❛ the lazy writers ❜ V2

[Ranger of the North]

@Ranger
I reckon the witch would probably just get really mad, but he's a bit of a defeatist so he'd probably give up altogether at that point. I might give him a bumbling sidekick type character who tells him what's going on. I'm not sure though.

Aah, okay. Lucky for them ;p

Okay, but seriously, I search up any kind of prompts I can find and I'll try to write a story from there. Examples that I've wrote off of prompts could be found here.

I'll read through as soon as I can! c:

@Seelie / anyone in want of a prompt. I literally have a book of 652 prompts I am willing to share. Ask and it shall be given to you. Not all of them can be turned into a story (Write an ode to an onion) but some of them are good for technique (Your houseplant is dying. Tell it why it needs to live!) and general character building (You are a pirate/astronaut. Describe your perfect day) So there's really a lot of things that I can share if you are in want of something to write about. Just a thought >^.^<

Oooh, that sounds really useful!

[cosmic-quark]

@Mai-Ling Thanks! I'll do my best haha. I actually really liked that idea tbh, but I'm not sure how well it'll fit with the surrounding narrative. I'm thinking of outlining the original idea first and then tweaking it as I go along.
(And no problem! Your art is really good <3 )
@hawkkeye Those do tend to be the kind of stories I like the most, if I'm being honest. It'll definitely be an interesting challenge to try to find the balance between realistic action and believable development without prioritizing one or the other.
@Ranger of the North Thanks for the help! I quite like those names. Definitely something to think over in the future ^^
@winged-backpack I'm actually studying to be an astrophysicist right now! I really like learning about all weird stuff scientists come up with (there's a surprising amount of puns to be found). I also really like your story idea! Maybe they could be trying to find a way to reverse the curse or get revenge on the witch? Then the romance could be a subplot and you could focus more on the stuff you're more comfortable writing.

I hope everyone's writing is going well! I really love hearing about other people's stories and characters, so I have a couple more questions for you guys ^^

(On an unrelated note, I'm currently looking for some good quality art of my characters. So if you guys have any artist recommendations or you're open to commissions/art trades, please pm me! It's hard to find artists who are willing to draw humanoids on cs, so any help would be appreciated <3 )

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[b]Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite?[/b]
[b]How many years have you had your oldest character?[/b]
[b]What characters do you no longer write about? Why?[/b]
[b]Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them?[/b]
[b]Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?[/b]
[b]What is your favorite character dynamic to write?[/b]

Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite?
My favorite would probably have to be Sara. I've had her for over four years now (though she'd definitely gone through a lot of changes) and I'm very attached to her. She's also my most developed character; after all these years, writing her comes extremely naturally to me. She has a very black and white worldview initially, and it's fun watching her develop over the course of the trilogy into someone who's okay with taking the middle ground. She's very intelligent and extremely confident, often to a fault, but she's not cocky about it (unlike most of my other self-assured characters). She's also very inhuman in a lot of subtle ways that aren't obvious at first, and that's always fun to explore.

How many years have you had your oldest character?
Sara and Mels are probably my oldest still active characters, both averaging at around 4 years. They were developed at the same time, though they didn't get an official narrative until a year later. My oldest character in general (ignoring all those characters I made as a kid and then forgot about two weeks later) is probably 6 or 7 years old.

What characters do you no longer write about? Why?
Any characters before Sara and Mels, pretty much. After starting Eventide, I learned a lot about plotting and character development (and not falling into the same cliches or having an entire cast of straight white sixteen year olds). So I'm still kinda invested in the characters I created after that, just because they're at least somewhat interesting.

Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them?
My newest character is this one. She's so new she doesn't even have a name (or a story) yet. I'm working on drawing up a reference for her right now. She's actually the only character I have who exists in the context of "the real world". She has a girlfriend too, but I just have an appearance and a vague personality for her so far (she's an urban explorer!). I created both of them when I was idly doodling a few weeks ago.

Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?
Not consciously. Sometimes I notice characters have similar traits to people I know irl but it's never a deliberate decision. I do base characters off of my interests though. Alexis and Charlie are vaguely modeled on my love for astro and aliens. The band girl is kinda based on my local punk band scene addiction and kinda on that one girl I saw at a backyard concert a few months ago, but mostly on the fact that I somehow don't have a character with tattoos yet. Her girlfriend is 100% based on the fact that I am in desperate need of an urbex character.

What is your favorite character dynamic to write?
Probably the dynamic between Sara and Mels. I've had them both for so long that writing them interacting is very natural. I don't have to worry about keeping them in character bc I'm so used to their dynamic. They also complement each other very well.
The dynamic between Natalie and Elaine is also fun to write. They're best friends and roommates as civilians, the kind of friends who are comfortable sitting in silence for hours and who seemingly know everything about each other. As superheroes, though, they're rivals at best and enemies at worst. I really like exploring that tension between them, especially after the inevitable reveal.

Sorry for the long post guys! I just got really into it haha <3

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite?
Hnnnng... Shyshie is one of my favorites. She started off as a precious little girl and I proceded to emotionally shred her into small pieces. First I turned her into a selkie which then causes a permanent rift between her and everyone she loves, one because her now unshakable desire calls her to the sea and two her cloak grants her a life twice as long as normal, causing her first to have an 'extended childhood' as physically she's much smaller than her mental maturity, thus she ends up watching all her friends and family die from old age. I enjoy writing her because she ends up such a tragic character but you wouldn't even suspect it when I first introduce her.
How many years have you had your oldest character?
Gee Idk, 7-8 years maybe? I think my oldest character I actively use is Darkmoon.
What characters do you no longer write about? Why?
I have a bunch of characters from dumb old stories that I don't use because I simply don't have any ideas for them
Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them? I'm not sure who my newest character is
Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?
Sometimes, not too often tho
What is your favorite character dynamic to write?
Strong platonic friendships and romantic relationships that don't take themselves too seriously but are seriously in love.

[scoopyfrog]

Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite?
I have 3 tied for favorites right now, so here's a quick rundown:
Jimmy Lancaster grew up in Missouri in the 1930s. When his family caught him kissing the preacher's son his brothers and dad ran him out. He train-hopped his way to New York, fell in with a gang, they made him break into a lady's apartment to steal jewelry. When the lady (Molly) came out and caught him he started crying, she felt bad for him and let him stay with her after hearing his story. He got a job as a nurse's aide some time later and dreams of seeing the ocean.
Sanna Spiros was born in Greece in 1906. When he was young his mother noticed his apparent ability to produce & manipulate electricity. The other people in their village noticed too, decided it was a curse because Sanna's mother had him out of wedlock, and ran them out. They found a quiet place to live and raised bees together, until his mother died of a stroke suddenly. Sanna traveled to America and performed with his lightning in a circus before leaving and getting a job at a power plant. He has a secret side job as a drag singer in a speakeasy.
June Bennett is a stable-boy to a rich family in the 1910s. He's curious, talkative, and loves animals; he falls in love with the son of the family he works for, a law student. He has a thick Cockney accent and will ramble for entire paragraphs, so he's really fun to write.
How many years have you had your oldest character?
Jimmy was my first, and I created him in...2015?
What characters do you no longer write about? Why?
Characters pre-Jimmy, pretty much. I've just grown and evolved to different things.
Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them?
June is my newest! I created him in December.
Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?
Sometimes! Little things will catch my attention, like names, opinions, appearances, situations, etc., and sometimes they'll find their way into my characters.

[Aliria]

Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite?
I have way way way too many characters and I love them all, so I'm just gonna pick the first one I think of, even though they're probably not my absolute favorite.
Dianthus Blue is a spaceborn, meaning they grew up on a space station with very low gravity, which causes some medical issues and also means that, under the law, they're not considered human. They tend to act extremely confident and overdramatic, but it's all a front - on the inside they've got a lot of anxiety issues and hate almost everyone, including themself. Di has one of the strongest voices of any character I've ever written, which makes them a lot of fun to write.

How many years have you had your oldest character?
The first characters I created were probably the people in the weird stories I narrated to my mom when I was a toddler. The oldest character I still use ever is probably Nathaniel, who was created in 2015 for a roleplay. He's gone through a lot of changes, including getting a story of his own, having that largely rewritten, being forgotten about, and finally having that replanned but not written again yet. I definitely need to try writing his story again sometime, but for now he just hangs out in my head, occasionally popping up to yell at me for still not writing about him.

What characters do you no longer write about? Why?
A lot of them. I have a million different stories I got bored of and moved on to something else. I mostly intend to go back to them someday, but some are doomed to just hang out in the background forever.

Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them?
I came up with a new story just a couple days ago, so all the characters in that are about equally new! There's Linden, a huge nerd who is 1/8 fairy and works for the Seelie Court; Maxwell, Linden's best friend; Mars, 1/2 fairy and also works for the Seelie Court, though doesn't exactly get along with Linden; Unnamed Girl, who works for the Unseelie Court and needs a nap; Mila who will probably have her name changed, who is a random little girl who really didn't intend to become close friends with a skeleton demon; and the skeleton demon dude, who might actually need a nap even more than the unnamed gal.

Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?
Not really. My characters pretty much just come from my brain and stuff I read.

What is your favorite character dynamic to write?
Siblings, probably. Also very strong friendship. And possibly whatever you'd call the relationship between Dianthus and Lupine (Sarcastic hate-friend acquaintances? That's too many words and several are contradictory)

[ticked tabby]

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[Yubel Fated]

Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite?

I have multiple if you're talking about media I didn't write. While i cant tell you why I like most of them, because I've forgotten already. But I can tell you why I like Karkat Vantas as a character. Spoiler's marked in transparent.

Karkat is... A grouchy person. He's the leader of the red team going into Sgrub and is very adamant about not letting people die. And if you just pictured a grumpy human, just let me sitcha down and tell you. He's a troll. Karkat is the type of character to hide how he really feels. Until he does. He cares but doesn't like to show he cares, he'd much rather scream and yell first to get a point across. He also hides his blood color. Oh yeah trolls have different blood colors. But none more on that later. At the end of the day he's a grouchy pretend to be cold-hearted jerk who really doesn't know any better. He's a leader and he hates himself. Why? I dont know either. He thinks he could be in a kismesis relationship with himself. He's only 13! So Karkat is an interesting Character in my opinion.

With original ocs.... I'd have to say Tyler is my favorite. Hes cool collected and numb. Quite literally. His older brother, Jack, chews on his arms so much that he's lost feeling in them. I cant remember how the rest of his body was numbed but it is.... So that is an unremembered fact. He seemingly doesn't care but in reality he's just trying his best. He's a weaker state than he used to be and has the hair to match. I've changed his hair color more than I've changed Ari's. He's based on my home state of Nevada too. So there's that, sentimental value. He has a close relationship with Emma (California) and Jack (Georgia) He also has a bit of a sibling rivalry with his sister Kenzie (Texas) to which he tries to get her to love him and she hits him with a pillow. or her boot. She's also shot him a few times as well.

As far as I've researched, the only thing wrong about Tyler is the fact he has a close relationship with Jack. Tyler is supposed to be a personified stereotypical Nevada. I've put a ton of research into him due to this and I'm actually quite proud of this Nevada OC.

How many years have you had your oldest character?

My first ever character... Fully Fledged out character was Tyler Carson. Though I could argue that Jayleaf is pretty old too.

Tyler Carson is about 2-3 years old. meanwhile I made Jayleaf while still in Highschool. so about... 4-5 years ago.

What characters do you no longer write about? Why?

Jayleaf, Firefeather, Crowpool and Blackfang. As well as various other Warrior Cat ocs. They're based on friends and myself, I was going to have a book about them all but it just never happened. I never truely wrote about them in the first place.

Hiryuu is also someone I haven't written about in a long while. She's a half human half dragon breed stuck in a cave by herself after years of experiments. She's based on how I used to be while living with my father. She's short tempered, angry all the time and breathes fire. At the moment she's chained up in the furthest regions of my mind. Or alone somewhere in a cave with other forgotten oc's that I have.

Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them?

My newest character is Kodaina Shiro. He's Ari's Zanpakuto in the bleach universe. He's modeled after Reshiram, Ari's corresponding Dragon in the Unova prophecy, and is a Fire type Zanpakuto. Its not the strongest but its not the weakest either. I'm still trying to line up the Bankai/Shikai and others up with Reshiram's moveset. So that'd be interesting.

Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?

Yes to the former no to the latter.

What is your favorite character dynamic to write?

Even though Blaze isnt my character. Her interactions with Ari are funny to make. mostly because while they're a brotherly sisterly duo, they get on each other's nerves quite a lot. To the point Blaze throws Ari out the window.

[sparrow;]

Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite?
I don't really have a favourite character? I've got a lot of characters I like, but there isn't one that really stands out.

How many years have you had your oldest character?
That would be Ella, although I don't use her very often, and I've had her since... 2014?

What characters do you no longer write about? Why?
Ella, because I really hate her as a character. She was incredibly boring and had pretty much no personality, because I was quite young when I made her. I also don't reuse characters that often, but of characters that I do use multiple times she's one of the only ones I've stopped using.

Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them?
There's a character that I'm developing atm, I started a few weeks ago I think. She doesn't actually have a name yet, somehow. I want to try and write a sci-fi story, which is what she's for - she's an alien, a species called a Shadow.

Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?
Yep, both of those do.

What is your favorite character dynamic to write?
I'm not sure... I'm terrible at character relationships.

[winged-backpack]

Describe your favourite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favourite?
My favourite character of my own is Femie. Because she's the only character in my book, I know her so well, to the point where I could describe how she'd react in most situations, and it's almost like she's someone I know in real life. I've always imagined that she's an absolutely beautiful Hispanic woman, with long dark hair and a habit of humming when she's really focused on something. I love that i only have her to write about because it means I can really focus on her development.

How many years have you had your oldest character?
Turns out I've had the idea for Femie for almost 3 years. She'd been floating around as a concept in that notebook that was my GCSE revision book and only recently have I actually come up with her full character. AaaaAAAaa that's weird to think about.

What characters do you no longer write about? Why?
That would be Starla and Maddie, and I don't write them because I'm at odds with myself over my ability to write the book, especially with the extended chapters. Anyone who's been keeping up with 10,000 Doors will know that I work better with shorter chapter lengths, and so I haven't been writing my other project because I'm not so good at longer writing.

Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them?
It must be Flo, the character that's part cotton. I made her specifically as a foil for Cresencia but she's more developed since then. She's tall-ish and she's got a really flaky personality (think Phoebe from Friends), as well as being really forgetful. I actually started her concept about 2-3 months ago, but only recently have I been developing her (mainly because I got better at drawing humans)

Do real life people/events influence the characters you make?
Yeah, I mean Starla and Maddie are almost directly based on me and my friends. Since I stopped writing them, I've noticed that Starla was almost exactly like me, but also really similar to my IRL Writer Friend™ in her personality whilst Maddie is like a mix of my two other best friends, right down to her height and appearance, and her personality. It's really strange, and only slightly intentional. Gonna make them easy to write though, given I'm so close with my friends.

What is your favourite character dynamic to write?
Characters that are complete opposites of each other. Take Cres and Flo: Cres is part cactus, and so she's very dangerous but also very self-destructive and can seem really horrible while on the other side of it is Flo, who is the least dangerous character you'll ever come across and is so confident and caring. I feel like I'm really going to enjoy writing that dynamic because of how different they are.

That reminds me, I've got to start designing and developing the witch dude who cursed them. I mean, I know he's going to be a r/niceguy who thinks he's entitled to their attention, and gets really pissy when he gets rejected - hence the cursing. Maybe he can only do magic relating to plants hmmm.

Ooh also, I've had an idea for his sidekick - and that idea is his sidekick is like madly in love with him, but he kind of gets ignored. Is that too cliché? I don't do romance or anything outside of the horror genre so this is all kind of new to me.

@cosmic-quark
That's so cool! I can imagine the pun opportunities, there are plenty in my psychology course (to the point where my teachers are getting annoyed)
I like your idea of having the romance be a subplot, and I think if I did have then team up to get revenge it would be really cool! I feel like this would make a really good graphic novel/comic series, especially with he visual aspects of the characters. (Btw, I'm open to trying to draw your characters if you like? I'm on mobile rn so I can't link examples but if you go through my art shop, there should be a link to my deviantart. Just keep in mind in still working on my ability to draw humans so it's not going to be amazingly high quality, but i can do my best )

Right, I should probably try to get some sleep now (its nearly 2am lmao)

[~Teya~]

Describe your favorite character! What do you like about them? Why are they your favorite? I'd have to go with Arathorn c: I've never known why -- but he's just my favorite. The story he is a big part of, his colors, items.. everything. I just love him, simple as that. xD

How many years have you had your oldest character? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm well my OLDEST character is definitely Yellow Sapphire, my OC I never use anymore. I drew her ALL. THE. TIME. And also put her in an old Roleplay I used to be really in to. But never an actual story.. unless you count the gosh awful comic I made.. I don't speak of it lmao

What characters do you no longer write about? Why? Hmm, well I haven't had a story with multiple different viscets I own in awhile, mostly my first ones. Why? Well, I guess it's because I've made more fascinating characters compared to them? Or I'm just lazy?

Describe your newest character! How long ago did you make them? Hm! My newest character must be Harmosa, my newest viscet c: I haven't done too much with her yet due to trying out for another character and preoccupied with the story I'll be making with them if I win that character. Soo, yeah. I won't get to developing them for awhile, but I'm fine with that, I don't want to force it. c:

Do real life people/events influence the characters you make? I'd say so, not necessarily events-- but people. I'm sure I've done it many times, but none comes to mind right now cx

What is your favorite character dynamic to write? Two characters that could be possible love interests (cliche, I know XD) and a good/bad dynamic cx (double cliche, *level up*) As far as actual character dynamics though, Arathorn and Sunora are fun to write together, among others ;u;