Writing Guide I: Characters

There are many things that make a good story, but I have to say the characters are the most important. If you have a character who is clever, has a good voice, and portrays them self the same way throughout the story you're pretty much good to go. Making a good character is easier said than done. There are certain things required.

For one you don't want your character to be unrealistic. I've seen, on too many occasions, girls who are crazy bubbly all the time. Ones who claim to have ADD and drink too much coffee and so on. There are some people who are very social and happy and crazy, but not all the time. Everybody has bad days. The girl/boy is not going to jumping up and down while yelling crap like "I like banana's!" for no reason all day every day.

Another thing I've been seeing a lot are children who are abused. For some reason, I have a fair amount of experience with abused kids. (My previous friends, not me personally) Not all of them are whimpering and in fear, because it becomes normal after a while. Most I've met have bad attitudes towards their parents, even if it results in more abuse. And most don't talk about it openly as I've seen in so many stories. They don't tell their school, or their enemy to shut them up. They don't want people to know, some find it shameful.

A good voice is key. Having somebody whose thoughts are like this:

I felt sad. I didn't want Bob to leave. I like him. He is really cute and funny. He can make me life.

is just plain boring and a waste of time. Put some adjectives in there, people. Spice it up and tell them how they're feeling, not just what's going on. You have to balance it out. Having said that, you don't want every sentence to be like this:

His warm, soft lips met mine hastily and fast, as his cold, slim hands felt my skinny, but not too skinny waist, as he kissed me softly, but with force and compassion that burned like the heat of two hundred white-suns that could sear you skin with in two short seconds.

That, my friend, is a run-on sentence that's way too overwhelming. You don't want to describe everything, because it's kind of fun to image things on your own. Adding to that you don't want a sentence full of links. Don't have a picture of the room, your character, her shoes, her socks, her brand of lip gloss, and the carpet she really likes. Try describing it the best you can if the detail is that important.

Something I, and I'm pretty sure a majority of other people, get annoyed with are names. If you have every name in your story names like: Darkness, Shadow, Spike, Depression, and Emo you look like an idiot. There's no nice way of putting it. Then again, you don't want every name to be Bob, Jessica, Nancy, Betty, and John. Use normal names, and throw some unique names in there.

Another thing to look out for is the whole 'cliques' thing. It seems like since Mean Girls [an awesome movie, don't me wrong] came out, it seems like every lunch room has assigned tables. Unless there at charm school or something and can't change where they once they wore a Hollister shirt or teased their hair, nobody want to read that. And not every girl who wears pink is a blond slut with a fake tan and fake boobs, this isn't Jersey Shore. (Zing!)

Oh, and there isn't really one boy who looks like Chace Crawford and has a rich dad and has threesome every night. There's just not.

Now onto a real life character (band members, singers, actors, etc). Here is one thing that drives me nuts: when a girl goes back stage meets Justin Bieber, and he shows up at her house the next day. That will not happen. Your best bet is making a story between long-time friends or between a character that you make up who's a celebrity.

Another thing not to do is to make a story up about Draco Malfoy when you haven't read a single book and just think Tom Felton his hot. Along with that do not change the course of Harry Potter or Twilight or whatever you're writing about. If you haven't read a book completely or whatever, use a minor character. Like use Paul or Seth from Twilight, not Jacob.

That's pretty much all I can say.