bonesslake

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It is now real

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on the toilet and I feel like in shitting myself

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bad youtube clickbait thumbnail that reads "I think I just had a therapy session with a DEMON???"

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why the long face Sixer? 🏹

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wizard for @geminilad

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I’m a glass half full kinda guy cause then I have more water that way

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Character Development: Fears

Everybody is afraid of something, usually more than one something. If they say otherwise they’re lying. 

Giving your characters things they fear usually comes back to that cliche default (you know what I’m talking about) people talk about out in “How To Write Likable Characters” articles. And I mean, they’re not wrong. Fear humanizes us. It connects readers to the character. It allows us to create goals and problems for them throughout the story, something to hinder them and something to overcome. It’s something that every single person alive can relate with.

So even though you’ve problem heard it a couple dozen times by now, you still need it, because what is a character without fear? 

How To Start:

When choosing fears for your characters, you’ve got to start somewhere. Pick one of your characters and start thinking. Their fears should be a mix of something deep and plot worthy (like the fear of death, being alone, etc) but also sort of irrational and silly, and doesn’t make a lot of sense (like butterflies, or snails). Every human fears something huge, and everyone has that one fear that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but they fear anyway.

Create a word document (or get a piece of paper, that’s cool too) and create some columns. Write out your characters and choose about, oh, five or six fears to start with.

But that’s just the first part, now we get into the fun stuff.

How To Torture Your Characters With Them

What good is doing all this without scaring your characters with them?

Take a look at what you’ve thought of so far. This will be your base. Something to expand and work into your plot. This will create plot points and problems (this is a good thing, believe it or not).

Got a main character who’s scared of the dark? Power outage.

Got a side character who’s scared of dogs? You better have them walk though a dog park or something. 

Is your antagonist scared of something? Exploit it.

Yes. Your antagonist can be afraid of things too. (surprise!)

This part is interesting because it really just depends on your story. While every story needs to have a protagonist with fears, antagonists can vary. If you want to make them more human and likable, fears can do that (it’s not the only thing, but it’s a start). However, this is not applicable to all stories, and it’s really up to you whether or not you want to do that. Be creative and free, my friends!

Discovering and understanding your character’s fears is an amazing way to make them 3 dimensional and real. Not to mention the hoards of plot points that suddenly become available when you expand on them. Be creative! Choose fears that fit your character. Or not. Have the tough as nails sidekick be afraid of mice. Get your kick-ass lady protag to be afraid of heights. Go deeper. Make them fear something obvious. Make it back story. Make it fun. Make it serious. Choose them from a list. Think up some on the spot. Go forth and write.

List of Fears:

(click below to get the rest of the list, we’re getting into the “too much scrolling and hoarding dash space” category).

Keep reading

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Woah

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THEYRE ON A PICNIC TOGETHER !!!! 🥹🥹

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Cis women don't even pass bro who gives a shit anymore

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me? posting jane prentiss at 3 am? more likely than you think

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every so often i have to relearn how to draw yuuji or he starts fighting me

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Nintendo Power issue 113 (October 1998)

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Oop i forgot to post this here BAHAHAAHAHHA yes this is a product of my simon fairchild brainrot im sorry