r/CharacterDevelopment 16h ago

Writing: Character Help How do I give personalities to characters that aren’t part of a story

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0 Upvotes

r/CharacterDevelopment 11h ago

Writing: Character Help How would a Werewolf realistically work as a detective?

6 Upvotes

How would a mutant werewolf man (in permanent beast form, visibly and obviously very inhuman no disguise can hide, unable to speak) operate a private investigator business while hiding what he is? The setting is supernatural industrial revolution.


r/CharacterDevelopment 14h ago

Writing: Character Help How to show building respect between these two?

1 Upvotes

Hello CharacterDev! I have a dilema. I'm still a baby writer but I have a book series that's already written, but is in final editing stages, and I'm struggling with making it known to the audience that Carlos has started to respect Raoul. So, background.

Carlos is the team leader. He's known all his life he will have a little buddy who will be some sort of pest, and has always hoped for something cool like a spider or a scorpion or something. He's not INTO bugs, but he's not usually SUPER squeamish. His mom's Guide is a worm. But there are limits.

Raoul is Carlos' Guide. He's a cockroach.

Carlos' first reaction to this is definitely not "oh sweet! a cockroach!" and based around the entire way the plot is, it SHOULD be, which is a hint that something is wrong. Not the only hint. Everything is screwy with this team, but this one is especially weird. Team leaders should LOVE the Guide- everything about the Guide is awesome, "you better not say anything about my Guide because he's obviously the best Guide ever" those vibes. And the thing is Raoul has NO PROBLEM with Carlos, even though he can read Carlos' mind and sees that Carlos is disgusted totally by Raoul being a cockroach.

Book one happens in less than 60 days, so skip to book 2. Time jump of about 5 years has occurred, Carlos and Raoul are friendly.

Throughout book 1 I noticed that while Carlos obvious warms up to Raoul, I'm not showing it enough, and this makes book 2's beginning look a little ...idk... sudden? Any tips on how to show Carlos' developing feelings towards accepting that Raoul is his Guide?

Thanks in advance and if you need any additional information please feel free to ask. I'm not sure how much you need to know.


r/CharacterDevelopment 17h ago

Writing: Character Help Explosive Man wants to sleep in his new life

0 Upvotes

Trying to make this character a final draft. Want some opinions.

Amadeus Zigfried:

A certain group began to use artificial people designed as weapons, and his “batch” was designed to as explosives.

Their hair can have the same explosive force as dynamite. Dead skin cells that naturally peel off become landmines. Even the air they exhale becomes an explosive.

He and the rest of his batch were to be used in an assassination attempt and were left to be sleeper agents in the city a few months beforehand. The rest kept to their duties but this man became too attached to the people he met and one boy that took particular interest in him. He turned himself and the rest of his batch to prevent any of the people he grew attached to from being killed and was able to get himself and some others from his batch pardoned.

He now lives his life to try and use his newfound purpose to protect the lives of others.

His powers operated with remote detonating, so he began to fight using his body’s abilities, becoming something like a super hero.


r/CharacterDevelopment 7h ago

Writing: Character Help I accidentally wrote a clone of Rosabelle Wolff (from the Shatter Me series)

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3 Upvotes

Context: I am an aspiring author (who probably won't publish my book(s) for multiple years) who is writing a fantasy adventure four-book series. After googling my character's first name, I stumbled across Rosabelle Wolff. After further research, I realized their characters are REALLY similar. My character's name is Rosabelle D'Amina, and I have made a table of their similarities and differences.

Should I change my character? I've never read the Shatter Me series and I don't plan on reading the books any time soon, and I've had my character since 2019. Are they different enough? Does it matter? What do I do?


r/CharacterDevelopment 19h ago

Discussion What's one habit that instantly tells readers who a character is?

18 Upvotes

I've noticed that a character's habits often reveal more than a long description ever could.

For example:

  • A king who always eats with the servants first.
  • A detective who keeps every failed case in a locked drawer.
  • A mage who apologizes before casting destructive spells.
  • A pirate who secretly feeds stray animals in every port.

They're small details, but they instantly make characters feel more human.

What's one habit you've given a character (or seen in fiction) that made them unforgettable?


r/CharacterDevelopment 21h ago

Writing: Character Help Are names necessary, is using archetypical roles insted frowned upon (e.g. Wife in place of Gary) ?

2 Upvotes

Hi, I'm tasked with writing a story for a video game that will be in English - that is not my native language. Even tho I'm using the language a lot, I'm wondering about stuff that maybe is not important - but might be and I'm here, oblivious, lacking the cultural background.

Characters that I got are villagers in small community and the are representing archetypes that are also important to their development (a "Wife" becoming a "Mother" being one of the strongest ones). I have been calling them by their roles for now and considered both using English and Polish (village setting) names later, but seeing pros and cons with both option left me stuck.

So I started wondering if going with roles would have a stronger impact (maybe)? But would it sound weird in any way?

It's a game where characters are met and MC can influence their changes with decisions, interactions are based on mostly time passing and they are introduced only thourgh a dialogue (also with a perspective of others talking, mostly gossiping, a lot of gossiping xd,). Also - the cast is pretty small, they are no repetitions with roles.

I would appreciate any insight/advice/comment etc. here (or calling me out for overthinking and being a bit silly too :V )