#writergram

[graceshouldwrite]

Writing Compelling Side Characters

**NOTE: Some of these tips don't really apply to ensemble casts, where there are multiple Main Characters (plural).

1) Agency - motivations, actions, effects

Technically, they ARE side characters in your MC's story, but don't base your writing on that fact.

Side characters need:

Their own REASONS for joining the story (because they want to, not because the PLOT wanted them to) Example: In Arcane, Caitlyn inadvertently gets involved with Vi due to her compassion and desire to help the undercity, not because the plot needs a love interest

A GOAL, on which they act INDEPENDENT of the plot, and actually affects your MC/the main plot (not the other way around) Example: In Loki, Sylvie's independent goal is to take down the TVA, and her actions reveal the TVA's corruption to Loki, influencing him to join her in fighting against the TVA instead of working for them

A STAKE in how things end (e.g. someone getting paid after agreeing to join a heist); they aren't just in it to be a "comic relief" or a "damsel in distress" Example: In Breaking Bad, Jesse joins Walt in cooking meth because he makes BANK from selling drugs, not because Walt needed a funny and traumatized sidekick

Their own RELATIONSHIPS with other characters, aside from the MC—they have their own friends, enemies, love interests, etc., and these relationships can completely change the plot Example: In the original Percy Jackson series, all of the side characters (e.g. Annabeth, Nico, Thalia, Luke, etc.) have their own relationships with each other that greatly affect the plot. Check it out: Annabeth's attachment to Luke, even after he became evil, completely changed the plot in several ways: kickstarting a journey to save her from Luke in The Titan's Curse, revealing his true evil identity as a vessel for Kronos (big bad!) in The Battle of the Labyrinth, and mainly contributing towards Luke's reversion away from evil in the last book due to him remembering his promise to take care of her a long time ago, etc.

Their own PAST that affects how they act, move forward, and how they treat the MC Example: In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Azula's pressure on herself and desire for perfection is greatly driven by her father's expectations of her as the fire-bending prodigy, resulting in a childhood of earning parental love and care AFTER she proves her worth to him. This created a mentality ceaselessly focused on her goals—which are usually her father's missions—causing her to be deadly, manipulative, and constantly causing problems for the main character.

The side character is not an extension or byproduct of the MC's plot; their own story happens to collide and intertwine with your MC's plot, but is ultimately independently driven.

2) Affecting the ending

The story can't have reached the same ending regardless of the side characters' existence. They must be necessary to the MC in helping them reach their goal faster, more prepared, etc. For example, in Avatar, Aang would not have been able to reach his goal of defeating the fire lord without the help of his friends, who each taught him valuable life lessons as well as combat skills.

Each character must have an independent impact on the MC—don't treat them like a group (e.g. "the side characters," who are one individual collective). Arcane does a great job with this, as each side character has a completely different impact on the MCs (e.g. Silco, Ekko, Caitlyn, and Vi—not a side character but for the purpose of this analysis, bear with me—all have a different impact on Jinx). It isn't just a literal impact. It's what the MC learns, and the theme of the story. They should help the MC realize things about themselves, and contextualize the MC by showing them in different situations with different people.

3) Avoid stereotypes Don't create characters from moulds and conform 100% to the trope: e.g. the "comic relief" can also be "the outlaw/rebel" or the "love interest," the "brooding antihero" can also be the "caregiver" or the "wise one," the "seductive girl" can also be the "science nerd" or the "broken optimist," etc. Mix and match. Everyone has more than 1 personality trait in real life, and probably fulfils more than 1 role to the other people in their lives. Give them intersecting personality traits to flesh them out.

4) Theme and Arc Especially compelling side characters have their own arc and embody their own theme.

Example 1: Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice is more than the brooding love interest—he develops by being less arrogant and learning to see people beyond their social status, and opens up to new ideas, people, and situations.

Example 2: Nico di Angelo from the Percy Jackson series goes on a journey of self-acceptance and embracing his identity, instead of just being the stereotypical emo kid who is constantly in a state of angst.

Example 3: In Arcane, Silco goes from a ruthless crime lord who believes that attachment is weakness, to someone who genuinely cares about his adoptive daughter, so much so that he can't give her up even in exchange for his lifelong dream.

∘₊✧────── ☾☼☽ ──────✧₊∘

instagram: @ grace_should_write

Hope this was helpful, and let me know if you have any questions by commenting, re-blogging, or DMing me on IG. Any and all engagement is appreciated :)

Happy writing, and have a great day!

- grace <3

[maypearlss]

idk if this is just me but i hate when people focus on protagonists of books being the "fmc" or "mmc" like............? its not a huge thing but i always do question why specifying the gender of a main character is so important to people when they're talking about "how to write a fmc" or "how to write a mmc" bc like im just at the point in my writing life where unless the character's gender is an important/key point to the story, i dont really regard it much bc everyone is a person no matter their gender? and i remember i saw this a ton when i was on writergram, not so much here but i was thinking about it and wondering if im the only one on this or if i think about it too much LMAO

[thesefallenembers]

if you ever feel bad about your writing, remember that you did not publish this line:

“Aro started to laugh. ‘Ha, Ha, Ha,’ he chuckled.”

—Stephanie Meyer, New Moon

also a friendly reminder that this book became a bestseller. if this can do it, so can you.

[sumoandmuso]

Writing the characters I live,

Or living the characters I write?

[bowiesversion]

hi pookies, I made a writergram account like 3 days ago and I've been super active over there :) You should go follow me (@bowies.version)

[m-i-r-p]

So,

I’ve been thinking a writeblr/gram for a while, SO HYPOTHETICALLY, what do you think a good name would be???

I love mirp, but idk if it could work…

Also I’m indecisive, so

Send help

Pls

[tadowl]

𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐁𝐋𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎

𝖧𝖾𝗅𝗅𝗈, 𝖨𝗆 𝖺 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾𝗋 & 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋! 𝖨𝗆 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗍𝗈 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾𝗍𝖻𝗅𝗋. 𝖧𝖾𝗋𝖾’𝗌 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝖿𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗌 𝖺𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗆𝖾!

she/they

marvel, starwars, fear street, sherlock holmes, criminal minds, walking dead, Disney, harry potter.

isfp | aries | ravenclaw

black | Jamaican

wips/writingpromps/books/other interests

would love to make friends, so feel free to dm! ‎

coffee luver

‎ — 💌🕯️🍵🎧🪷

‎ ‎

I also write books on wattpad, if you would like to check them out. Read at your own risk.

@Kismetslxt

[writing-lane]

I don’t want to know it in my heart or my head.

I want to feel it in my bones.

[v-67]

Sometimes i feel this panic rise within me.

The panic of the future, the panic of being in a relationship which is toxic and not appreciated and the most further from love, the panic of being pressured into the workaholic culture when I clearly am not into that

I want a life where I finally am with the person i really love, i want a life where I'm away from the stupid toxic customs and traditions, I want a life where my family is with me and I'm working a job which doesn't eat away my living hours. I want a life where I'm appreciated and asked about simple things : did you eat? Are you okay? I love you, be safe, ...

I want a life which is like that, but everything i want cannot coexist together.

And that part sucks.

I've been through shit, but that shit isn't even the shit when I look at other people's lives.

But i remind myself always, to not compare.

That the things I've been through are valid and if they made me suffer, then they did. It has nothing to do with being strong or weak.

It is only about ( i don't know what is it about)

But sometimes i wish i could just go back to the past and warn myself about the things that shouldn't have happened. The things that definitely shouldn't have happened. I wish i could go back and give myself a boost, i wish i could go back and hug myself and tell her that it's okay, it's all gonna be okay. I wish I could help her get out of her comfort zone and I wish I could tell her so many more things.

Would i have turned out differently if i could have?

But I can't. And so, I will keep telling the current me all of these things. I love who i am, and i love the version of myself I'm becoming, there have been hard times, times I never thought I'll return from, but I did. I did return. And so I will live, and i will live the way I want to. Except ofcourse i need to keep my family happy so there's a little adjustment over there.

Sometimes it gets difficult, too difficult. The mind becomes a violent battlefield, gnawing away at my heart, cutting all around my soul, making it a little hollowish, or making it ache. The pain tho, is always better than the hollowish part.

But we'll get through the difficult part, with our weird coping mechanisms. We will get through them. But make sure your coping mechanisms aren't causing you harm.

So hey, it'll be okay.

And we'll be fine.

And we will live.

And we will. We really will.

[morganhazelwood]

I think we're all getting a little tired of grim dark stories -- and reality. But how do we get out of this mindset and write something more positive? What even makes a story positive? Well: 1. You've got to base it on hopes, not fears 2. You can use it to show humanity growing 3. You could rewrite actual losses that you've suffered, to make things turn out the way they SHOULD have 4. You could have normal, flawed humans triumphing over evil 5. If all else fails? Remember that RAGE is a step UP from despair -- and channeling can be cathartic. 6. And you need to remember to end with hope. That it wasn't all useless. Some of the tips from @capclave 2022's "Positive Speculative Fiction" For more of my notes, check out this week's episode on https://morganHazelwood.com or https://youtube.com/morganHazelwood #writing #writingtips #writersofinstagram #hope #positive #books #booktok #bookstagram #authortube #authortok #authorgram #writergram #capclave #capclave2022 https://www.instagram.com/p/CoyJ9uTrF0G/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thewrittentales]

Written Tales Chapbook XIII Echoes In The Wind It’s here, Written Tales Chapbook XII. If you are interested in a paperback copy, you can obtain one at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Or purchase Written Tales Magazine on your favorite platform (updated automatically for more stores to choose from.) Members can download their edition here. https://writtentales.substack.com/p/written-tales-chapbook-xiii

[graceshouldwrite]

The Most Powerful Hack to Make Your Readers Cry

You’ve seen it all: show, don’t tell, plant a visceral image in the reader’s brain of the environment/character, write a complex character arc with lots of growth and setbacks, establish deep relationships, high stakes, etc. 

All the advice for making readers cry I’ve seen so far is basically that list. But, while those things are absolutely important, I find that the thing that always does the trick, whether as a tipping point or in and of itself, is this: 

THE CALLBACK! 

Before we move on, this is an ANALYSIS heavy post, so all the book + show examples contain spoilers!!

So, what do I mean by a “callback?” Think of Chekhov’s gun, but, here, you use the gun to pierce your reader’s heart. As a refresher for anyone who needs it, Chekhov’s gun is just a rule in writing that anything you introduce in the book should play some role in the plot.

Specifically, the name comes from the example that if a reader introduces a gun in the first act, it MUST go off later, (maybe, say, in the third act). For example, in the TV show Breaking Bad, the protagonist Walter White prepares a vial of poison (ricin) that he wanted to use to eliminate an opponent early on in the series. After the assassination attempt falls through, the ricin makes an appearance again in the very last episode of the show, when Walt finally uses it to kill another opponent. 

Got that? Alright, onto the examples of successful, tearjerking callbacks: 

1. The Last Olympian (Rick Riordan); “Family, Luke, you promised.” 

Context: The character Annabeth says this line. Years ago, Annabeth had run away from home, and Luke had effectively adopted her into a found family with another kid named Thalia. Common reason for leaving home = parental trauma! Yay! He promised Annabeth that they would be each other’s “family” from now on. 

Now: Kronos, the antagonist titan, has possessed the demigod Luke and uses his body to strike Annabeth, injuring her. She’s also holding a dagger that Luke had given her when she joined his “family.”

Significance: her words + the dagger are a mental + physical reminder to Luke of his promise. They force him to recognize the sheer degree of his current betrayal by bringing him back to a different time. The fact that their found family only happened because of parental trauma bringing them together makes it worse—Luke felt abandoned by his Olympian father, Hermes. Now, he realizes that he basically did the equivalent to Annabeth by joining the titans. 

2. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo); Jean Valjean’s death 

Context:  At the beginning of the book, the bishop had caught Valjean trying to steal candlesticks to sell. Instead of handing him over to the police, the bishop told the police that he had given them to Valjean, saving him from arrest and showing him mercy. This changed his life forever, kickstarting his character redemption arc. 

Now: Jean Valjean dies surrounded by his loved ones, remembered as a benevolent man who bettered thousands of lives. He’s surrounded by light from candlesticks that once belonged to a bishop.

Context: Valjean had once taken in an impoverished woman named Fantine, showing her mercy and promising to take care of her daughter, Cosette, after Fantine died. Valjean then rescued Cosette from abusive quasi-foster parents (it’s a long story), raising her as his own daughter. This furthered his arc by allowing him to finally understand how unconditionally loving someone feels. 

Now: Valjean describes Fantine to Cosette, who never knew her mother. 

Significance: Both examples throw readers back to much earlier points in the story before the completion of Valjean’s character arc. In a way, this final scene feels like an external manifestation of his kindness paying off; both he and the reader feels a sense of accomplishment, relief, and just a general “OMG WE MADE IT.” Readers don’t feel cheated, because they were with Valjean every step of his 1,400 page arc. The weight of it all just crashes down on you...

3. Your Lie in April (anime); Kaori’s letter after she dies

Context: Kaori’s entire plot significance is that she helps Kousei, a piano prodigy who can’t play piano anymore due to traumatic parental memories associated with it, play again—but also, just to help him enjoy life again after a turbulent upbringing. She meets him a year before she dies of a medical condition, and her free spirit + confidence influences him to find beauty in life and music again. They basically do a crap ton of crazy funny stuff together lol

Now: Kaori has died, and she leaves a letter to him. Among other general confessions and thoughts, she references things they did and memories they shared: she says, “sorry we couldn’t eat all those canelés,” reminisces about  jumping with him off a small bridge into the stream below, “racing each other alongside the train,” singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as they rode the bike together, etc.

Significance: Yes, the nature of the letter is just sad because she’s revealing that she loved him all along, apologizing for not being able to spend more time with him, lying that she didn’t like him (to spare his feelings b/c she knew she would die soon), etc. BUT, these small details highlight exactly how many experiences they shared, and the depth of their relationship. Thus, they emphasize the significance of her death and the emptiness it leaves behind. 

4. Arcane (show); “I thought, maybe you could love me like you used to, even though I’m different.” 

Context: Character Jinx says this in the last episode to her now estranged older sister, Vi. Without going into the crazy complex plot, basically, orphans Vi and Jinx used to care for each other before a bunch of crap went down that got them separated. They then grew up on opposite political sides; Jinx grows up on the side of the underbelly city rebellion, and Vi grows up working on the side of the richer city that essentially oppresses the undercity. Thus begins the development of their opposing viewpoints and work environments, to the point where they always meet on opposite sides of a political battle, never able to come together as a family or understand each other again. 

Now: After a super dramatic confrontation, Jinx reveals that although she wants Vi to love her like she did before their separation, she knows it’s not possible because “[Vi] changed too.” She finishes with, “so, here’s to the new us” before blowing up a political council meeting a few blocks down filled with people Vi sides with. Oops! This cleanly seals the fate of their relationship as something basically irreparable.  

Significance: This callback isn’t through literal flashbacks or items like in the previous examples. Jinx’ lines are enough to bring back images of their childhood to the audience’s mind. Now, the audience subconsciously places this image of: 1) two sisters so different, hurt, and torn apart, right next to 2) the image of two sisters as innocent children who loved each other and would care for each other no matter what. 

Why do callbacks work so well? 

If you’ve noticed something in common with all of them, you’re right: they remind audience of a time BEFORE the characters have come so far on their arcs, developed, and put on so much more emotional baggage. 

Callbacks force the audience to SUDDENLY and IMMEDIATELY feel the weight of everything that’s happened. The character’s anguish and overwhelming emotions become the audience’s in this moment. Callbacks are a vehicle for the juxtaposition of worlds, before and after significant development. 

This works because we, as mortals, fear IMPERMANENCE the most. We fear LOSS. For us, time gone is time we will never get back; callbacks make us face that exact fact through a fictional character. A lost moment, time period, or even part of oneself may hurt as much as losing a loved one, and nothing makes humans grieve more than the realization of a loss. A callback slaps the audience in the face with the fact that something was lost; loss hurts so much because almost 99% of the time, what’s gone is gone forever. 

Of course, a good callback requires good previous character development, stakes, imagery, and all that jazz, but I thought I’d highlight this specifically because of how under covered it is. 

∘₊✧────── ☾☼☽ ──────✧₊∘

instagram: @ grace_should_write

I’ve been binging general media lately: I finished Death Note, Your Lie in April, and Tokyo Ghoul all within like a month (FIRST ANIMES I”VE EVER WATCHED!!), reread lots of Les Miserables, analyzed a bunch of past shows like Breaking Bad, watched a bunch of My Little Pony, worked to fix up my old writing... and that’s not even all! The amount of times I’ve CRIED while enjoying the above media and so much more honestly just inspired this post. 

Like, no joke, my eyes were almost always swollen during this period whenever I hung out with my friends and it was so embarrassing help 

Personally, I just find that this method works super well for me, and I watched a bunch of reaction videos to these above scenes (and read book reviews on the book scenes I mentioned), and it seemed that just about everyone cried during these parts. That’s when I realizes that the callback might also just be a universal thing. 

Anyway, this post is long and dense enough as is. SORRY! As always, hope this was helpful, and let me know if you have any questions by commenting, re-blogging, or DMing me on IG. Any and all engagement is appreciated <3333

Happy writing, and have a great day,

- grace <3

[slippingthroughangels]

Liberty

a/n: I wanted to get something out cuz it’s beeen so long so I wrote this quickly! I’m really tired but I’m wishing you all the best time. Enjoy the poem IF POSSIBLE. Please give feedback if you would like to!

Don’t fall just to feel the air

Don’t fly just to escape.

Don’t hope for paradise and waste your final prayer 

Don’t stand still and wait.

Don’t do nothing and now look around you.

Please look and see;

How the sky puts on its best hue,

How each pollen is complimentary to their bee.

How the trees around us interlace with the ground,

And their branches are natures balcony,

How when we stop and listen to every delicate sound,

That, my dear, is when we are able to hear our freeing rhapsody

BY SLIPPINGTHROUGHANGELS

[thesefallenembers]

what other writers say their search history looks like: ‘how to get away with arson’ ‘most poisonous plants’ ‘serial killers in the 1800s’

what my search history looks like: ‘past tense of lie’ ‘synonyms for blonde’ ‘how long should a scene be’

[rosesandpaper]

writers: i love my ocs.

also writers:*proceed to kill them*

[panda-noosh]