Links, Resources, & Blog
Hope Mueller (class of 2017) has been writing fan fiction. You can read her works here.
Teaching Creative Writing, I get all sorts of questions from students. Occasionally I have some who want to challenge their writing and use characters unlike themselves. It's always exciting to have a teen writer who wants to include someone other than an average teen in his/her story, but doing this successfully isn't always easy for those who are still (hopefully) so inexperienced with life. When thinking about how your character should sound, consider who the character is. Who are you basing the character on? Even if the character was created in the deep recesses of your mind, chances are there is a real person or existing character that is similar to yours. Studying that person can help you develop your own creation more. Maybe your creation is a combination of a couple of people you know; decide which qualities from each person you want to use and pay attention to those details when they are around. Granted, it is possible that you may come across like a weirdo stalker if you go out of your way to study them, but if they know you as a writer, then they should understand that anything said or done around you is fair game for your stories...and that all writers are a little crazy. But what if your character is smarter than you could ever imagine being? Well, if you don't want to create a different character and really want to continue with Dr. Adept Pretention, then there are resources you can use to help you flush out an authentic character. If you don't know anyone who is similar to the character you are creating, consider combing through theses and dissertations from academics in the field of your character. Open Access Theses and Dissertations is a great place to find researched writing from all fields. Search for the field your character is involved in and see what the results are. Now, just to give you fair warning, the papers are a bit dense, but skimming through them may help you acquire the vocabulary you are looking for.
Even if your character isn't insanely intelligent, a little research into the region, profession, political affiliation, etc. your character is part of will go a long way to add to your credibility as a writer. Some of you new writers may be wondering, Why should I do research for a story that is completely made up in my mind? Think about how often you've read or watched something and felt that the character, situation, setting, etc. was not believable. If you are serious about your writing and you want your work to be believable, you will put in the blood, sweat, and tears to tell the story authentically. Without some attempt at authenticity, you basically just have ambiguous crap pulled out of nowhere. And nobody likes a bunch of questionable crap.
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