Character Flaws

I am a sensitive person.

I feel things deeply, even if it doesn’t always show. I learned to downplay my emotions, to water myself down in an attempt to be more palatable.

Because when enough people tell you that being sensitive in a bad thing, you start believing them.

-a work in progress I’m posting.

my favorite part of chain of memories is that the entire game is literally namine making a self-insert fanfic

Good Traits Gone Bad

Empathy turning into manipulation

Imagine a character who is deeply empathetic, someone who genuinely feels and understands the emotions of others. At first, this makes them incredibly compassionate and kind, always there to lend an ear or offer comfort. But over time, this empathy begins to shift. Instead of just understanding how others feel, they start to use that understanding to manipulate those around them. They know exactly what to say to get people to do what they want, twisting their caring nature into a tool for control. What once was a beautiful gift becomes a weapon, used to bend others to their will without them even realizing it.

Confidence becoming arrogance

Think of someone who exudes confidence—someone who knows their worth and isn’t afraid to go after what they want. This kind of self-assuredness is magnetic and inspiring, drawing people in. But sometimes, this confidence can grow into something darker. The character starts to believe they’re always right, that their way is the best and only way. They dismiss others’ ideas and opinions, thinking they know better than everyone else. What was once a healthy self-esteem turns into arrogance, pushing people away as they start to feel belittled and unappreciated.

Ambition turning into obsession

Picture a character who is ambitious and driven, always striving for the next big achievement. Their dedication is admirable, pushing them to work hard and aim high. But ambition can have a dark side, too. Slowly, their drive becomes an obsession. They start to focus solely on their goals, willing to sacrifice anything or anyone who stands in their way. Friends, family, and even their own health fall by the wayside as they chase success at any cost. What was once an admirable quality turns destructive, consuming them completely.

Loyalty becoming blind devotion

Loyalty is such a beautiful trait. A loyal character is dependable, someone who stands by the people they care about no matter what. But loyalty can also become dangerous if it goes too far. This character might start to overlook red flags or harmful behaviors, sticking by someone or something even when it’s clearly detrimental. They become so blindly devoted that they lose sight of their own well-being and moral compass. What starts as a positive trait turns into a kind of self-destructive stubbornness, harming them more than helping.

Courage turning into recklessness

Imagine someone who’s incredibly brave, always ready to face challenges head-on and stand up for what they believe in. At first, this courage is inspiring, giving them the strength to overcome obstacles and help others. But sometimes, courage can cross a line. It turns into recklessness, making them take unnecessary risks without considering the consequences. They start to believe they’re invincible, putting themselves and others in danger because they’re too focused on proving their bravery. What was once a powerful strength becomes a dangerous flaw.

Determination becoming stubbornness

There’s something admirable about a character who never gives up, no matter how tough things get. Their determination helps them push through difficulties and keep going when others might quit. But when that determination turns into stubbornness, it’s a different story. They refuse to change their minds, even when all the signs point to a different path. They ignore advice, dismiss alternative viewpoints, and stick to their course out of sheer willpower, even when it’s clearly not working. Their once-praiseworthy persistence becomes a source of frustration for those around them.

Optimism becoming naivety

Someone who always looks on the bright side, no matter what. Their optimism is contagious, lifting the spirits of those around them and helping them see the silver lining in every situation. But if they aren’t careful, this optimism can morph into naivety. They might start ignoring real dangers or fail to recognize when they’re being taken advantage of. Their rosy outlook makes them blind to harsh realities, and they become easily deceived or led astray, all because they’re so focused on seeing the good in everything and everyone.

Protectiveness turning into possessiveness

A character who is naturally protective of their loved ones, always looking out for them and ensuring they’re safe and happy. This protectiveness is heartwarming and makes those around them feel cherished. But when protectiveness goes too far, it can become possessiveness. The character starts to feel like they own the people they care about, becoming overly controlling and jealous. They start dictating others' actions, justifying it as care, but it’s really about their need to keep everything under their control. What started as a caring instinct turns into something suffocating and unhealthy.

Altruism becoming self-neglect

Think about a character who is incredibly selfless, always putting others' needs before their own. They’re the kind of person who would give you the shirt off their back, always ready to help, always there for everyone. But this selflessness can go too far. It turns into self-neglect, where they completely disregard their own needs and well-being. They keep giving and giving until they have nothing left, leading to burnout and exhaustion. Their altruism, while beautiful, ends up harming them because they don’t know how to set boundaries or take care of themselves.

Honesty becoming brutal bluntness

There’s a lot to be said for a character who is straightforward and honest, someone who tells it like it is and doesn’t sugarcoat the truth. People appreciate their transparency and trustworthiness. But when honesty turns into brutal bluntness, it’s no longer a positive trait. This character starts to disregard others' feelings, using their honesty as an excuse to be harsh and tactless. Their words cut deep, hurting those around them, all in the name of being truthful. What was once refreshing candor becomes a source of pain, as they lose sight of the importance of kindness in communication.

9 Reminders for Writers

Your writing doesn't need to be perfect to be worthy of being written. The message is all wonky or there are plotholes every which way to wednesday? So what, just have fun!

The ultimate goal in writing is to have fun or to challenge yourself. If you're not successfully reaching your goals as a writer (including having fun), then you don't have to force yourself to keep working on that WIP.

This is your official permission to put the WIP down. You don't have to force yourself to write it. Promised your friends and/or followers you'd write it? They'll understand if they really care about you as a person. Had a specific goal for where you wanted to go with it? It's okay to drop that goal. Not every goal is for reaching, and there's no shame in quitting sometimes, especially when writing is ultimately for enjoyment.

It is okay not to want to publish. Hell, it's okay not to want to share your writing. You don't have to have a specific sharing goal for your writing for it to matter.

If you're getting haters, just remind yourself your writing isn't meant for them.

Stop changing your WIP to fit someone else's narrative for it. If someone wants you to change your WIP in some way, that's what fanfiction is for. Encourage them to write it and leave you to writing the canon version how you see it.

Your writing doesn't have to be a certain way to matter. It doesn't have to be light, it doesn't have to be dark. It doesn't have to be long or short. It doesn't have to have romance or a lack thereof. Your writing can fit whatever narrative you want it to and no one should be able to convince you otherwise.

As Denise says all the time, writing advice is there to assist you, not to boss you around. Yes, there are spelling and grammar rules that enhance the technical aspects of a story, but you don't even need to follow them if they don't fit your story. Sometimes having poor grammar and/or spelling actually suits your writing. Sometimes a piece of advice will work well for one WIP and not another. Cater your advice-following to the specific WIP that you're working on, and don't pressure yourself to have the "Perfect Story," because there is no such thing. It's something creative created by an imperfect person. Ergo, it won't be perfect

Have! Freaking! Fun! Quit pressuring yourself so much and just have FUN with it. If it's overwhelming, if it's exhausting to think about writing, if you're losing enjoyment from writing, it's okay to take a break. Please do when you need to. There's no shame in taking breaks. We all need them, so let your body rest! <3

Of course there are tons more things I can say but these are things I feel we writers constantly need reminding of, so here's another reminder <3

Happy writing, friends.

🤍 H

you have to let yourself be a weird woman or you will not survive

Dappled sunlight streams through the trees. The filtered light warms the skin I bare to nature, clothes haphazardly shed and forgotten, a bread crumb trail leading to the blue lake. Wading into the water, I wash away the dirt and sweat dried to my skin- cleansing away my sins better than any baptism could ever hope to achieve.

- salvation.

more words for characterization (pt. 4)

Age

adolescent, afresh, ancient, antiquarian, antique, big, childish, crude, doddering, elderly, fresh, full-grown/full-fledged, green, hoary, immemorial, infant/infantile, junior, late, medieval, mint, modish, new, novel, older, old-fashioned, originally, outdated/out-of-date, passé, quaint, refreshing, secondhand, stale, state-of-the-art, undeveloped, up-to-date, well-preserved, youthful

Appearance

adorable, aesthetic/esthetic, artistic, beautiful, comely, crisp, dapper, decorative, desirable, dressy, exquisite, eye-catching, fancy, fetching, flawless, glorious, good-looking, graceful, grungy, hideous, homely, irresistible, natty, ornate, plain, pretty, refreshing, resplendent, seductive, spiffy, striking, stylish, ugly, unbecoming, willowy, with-it

Genuineness

abstract, actually, alias, apocryphal, apparently, arty, authentic, baseless, beta, bona fide, circumstantial, concrete, contrived, credible, deceptive, delusive, dreamy, ecclesiastical, empirical/empiric, enigmatic/enigmatical, ersatz, ethereal, factual, fallacious, fantastic, far-fetched, fictitious, foolproof, fraudulent, good, hard, historical, honest-to-God, illusory/illusive, imitative, indisputable, invisible, just, lifelike, made-up, magic/magical, make-believe, matter-of-fact, metaphysical, monstrous, mystic/mystical, mythical/mythological, nonexistent, openhearted, ostensibly, paranormal, physical, positive, pretended, quack, quite, realistic, right, sincerely, specious, spurious, supernatural, synthetic, tangible, true, unearthly, unnatural, unthinkable, unvarnished, unworldly, valid, veritable, wholehearted/whole-hearted, wrong

Movement

ambulatory, brisk, clumsy, fleet, fluent, frozen, gawky, graceless, immobile, indolent, itinerant, leisurely, lifeless, liquid, lithe, maladroit, migrant/migratory, motionless, moving, nomadic, oafish, passive, pendulous/pendent, portable, restless, roundabout, sedentary, slow, speedy, static, vibrant, winding

Style

adorable, baroque, becoming, black, bold, brassy, cheap, class, classy, contemporary, country, cultural, dashing, dowdy, eat high on the hog, exquisite, featureless, flamboyant, floral, flowery, formless, futuristic, garish, gay, glamorous, gorgeous, grand, graphic, hot, improvised, informal, innovative, kinky, loud, lush, luxurious, mean, meretricious, modish, neat, new, obsolete, old-fashioned, orderly, ornamental, ostentatious, outdated/out-of-date, palatial, picturesque, plush, posh, prevalent, quaint, refined, resplendent, rustic, scruffy, sharp, simple, sleazy, smart, snazzy, spiffy, spruce, stately, state-of-the-art, stylish, swank/swanky, tacky, tasteless, tousled, two-bit, unbecoming, unworldly, up-to-date, vogue

NOTE

The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.

It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary.

Source ⚜ Writing Basics & Refreshers ⚜ On Vocabulary

Tandy constantly flirting with Tyrone and him being exasperated but pleased

Here's a extensive list of character flaws/Addictions to consider for your storytelling:

1. Stubbornness

2. Impulsiveness

3. Jealousy

4. Indecisiveness

5. Arrogance

6. Insecurity

7. Impatience

8. Manipulativeness

9. Hot-tempered

10. Perfectionism

11. Distrust

12. Procrastination

13. Selfishness

14. Pessimism

15. Dishonesty

16. Greed

17. Cowardice

18. Lack of empathy

19. Overly competitive

20. Control freak

21. Lack of ambition

22. Oversensitivity

23. Laziness

24. Lack of self-discipline

25. Addiction

26. Closed-mindedness

27. Lack of assertiveness

28. Impulsivity

29. Materialistic

30. Lack of accountability

31. Inflexibility

32. Moody

33. Overly critical

34. Judgmental

35. Naivety

36. Attention-seeking

37. Suspiciousness

38. Overprotectiveness

39. Ingratitude

40. Vengefulness

41. Envy

42. Indulgence

43. Disloyalty

44. Self-centeredness

45. Negativity

46. Manipulative

47. Disorganized

48. Lack of self-awareness

49. Irresponsibility

50. Intolerance

51. Overthinking

52. Restlessness

53. Excessive need for control

54. Rigidity

55. Overly trusting

56. Recklessness

57. Narcissism

58. Escapism

59. Gullibility

60. Lack of ambition

61. Inability to forgive

62. Excessive need for validation

63. Attention-seeking behavior

64. People-pleasing

65. Overprotectiveness

66. Self-doubt

67. Passive-aggressiveness

68. Inability to handle criticism

69. Lack of boundaries

70. Superiority complex

Remember, a well-rounded character doesn't need to possess all of these flaws. Select a few that resonate with your character's personality, background, and story arc. Balancing flaws with strengths and vulnerabilities will help create multi-dimensional and relatable characters.

Happy writing!

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3 tips to writing character flaws

1) make their flaw congruent with the rest of who they are.

There’s a lot of different ways to do this, most commonly I’ve seen the “their strength is their flaw” which you can do but I’d recommend exploring it more deeply.

For example, maybe they’re good at attacking things head on, being honest and straightforward, but because they’ve always relied on that they don’t have the practice or an inclination to rely on other methods such as being more crafty, diplomatic, and subtle which are traits a situation sometimes calls for. I call this the “wrong tool for the job” flaw where an over-reliance on their strength handicaps them in situations where a different approach seems better suited. I think people and characters also just have a habit of using their tool for the job rather than the ‘best’ tool.

2) Don’t just tell us their flaw, show it.

Show this character trait coming out in their actions, have it influence the plot in key moments. If they’re reckless, don’t just have another character call them reckless, have them act reckless in a way that impacts their relationships with other characters or the plot.

3) Screw the whole “strengths vs flaws” thing altogether

try viewing character traits outside of a rigid binary of good and bad that you pull from a deck, and instead derive/connect them to deeper truths about who the character is, (how do they deal with problems/what is their ‘go-to’ method? what do they value? what are they skilled or unskilled at? what do they believe about the world and themselves?) and then why the characters is that way (note that it doesn’t all have to come from trauma. Please don’t attribute everything to a trauma. General life experience informs a lot of beliefs/traits, and then some is also just an inborn inclination) I have a longer post about how I tend to try to build a cohesive layout of who a character is.

Note as always, that these just things that I currently find helpful. Use or discard as works for you and your work. Happy writing!