Writing Tips: Character Hacks

Writing tip! When you get stuck with a character or they just don't feel right maybe its because you've only developed them to fit the context of your current plot line. A way to escape this and make them feel like more round characters is to do this...

Write out 20 things NO ONE KNOWS (or will ever know in the context of your story) about your character.

I did this with a lot of my characters from one of my books and it really helped. It also gave me great ideas pertaining to my current story.

Here is my example:

20 Things NO ONE KNOWS About Kai

1. he is a morning person.
2. he loves the color pink. Not for clothes or anything like that, but he loves the pink in sunsets and sunrises.
3. if he could fight, his weapon of choice would be broadswords.
4. he is very ticklish. Especially in the ribs and the soles of his feet.
5. when he was small he used to love to whittle sticks. He still does from time to time.
6. he was a very small child, at twelve he was sure Moana would pass him in height.
7. he always wanted a pet squirrel. He would think about it riding on his shoulder and they would climb trees together.
8. he has had jobs as a millers, butchers, bakers, and carpenters assistant.
9. once he beat up another brown eyes boy for making fun of Moana. He was sent to the stalks because of it. But was released do to a word from the empress.
10. he is known in the fields for being the first one up and working in the morning.
11. he has spent many nights working secretly in various shops after curfew for extra money.
12. he has horrible hand eye coordination.
13. he often has dreams about flying out of the Oasis, but always ends in him falling back down.
14. Kai is a good looking kid who has has the option to have a romance but has always steered away from them because it would distract from his family. Even though his family is always encouraging him to find a girl.
15. When Kai was fourteen he fell from a tree and broke his leg. He refused to let anyone but his sister touch it. This was her first heal. She still says that he fell on purpose to give her the motivation to use her magic. Because of the fall he still has a slight limp from time to time.
16. Kai is the spitting image of his father.
17. he is a quick witted risk taker.
18. he is completely tone deaf, he is a horrible singer, the opposite of his mother and sister.  
19. 
    
    if he had his own business he would want to run the library.
20. He, according to his mother; was the loudest baby, the shyest toddler, the grumpiest child, the most outgoing preteen, and the most reserved teen.

BONUS TIP! For you who made it all the way to the end of this post here is another tip. Find a picture to represent your character then photo shop in words and phrases that define or describe them. 

-Anna Lynn