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Tips for Writing Characters with Social Anxiety
Once in a while I read a book or story featuring a person with social anxiety. Sometimes it’s done brilliantly and other times…well, improvements could be made. I’d like to help out any writers who find themselves writing a character with anxiety. I’ll give a list of some characteristics of social anxiety and then some tips for portraying anxious people in stories. I am focusing on social anxiety since that is a largely misunderstood condition and the one which I am most familiar with. Characteristics 1) They are all unique. The most important thing to know about people with social anxiety is that they are not all the same.…
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20 More Character Development Writing Prompts (Part II)
As promised, another installment of Character Development writing prompts. I’ll explain in case you missed the first list. I have found the personality indices many people use to create characters to be impractical and difficult to incorporate into a story. They don’t really tell me how someone will respond to the situations in my book. So, I have come up with some scenarios that you can put your character into that will show you, practically, their personality and how they handle different situations. If you take the time to write them out they will even help you develop the voice and style you’d like to use while writing your character.…
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20 Character Development Writing Prompts (Part I)
There are a great many lists out there of personality traits and favorite things and so on that you can use to invent a character. I have tried using some of them but they don’t usually end up being that helpful. Knowing your character’s favorite color or food doesn’t often play into your story. And labeling him/her as surly, intelligent, and afraid of heights may or may not mean anything when it comes to creating character arcs and plot points. These are somehow specific and too general at the same time. Furthermore, many of them aren’t relevant or need tweaking when writing fantasy and science fiction stories.A method that I…
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20 Writing Prompts to Beat Writer’s Block
Writer’s block hits us all at some point. It can seem impossible to move forward and throwing out the project and starting over often feels like the only logical solution. But sometimes all you need is a little prodding, someone to ask questions that get the wheels turning again. Below are 20 writing prompts to beat writer’s block. 1) What is something your character doesn’t know about character but should? How would this information change their actions? 2) What is something your character has never done before and might consider trying? 3) What is the last thing you want your character to do now? What if s/he did it anyway?…
