Are there any foods with symbolic meanings that are eaten on special occasions (e.g. katsudon for victory, or new years oranges for luck)? How did the tradition get started?
We all know about weddings and marriage, but are there any ceremonies that symbolically / legally / magically officialize a different type of relationship in your world’s culture? (Adoption, apprenticeship, friendship, etc.)
What’s a rule or social norm that is widely followed in theory, but in practice everyone knows it’s not a big deal and breaks it all the time?
Are there any trades or hobbies whose practitioners are stereotyped as weird or extraordinary? (E.g. the “mad hatter” trope.) Why? How true is this perception?
What are some cliches, tropes, and/or plots that commonly appear in stories written by your world’s inhabitants? What were they inspired by? Why are they popular?
What is a common way to subtly insult someone in your world, without crossing into overt rudeness? Gifting an item with negative connotations? Addressing them more familiarly or formally than normal? Backhanded compliments?
If you pulled a random average Joe off the streets of your world and asked them to draw a house, what would they draw? (Shape, roof style, position and number of windows, etc.)
Is there a place in your world that nobody has ever been to - the bottom of a cave, the moon, another dimension, etc.? How do people know it exists? Why haven’t they gone there? What do they believe it’s like, and how right/wrong are they?
What aesthetics are considered “advanced” or “futuristic” in your world - canvas wings, shiny chrome, smooth plastic? How has this changed over time?
What’s a fun fact about your world that you as the worldbuilder are dying to share, but nobody ever thinks to ask?
Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:
1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others’ emotions and gain an advantage.
2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.
3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character’s ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.
4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.
5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character’s courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.
6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it’s detrimental.
7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.
8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character’s protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.
9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character’s selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.
10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character’s commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.
These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.
How to create internal conflict in your characters
Developing internal conflict in book characters is essential to creating well-rounded and compelling characters that readers can relate to and empathize with. Here are some tips to help you create internal conflict in your book characters:
Give your characters a goal
Every character needs a goal, and their internal conflict should stem from the obstacles they face while trying to achieve that goal. When a character has a clear goal, it helps to create tension and conflict within themselves.
Create a backstory
A character’s backstory can be a powerful tool in creating internal conflict. Explore their past experiences and how they have shaped the character’s current beliefs and values. This can help to create internal conflict by highlighting contradictions or inconsistencies in the character’s beliefs or behaviors.
Use a character’s flaws
A character’s flaws can create internal conflict by causing them to question their own judgment or struggle with their sense of self-worth. Consider giving your characters a flaw or two, and show how these flaws cause them to make mistakes or struggle with their decisions.
Show conflicting emotions
A character can experience conflicting emotions, such as feeling both love and hate towards another character, or wanting to do what is right but being held back by fear. By showing these conflicting emotions, you can create internal conflict within the character.
Use external events
External events can also create internal conflict in characters. For example, a character who has always believed in following the rules may be forced to break them to save someone they love. This can create an internal conflict within the character as they struggle with the consequences of their actions.
By using these techniques, you can create complex and engaging characters that readers will be invested in. Remember that internal conflict can be just as important as external conflict in creating a compelling story. And as always, our tips are just suggestions! Hope this helps you with your writing :)
Worldbuilding can sound complicated, but why not make it a little more simple by focusing on food? It may be the domestic touch you need! NaNo Participant
Lacey Pfalz talks about using meal scenes to develop your world and your characters.
There’s one thing that remains a universal human truth: we love food!
While our perspectives on food might differ, people all across the
globe gather together during mealtimes — and thus, mealtimes are made
memorable.
Meal scenes can also help your story in a few key ways, especially if it’s fantasy, science fiction or historical fiction.
Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:
1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others’ emotions and gain an advantage.
2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.
3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character’s ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.
4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.
5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character’s courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.
6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it’s detrimental.
7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.
8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character’s protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.
9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character’s selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.
10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character’s commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.
These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.
Based out of the UK, artist Steve Payne is the brainchild behind the project entitled REPLACEFACE. Payne takes digital copies of the works of English painter George Dawe (get your Art History learn on if you don’t know who that is!) to literally swap the heads of the original subjects with the heads of contemporary celebrities.
This is a much-talked-about topic. So, rather than going the traditional pros-and-cons route, I’m going to give you some advice on which factors to consider when making your decision:
1. First thing’s first: what’s the difference?
Self-publishing a book means that you are putting it out there on your own - no publishing house and no literary agent. You will be in charge of every aspect - editing, proofreading, marketing, the book launch, cover design etc.
Traditional publishing means that your book has been purchased by a publishing house and that said house is responsible for getting your book out into the world. This process also usually entails being represented by a literary agent.
2. Factor: Your knowledge base
Few writers are writers only, which means that you might have a particular set of skills or a vast array of knowledge in an area that could assist you in one of these publishing routes.
Knowledge needed for self-publishing: some business knowledge, knowledge of the entire process needed to publish a book, knowledge of self-publishing platforms etc.
Knowledge needed for traditional publishing: knowledge about the publishing industry - about literary agents and publishing houses, about what to look out for in contracts, about querying and going on submission etc.
Keep in mind that this knowledge can be acquired. It doesn’t have to be something you already possess. But the type of studies/research you do will be determined by the route you choose to take.
So, if you majored in an area of business, if you worked for a publisher for years etc., you already have a good foundation for self-publishing.
If you’re like me and you’ve been researching the industry since you were 15 (and have a law student’s knowledge of contracts), your skills may assist you better in traditional publishing.
So, think about the type of knowledge you have/would be able to acquire.
Keep in mind: marketing knowledge is applicable and needed for both routes.
3. Factor: Budgetary concerns
We’re not all in the same financial situation. I know it’s not fun to talk about money, but it does play a significant role in publishing.
With traditional publishing, you will have to spend money on marketing. Furthermore, if you hire an editor/critique service in order to polish your manuscript before you query, that’ll cost you a few bucks too.
However, self-publishing requires a lot more money. You need to pay a cover designer, critique service, editor, proofreader, formatter etc.(there are often packages to this effect) And you will have to pay for marketing as well. If you use platforms like CreateSpace or IngramSpark, you don’t have to pay for the printing itself, since it’s print-on-demand.
This consideration isn’t about whether you have bags of money just waiting to be used. It’s about whether you have the financial and personal capacity to save the money you need (and whether you can budget well). Calculating how much you need to save each month in order to self-publish and sticking to that calculation will be necessary for the self-publishing route (unless you have quite a few dollars lying around).
So, if you are on a VERY tight budget (like me as a student) or know that you are absolutely horrible at sticking to your saving goals, consider trying the traditional publishing avenue.
HOWEVER, the income you receive from the published product must also be kept in mind. With traditional publishing, authors get a (relatively small) advance and then a small percentage of the sales as royalties (12% is generous where I’m from). Since the publisher paid for everything, they also get most of the profit. With self-publishing, you get the biggest percentage of the sales revenue (some of it will go to the printing and distributing platform).
4: Factor: Your personality/preferences
Are you a very versatile person? Would you like spending your time on various different aspects of the publishing process? Do you need control of every aspect of your book baby’s release into the world? Are you good at managing projects? Can you be difficult to work with? Are you excited by the idea of paving your own way and ignoring industry stigmas? Are you great at sticking to self-imposed deadlines? Then you’re probably more suited to the world of self-publishing.
Do you want to focus on writing (and marketing) and not really the other stuff? Are you okay with relinquishing some control? Do you work well with others? Does prestige matter to you? Does the idea of managing a big project alone give you the jitters? Then your personality might work better for traditional publishing.
Please don’t think that this is set in stone. I’m not trying to place anyone in a box. This is just another factor you can take into account when making your decision.
5. A decision doesn’t bind you for life
You can be a hybrid author. If you’ve decided to pursue traditional publishing, you can always switch to self-publishing later once you’ve made a name for yourself. If you’ve already self-published one (or a few) books, nothing prevents you from querying agents for a different project and going the traditional route. (In fact, having self-published books might count in your favour.)
So, it is an important decision, but it isn’t set in stone.
I hope that this is helpful. If you have any questions, head over to my asks. And if you want to request a writing advice post, don’t be shy.
Reblog if you found these tips useful. Comment with the route you’re thinking of taking. Follow me for similar content.
Remember that the plot should guide how characters develop, so be careful about planning too much development before you know how the story will unfold. Too much planning, particularly without any flexibility, can lead to disjointed stories where the plot and characters don’t quite line up, weakening the narrative. Plot and character growth shouldn’t be isolated from one another.
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