forum Does anyone ever just have that moment with a character...?

Started September 21, 2018 by @Becfromthedead group

tune

That moment or scene that you're writing, where everything clicks? Perhaps it was a character whose personality was confusing to you before, but suddenly everything makes sense. You know who they are now, and it makes the story much easier to write because they're no longer being pulled along by the plot, and they have a place in the group's dynamic.

I had that with two characters, and one of them was actually really important to the story! I would be trying to write some prompt to practice, not even writing about them, and then BAM! suddenly something about what I'm writing suddenly seems like it would fit their character perfectly.
For instance, I was confused on a support characters motivations, only to realize it was because he enjoys helping others and has a huge crush on one of the group members, a known fact I kept skipping over. So then I expanded on that and made him someone that doubts himself but can be really helpful with a personality that's really in your face when talking to others. Which gets him get blindly tricked into an offered and ends up acting as an antagonist.
Another was actually really hard the write for until it clicked, which had me frustrated since I knew she was important to the plot. She was hardworking but never tried to get any jobs that would ground her anywhere, she's very brief in explanation or will outright wave off questions about herself, but protective and caring and may even snap at someone when it comes to close friends. I realized that the reason I thought it didn't fit was because I was completely forgetting to link the present with the past for her. Everything else sorta slid into place after that.
(I just realized how long this was…. oops.)

It's all good. Lol I get really excited when talking about my work too.
I just had that moment today with my only female protagonist, and it's a big deal because I'm on my second draft and I hated her so much during the first. Like she was terrible…
But now she's terrible, but in a cool way. She's very cunning, a good liar, charismatic, but she's self-interested, not evil or completely inconsiderate of others. So think of what a true Slytherin is, and that's her. I had to write a scene where one of her friends gets shot, and goes into shock because he's lost so much blood (it's her, one of the healers, and the injured guy). However, the reason he got shot was because he was running from the law for deserting the (brutal, terrible) military, and she can't reveal that, but they need a place to stay. So she is able to put on an act and manipulate a man into helping them by toying with his emotions and pretending to relate to his struggles, and she also lies about who they all are.
And even when she's first introduced, the first thing she does is trick one of the main characters into giving her something she wants. Without this, the story never would have logically unfolded.

Wow, that's really cool! I absolutely love when characters aren't clearly good or evil when reading about them. It's sort of the reason half of my heroes are technically villains at the same time. I don't know why it's always been compelling to me when someone isn't strictly good or bad, which is ironic since I love the Disney classics that often show that.
In a different life maybe it would have been the girl I mentioned that became the main villain rather than someone she once knew. She's a pretty good at dodging questions and not all of what she says about herself is true but does it out of paranoia due to having been betrayed once when she finally trusted someone, which added to the damage of the villain I said she once knew turning on her. My world is more fantasy based, yours seems like it's based around war times (Then I'm terrible at guessing). In fact my whole plot ties into an old story told throughout the absolute monarchy ruled land called Tale of Foxes. I even got her middle name by putting Liar through a translator and adapting it from a language that sounded nice when pronouncing it.

Lol I'd recommend it, but I'm also super biased because the books are nostalgic for me. They're definitely worth a try.

Next time I go to the book store I'm going to try and grab the first few, because I like previewing them in person rather than buying things online when I can. All my friends call me an old soul because of that. Well… That, and I got some old cartoons and a typewriter last year. lol

I have this with a lot of characters, but the best was when I figured out what to do with Huxley. Instead of having him be a bland, one-dimensional archer, he ended up being a stoic, closed-off marauder, but with hidden depths.

I really like that name. I think just the name and description in general is interesting actually. It's always nice when you can have some blank slate and suddenly one day you think up an entire idea for their personality and even some story.

Oh thanks!!
Occasionally my 'ah-ha' moment will be more of a "THAT'S what Samuel's motivation should be!" or "That's how I can get those two in the same place at the same time!" or "So that's how I can bridge the stories!"

I started working on the personality on my characters, and I found out that my MC Yama is an Architect! It was so cool to go through the description to the point where I probably understand him more than HE understands himself, and even cooler to tie his hobbies in with his actual personality and characterize him to the point where he feels like a living, breathing person.

This thread is so relatable to me right now lol. I will literally be doing anything and out of nowhere I have an idea I want to write down as quickly as possible. It's amazing but annoying if there's nowhere to jot down the idea real quick.
I was having a lot of trouble as to why someone who has a hard time trusting people would be friends with the group I have, some would be considered traitors and none of them have a sunshine and rainbows past that would make them the most trustworthy individual on the planet. Then it sort of clicked in my head how their past would make them want to protect characters like those I have in the group, since they've had experiences where they've felt they failed someone. It's actually how I got the title to my project Damaged Designs, since a big mishap with timelines thanks to my villain and a protagonist ended up merging some timelines to keep things stable while damaging some characters when their pasts where mixed and matched with the different routes.
(Oof. I keep writing long paragraphs, I'm sorry. With a lot of my stuff I feel it can get confusing if not explained. XD)

My group is a bit like the Rogue One group where for the most part, they're together because they have to be, not necessarily out of want.

My group is a bit like the Rogue One group where for the most part, they're together because they have to be, not necessarily out of want.

Same, sort of. It's more like they have to stick together if they want to live for my characters. (I can't remember the plot of Rogue One though because I'm terrible)

Off topic, but I was trying to write dialogue and just realized that nowadays, you can't throw in a, "Why am I like this?/Why are you like this?" without it just being a meme, and I'm seriously disappointed in society.

Just dialogue like that can be a meme? That is honestly really annoying. It can be cliche, sure, but it can have a big impact in certain situations. I'm not necessarily disappointed in society. I'm disappointed the meme makers haven't seen how bad and overused it is for memes and left writers alone already.

Ikr… and idk if I should call it a meme exactly? It's just… something I hear girls (high school aged stereotypical white girls anyway) say, and there's a certain tone with which they say it, and now I can't use a normal sentence in writing.

Now I'll never be able to listen to that line with out imagining some annoying high school girl saying the line in some mocking tone somewhere in the background. I'm having flashbacks to this certain popular girl that was in my school(not high school though), she even wore the classic red lipstick, and had at least two friends around her with similar sounding names. What are the chances?