Pen After the Storm

These prompts are for anyone interested in writing fiction (novels and short stories), whether they are a beginner or farther along in their creative writing journey.

What Makes for a Great Character

In my opinion: Relatability

• Making choices that make sense to the reader when seen from their perspective
• Some unique qualities and flaws that don’t just exist to make them useful to the plot or more palatable
• They have relationships that we understand and also care about

Coming Up With New Characters

1. Who do you (the author) want to be like? Who do you wish you were, if you could be them? Change a couple details and make them a character in your story.
2. Describe a kid from your elementary school class and how you imagine them to be as an adult. Use this imagined adult version of them as a character.
3. Sit somewhere public and observe people, like at a coffee shop or park. For each person that seems a little interesting, write down in a notebook one quality they have that caught your attention. Then observe a new person and do the same thing. At the end of the afternoon, combine all these traits and design a character that possesses all of them, in different measures.

Fleshing Out Existing Characters

1. Make a music playlist they would listen to in a specific mood or situation.
2. Make a Pinterest board of their aesthetic.
3. What in this world makes them the most angry? How do they handle their anger?
4. Who/what kind of person are they most protective of and why?
5. What are they so afraid of that they avoid, to the point that they’re kind of delusional about it?

For Fantasy or Sci-Fi, Specifically

1. How could the magic system in the story adapt or react to their emotions and experiences? How does the magic system change in relation to their biggest strengths, and their biggest weakness? Are they self-aware about the impact they have on their world? How do the other characters react?
2. Take your protagonist. Imagine you could take away all their power, skill, or influence over other people, and strip them down to the absolute basics. What’s left? Describe them in this state in 1 word.
3. The setting and worldbuilding… Where in this world do they go when they’re overwhelmed? What does it look and feel like to them? Why do they choose it?

For Romance Protagonists

1. Who was their first sexual experience? Was it consensual/safe? Did they enjoy it? Why did they decide to pursue that person? Did they tell anyone after? How would they tell the story now? Answer for both main characters.
2. When they fall in love, what’s their flirting style? What traits do they have that they lean into? What do they try to gloss over, hide, or disguise? When they’re deeply attracted to someone, do they find it easy to be outgoing with that person?
3. Make a Pinterest board capturing their most romantic experiences in collage. Or make a private blog or Tumblr capturing their romantic and sexual life.
4. If you’re writing an enemies-to-lovers story- what did your two main characters have in common all along?
5. When their first kiss happens in the story, how do you want them to feel? Is there an experience in your life that you want to draw on for that moment in the story?