grow.
   • This doesn't need to be for the MC specifically, since a static character could be just as fun to read, but there needs to be change in the narrative, all the time. If nothing changes, no matter what, then whatever you're writing is not compelling to read--there are simply no consequences.

Character Arc

The main plot of any story (and indeed of any subplots) are the growth of its characters. This can be accomplished in a multitude of ways such as training, overcoming obstacles, and simply living. Life happening to the character grows the character, and it would be a very poor arc indeed if the character the arc focuses on does not come out of the arc greater than they were before. Just as a character is created from the points above, so too those points can change. Things can happen in the arc that add to their needs, or maybe some life changing experience completely turns a character's perspective on its head.

The point here being that a character is the sum of its experiences, and each arc is an experience that needs to be taken into account.

In order for a Character to grow, they must have flows, overcoming these flaws can be what makes the character arc interesting. Superman is all powerful (essentially) and what makes him an interesting character is that while he seems to have no flaws, when you look below the surface you find a multitude of flaws. Superman's character arcs generally revolve around improving himself and the way he views the world in some way, the fighting and villains are usually secondary.

I will discuss how to write a proper arc at a later date, as it is not only relevant to this chapter but to story writing as a whole, but for now, know that a story is composed of its individual arcs, so making sure that you nail an arc is a crucial part of nailing the story as a whole.

Tying it all together

When you write a character, or indeed any story, what you show to the audience and what you decide about the character are two different things. Interestingly enough, what you show the audience is immutable, but what you have written for yourself is changeable (just remember to scrutinize each and every aspect of the story that might be affected by the changing of your plans).

What this means is that you know things that the reader doesn't. One of the most important parts to any story is how well you relay what you know about a character to the audience. Any decision made by the character has to match up, both with what the audience knows about the character and with what you have decided the character does, matching these two to create a decision that makes sense in story and in greater universe is not easy but needs to be done to keep your story coherent and your narrative consistent.


Happy writing, You can find me on SGO if you want to ask me any questions
Thank you to Mand'alor from the SGO server for helping me round out my ideas.
An additional thanks goes to Infonticus (a fanfic author in his own right) and Professor Moriarthur beta for Mr Ballin, author of Earthland's gamer and A Vegetables Playthrough [I highly recommend both])

 

[f0Ri5]

Hey man. Some really good advice, here. Specifically the dialogue stuff is super helpful. I was really struggling with balancing dialogue and describing character actions, environment etc. Its great to know i can just toss everything together and let it flow naturally. Dont specifically need to go 'okay, time for a paragraph of dialogue, then a paragraph to describe what happened'

 

[Morde 24]

Hey man. Some really good advice, here. Specifically the dialogue stuff is super helpful. I was really struggling with balancing dialogue and describing character actions, environment etc. Its great to know i can just toss everything together and let it flow naturally. Dont specifically need to go 'okay, time for a paragraph of dialogue, then a paragraph to describe what happened'

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the kind words. Good luck on your fic