#charactercreations

[amphiriteaquarium]

Greetins from under the waves!

This blog is specifically dedicated to

Seabird's Requiem

My personal project and eventually(hopefully) webcomic.The story centers around Mar(ella) a young adult that just got a job at the pristine and famous amphirite aquarium. They aren't here to have fun.For Mar is actually on a mission find her mother. Inspired by the caribbean side of Costa Rica this story is full of vivid characters,vibrant colors and most of all mermaids!we

[ellowynthenotking]

Totally fixed several plotholes in one swoop by adding a little bit of rep to the main character, I don't know why I didn't think of it before!

[plotandelegy]

Unleashing Creativity: Top Ways to Generate Unique Fantasy Story Ideas

Photo: Standard License- Adobe Stock

Welcome back,

There's no denying that fantasy has been at the core of some of the most enchanting, daring, and downright unforgettable tales (for one reason or another) that have shaped the literary landscape. Who doesn't love the thrill of journeying to some new adventurous place with otherworldly creatures and epic battles between the forces of dark and light? Personally, I'm all about the dark side. Even for the most seasoned writers sparking the imagination can be difficult. Things like inspiration seem elusive as a dragon hiding in a mist-covered mountain. Today, I will cover a few ideas to find your muse. My muse sometimes hides in a dumpster...so let's find better ways to do this, shall we?

People Watching, with a Twist: Observing people in everyday situations can be a great source of inspiration. Now, add a layer of 'What If?'. What if the barista at your local coffee shop could control elements? What if the older woman feeding pigeons in the park was a retired warrior queen? This exercise allows you to create complex characters with intriguing backstories, ripe for the world of fantasy.

Travel Through Time: History is brimming with periods that, with a little twist, can become fantastic settings for your story. Victorian England's social hierarchies, the Renaissance's scientific innovations, and the fierce battles of Feudal Japan offer fertile ground for fantastical tales. Weave in elements of magic or mythical creatures, and you have an intoxicating cocktail of historical fact and enticing fantasy.

Bioinspiration – Fantasize with Flora and Fauna: The natural world is a veritable treasure trove of inspiration. Let's call this approach 'bioinspiration.' Start by exploring Earth's biodiversity's peculiar traits, behaviors, and survival mechanisms. Why not envision a species that communicates like whales but hunts like a pack of wolves? Or perhaps a plant that blooms under the moonlight and has the power to manipulate time? The possibilities are endless when you fuse the wonder of our world with a dash of fantasy.

Take a Hike (Literally!): When was the last time you truly engaged with the wilderness, the mountains, or the sea? Natural landscapes are rife with potential for fantasy storytelling. As you walk through a dense forest, consider the creatures that might inhabit such a place in a fantasy realm. That murmuring stream could be a water nymph's dwelling, and the wind howling through the canyon might be a dragon's call. Try to visualize your surroundings through the lens of fantasy — you may be surprised at what your imagination conjures up!

Harness the Power of Music: Like music, few things can stir the soul and spark the imagination. A piece of music can evoke many emotions and images depending on its rhythm, melody, and harmony. Try listening to music without lyrics (like classical, orchestral, or ambient music) and let your mind wander. Picture the scenes that the music evokes. Is that tranquil harp melody the song of a peaceful elven village? Does the tumultuous symphony represent the climax of an epic battle? Use these mental images as a springboard for your fantasy narrative.

So there it is, everyone. Five unique ways to draw up some inspiration. Go find your muse!! Probably shouldn't have said mine hides in a dumpster. I'm all about being superstitious, so I'm sure she'll never speak to me again.

Happy Writing,

Indigo Everly 

P.S. Need more? Check out this post!

[nauticalnotions]

The Art of Character Development: How to Breathe Life into Your Fiction

Welcome, Fellow Writers!

Are you ready to breathe life into your characters and have them leap from the page into the hearts of your readers? Good! Developing characters is one of the greatest enjoyments for writing fiction. So let's get started on this great journey of discovery!

1. Get to Know Your Characters

Before you write convincing characters, you need to really know them. Think of your characters as human beings with past histories, dreams, and flaws. Here are some ways to get to know them better:

Backstory:

What in their past has made them who they are?

Did they have a happy childhood?

Were there any traumatizing events?

This will often determine motivations and actions.

For example, if your character has been brought up in an orphanage, they may have trust issues or perhaps independence.

Personality Traits:

Are they introverted or extroverted, pessimistic or optimistic?

Knowing their core personality will help project what their actions and reactions would be like in a given set of circumstances.

Perhaps your protagonist, Emma, is an extroverted optimist who lights up a room with brightness, even in dire situations.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Nobody is perfect, and your characters shouldn't be either.

Make the characters more human by giving them something both admirable and a flaw that rounds them out.

Emma can be wonderfully brave but very impulsive, leading her sometimes to heroism and other times to disastrous folly.

2. Establish Clear Goals and Motivation:

Characters need goals for the plot to have direction and motivations to explain why they pursue those goals. Ask yourself:

What do they want?

Their wants vary from saving the world to searching for love to achieving personal redemption.

Emily, a draftsman, aches to be a famous explorer, a dream her long-dead father never attained.

Why do they want it?

This can be found in their backstory and personality.

Perhaps Emma's father was an explorer who went missing on a wild search, and now she feels a deep need to carry on his legacy and find out what happened to him.

3. Show People, Activities, and Scenery

Dynamic characters tend to rebuild and alter throughout the story. This is often based on life's complications and conflicts. Here's how to effectively outline your character growth:

Conflict:

Put your characters in situations that push them as far as possible.

These challenges force them to make uncomfortable choices and face their flaws.

For example, Emma has to decide whether to save a friend, testing her bravery and impulsiveness.

Reactions:

Show how your characters react to these challenges.

Do they rise to the occasion, or do they struggle and fail? Both outcomes can lead to growth.

Emma might fail to save her friend due to her impulsive nature, marking a turning point for her.

Introspection:

Allow these moments of introspection to your characters.

They allow readers to understand the change in them.

Emma could sit near a bonfire and reflect on her father's legacy and how to become a better leader.

4. Cultivate Relationships

People's relationships with others often define their personality. It might be a friendship bond, family attachment, or enmity; all reveal different dimensions of personality and contribute to character development. Consider:

Allies and Friends:

Allies and friends usually have your best interest at heart, but sometimes they could work in opposition to you.

How would they impact your protagonist's decisions and developments over time?

Emma's best friend, Leo, might argue with a lot of her decisions, making her more thoughtful.

Opponents and Antagonists:

An antagonist challenges the characters, putting them in situations where growth comes from unexpected places.

A realistic rival for Emma could be a highly skilled but ruthless explorer who pushes Emma to reconsider her methods.

Love Interests:

Romantic relationships show vulnerability and may drive change.

Falling in love with a local guide might teach Emma the importance of patience and planning.

5. Use Dialogue Effectively

Dialogue is a great way to develop a character. It reveals personality, conveys emotions, and shows growth. Consider:

Voice:

Each character should have a distinct voice corresponding to their background, personality, and state of mind.

Emma might use exuberant, adventurous language while Leo might be cautious and thoughtful.

Subtext:

Sometimes the unspoken part holds more meaning than what is said.

Use subtext to add depth to your dialogue.

For instance, when Emma says, "I don't need help," it could mean she's afraid of showing weakness.

Conflict and Resolution:

Show characters responding to conflict through dialogue and illustrate how interactions escalate.

Emma and Leo can argue about the best way forward, expressing their viewpoints and eventually finding a resolution.

6. Show, Don't Tell

Instead of telling readers about a character's trait, show it through actions, dialogue, and inner thoughts. For instance:

Telling: John was brave.

Showing: John entered the dark alley; his heart was pounding, but his will remained unflinching.

7. Ensure Consistency and Believability

Make sure your characters act within the line of their personalities and motivations. If they do something that feels unnatural, believe there are reasons for the change. This makes the development of the characters organic and reliable. If Emma becomes reserved, note the experiences that lead to the change.

8. Reflect Real Human Experience

Great characters reflect the complexity of real human experience. They have doubts, make mistakes, and aren't always likable. This complexity makes them richer and more engaging. Perhaps Emma makes a selfish decision that puts her team at risk, creating tension and growth.

9. Foils and Contrasts

Foils are characters set against your main character, highlighting their traits and growth. By setting a character with opposite traits next to the protagonist, you highlight their development. Zara's ruthlessness can highlight Emma's growing sense of responsibility and ethics.

10. Be Flexible

Sometimes your characters develop in unexpected ways. Allow this evolution and let your characters tell you who they are. This elasticity can lead to more authentic and surprising growth. If Emma's journey shifts from being an explorer to a leader, embrace it!

[bisousims]

Having fun in the Dragon's Dogma 2 Character Creator--so much so I just bought the full thing!

[vix0318]

I FINALLY FINISHED YAY I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH 💓💖💓 I HOPE THIS HURTS :D

[f0zzybear]

#funguary 3 - turkey tails (tumblr is being unreasonable and not letting me upload the full picture but you can find it on my instagram @/fozzybeur !) theres something about this mushroom that makes me think of the skirts on baile folklorico dresses so i decided to run with it (realizing now that i could have gone a bit bigger with the ribbon accents)

[meikerio]

Spooky days are coming! Just reminding of some more cool halloween/spooky/witchy games! #Tbt

Muh links!:

Vampire Bride Game by @aukanemin

[welcome-to-barovia]

Character Creation Pt. 3

[tranquilmadman]

Botanical Juggernaut

This character was inspired by the movie #Annihilation And the fact that #Avowed got to it first only makes me excited to play it.

I made a ton of Juggernauts and this is hands down one of my favorite!

[yuliabelyaeva3d]

Fish - 3D Creature Model - Turntable

This is a fun, stylized fish created based on my own concept. I have always been interested in designing stylized creatures, and this was my first experiment in that area.

ArtStation: Fish

Concept: mine

Soft: ZBrush, Maya, Marvelous Designer, Substance 3D Painter, Arnold Renderer, Character Creator 4.

Artstation l Instagram l Linktr 

[amphiriteaquarium]

Did i forget i had this blog?NEVER(kinda-)

The story flows around Marella(she/they) or better known as "Mar" to those who aren't spanish speakers this a pun as the word means "Sea". She gets a job at Amphirite Aquarium with the mission to find her mother whom dissapeared when they were 15.

On her journey to not only become a better person but also find just what happened to her mom they make a ton of friends! or well at least acquitances. (fun fact! her hair is naturally turquoise)

Roxanne(Her actual name is spelled Rexenne.) "Rox" is a girly who's dream is to get into Blue Horizon,an prestigious investigation facility dedicated to mermaid studies. But for that she needs to have a passanty year in Amphirite with the dreaded....SEA SLUGS! it's a texture thing,she says.

Tiago is the hearthrob of Amphirite. Local to Bahia Arrecife he's the cliche of a surfing beach guy with too much carisma. Unlike most people here he dreads this jobs but was forced to get it due to economical reasons.

Cora Beatrice Williams, inspired by the great Simone Biles(is that how her name is written?) she aspired to be a gymnastic of high calibre, pushing towards that olympic spot.But on a competition she got a severe injury that could only be healed by an amazingly expensive treatment. So a deal was struck with Amphirite Aquarium and now she's a known Performer!

[ellowynthenotking]

Happy STS from the Creators Club! Do you consciously plan the themes in your stories, or do they emerge naturally?

Ooo themes! I love themes!

Thanks for your patience while I thought about this!

It's a bit of both.

I love themes in writing, when you can really see what's important to the writer, where certain things shine through even if they don't mean for them to.

When I write it's a mixture of both. I often choose themes I'd like to explore in my writing consciously, and then sometimes there are themes that sneak in when I don't notice that I explore too.

For my longer project, ZATR I actually built most of the characters with themes they're supposed to represent. Like how Orpheus isn't just a man, he's also grief, some of my characters aren't just themselves, they're also a theme. Gina isn't just a person, she's also scorned fury and obsession. Dora isn't just a person, she's the weight of leadership and faith.

It makes the characters deeper, but it also helps make making subplots quick and easy. Any story Gina features in is going to have at least a subplot focusing on obsession or fury, any story focusing on Dora will focus on faith or leadership. Mixing and matching the characters in the different parts of the series will focus on how the themes interact and reflect, but will also bring about different themes that a mixture of both that might spawn even without my notice.

When I was working on the later part of the outline for the series I was complaining to my friend that I didn't know how I was going to connect the later books with a running theme. They pointed out I already had, something I hadn't even noticed, a theme that connected not only the characters, but the setting, the choices they all made.

It would be spoilers to tell you the theme now, but suffice to say, I wasn't expecting it, but it really made all the difference in the way I looked at the plan I already had.

Themes are important, and while I definitely think writers should intentionally add themes to their writing. I also think that we add ones that are important to us without realizing, and I think those are the kinds of things that bring a reader back to a work or a writer again and again.

This was probably a lot more than you were expecting for the answer, but I admit it's something I love to experiment with in writing and that I love to see in other people's writing.

Thanks for the great question, it was really a thinker!

[rykiioudreams]

And here's the second character who will accompany Reyna (Temporary name, but I think it suits her) on her adventure ! Meet Mikael 💚✨

However, he's going to give her a hard time (but that's tough love shhh (¬‿¬)).

He's got quite a temper, doesn't give up, always wants to be the best and he's damn good at fighting 😩💞.

Reyna, on the other hand, is more skilled strategically but also in other ways, as you'll find out later 👀

Enjoy q(≧▽≦q)

[wollymight]

From a toon Michael and I worked on called Killer Queen: Buzzkill

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