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Holepunch's Mary Sue Litmus Test: Ah, the Mary Sue. We can't cobble together a truly comprehensive description of what they are, exactly, but we can agree on one thing: an annoying, 'perfect' character who, through a general lack of flaws and character development, is excruciating to sit through and often makes us gnash our teeth, tear our hair, and reach for the back button. This nefarious creature can be measured and detected, so let's all grab our magnifying glasses and get classifying. This is a subjective subject; a trait that drives one person right up the wall might fail to get any reaction from another. As you go through the list, c

BASIC INFORMATION Full name: Pronunciation: Nickname(s) or Alias: Gender: Species: Age: Birthday: Sexuality: Nationality: Religion: City or town of birth: Currently lives: Languages spoken: Native language: Relationship Status: PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Height: Weight: Figure/build: Hair colour: Hairstyle: Facial Hairstyle: Eye colour: Skin/fur/etc colour: Tattoos: Piercings: Scars/distinguishing marks: Preferred style of clothing: Frequently worn jewellery/accessories: HEALTH Smoker? Drinker? Recreational Drug User? Which? Addictions: Allergies: Any physical ailments/illnesses/disabilities: Any medication regul

How to Write Good Characters By Sithking Zero (Note: it is recommended, but not necessary, that one reads the companion work "How to Write Fanfiction," in addition to this.) What is a character? Quite simply, it is a person who only exists within the bounds of a story, movie, play, or other fictional work. They are the medium through which the story is told, the screens through which we see their world. They are as varied and unique as real people are, sometimes even more so. Characters are absolutely vital to the narrative process, and a story cannot exist without them. But what separates the good characters from the Mary Sues? What d

On Basic Sentence Structure for Fiction   (Grammar Nazis BEWARE!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everything I ever learned about writing Fiction DIDN'T come from school; not even college. In fact, the way one writes fiction is almost the complete opposite of everything I learned in school about writing. In order to make my stories crystal clear in my readers' imaginations, I write in precise Chronological Order, in the order events actually happen, PLUS in the order that the eye sees it. Case in point, when describing a character, I describe them from top to bottom, in the order that the eye notices them. Face, hair, upper body, arms, hands, then lower

Everyone's heard that characters should have goals, something they want and must strive for, overcoming obstacles and antagonists in order to obtain. Because, well, a story is the record of your character's journey toward achieving a goal. While all of this is true, I think a lot of writers lose sight of an even more important aspect of character. That is, motivation. Sure, you know what your character wants. Why? That's the gist of motivation. What is the psychology and reasoning behind your character's goal? If your character is driven to make money, is his motivation greed? To pay off a debt? To support his family? Motivation is your c

Got nothing to write?  Stuck in the middle of a story?  Just getting your mind wrapped around a new idea?  Asking yourself, "Where do I go from here?" Here is the two-step guide to story development.  It works every time, 100% guaranteed.   Step one: Ask yourself this simple question: "What if?" Staring at a blank page?  Ask "What if . . . ?" Stuck in the middle of a story?  Ask "What if . . . ?" Don't know how to end your story?  Ask "What if . . . ?" Don't think your story is going in quite the right direction?  Ask "What if . . .?" Step two: Ask yourself this second simple question: "Why?" What if aliens invaded our planet? Why?

Point of View – AKA Narrative Mode Quite basically, who's telling the story? Not necessarily which character, since that doesn't always really play much of a factor, but rather who the chronicler is. As a general rule, you want the point of view to remain the same throughout, although, we'll talk a bit more on that later, and why people tend to hate it. First Person This is Running with Scissors or How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (the books; not the later live-action adaptations). The whole of the story is told in the words of the main character. By definition, first person point of view is limited, meaning that the narrator c

Advanced CHARACTER Creation ~ for Fiction Hero ~ Villain ~ Ally ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are three essential characters in every story. There may be any number of side characters, but in traditional Adventures, and Romances of every stripe (erotic or not,) the main conflict is usually, if not always, a TRIANGLE of complimentary opposites. Translation: You could tell the whole story with ONLY these Three Characters; perhaps not with any real detail, but you could still do the entire basic plotline. THREE Characters? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm sure you're familiar with the names Hero & Villain or Antagonist & Protagonist already. Those are pre