Tag: Future reference

Character Flaws: The Master Post

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment:

What’s a Character Flaw?

What would be considered bad character flaws? Like I know being clumsy is generally considered to not actually be a flaw, but are there other flaws like it that I should avoid?
 -Anonymous

Well, we were once asked if being autistic counted, and Pen wrote them a nice response telling them to GTFO. 
Clumsiness is a damn pain in the butt, (just ask some of my friends- they live their entire lives like a trust falls session), but it’s not a character flaw because it’s not a fault in their character. That would be like saying that being ugly is a character flaw (I can actually find you some stories like that, though- where someone complains that they’re plain-looking to the point where you want to call them and say that yes, they should wear a paper bag in public out of sheer annoyance). Clumsiness is one of those traits that have gotten a rap as ‘Sue-ish’ cause some famously annoying ladies (coughBella) bore it, and also because it’s one of those things that’s supposed to be endearing but often isn’t- we should feel that this childish and weak, non-threatening creature needs our protection, but most people are gonna get pissed when they need Lady or Lord Clumsy to do ONE JOB to save everyone and they fall on their face for the thousandth time and fail. 

Let me try to put this in a way that makes more sense- flaws should be a product of someone’s choices, not their birth. Therefore, while being dyslexic, clumsy, or etc., would present challenges in someone’s life, and possibly add to the story, it’s not something that can be changed over time with character development. They’re traits, they’re not really changeable, only manageable. 
A character flaw is a result of the character’s behavior, something that they, theoretically could stop if they wished. It also should cause problems in the story- if you say that my bossiness is a flaw, but then I’m always right with my bossiness, then you’re doing it wrong. I count one of my characters tendencies to take conflicts too far a flaw, because it gets him into trouble when he escalates fights. 
Then, there’s this big blobby gray area of flaw vs. trait. Let’s say you’ve got a character who’s a drunk- it’s derailing his life, he’s mean to his friends, etc. Flaw. However, if you reveal in the narrative that he’s got a family history of alcoholism (it’s shown that this is genetic), and was raised in an environment that predisposed him to be that way- well, you’ve got behavior that is clearly bad, but probably sympathetic to the audience because our drunk has less control over his actions. 

-Evvy

FYCD

FURTHER POSTS (Answered Asks on the topic):

How Do I Pick Flaws For My Character?

The Sliding Scale of Traits : From Good to Bad

What About Stubbornness/Other Iffy Flaws? 

Physical v. Character Flaws?

How Many Flaws Is Too Many Flaws?

How Do I Know If X Is A Flaw?

My Character’s Flawed, But Not A Villain- How Do I Do That?

Can Big Flaws Keep My Character From Being A Protagonist?

I Wanna Roll With My Character Being A Villain, But Want I Them To Be Sympathetic…?

Pen Tells Those Who Count Disabilities As Character Flaws To GTFO

Please note that all of this (other than the questions themselves and links that we put in for further reading) is original content from Fuck Yeah Character Development. You can use any of this, we’re just rather proud. Thanks for following.

creativichee:

If your character has a trait you consider one of their key features and it is never challenged in anyway, that trait will probably have about as much impact as their “tiny mole on their left buttcheek” trait. 

For that trait NOT to fall totally flat, one or more of these things need to happen:

  • The trait exacerbates a situation in a bad way. (An extremely honest and trusting character reveals an important secret to the Big Bad’s lackey)
  • The character is given a choice to either act according to their traits or to subvert them. Often the subversion has the better outcome. They either maintain their trait and take a risk, or character development ensues. (A greedy character must escape. Leaving behind their riches goes against their very being, but it would allow them to escape easier. If they try to take some of their treasure with them, they do so at massive risk.)
  •  The character is put in an environment or must work with a person that opposes their trait. (An extremely tidy person must live in their slob cousin’s filthy apartment for a week. / The character has a debilitating fear of being alone and they are stranded on their own on an island.)
  • The character is put in a situation that requires them to suppress their trait (A hotheaded character needs to have polite discourse with someone they hate)

OC Questions – Vacation Edition

questionprompts:

1. Which oc makes up a schedule and tries to get everyone to adhere to it?

2. Which oc/s sneak away from the rest of the group to have fun on their own?

3. Which oc spends most of their time in tourist traps?

4. Which oc gets a part-time job at a tourist trap?

5. Which oc volunteers as an impromptu and misinformed tour-guide?

6. Which oc is happiest in their hotel room?

7. Which oc rounds up all the free stuff they can from the room before check out?

8. Which oc accidentally left all their luggage back home?

9. Which oc has their vacation by camping in their own backyard?

10. Which oc brings their work with them?

11. Which oc takes all their travel pictures in front of things they could find anywhere rather than famous landmarks?

12. Which oc spends the whole trip sick?

13. Which oc usually ends up driving?

14. Which oc books the wrong room?

15. Which oc loses something important in the ocean (or somewhere else unrecoverable)?

16. Which oc loses all their food to seagulls?

17. Which oc reads romance or mystery/thriller paperbacks the whole time?

morganyus:

so i’ve been working on some overwatch oc template psds based on the actual hero profiles on the overwatch site, and this is what i’ve come up with–you can see it in action with an actual character of mine here.

you can change the roles and difficulty ratings by toggling the visibility of different layers. it’s not as versatile as i’d like, as you’ll need to manually adjust the placement of some elements if you don’t have enough lines of text in certain boxes. if you have multiple abilities with longer descriptions, for example, you’ll have to duplicate whichever section you want, delete the one you don’t want, and manually shift the sections (tho if you have a more elegant way of going about it, feel free to do it your way).

for the ability icon images, if you can’t make your own, i recommend finding some neat minimalist icons from sites like thenounproject and iconfinder and using a white color overlay effect on them to match the style of the icons on the original hero profiles. if you don’t have the big noodle titling and futura lt heavy fonts (which are used in the psd files) installed on your computer, i’ve provided a download for both of them as well.

and finally, if you do use this, it’d be nice if you could credit me for it by linking back to the original post if possible (i won’t lead a witchhunt or anything if you don’t, but i’m sure people would appreciate knowing the source in case they want to use the template too)

daisycalloway:

“I couldn’t find any pictures that are-” is a very lousy excuse to whitewash PoC. There are plenty of PoC models, stock images, and editorials out there. You just have to find it. Here are some of the blogs that are dedicated to PoC editorials/models that I follow. Feel free to add and suggestion more.