Designing Your Characters

S10 Bonus – Character Interviews

by Leigh Hull
May 30, 2020October 1, 2020

The only characters I ever don’t like are the ones that leave no impression on me. And I don’t write characters that leave no impression on me. – Lauren DeStefano

S10E8 – Character Archetypes

by Leigh Hull
May 28, 2020May 27, 2020

The librarian, the warrior, the free spirit… archetypes are a great jumping off point to help clarify where we want to go with a character. – Kristan Higgins

S10E7 – Developing Character Strengths

by Leigh Hull
May 25, 2020May 25, 2020

You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are. – Joss Whedon

S10E6 – Developing Character Flaws

by Leigh Hull
May 21, 2020May 20, 2020

In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations! – Anton Chekhov

S10E5 – Character History: Nurture

by Leigh Hull
May 18, 2020May 17, 2020

People – and characters – are made up of their past experiences. When crafting a character, one of the most important aspects we consider is her past. – Sky Fairwin

S10E4 – Character History: Nature

by Leigh Hull
May 14, 2020

One brain’s blueprint may promote joy more readily than most; in another, pessimism reigns. Whether happiness infuses or eludes a person depends, in part, on the DNA he has chanced to receive. – Thomas Lewis

S10E3 – Creating and Developing Character Relationships

by Ley Esses
May 11, 2020May 11, 2020

A lone protagonist never receives as great a reaction as one with a well-developed supporting cast. – Susan Spann

S10E2 – Using D&D to Create a Story Character

by Leigh Hull
May 7, 2020May 7, 2020

You are not entering this world in the usual manner, for you are setting forth to be a Dungeon Master. Certainly there are stout fighters, mighty magic-users, wily thieves, and courageous clerics who will make their mark in the magical lands of D&D adventure. You however, are above even the greatest of these, for as DM you are to become the Shaper of the Cosmos. It is you who will give form and content to all the universe. You will breathe life into the stillness, giving meaning and purpose to all the actions which are to follow. – Gary Gygax

S10E1 – Statistics of a Character

by Leigh Hull
May 4, 2020May 4, 2020

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. – Ernest Hemingway

We write because we have passion for the stories, worlds, and characters we create. We want nothing more than to show others the fantastic things we’ve imagined. For new authors, that often leads to exposition.

There’s a delicate line between providing enough information for the reader to understand and giving them too much. That’s why through June, we’re talking about Avoiding the Info Dump. Each episode, we talk about the best ways to explain and describe different elements of your world, from the magic to the character’s backstory.