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Desiderium: an ardent desire or longing. especially : a feeling of loss or grief for something lost.

In which Bulla Briefs can’t remember, and Son Goten can’t seem to forget.

Art by @soupeya!

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shout out to half of raditz's ass cheek hanging out here

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The Human-Saiyan Hybrids DBGT

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Do you think Cooler could fit in with the “uncles club”?

Maybe👀

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Remember that time I made a GT au with these three, because these stupid chaotic unhinged children seriously need a series of their own, traveling around the galaxy and giving thousands and millions of people headaches with all the troubles they cause

And of course Baby Goku. Super had Goku Black, GT can have Baby Goku. Kami knows we need more of Goku being a great villain

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i don't want these two characters to kiss per se. it is merely imperative they be handcuffed together and tossed into the wilderness to encounter great perils & tribulations (whilst chained to each other's side)

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Season 1 Bulma and Yamcha you were never meant for each other but were definitely cool older siblings coded, and you will forever be iconic

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Give me this Bulla or give me death

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Marron, Bulla, Pan and Puar DRAGON BALL Red Ribbon Scans

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Desiderium: an ardent desire or longing. especially : a feeling of loss or grief for something lost.

In which Bulla Briefs can’t remember, and Son Goten can’t seem to forget.

Art by @soupeya!

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Reasons Why Your Characters Don't Feel Real

Even if you love your characters, they might not seem like real people when you’re writing them. When you can’t pinpoint the problem, consider these potential factors hold your characters back from their full potential.

1. They Don’t Have Goals

Imagine yourself on vacation. You don’t have any plans or expectations other than to relax. If you stayed like that for too long, you’d eventually feel bored. Your mind would wander.

Characters can have the same problem when they don’t have at least one goal.

Typically, the goal gets established at the beginning of a story. Especially in the first chapter if you’re writing a book. The goal could be a quest or a question. It also doesn’t have to be the primary plot driver for your entire story. It just has to get your character started.

Their goal could be to solve a mystery, make a new friend, protect someone they love, or make a specific change in their world. 

Need more inspiration? This blog post has over 100 potential goals to jumpstart your creativity.

2. They Don’t Have Any Specific Motivation

Let’s say you have a real life goal: you’re going to buy your first car.

That’s great, but what’s your motivation? What made you set that goal?

You might consciously want to have a car so you can join a travel sports team or get your own place. The subconscious motivator would be a desire for change or freedom.

Once you know your character’s primary or initial goal, figure out what their motivation is. They should have some inner drive to achieve that goal even when things get hard. 

Motivations also add emotional depth to flat characters, which might be why your protagonist or supporting characters feel not as well-rounded as you’d like. As you’re developing your characters or writing your story, keep their motivation central to the decisions they make to achieve their goal. (Or not—it depends on your planned arc for their growth.)

3. Their Dialogue Doesn’t Feel Right

We’ve all read bad dialogue and we’ve all written it. Conversations might feel too tight or robotic. How do you fix it?

First, I highly recommend reading it out loud. Act the lines out by yourself. You’ll notice the emotional weight and might write body language more accurately. You’ll also hear the unnatural phrasing or whatever’s specifically the problem, making it much easier to edit.

It’s also possible that your dialogue contains too many long sentences. It might feel natural to write them that way, but people don’t always speak at length. Sometimes sentences are short. Or incomplete. People hesitate on words, catch their breath, rush through thoughts.

You can also check out the great tips over here for more dialogue-specific work.

Remember, how people speak shows what they mean as much as your dialogue tags or body language descriptors. Give your dialogue room to be more human and your characters will be too.

4. They Don’t Have Flaws

You probably wouldn’t be friends with someone who was perfect. I definitely wouldn’t be. People who are perfect (or pretend to be) are irritating. They can also leave us feeling depressed or held at arm’s length.

Characters can create the same problems for readers when they don’t have flaws. Create those incredible characters you adore so much—then make them realistic.

Make people who have different morals than you. People who push themselves to be smart to ignore their emotions. People who love so immensely that it’s their fatal flaw.

Flaws can be physical, but they should also be internal. This site is a great resource if you want a list of flaws for inspiration. 

5. They Aren’t Growing

All great characters start their story with a worldview, a perspective, or a personality that hooks readers. By the end of the story, one or more of those things change.

Stories are about learning. Characters and readers learn things or experience things together. Characters are much less interesting if the plot doesn’t affect them in some way.

Double-check your plot outline or ideas to make sure they create a character arc. Flat characters can be useful, but they shouldn’t be your protagonist. This could be the reason why your characters don’t feel real. Make sure something challenges them so they feel like a real human growing through ups and downs.

Make Your Characters More Realistic

We’ve all found ourselves bored with our own characters. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer—it means you have room to work on your character development skills. Use these tips to get started and you’ll feel more confident about your story in no time.

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@scribe-of-elysium OOOOOH THIS ONE 😍😍😍. You’re most welcome 💗. Lord those training scenes were 😮‍💨🔥🥵. Quite stimulating indeed 😏.

Quietus: Surrender

@angel-chu

Feel free to reblog, but please do not remove my source.

Inspired by Quietus by AngelHearteD.

Because those training sessions are hot, that’s why.

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Vegeta dreams of his tail, Namek, and the Earth Woman he met there. Mini fic is on my profile.

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Desiderium: an ardent desire or longing. especially : a feeling of loss or grief for something lost.

In which Bulla Briefs can’t remember, and Son Goten can’t seem to forget.

Art by @soupeya!

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@brotensquad #BrotenWeek2024 submission for Day 2: “The Lovers”

Inspired by @whirlydoodle ‘s fabulous art!