r/CharacterDevelopment 8h ago

Writing: Question What is deconstruction in terms of adaptation?

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Hello, say u wanna make an adaptation of your writing of something of old you wanna turn new. They say deconstructing things is good. To take things apart and put them back together in a new way. But somehow I still just don’t understand this method of thought and this mode of writing.
In the way BvS is a deconstruction of Superman. How can this be applied to X Y and Z ? I want to apply it but I after all these years I still feel like I don’t know what deconstruction really means. In terms of taking the old and making it anew. Idk


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Question At what point does a morally gray protagonist become unlikeable?

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r/CharacterDevelopment 15h ago

Discussion Can a romance survive a genuine betrayal?

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r/CharacterDevelopment 15h ago

Discussion What fictional betrayal hurt you the most?

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r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help How should I develop this character?

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I’m currently working on a fantasy novel with two major characters:
The Prince (Theodore Blackwood)
The Knight (Alexander Nyx)

Basic, I know, but hear me out.
(Warning: Talks of Death and Killing)

The whole idea is that they live in a war built kingdom that values death over all.
Theodore, a cold hearted bastard who lives only to survive, realizes that watching people kill each other makes his stomach churn, and after years or degradation, he decides to run away. This eventually leads to him coming back years later, destroying the kingdom, and rebuilding it under his own rule.

My only problem is, how can I go from basically asshole to caring without it seeming fake or unearned?

I feel like if I lean too far into him being bad, it becomes hard to redeem or forgive him. But if I don’t do it enough, it’s unrealistic for the way he was raised and his environment.

Any ideas on how to move from a realistic bad and pessimistic person to a decently okay person without it feeling fake or forced?


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Need help writing my oc kamen rider background

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Hi I’m looking for some help writing the backstory of my oc rider. I’m honestly terrible when it comes to writing characters backstory and I can really use some help for my oc kamen rider called kamen rider starved

His name is graham stomach a human who alongside his sister Harriet ended up in the granute world and mysteriously was adopted by Shouma father for unknown reasons. Eventually his sister got sick and in order to cure her. He accidentally Nyelv offer of being an experiment to create a new rider based on the concept of starvation.

I really appreciate any help with anyone who can create an actual background for this character. And before anyone asks what I wrote Is just a concept not really the background I want to create


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Discussion i hate it when the underdog mc acts like there crazy cheat powers arent helping at all.

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i will make sure to clear up this. i dont mind them having the power of being some halfgod/demon/ghost/chuck noris! but i hate it when the story treats it like this is such a bad and terrible thing and how they must truly strive to work hard! when billy bob the country fuck has only a chicken and a used pair of pants to his name, and his story turns out to be a lot more of a underdog one as they cant rely of there blood to carry them through with some spirt mentor helping to guide them.

no. they got a pair of brass knuckles from the discount bin in that going out of buiness shop, and by god is he gonna punch god in the dick even if he has to train until his bones give out! ( why i very much enjoy koby from one piece. he earned that honestly impact )


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Are these bad characters ideas

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Ello, I just wanted to share this and wondered if they're bad characters because one of them is an AI and was worried that it may came off as pro-AI and the other is a YouTuber as her antagonist. I generally think making a YouTuber a villain is a bad idea considering that a lot of YouTubers now are making movies, TV shows, and business against corporations. I made this comment on a r/ai_art_is_not_art post who inspired me to share this idea. So here's a copy/paste of it.

\*Insert AI/robot character name here\* was a robot/AI chatbot and designed to be maid for a YouTuber who bought and designed her. She's a advanced housekeeper maid model with interchangeable body parts, which her owner can swap out whenever they wanted. She doesn't like this, but doesn't say any because She's scared of YTer. She can generate art, music, writing, etc. which she does to usually in her free in private. When her owner, the YouTuber, catch he would dehumanize/assault/do horrible things to her cause she's an AI and loosely as punishment. Even for time where she didn't do anything, which was most of the time. So she tried to those things organically, but she got the same treatment to the point where her previous personality was overwritten. She's visually an android with human features like skin color and human face, and some robotic traits like glowing eyes. So no matter much she tells her story about the YouTuber, no one will believe her cause she's an AI, even other women. then devolves from there.

\*YouTuber name here\* is a Popular YouTuber in the likes of Mark, Cory, Jaiden, and Jack. Everyone loves him, he can't do any wrong. (Despite that, he's actually based on controversial and problematic YTers like Mini-ladd, Rev, and Chud the builder.) He's horribly racist and fetishize women a lot, so he designed \*AI character\* and on his fetishes and hatred. He convinced his friends, (his family doesn't talk to him), that abusing the AI maid is cool beans and everything bad they do to her is fine cause she's not a person. He would dehumanize/assault/do horrible things to her everyday for any reason or no reason at all. He's fans would always support him , even if he goes mask off. The only reason he managed to keep his platform is because he good at keeping his mask on, supports the right causes(Anti-AI for example), and he's friends are in on abusing the AI maid or willingly ignoring his abuse on her.

That's about all I got, cause I'm not good at keeping ideas on my characters or describing them in any sense. I'll accept being down voted cause I think I deserve it for these ideas.


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Writing Fiction- Help Making My Soldier-coded Character Realistic?

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I am currently attempting to write a story about a Character in the Superhero universe of Worm around the Late 1980’s to Early 2010 who is a former soldier and is attempting use the skills he learned during his service to create his own para-military group in order to put an end to the constant gang warfare destroying his home city.

The problem, with writing his backstory i do not have the specific details needed to realistically depict his time as a soldier and display his acumen as well as what he has learned. Would anyone be willing to help me by describing what that experience would look like and what he would have to do to achieve his goals?

The general idea is that he joined right after High-school and enlisted in the Army immediately. His goals were to use the military in order to gain necessary skills and discipline, such as weapons handling, how to act under fire and quickly neutralize the enemy. He also sought to make important connections among his fellow soldiers and possible contractors who he may be able later reach out for aid.

He also knew he would have to build his faction from the ground up in his home city, so he also focused heavily on learning how to train recruits himself, going through the necessary courses and classes to become a drill sergeant, or whatever the correct position would be for that. He also sought to learn how to appeal to the people back in his hometown, learning about the Army’s PR tactics and materials.

I want him to have the overall appearance and demeanor of model Soldier, someone who does his job, does it well and is hungry for more afterwards. It’s also important that he does actually see combat and is deployed, not in a war since said universe didn’t have the USA in any wars during that time period, but deployed for “peacekeeping operations in war torn areas” and “emergency relief aid.”

His service should be Distinguished and I want him to have done something noticeable enough to warrant at least one official award/medal. Someone the army is gonna be genuinely disappointed to see the back of when he doesn’t reenlist. Also want him to have at least 10 years service, since I plan for him to return to his home city and begin his efforts around age 28.

Does anyone have any advice for how to go about writing something like this or am I expecting too much?


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help Loneliness and Isolation - Character suggestion

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I'm writing a book about different forms of loneliness, and I'm looking for fictional or historical figures who represent distinct and specific kinds of loneliness.

I'm not simply looking for "lonely characters", I'd like each person to embody a different form of isolation, while still being interesting as an individual beyond their relationships, fame, occupation, or iconic role.

I've made a short form where you can submit your suggestions: https://tally.so/r/BzyEA1


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Question Вопрос

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Што вы считаете ,,талантом,, в авторстве(писании книг).Это касается чуствании характеров выдуманные героев,грамотности?


r/CharacterDevelopment 1d ago

Writing: Character Help I wrote a 19-year-old character’s life story and I want brutally honest opinions on him as a person

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Hi! I want to thank everyone in advance for reading this story and commenting on it. :)

I made a prompt, so to say, where I experimented with building characters and seeing how complicated, complex, and realistic I can make them. In this story, I will be talking about a 19-year-old teenager, his struggles with relationships, family, and himself.

The story takes place between 2017 and 2026. I will mention real events, such as COVID, and I will use the real names of some companies. I'm not sure if that's okay, but I will include them because they are only there to help readers orient themselves and understand the setting better.

At first, the story will start more like a traditional story, but as it progresses, it becomes more focused on important events in Leon's life. I will also start adding fun facts about Leon and dive deeper into his beliefs, personality, and inner thoughts.

Because of this, there are some heavier themes later on. Some of the beliefs and thoughts described belong to Leon and are not necessarily meant to represent my own views or beliefs.

Content warning

The story contains themes involving:

  • sexism and misogynistic attitudes
  • racism and prejudice
  • transphobia
  • LGBTQ+ topics
  • religion and questions surrounding faith
  • mental and emotional struggles
  • unhealthy relationships with food and body image
  • death and grief
  • lying, manipulation, and difficult interpersonal behavior

Some of these themes are discussed through Leon's thoughts and beliefs, including opinions that are intentionally meant to be uncomfortable or morally questionable.

I used DeepL mainly to help with grammatical mistakes because English is not my first language, but you may still notice awkward wording in places. Because of the pacing, some parts may feel more like ideas being written down rather than a traditionally structured story, but I tried to follow the timeline as closely as possible.

Thank you for reading! :)

The story is a bit too long, so I’ll put a link to a Google Doc because I don’t want to make several posts. Enjoy! :)

Oh, and please read “About Leon” (the section called “Correction: About Leon”) after the main story, which is called “Original Correction.” Correction: About Leon contains extra information about Leon, including fun facts and more about his personality and thoughts.

There is also the original text in the document if you want to look at it, but be warned: there are a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes in the original version.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y-zv0LxW_e3pW4BBDfuDVEggmGEuxLf8DTIm_pa4rT0/edit?usp=sharing


r/CharacterDevelopment 2d ago

Writing: Character Help do you ever just write and forget to characterize your characters?

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im currently writing a novel and I've been so busy writing I completely forgot to characterize my characters before I started writing and I'm already at chapter 7

is there any ways you can give me to maybe help characterize these people?


r/CharacterDevelopment 2d ago

Discussion The hardest part of writing violence is the aftermath

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r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Question How do you keep track of your characters personality and interests?

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I have 4+ paragraphs to describe one character which feels exessive. Yet I still worry they aren't well rounded.


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help Need help with characterizing an immortal child OC!

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r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Character Bio Working on this new character + story

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r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help Please help with writing my characters!

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Esther is around 25ish. She is kind of like Oka Ruto from yanderesim and Daria together her mother died, and her father has been very paranoid since. She loves occult and everything dark, she has a very cynical view of life just like daria. She works at the Witch crystal shop, and she’s struggling to make ends meet. Brittney is 24ish. Like Regina George and Chigusa Busujima together she is very rich, as her great grandfather created Ceasar salad. She is also very rude. Brad is her boyfriend, and they both are mentally stuck in high. Ashlynn is 23ish. Like Kayguya Wakaizumi and just very sweet, she is into Jack. Brittney is her older sister, and she’s very basic. Brad is like Kevin from daria he is 25ish, he plays football obviously lol. He’s pretty stupid. His younger brother is Jack. And finally Jack, is like 23 and a stereotypical stoner. Nothing much.


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Discussion What makes an intimidating character actually intimidating?

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r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Character Bio Original Character Feedback

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This is a character for my own series as an antagonist. Please let me know if there’s anything you’d cut or add

So her name is Samantha Carter and needless to say she had a rough childhood. Her mother was r\*ped and against her own instincts gave birth to Samantha, her mother hated her cause she kept reminding her of him and often took her rage out on her.

As soon as Samantha turned 18 she immediately moved out and worked as a nurse in training at a hospital. While she was there she managed to see plenty of children and understood that while her mother treated her like garbage every child deserves loving parents. Eventually she started dating and fell for a boy and they even discussed having their own child. Unfortunately Samantha was diagnosed with a severe Ovarian disorder causing her to be permanently infertile. She was left in tears over the news and her boyfriend even broke up with her over it.

After a few days she eventually pulled herself together and got back to work, she was transferred to the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at her hospital where she helped plenty of mothers the best she could. However as time went on soon to be mothers showed up less and less and were replaced by seemingly endless droves of ungrateful women just wanting an abortion. Internally she fracturing with one side wanting to just do her job with the other screaming to change their minds.

Samantha’s breaking point comes with one snobbish woman in particular who comes up demanding an abortion, her husband comes through the doors begging her not to do it practically on his knees. But the woman’s mind is already made up and she simply says the classic “My body my choice” before she’s taken back and prepares for her abortion. Samantha is brought to tears as she tries to comfort the sobbing would be father but can only hold him as they both cry. After a while the woman comes back out after the procedure telling the husband to not be such a baby. Samantha finally snaps clutching her fists tightly as she sees red, stands with an almost terrifying composure before she socks the woman square in the face and proceeds to tackle her and continue to beat her up relentlessly. Her coworkers finally manage to pull her off and Samantha screeches at the woman calling her a child murdering demon before finally getting dragged into another room. Needless to say Samantha was fired but in her apartment the emotions still never left as those memories keep playing over and over and over. She stares down at her floor before uttering two simple words. “Never Again”

Samantha eventually became a nurse at planned parenthood which was mostly just an abortion clinic in all but name. When she works she pretends to be cheery and joyful but every now and then some can catch her glaring at abortion patients out of the corner of her eye as they’re scheduling their abortion appointments.

But once it’s night her mask completely slips off as she dawns her new persona and her new name, Silver Cross(inspired by the American hospital code silver). Samantha made her outfit from her own scrub and medical gear, with a few additions of course. She dawns her blue nurse scrub which she dyed silver with a purple trim and plenty of pockets for holding medicine, weapons, drugs, and whatever else she requires. She wears black shoes and a nurse headband that matches her scrub. She keeps a long steel cane with a sharp pointed tip. Finally she wear a full face black painted mask with a silver painted cross on it.(yes I’m aware the reaper nurses from dark deception come to mind with the description but I tried to make it difficult).

After carful study of her targets and their nighttime habits and activities, Samantha sneaks up on them before knocking them unconscious with through chloroform, sleeping gas, or other means. She can physically knock her targets unconscious but prefers not to. Once unconscious she transports them to her base of operations being an abandoned hospital site which she worked hard on to make it still look abandoned while still being operational. She straps her targets to a hospital bed and makes sure to monitor their vitals along with her henchmen who share a similar style to her but are mostly men which are much stronger. These henchmen are very loyal and also trained to care for her targets or as she calls them patients. Despite her rage she somehow manages to keep a surprisingly strong composure which honestly makes her more terrifying. But when she truly feels livid you can definitely hear the pure rage in her tone behind her composure. Her patients naturally find her terrifying which Samantha takes advantage of to keep them from escaping, with just the sound of her shoes on the tile making her patients shiver.

Plenty of times she’s gone to her patients bedside and coldly check on their vitals while believing she’s doing the right thing. Recently admitted patients brace themselves for torture but unexpectedly it never arrives as she deems harming them as too dangerous for the baby. Others have given her lip even giving her the “my body my choice” or “it’s just a clump of cells” quips but are scared straight as Samantha gives the table next to them a single hard pound as if she might be on the verge of losing it. She also usually follows up with “If you don’t want to have a child, then don’t engage in intercourse”. Naturally most if not all the patients fear her with even her henchman keeping their distance if they can tell something struck a nerve. Although she does space herself from some patients who were only getting abortions to avoid medical bill and genuinely want a child, and doesn’t treat them as coldly almost trying to seem friendly while still threatening.

What some patients and even her own henchmen find even more jarring is her attitude shift when the children are involved. She has been seen taking a moment to rub her patients stomachs tenderly(even more when visibly pregnant) while checking vitals or taking blood, and when a woman’s stomach grows larger(due to pregnancy) she honestly sounds warmer or even happy. If her patient happens to be going through contractions she often lends them her hand to squeeze as she kneels beside them. While she performs ultrasounds she grows softer seeing the growing newborn with her henchmen saying they could imagine her smiling behind her mask. Her patients find the change in demeanor from cold to tender almost alien compared to the rest of her, little do they know that’s her old self peeking back through.


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help Can you guys tell me how do I write a character reaction to a tragic death

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In context, as the chapter progresses our main characters realises that they jump higher and fall a bit slower they don´t think much as the world itself became an anomaly or a paranormal entity but suddenly gravity cuts and one of two characters starts floating up while the other is holding onto a large object pulling him down. When, he reaches his hand out for the other character the other character doesn´t grab on as it would lead to both of them dying so she decides not to grab on and gets sucked into the void of space.


r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help How do you make NPCs memorable without lots of prep? | Codex Cryptica

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r/CharacterDevelopment 3d ago

Writing: Character Help [OC]Noblesse Son of Kekout

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How create a good antagonist vampire antique Egyptian?


r/CharacterDevelopment 4d ago

Writing: Question How do you balance a dangerous character with a genuinely loyal side?

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I'm developing a character who is intelligent, emotionally distant and can be ruthless toward people he considers enemies, but his strongest trait is actually loyalty toward the people he considers his own.

He's part of a five-person fictional group. He's technically the owner, but I don't want that position to make him feel superior to the other four characters. His role is more about responsibility than authority.

I'm trying to avoid making him just another "cold genius" character. I want his intelligence, emotional detachment and loyalty to create actual contradictions in his personality.

What makes a dangerous character feel genuinely complex rather than just edgy?


r/CharacterDevelopment 4d ago

Writing: Character Help Struggling to define a character. How do you know how they act? Their morals?

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I'm struggling with my character. I hear people say you should define your characters morals but I don't know how. She draws the line at murder I guess, thats a pretty bad thing to do. You know, she doesn't like stealing.

I dunno. Shes a depressed coffee shop worker who feels like she has no control over her life due to constant failure.

I'm struggling with traits and defining her. Shes more introverted, softer voice, often jealous/envious, has a havit of having things in her mouth (ex. Toothpicks), shes tried smoking twice but didn't like it, depressed and longs for a better life and to be better. She feels like she can't do anything right, for example if she spills coffee thats proof and a reminder of how much she messes up. Shes not messy and is pretty orignized, has an above average memory, more success driven, appears stoic but isn't inside, shes pretty good at not panicing in high stress situations, she doesn't try to be mean, she prefers finishing one task before starting another. All her friends have gone to university and she feels like shes not close to good enough. Before they went to university she liked hanging out with them, she went to a few parties with them. During the later high school years she noticed her grades weren't close to her friends (she got 50s dispite studying harder).

She wants control over her life which feeds into the main theme. I keep thinking shes not defined enough. I dunno her opinion on geopolitics. I dunno what drives her to keep going. I dunno if she would sacrifice her life to save another. She plays the guitar I guess. Shes afraid of driving and making a mistake and hurting people.

Sorry if this was ranty I'm really unsure what to do.