The Reason Why I Get Complimented

me when i enter a room

How to Get to Know Your Characters

@lourek asked:

Okay so it’s me again. I have a problem, cuz I really don’t know my characters?? And I’d like to get to know them. I know this might sound stupid, but do you have a masterpost about best ways to get to know your own characters or would you be willing to make one? I’ve noticed that all those “answer these questions” things are pretty useful. Thank you, I still worship you, good bye

Not a stupid question at all!  This is one of the most challenging and important parts of becoming a writer.  Getting to know someone takes time and effort, and characters are no exception. 

So without further ado, here are my go-to techniques for getting to know a character:

1.  Ask yourself these basic questions:

How old are they mentally/spiritually?  Do they have an old soul, or are they a perpetual kid at heart?  Does their personality not coincide with their physical age? 

What do they care about most in the world?  What would they die for?

What are their interests?  What books, movies, and shows do they read/watch religiously?  What do they geek out over?

What’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to them?  Have they told anyone?  If so, who?

On that note, what is one secret they’ve never told anyone?

What was their childhood like?  Was it happy?  Tragic?  Why or why not?

How many relationships do they have?  How have they affected them?

What is their greatest fear?  

What was the best thing that ever happened to them?

What was the worst thing that ever happened to them?

If you had to describe the character in one word, what is the first that comes to mind?

2.  Once that’s done, get nosy.

Empty their pockets, backpack, or purse.  Make a list of everything inside.  What do they always take with them?  Why?

Describe their bedroom.  Is it neat, or messy?  Is it minimalist?  Cluttered?  Are they neat, or messy by nature?  Is there any artwork on the wall, any posters?  Are there lots of books?  A TV?  Stuffed animals?  Be as detailed as you want to be, and think about why your character has these things and what they say about them.  

If they have one, describe their car.  What kind of car do they drive?  How does it correlate with their personality, their career?  Do they keep any photos of loved ones?  Are there lots of fast food containers?

We’ve already touched on this briefly, but think about their books.  Write down at least ten titles on their shelf.  Think about what genres they like, what authors, and why they might enjoy them. 

What kind of movie genres do they like?  What kind of TV shows?  Why do they enjoy them?  Do they have any guilty pleasures that they’d rather anyone not know about?  

Take a look inside their closet.  What kind of clothes do they wear?  What’s their style?  Can they afford the clothes they’d actually like to wear?  Are they preppy?  Is their closet organized, or is it a hot mess?

3.  Get to know the family.

What are their parents like?  Do they have a good relationship?  Are they friends?  Do they just plain suck?  If so, why?

If they don’t have a good relationship with their parents, are there any parental figures that their close with?  What are they like?  

Do they have any siblings?  Are they close?  Are they protective of them, or vice versa?

What is their nationality?  Do they have strong ties to their heritage, or could they care less?

What about their extended family?  Do they have any weird relatives?  (In my opinion, every character should have at least one weird relative.  They are a lot of fun to write.)  

4.   Fill in the details.

Brainstorm random questions about your characters, their likes, dislikes, et cetera.  Here are examples:

What is their favorite food?  

Their favorite beverage?  

Their favorite movie?  

Their favorite book?

Their favorite TV show?

What is their dream job?

Do they keep a journal?

Do they have good handwriting, or is it illegible from excessive note-taking?  

What’s their favorite color?  

What’’s their favorite kind of weather?  Do they like sunny days, or rainy ones?

Can they draw?  Are they artistic in general?

What kind of romantic/sexual partner do they like (if they’re interested in that sort of thing at all)?  Do they have a ‘type?’    

What would their ideal date be (even just with friends)?  Do they like generic dinner and movie-type stuff, or do they favor museums and plays? 

What would their ideal afternoon look like?

Do they prefer TV or books?

Are they introverted or extroverted?  Do they hate social gatherings, or thrive on them?  Do they relish in alone time?

Coffee or tea?

Cats or dogs? 

Do they eat breakfast?  If so, what?

What’s their opinion on pineapple pizza? 

5.  Fill out some character sheets.

Simple character sheets are a great way to fill in the gaps and get to know your character.  Though there are quite a few floating around on my favorite blogs, but here are a few examples:

There’s a “lazy person’s” character sheet here.

There’s a “how to create a memorable character” sheet here.

And there’s a “no effort” character sheet here.

Of course, the only way to truly get to know your character is to write about them.  You never know how they’ll develop until you get going, and once you do, they’ll never cease to surprise you.  Characters truly do gain lives of their own, so don’t give up and keep writing. 

And in the meantime, I hope this helps!  <3

SnK Crack Theory Week Day 1: Historical Monday

Ymir Fritz, commonly referred to as progenitor of all Titans, is one of the most important characters in SnK. Her actions brought about the story as we know it today. It all started when she came upon “the source of all organic material” and consequently made a deal with the devil, which obtained her the power of the titans. However not much is not about her aside from a short origin story and the fact that she died 13 years after receiving the Founding Titan (this is later named the “Curse of Ymir”). Questions like what did she do in those 13 years before her untimely death, how much of her memories have been seen by the current titan shifters and has anyone actually died from the “Curse of Ymir” have been bothering the fans for ages, and yet  the answer is quite simple.

Ymir Fritz is a lizard.

Now I know what you’re thinking: Bro what? But hear me out.

There are many similarities between the reptiles and Ymir, such as appearance. Lizards have typically long bodies and small faces. And what does she look like, you ask? Well she’s got a pretty slender figure and small face, just as lizards do.

There is however the issue of the lizards’ tail that needs to be addressed, but there is a simple solution to that too. Notice how in all of her pictures she is always shown from the front and never from the back? It’s almost as if she was hiding something. The only picture of her that we have which isn’t from the front is the one above.

See how there is a bit of a bump in her dress right below her back? That is a clear indication that she is indeed hiding her tail underneath her clothing.

To further prove my theory,  the reason why no one knows what she did in those 13 years is because she didn’t do anything. Lizards spend their days sun-bathing on rocks, hunting for food or waiting for it to come their way, meaning she spent her days lounging around and wasting her titan power for hunting dem juicy spiders. Another simple solution to a complicated question is that her death was actually not because of a curse, rather it was from old age.

And in conclusion I present to you photogenic evidence that she is indeed a lizard.

It’s only a matter of time before Isa confirms it himself.

tony thornburg

everytime I hear about children of the corn I think about the guy I met at comic con who actually lived in the town they filmed that movie at, and on the farm where they filmed in the corn. he was a teenager at the time and him and his friends would get drunk on moonshine and rustle the corn and let the air out of the tires of the production team’s trailers and shit. and now there’s Wikipedia pages about how the children of the corn set was haunted and they thought they angered god but it was really just drunk hillbillies

How much does Yuuri know?

Here’s something I’ve been wondering for a while.

In Barcelona, Victor finds out that Yuuri doesn’t remember the banquet.

They’re in a public place, they’re with their friends, and the situation is hilarious for almost everyone else, except it’s annoying for Yuri P., awkward and embarrassing for Yuuri, and if I have to guess I’d say that it’s awkward, slightly painful and a bit frustrating for Victor (though he probably also finds it a bit funny).

It’s really not the right place and time for Victor and Yuuri to talk about it in depth, especially considering that the focus shifts right away to the rings they’re wearing and their meaning.

After JJ makes his entrance, they all leave and presumably go back to the hotel, where we can only assume Yuuri had more questions about the banquet. And this is exactly what I’ve been wondering about.

Does Yuuri ask Victor for banquet details? Does Victor talk about it of his own accord?

I like to think that Victor does in fact share some things about that evening:

My question is: does Victor share The Moment? You know, this one?

The Moment all our hearts collectively broke because Victor had been pining over Yuuri since before going to Hasetsu. The Moment Victor fell in love. 

Because we watch the rest of the show with the new knowledge that Victor was in love (or had a major crush at the very least) with Yuuri, I think we all kind of assumed that Yuuri must also know the full extend of it.

But does he? 

Does Victor really tell Yuuri all of it? The way I see it, there are two options:

Victor tells Yuuri everything. How smitten he was with Yuuri. How much it hurt when he didn’t call him, didn’t send any signals, didn’t show up at competitions. And finally, how he thought that video was a direct message for him to go to Hasetsu and make good on his promise to be Yuuri’s coach. And how it confused the hell out of him when Yuuri acted all shy around him.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of this option. Victor has known Yuuri for a while at this point, and he knows about his anxiety and his low self-esteem. He has a big competition ahead of him, and he doesn’t need Victor adding to his anxiety by telling him how he (unintentionally) hurt him by leading him on, seducing him and abandoning him just like in the Eros story he tells in his SP. 

Victor only shares the bare minimum. He tells Yuuri that coming to Hasetsu to be his coach wasn’t, in fact, a decision made on a whim, but it was something Yuuri (drunkenly) asked him. And because Victor was getting bored with his skating and his life, he was glad to do it, and glad that this made it possible for them fall in love with each other. What he doesn’t share is the pining and the hurt.

I personally think that this is what happened, because Victor has learned how sensitive Yuuri is (even though he still doesn’t fully know how Yuuri truly feels about Victor leaving ice skating - something he finds out at the end of episode 11). He doesn’t need Yuuri to know he unintentionally hurt him, because it doesn’t matter anymore, and telling him would only hurt Yuuri, and that’s the last thing Victor wants.

TL;DR: we know exactly when Victor fell in love with Yuuri but Yuuri probably doesn’t know.

A Typical Workday

Shit. Type. Click. Small talk. Eat. Shit. Type. Click.

This is all I do all day at work. The horrifying monotony of it all get can a big gruesome. I walk in at 6am. I grab coffee from the break room. I sit at my desk. It is located in a big room with dozens of other desks. I stare at my computer for eight hours. In between I eat lunch in the break room. I have to engage in meaningless conversation with my coworkers. Then at 5 I turn off my computer and leave.

It is a terrible way to spend the day.

But home is worse.

Sit. TV. Eat. Shit. TV. Sleep.

That is all I do at home. The only thing that changes is the TV channel. I sit on the same lumpy couch. I eat the same frozen dinner. I sleep in the same decrepit bed. If I can get five hours of sleep I might be worth something in the morning. But I never can.

There is one bright spot in this pit.

Today I am scheduled for a promotion.

I walk into work at 6am like usual. I make myself some coffee. I sit at my desk. Like usual I feel a terrifying presence behind me. It comes with the job. Whenever I am sitting at the computer I can feel a tall blackness hovering right behind my shoulders. If I turn and look there is nothing there. But I know it exists. I picture it as an unnamed supervisor who monitors everything I do. It floats in the air, sucking the light from my cubicle. If I reach out I imagine I could touch it. It would feel like fog except heavier.

Everyone in the office has one. But no one talks about it.

I named mine Fred.

Fred floats menacingly behind me as I check my email. There’s nothing important. Sally was fired yesterday. But I could smell her burning flesh when I walked in so I wasn’t surprised. Larry sent a mass email reminding us it was Tabitha’s birthday. I’m sure I’ll get a card on my desk sometime soon to sign. We’re having baby pig instead of cake. It’s Tabitha’s favorite.

I open one email from the boss. It’s just a long video of a recent college grad screaming as he eats her whole. He sends these emails out every Tuesday. We get a lot of ‘fresh-out-of-college’ types applying for work here. But when your future employer is a being of indescribable horror you’ve got to expect a bumpy interview process.

Larry wheels his chair over to me. “Hey, have you signed Tabitha’s card?”

“Nope.” Larry is so obsessed with birthdays. I feel like there’s always one person in the office who is just way too into celebrations. That person is Larry. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have birthdays anymore? I don’t know. I’m just sick of pretending to care that Tabitha is 234 (for the fifth year in a row).

Larry wheels in closer. I can smell the lighter fluid on his breath. “Well when you get it make sure to give it back to me.” He flashes a neon smile.

I nod and stare back at the computer. If I ignore Larry for long enough he simply goes away. Fred on the other hand is still frighteningly hovering. I sigh deeply and open up my workbook.

I’m one of the drones in charge of setting death clocks. It is painstakingly slow, especially considering how many damn babies are born every day. I already have over a thousand entries and it isn’t even 7 yet. I click the first one and go about assigning it a time of death. I’m feeling extra ornery, so I only set it for six hours. Too bad, Zhou Li from China.

I spend the next few hours enduring the horrific chill of Fred’s breath on my neck and the immense boredom of doing my job. We have been told to vary death clocks so all the babies born today don’t die at exactly the same time. I usually just do it randomly and based on how much I like the name. Ginger Whatley – eighty two years. Hayden Peyton – five months. You know, that sort of thing.

Tabitha’s card mysteriously appears on my desk around lunchtime. On the front is a sleepy kitten. On the inside is the same kitten eating an eyeball. It says, “We’ve got our eyes on you, Tabitha.” I sign it and add a few demonic symbols so she thinks I’m being sincere.

I hand the card off to Larry, who is sobbing loudly. I am about to get my lunch when the trumpet starts up. It rings three times and then a voice of thousand screams proclaims, “Mike, report to the boss’s office immediately.”

Shit, this is it. My chance for a promotion. I straighten my jacket and smooth back my hair. My horns are both sticking up in the same direction so that’s good. I have to be on my game with the boss. He has a finicky temper.

I walk to the temple door. None of my coworkers look at me, which is protocol. Dave has slit his wrists as a good luck charm. I think I hear Polly whispering numbers. What a bitch.

The temple doors are opened by the two gold statues and I walk into the room. It is dark, lit only by four red candles on the floor. The walls are stained with blood. We really need to get maintenance in here. Sitting on a pentagram in the center of the room is the boss. He is picking his teeth with a finger bone. A half-eaten man is crawling out the door. He is smiling. He must have gotten the job.

The boss beckons to me with the viscera that is his hand. “Mike, come closer.”

I take a step into the temple and the doors close behind me. Inside the room there is no sound except the boss’s hideous breathing. “Thank you for inviting me in, sir.”

“Yes, yes.” The boss burps loudly and a cloud of toxic gas fills the room. “I have been impressed with your lack of leadership, Mike.”

“Thank you sir.” One of the golden statues hands me a decorative axe.

“I am thinking about promoting you.” The boss shifts his enormous body towards me. His skin stays in one place but his guts move around like jello. “Do you want to be promoted?”

I place the axe over my stomach, as is appropriate. “Yes sir.”

The boss blinks his horrifying eyes and the axe starts to push into my skin. “Very well. Do you know the rules?”

The axe is cutting me in half slowly. “Yes, sir.”

“You are no longer deciding death clocks. You are now carrying them out.” The boss leans forward and vomits violently onto me as the axe finishes its job. I black out.

When I open my eyes I am on a bed. The light is different here. I get up, getting used to the way these tiny human legs work. I look in the mirror. Fuck, I’m a girl. I look like I’m sixteen in human years. The boss picked this body especially for me, so I guess it’ll have to do.

I look around a find my body’s wallet. Yeah, I was right. Sixteen. My name is Molly Dearly. I have to remember that. I also have to remind myself that I am a human now, which means I have to act like one. I have to grow up like a typical human. I’ve been told that the childhood process is horrible, so I have to prepare myself. Puberty is a kind of death, right? But very soon I’ll be able to get my orders for carrying out the real deaths of humans. I want to really take advantage of this promotion, like John and Charlie did. Hell even Aileen got 7 guys before she was fired.

I’m lucky I got this promotion, even if I have to deal with this weird life I’ve been thrust into. At least I don’t have to sign any more birthday cards for a while.

I wonder if Fred has moved on to a new drone…

What happened?!

I ATE THREE EGGS EVERY SINGLE MORNING FOR A WEEK - HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED

It’s the offseason around these parts, and one of the essential things we do every offseason is revisit our diet and exercise. Healthy living and careful planning in April helps us balance out...

Read this. Even if you hate eggs and perky diet blogs. Read through Wednesday at the very least. My bet is if you get to Wednesday, you’ll want to read the rest. 

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.

Louisa May Alcott

tiny little cinnamon roll!