Hey everyone! This "tutorial" is for both new people joining the site and for the members already here. Are you having issues coming up with characters that aren't bland, boring, or you can't seem to make them different from the Mary Sue (or Gary Sue) types? This tutorial is for you! I did some digging and happened upon a very awesome person on DA. She posts all sorts of journals with tips, tricks, and helpful information on how to create a character that is different. She shows you how to create a well rounded character and, while these journals are mostly focused on human characters, the tips can be used for wolves as well. So please check her deviantart out and give her lots of love - she really has a lot more than the two journals I'm linking.

Character Concept Diversity

How To Make A Good Villain

Also, check out this list of Personality Traits that can help you in creating a personality for your character if you're having issues.

I will constantly be updating this so please feel free to look at this every once in a while to see if it has!

***Copy and paste of the journals if some of you are phone-bound or have issues reading. Please remember I did not create this and credit goes to PrennCooder at Deviantart

Character Concept Design Diversity

PERSONALITY: The absolute most important part to adding diversity to your characters is creating a deep, multifaceted personality description for them that no one else could have come up with. If you want to try and challenge yourself, avoid using tons of one word descriptors and elaborate on how that word applies instead. Show your character’s habits, tendencies, mood shifts, subjective preferences, tastes, distastes, actions, reactions, and all around sense of self. The MINIMUM for describing a decently thought out personality would be 200 words. Anything shorter than that is in danger of sounding like a mish mosh of standard traits. I challenge you to get up to 400 or even 500 words long of personality description if you want quality.

NAME: Choosing a name with a different letter to start with can be your foothold to creating a name that has a different sound than the rest of your group. Avoid making a group of characters with the same first letter or sound if not intentional. Hearing about Hayley, Taylor, and Jayden can start to sound just as redundant as Jayde, Jered, and June. Avoid one-syllable names typically. A group with names like Jai, Kay, and Lil don’t really have much flavor to them. Add something that’ll catch your reader’s attention and leave them with a unique sound to resonate in their head. You’re not going to remember every Emily that you see, but you might remember Emilina, because it’s different.

BIRTH YEAR: An absolutely important thing, the birth year of your character in relation to the age they look or are written as will set the year for the story and immediately make the reader think of that time period. For example, I tend to like to write the teenagers of the past decade. Things were a lot different in the world ten years ago, and I try to show that best I can to give a different vibe and feel to the story. You definitely should have a set birth year for your characters to show us when they are from and its relation to their daily lifestyle.

BUILD: Body shape, height, and weight definitely play a huge part in how readers will view your character. Use clever words to describe it if you don’t say it outright. Try to vary height and weight at least a little bit, but don’t go to extremes so unrealistic that the characters don’t even seem to fit with the style. Personally I tend to have my characters’ heights hover between 5’5-5’7 because those are common and realistic heights, but I do have those who are taller and those who are shorter. It’s a bell curve.

INTELLIGENCE: I have other guides that go way more in depth on personality, so I won’t go too deep on those traits here but I will say this—the bell curve also would apply here. For those of you who don’t know what a bell curve is, look it up. It’s something very helpful to keep in mind with large groups of characters. Most are going to be average intelligence. A large part will be just a bit above or below. And the extremes are rare. Writing a group full of genius characters is something you might think was a brilliant idea, but it’s actually kind of redundant and unrealistic. Keep a variety of intelligence levels.

ETHNICITY: Finding different and exotic ethnic combinations for your character can really leave an interesting image in people’s minds as they are able to more clearly imagine features on the character, or get a hint as to their family background if it’s important for the story. Would you rather read about a character who is just the standard unspecified European or would you like to know that he’s half Portuguese and half Italian? Try to think of combinations that haven’t been done before, or often. For example, someone who’s half Brazilian and half Malaysian. The possibilities are endless.

HAIR COLOR: What would grab your attention more—someone with dull brown hair or flashy hot pink with orange highlights? Or sky blue that fades into neon green waves with white tips? Or dark purple that transitions lighter and lighter until its white at the bottom? Again, there is a plethora of possibilities. Work in color combinations that other people might not have even thought of before. Don’t settle for the common brown or overused black hair. Be creative! Based on the hairstyle, you can really get…any kind of look you want! Don’t be like everyone else!

EYE COLOR: Similar to hair, fades and combinations are endless. Think in terms of two tone and maybe even three tone eyes. Don’t always pick the common brown or expectable blue.

COLOR SCHEME: Have a color scheme in mind for your character’s outfits and powers that works with their hair and eye colors but doesn’t overpower it. Have a color palate in mind but always have the hair and eye colors set first, then go off of those colors to design the outfit.

FASHION STYLE: Not every character needs a specific style or a fashion statement, but you should have some generalized but consistent idea in your head of what that character would never wear and what they are likely to choose off the rack. If your character is always chilly, they’re not gonna walk around in a tank top and shorts. If your character is gothic, they’re not going to walk around in neon yellow. Some people really will slack with this and just draw their characters all in a general neutral kind of fashion style usually consisting of jeans and a tee shirt, but you know what that is if you do it all the time? BOOOOORING! Spice it up! Let your girls show a bit of cleavage. Give your guys a few holes in their pants. Draw girls in both skirts and shorts. Show guys in flannel, tank tops, and jackets—because some artists tend to forget that not all guys wear tee shirts all the time. Add graphics. Add character. Maybe even clothing brands, if you want to go there.

ACCESSORIES: This is definitely not necessary for character diversity, but if you want to go for it, then by all means, do so. If you want to give your character piercings, maybe have it in different locations than most people would pic. Same with tattoos. Try to have some kind of reason why they’re there. Maybe your character has a cane, an animal, a magical weapon, a backpack, or purse they always have around. Avoid the ones which are commonly picked, and try to think of your own. But never, absolutely NEVER throw in an accessory without reason. People tend to like to be free and not want to carry stuff around, or have stuff on them for no reason.

HOBBIES: This is where a lot of people fail to add real life to characters and tend to fall back on stereotypes and general typical hobbies. NO!!! Do not do this! Choose a set of hobbies for your character that are realistic and relevant but also interesting. A shy, nerdy kind of girl who’s into comics and science fiction books is BOOOORING. Add things people wouldn’t expect. Maybe she’s secretly a huge adrenaline junkie who has a thing for rollercoasters and skydiving.

PREFERENCES: Clearly, not everyone gets along with everyone. We all have preferences on what people we like to befriend, who we are attracted to, and who we just can’t stand. Be sure to include that somewhere somehow in your character’s bio—some kind of social input with an explanation of why they feel that way. Who people connect with and clash with definitely adds to who they are.

***Copy and paste of the journals if some of you are phone-bound or have issues reading. Please remember I did not create this and credit goes to PrennCooder at Deviantart

How To Make A Good Villain

WHY: Why put so much effort into making “the bad guy”? The clear and obvious answer is that any and every character in your story who is well done would have a great impact on your story and also intrigue your readers. If they know you love your hero and put a lot of work into him, and didn’t really care about your villain because he was just going to lose anyway…what’s the point of even having a villain at all? Make your villains worth the attention, almost as much as the main group. Readers can love great villains just as much as great heroes. Keep it interesting.

WHAT MAKES AN ANTAGONIST: Before you make your villain, it’s important to know what makes a villain different from the rest of the cast. Different from an anti-hero, a true antagonist is a character with one or more things about them that is viewed as fundamentally morally controversial (and typically backwards) to the world they are in. Their choices, beliefs, and actions more often than not disturb the other characters around them and create issues that the general society would deem as problematic. A basic example being a killer in a world where life is promoted. Another example could be a person who rebels against the military and refuses to join, on an alien planet where the entire population is expected to be in the military.

BEST CHOICE: The most important thing to know about a villain is that from their perspective, they are doing the best thing possible for their situation. They probably won’t be able to be convinced otherwise. That’s what everyone believes, right? That they did as much as they could? Nobody would, knowing the facts of both choices, choose the path for them that isn’t as great. Everyone does what they think is best for themselves. Antagonists may or may not understand that the rest of the characters perceive them as doing something wrong, and they may or may not acknowledge it. But at a fundamental level, the antagonist thinks of their choices being the ideal way and having the best benefit for themselves. Regular people’s thought process would not always be so different, but it’s more dependent on the variables.

VILLAIN STEREOTYPES TO AVOID: Lots of cartoons tend to go with the stereotypes of making their villains goofy, unintelligent, exaggeratedly insane, either really beautiful or really ugly, and the leader of a group of villains. Avoid all of these stereotypes and go with a getup for your villain that makes sense with who they are. An idiot or completely unstable villain wouldn’t get very far in their goals. Minions are…unrealistic, unnecessary, and overdone. Maybe give your villain a few partners or a henchman. Not a hundred people who will do what he says without question. Those people would have choices too, and their own lives. People tend to write in minions just for convenience.

CREATING A VILLAIN: Before you add onto them what makes them a villain, you have to have a character idea first. If your root/core idea for the character is poorly constructed, your villain won’t be taken seriously and will instead fall flat. You need a character who can be written just as well as the main cast and can have a decent involvement in the story and universe. If he’s not important then why is he there at all?

BASE IDEA: You can’t just add “villain sounding things” all together and expect a character to come out of it. You need to have a character in mind first before you build on how to make them an antagonist. For example, the neutral character description of a greasy-haired bespectacled nerdy girl.

SKILLS: If anyone wants to get ahead in life, they’ve gotta be skilled in something. They should absolutely still have their flaws and weaknesses, but being skilled at multiple things can be a help to your story. Villains work counterproductive to society and so they will need to have strengths that they recognize and can build on. Think of some skills for your villain and also some things that they struggle with. Nobody’s perfect. Flawless villains who always get what they want or ones who always fail are likewise boring, flat, ad unrealistic.

MOTIVATION: The cliché take-over-the-world thing isn’t a real kind of motivation. Nobody actually thinks they can run the whole world by themselves, not even the biggest yahoos out there. Make sure your villain has a driving force that is clear to them as well as to you. Some reason, some scheme, some goal, desire, lust, obsession, is keeping them going against the things that the people around them believe in. Think psychological. What’s keeping them moving? What’s got them believing that they are right and everybody else’s views are irrelevant or counterproductive? What’s got them thinking they take precedence over others or that they don’t care who gets in their way?

ABILITIES: This is optional but in a world where it’s possible for some people to have powers, be certain that your character’s ability fits with the universe and is in no way OP. I’ll never forget seeing someone state that “your villain should always be more powerful than the world they are in” but that statement couldn’t be more ignorantly idiotic. There is no excuse ever to make an OP character. Not to say that your villain can’t be powerful, because they absolutely can, but nobody is exempt from the rules of the universe that you set. And no single villain you write should be the end-all-be-all ultimate worst thing to happen to the universe. Make your villain a fit for the universe.

DESIRE: Antagonists will have some kind of end goal, and some goals along the way, whether it’s kind of generalized or oddly specific. The motivation is what keeps their spark and their skills and abilities are what allow them to break rules and/or get ahead. It’s all in effort towards satisfying what they desire. Make sure what your antagonist desires is something understandable to the readers. Your readers don’t necessarily have to empathize with your villain but I absolutely think it’s necessary for them to understand them and the reason behind what they do why they do.

PERSONALITY: Like any character, a good villain has a great personality. Something deep, realistic, and multifaceted which shows moods and preferences. They have a surface personality that other people can see, and then more intimate subconscious personality components that only the writer and reader may know. Don’t ever limit yourself by keeping it simple. Reveal bits and pieces of who he is over time.

WARPED: Somewhere, something inside is warped from the average views of the population in your story. Something about your antagonist is different, disruptive, immoral, and skewed. It may be something small and hard to notice or it could be an obvious bolder trait. Show us what’s “wrong” with your villain, but write it in such a way that your readers will understand the psychology behind it.

FLAWS: Hopefully nothing as cliché and predictable as a bezerk button, but your villain should definitely have flaws that challenge or burden them at some point throughout the story progression.

ROLE: Your antagonist should have some role and a reason for being in the story; not just to throw off the hero. Your villain is likely to follow their own route, and go by their own plans, and then for the hero to intervene. They probably are not going to seek out the very person or group who could stop them, but if that’s the route you want to go, make sure there is a valid explicable reason and that your villain has backup behind them. Show who they are NOW in the story more so than focusing on the past. Even a character whose mind is stuck in their own past has something of a focus on it in the present. Keep things relevant and mostly up to date.

BECOMING EVIL: Babies are born indifferent, because they don’t know the world they were born into yet. But as people grow up, learn, make choices, and allow themselves to change based on life events they can’t control, they each develop their own sense of morality. Whether they chose to align with a group or another person’s moral standards, they reach a certain point where they have to decide for themselves what they believe in, and this could lead to them becoming “evil” by someone else’s definition of it.

TURNING GOOD: A villain turning good and realizing the error of their ways can be a nice touch to the story but make sure it makes sense and that they have a gradual and believable path they take in life which would lead them to grow and to alter their life perspective. People don’t just “change”. It’s a choice, and usually over time or with some kind of obvious choice they are faced with where there is no grey area.

ACTIVE OR PASSIVE: Be consistent in showing or building to your villain’s activity in the local world, or have a reason for a seemingly random kind of “pattern” of their activity. Some villains will be bold, courageous, vicious, and in your face whereas others will silently rebel or stick to the background to carry out their sneaky plans.

RELATIONSHIP TO HEROES: Your villain doesn’t have to have any kind of historical ties to your character, but you should definitely make it clear to the reader what their current thoughts on the heroes are and how they perceive each other.

NOT JUST ONE: A good story has more than one conflict, and multiple antagonists. Whether they are grouped up together, total strangers, or even hate each other, try to have at least two antagonists in the course of your story.