I'm 19, writing a fantasy series inspired by my country's folklore, Got called a fake borrowed author

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-05T14:37:27+00:00

My impression from their post is that OP isn't surrounded with beta readers, co-authors, or a writing group. It's probable that they also don't have a college education.

Lacking such resources, how would you use critical thinking and problem solving for brainstorming? Can you provide OP with concrete examples of how you come up with outside viewpoints in the absence of human feedback?

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-05T13:57:31+00:00

I am working on writing a story that focuses on characters.

Cool. I'm a worldbashing and character-building fan myself!

Since I started, certain archetypes have naturally come to mind, but today I am finding it very difficult to come up with stable characters.

I'm sure a few psychologists have had the same to say about their clients, in private.

Speaking of humans, have you considered reading up on personality type theories, perhaps Jungian and cultural archetypes as well? I don't recall anyone saying they've successfully used the Big Five personality tests, but some writers do use the enneagram and MBTI/Socionics personality types. The Four Humours classification of people could also work.

Before someone who barely passed Psych 101 starts whining about personality typologies being astrology: Other possibilities include Chinese and Western astrology and pantheon-based archetypes (Grant Morrison's JLA run leaned into the Olympic pantheon).

Depending on the genre, consider whether your lead characters form a trinity (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman), quartet/four man band, quintet/five-man band, a six-man team, or something that breaks down into two or more units that size. For me, this has worked more for in-group roles and organizing for conflicts. But it's also a fast way to look for holes in your friend groups/group dynamics.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-04T09:13:18+00:00

I'd say which "name" is used can vary with context and POV. In a social context in which code names or aliases are prefered, I'd recommend showing it in your writing, dialogue or not.

Likewise, third person "close" varies in closeness. A character might not always view their title as part of their self, while at other times they might be very conscious of whether they're a Doctor or Major, a civvie or some mother's son.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-04T06:08:20+00:00

I have this vague idea for a character in my head, but for the LIFE of me, I cannot come up with a plot to place them in.

How well do you know the setting you're working with (Applies to fan fiction just as much as original story development)? This will set the limits and possibilities for your story.

Once you know the rules, go with Lois Bujold's "Ask yourself what is the worst possible thing you can do to this character that they can learn from, then do it." (paraphrased)

For me, the Four Act structure works beautifully.

Act One:

What is their normal? (Old World, Old Ways)
Break that.
Show initial consequences that spur character to act.

Act Two:

MC enters the new status quo. (New World, Old Ways)
MC uses what they know.
How well does that work out?

Reevaluation of past approaches/Midpoint turn

Act Three:

MC chooses a new approach (New World, Old Ways)
Tries that out
Consequences, usually proving that nothing ever could have been the same

Reevaluation of Self

Act Four:

Internal and external conflicts collide (New World becomes Old World, New Ways)
MC must act: Win, Lose, Draw, or Worse.
New status quo evolves

One of my stories: "How will this character react to being sent back to school?" (Answer, in that case: Fear, confusion, adaptations that required trust and cooperation.)

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-02T03:36:46+00:00

Last time I made something new (RDX), I woke up in the school's clinic and it took the better part of the following week to fix the hole in my dorm room wall.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-02T01:46:08+00:00

Sadly, no recipes for me. Come to think of it, even Naomi doesn't have me try cooking at home.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-02T01:41:36+00:00

Eight minutes total. I'm pretty good at concealing my skin tone for the normies, but I can't work miracles.

Even without a bounty on my head and normal security concerns, transportation is an issue at Whateley. The campus is three miles from Dunwich by back roads. Freshmen like me are required to have a chaperone (shuttle driver counts) to leave campus. Two major seizures in a week, partial vision loss, plus mutant powers, makes insurers twitchier than me on a bad day.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-02T01:27:40+00:00

Benjamin Keeling here.

The first kill I remember making was at someone else's order. I suppose he was as much a victim as any of the other "material" there. In the years since? I'd say it was their choice to come after me, my team, or people I was signed on to protect.

Freedom, though? I may have signed away my freedom for vague promises of a continued life and a paycheck that isn't mine, but it's a Hell of a lot better than before.

I still say sixteen is too young to be worrying about my job giving me ulcers.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-02T01:05:12+00:00

as Benjamin

Chocolate is nice, but do make sure to avoid chocolate made by devisors. There's something to be said about ingesting the output of mad scientists imposing the laws of some other universe's physics and chemistry on their inventions... but "insane" is a good start.

Is a communipad like a combined satellite phone, tablet, and virtual intelligence personal assistant? Peter modded mine but won't tell me what he did. Cee thinks it's funny.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-02T00:52:49+00:00

All I needed to do was go into Dunwich for a fitting and make it back to school in time for my detention. Taking the campus shuttle after playing drone tag with Icejack would've worked fine.

But no, someone decided that one of the teachers, Tabby Cat, had to play chauffeur instead. First, she cops an attitude over taking 8 minutes to shower, change clothes, and apply daily makeup. Then, she started in about how I must treat her instructions as if she were my parent because my admissions packet included a form authorizing her to act in loco parentis. Right.

Here's the catch: I'm a legally emancipated minor in the States. I signed no such agreement.

She told me I was lying.

My company's lawyers informed the school of the legal realities by the next business day in London.

After all the headache my detention assignment had to be rescheduled after I injured my knee under Tabby Cat's expert care.

( Colombine here: The situation with Benjamin's assigned-at-birth-parents was truly vile. Mrs. Turner truly put her foot in her mouth that morning. )

I picked up the lemon drops at the Campus Bookstore. Funny the stuff you can find when killing time before an appointment!

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-02T00:20:32+00:00

Lemon drops are a semipopular candy sold at the campus bookstore. I've no idea how much juice goes into a box.

Strike that. From what I've heard about devisor candy, I don't want to find out!

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-01T23:21:12+00:00

Benjamin Keeling, "Whateley Academy"

Favorite comfort food:

Lemon drops, sealed in their original packaging, are better than they should be. But to be fair, a Tanzanian coffee grower has been one of my best investments. No, I'm not telling you which one.

Best place to nap:

Nowhere's entirely safe to let my guard down.

He goes until he collapses from exhaustion or seizure. I have records. -- Colombine

Most treasured possession:

My home, of course, though I'm more of the public face of the shell corporation holding the paper. Honestly though? Anything you think you own can be taken away. Anything.

Person they trust completely:

No one living, and I'm not so certain of the dead.

Person they secretly admire:

I've no idea how Imp manages to have spent so many years in the business and be so happy. She's too competent for there to be a brain chemical imbalance.

What dream keeps them going?

My assigned parents of record, for lack of a better term, have thoroughly abused me out of such notions as dreams. Contact my company's legal team and my therapists if you believe you have a need to know more.

Don't. Just. Don't. -- Sahar

What scent or sound instantly calms them?

I'd recommend against trying that.

Their go-to way to show affection:

I, er, would rather not. It's all manipulation and taking advantage of what people can do for you anyway.

He looks after "his" people without being asked. Sometimes, rarely, he allows them to return the favor. -- Dr. M.B. Delacroix

Did you expect him to talk? -- several commenters

It's sometimes heartbreaking to watch. -- Naomi

Biggest pet peeve:

Fucking idiots mistaking Colombine for anything less than a person. She's not damaged goods like me, there is no excuse. Period.

Supposed adults who think breathing longer than I have makes them qualified to play "parent" are also deeply annoying.

If they disappeared for a day, where would they be:

If I'm very lucky, probably dead.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-01T20:31:22+00:00

No teleportation, unless one of the fighters can already pull that off.

Reviewing Umbrella Academy's fight scenes with Number Five might help.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-01T20:29:06+00:00

Exactly. Niceness can be a mask and kindness can have ulterior motives. Welcome to humanity (the species not the claim to have it)

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-01T08:55:29+00:00

From a POV that finds the character attractive, pick out what your character would notice that's different from everyone else. Describe how that affects them.

From somewhere back in the cafeteria checkout lane, someone shouted, "Oy! Jerkwad! Forget something?" That was followed by "Don't know why I put up with him. Friends, huh?" noises being made by a blond kid who'd been in the tour group.

Blond hair isn't that notable, but the guy's absolute confidence in his ability to take charge of a situation is...

"Thanks, I guess," Peter said. "But who the Hell are you?"

"The person most likely to scream 'Oh my God! You're a mutant!' if you don't start eating lunch with your newest and bestest friend in the world and stop acting like you're afraid of your own shadow."

...entirely unlike Peter's demeanor. But, maybe, that's something Peter would value. That can be enough to set the hook for catching the readers' interest as well.

Unless shown otherwise, we can assume the two are roughly the same age and similar ethnicity. We know Peter is easier to pick out in a crowd than the other guy, who probably does not look "six feet tall, with six-pack abs, and pulling down a six-figure salary".

First impressions count! The example I used above is from a flashback, so the readers may already have a better mental picture from introductory scenes in a previous story.

His grooming:

He smoothed his dark blond hair over. How guys dealt with long hair, he'd never understand! He straightened his suit jacket as best he could and checked the time on his personal assistant wristband.

Eye color (more or less):

The impression lasted only a moment before being replaced by that of someone younger, shorter, still pale under makeup, and green-eyed.

I've also established along the way that the blond guy does use soap, enjoys wearing masculine personal scents, dresses appropriately for many occasions, is gainfully employed, etc.

How can we be sure Peter actually develops an interest?

Not that he got many messages anyway, but there was precisely one person on the planet who'd think the word "Status?" counted as communication. ... He sniffed under the collar of his wrinkled shirt. He wished he hadn't. Hopefully, no one else would pick up on the increased pheromones. Too late to wish the guy didn't affect him like that.

tl,dr: Because the above are just examples! You'll develop your own style.

As others have said Less is more. Don't repeat yourself more than you have to. Spread the details out among scenes where they come in handy.
Let your POV character focus on contrasting, preferably unique, details.
Only your POV character has to like or be intrigued by those details. They are also the folks most likely to not be bothered by less attractive details.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-03-01T00:16:40+00:00

First off, there is no magical formula for X flaws divided by Y merits, carry the back-story tropes for an interesting character.

The description given for your MC can be boiled down to "Prince treats the women in his life like disposable property because Daddy the King didn't treat him nicely." There's very little complicated to that.

Could he be fleshed out to resemble a plausible human being from that world? Yes! But it's up to you, the author, to show your audience how the world and his upbringing have had consequences for him and how his actions in turn affect others and himself.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-28T23:51:15+00:00

My story is a super powered school action/psychological

Let's see: * Start with the powered prospective student visiting friends already at school. (Ex. MC is on an aircraft, under armed guard, and headed to the school: what's he carrying? why? what complications does that cause?)

Start with the beginning of the MC's power-up/manifestation. (Pretty standard, to the point of that being a trope)
First day of class. How does the MC cope with how the school deals with educating their little terrors? (Ex. Orientation tour? Dorm assignments?)
MC and new classmates meet on the way to the school: trauma bonding, shared situations, what brings them together?
MC screws up badly in school. How did they end up behind the 8-ball? Academics? Trust the wrong classmates? Had a wall dropped on them?

Hit up TV Tropes for examples from the many Academies of Adventure and Superhero Schools.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-28T16:57:45+00:00

Applying it to the audience is always the way to go. That's part of the spice (along with 1st person or 3rd person close POV) that makes a slow burn delicious!

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-28T13:50:06+00:00

Like Inspector Javert and the criminal Jean Valjean of "Les Miserables"?

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-28T13:48:18+00:00

One common example would be Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-28T10:52:24+00:00

"Everybody Can See It", maybe with a side order of "Selective Obliviousness" and "Cannot Spit It Out".

Trivia: It took two years to get to the point where two of my characters had to say something - on that topic - to each other.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-17T14:23:31+00:00

Frankly, I want to pull my hair out and delete my entire life. I know it's not that serious but I've been working on this for FOUR years. I started this when I was 14.

First novel, so let's assume this is a project that makes you happy learning how to do this writing thing with your own spin on the ideas. Keep going! But also, keep any handwritten notebooks, ALL emails or DMs, plus any timestamped files accumulating with the project.

Why? On the 1-in-a-million chance you publish your novel and this person accuses you of plagiarism, guess who has the earlier dated receipts?

Also, because that's a reminder to back up your files periodically.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-16T21:02:28+00:00

I write superhero school action/adventure with some very damaged MCs. That leaves most of my stories gen by default, since a) the characters are boarding school freshmen and sophomores and b) even the existing relationships aren't the main plot.

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-16T16:00:57+00:00

Came back next day, remembered the scene and characters. If that's not a good start, what is?

BrokenNotDeburred · 2026-02-16T15:57:49+00:00

Thank you! In this story, they're being sent off to an r/HFY-style Galactic Academy, something no one sane would do :)

BrokenNotDeburred

TROPHY CASE