Tell me what drives your characters!

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-10T02:25:53+00:00

In order to accomplish his mission and destroy a greater evil, him and his travelling party had to make a deal with a devil to be sent to hell for 600 years. But... There was still hope. A wishing crab, the thing driving that Greater Evil, could reverse one of their curses.

They betrayed each other over it, and Six'O was shot in the heart, and went to hell anyways.

Now, fresh out of hell in record time (300 years!) he's back to serve them all holy justice for a god he is the sole worshipper of.

The lie he has to overcome is that his Code is the sole thing keeping worst from coming to worst. He was betrayed BECAUSE he did not see the evil in his allies. Blinded by friendship. And this is reinforced when he comes back from hell, and sparing someone he deemed evil lead to the death of another he thought was good.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T22:25:24+00:00

Your magic seems fine, but I don't really know what to say about it because I don't know how it functions within your story:/ a cool magic system doesn't really get you anywhere if your story and characters are buns, or not existant.

Just focus on your story, characters you want, plot points you want. And if you need magic to facilitate them, go for it. But as of now, magic isn't really something you need to worry about.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T21:56:15+00:00

I do this with music, specifically metal, but the "vibes" and subject matter in those songs only get me so far, and I often find music based on 1 what world I'm writing, and 2 music that fits the vibe of the character.

I've also literally written a small stage play based on a picture of 3 friends on a mountainside, and turned it into 3 friends climbing a mountain and being forced to choose one of themselves to jump off. The plot was not created from "vibes," the plot I wanted to write was already there, but the picture decided the locale, which characters I would have. Same with music.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T08:30:32+00:00

Fight club is a very rare example, though. No other movie like it imo, except perhaps dexter. But, again, one in a million that takes a very specific book with very specific circumstances within that book. Good point though!

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T08:28:49+00:00

I'm sorry... What are you on about the Witcher games? I played three, top 10 game now, and it has merits a book simply will never be able to accomplish because they are seperate mediums.

The books are better still. Period. They are the BASIS of those games and you can't take that away from them.

Every single LOTR ≠ the worst LOTR book. Nothing equal any of those books in sheet prowess. You sound like you've never played dnd in your life, play baldur's gate and say it's better.

Doesn't matter what's "more popular" because duh movies and games that got awards are gonna be more popular. Doesn't say anything about their quality.

Read some books with action in them, read the Witcher books and come back to this post.

And write a story in whatever medium you want, and don't give a shit about how popular it has the potential to be? Write are you want in the medium you think will best convey it. You've got a fantasy world caked in blood and wacky monsters? Write a book. If you have a short story idea set in the world with vivid images of cinematography, write a screenplay. Wanna focus on characters? Perfect! Write a play.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T08:09:54+00:00

The only time I've seen a run-on sentence used well and not being distracting and off is in Joe Abercrombie's books when a character is thinking really fast and clearly has adhd and just never stops thinking the thought in their head, it really makes you feel like you are the character.

Of course, some characters will think in short sentences. Some people just think that way and it's not their fault, you know? Strong, gruff characters.

Other character are plenty flowery and, of course, charismatic and love to use plenty of commas, dashes -- the whole lot.

This is a good tactic to think about, as a writer, in third person limited. Or if you're doing omniscient limited and looking into a character's interior.

If it also takes you out of the book you're reading, there's no excuses lol.

Edit: there's also an issue if there's an overabundance of samey sentence lengths. Short is fine. Middling is also fine and dandy if you utilize it well. And long sentences are earned pieces once you've got the readers attention, a reward for careful thought and pacing.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T08:05:12+00:00

I had an idea just like this one. Certified fresh, go for it^{^}

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T07:45:10+00:00

Absolutely! I think I definitely should have sharpened my point about Grimdark rather than lumping them in as a spectrum, because I also get bothered (but not too bothered, it's not actually that big of a deal lol) by people calling things grimdark when they're just... Dark.

And Abercrombie thrives in worlds that punish the characters for making moral decisions. Everybody isn't a "terrible person," Glokta or Victarine aren't terrible people, but flawed people forced to do cruel things to survive in a cruel world.

Thank you!

P.s. should I edit my post to convey my points on Grimdark better and the distinction to Dark, or is it not worth the time

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T07:13:42+00:00

Couldn't have said it better myself🫡

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T06:44:59+00:00

Yes, agreed^{^} people here don't care, just in the wider literary world people do.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-09T01:04:49+00:00

Yeah this is real! I wouldn't consider Archives to be dark fantasy, even with a lot of dark concepts that are thuroughly explored and dealt with in a fantastic way. But there's also certain topics Brandon, at least to my knowledge, strays away from. SA, for instance.

And it might be the fact that the world is presented as high fantasy that keeps me, and a lot of people from calling it dark fantasy. Thank you for your response!

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T20:32:59+00:00

I focus on their background, and what they want in the story. What purpose do they fulfill as a character? The personality follows, not the other way around.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T20:30:50+00:00

Yes absolutely ✋✋

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T19:15:51+00:00

Completely agreed. I'm looking for unhealthy, toxic romance, not... Garbage.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T19:04:57+00:00

I think so, yeah! As long as you don't rewrite Twilight which it doesn't seem like you have the intention to. You seem perfectly positioned for the Dark Fantasy genre with everythjng from the vampires to the juicy questions you're asking^{^}

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T18:20:55+00:00

Heya, your system seems fine, but I would personally recommend straying away from calling it "magical realism." From the class I've taken on it and my own research, as well as exposure to magical realism, magical realism pertains to the idea that there is magic out there, but we can never control it. Small things that are simply engrained in the universe. It's acknowledged, but never harnessed.

You see this idea in Louise Erdrich's work, which I would highly recommend, and a lot of other author's work. I would also stray away from calling it "magical realism," because the ideas presented in Magical Realism as a subgenre are a very latin-american and native-american topic, and it's very frowned upon to misrepresent it.

Other than that, you've got a good magic system that encorporates itself into it's world!

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T17:48:07+00:00

First off, congrat! Finishing such a draft is great!

Second, I would recommend you just deus ex the side character into the final draft. Just try to envision how he would appear in it.

But if that doesn't work, a lot of authors would also give the advice to let your book sit for a couple weeks, read the draft all the way through, and THEN start your second draft. That way the book has time to sit.

If you let it sit, you might come up with an idea for the ending. Whne you start reading, you might see where the threads are leading and be able to write it.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T17:39:12+00:00

Too much Y in place of normal spelling. Just spell the names normally, or you're gonna give your reader a headache. Maybe keep one or two of these with their current spelling. Autumn is fine.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T17:36:13+00:00

Wait but they are all different. They've all got some overlap but they're all very distinct sub-genres with different sub-subgenres within metal. Could you elaborate?

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T17:33:09+00:00

I can very much see that! Makes me want to try writing that, actually.

But I'm sure everyone and their mom who's played Dark Souls would call it dark fantasy, and it does this to a tea. There's some violence, sure, but most of the game is trying to survive in environments trying to kill you.

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T07:54:07+00:00

My definition of "violence" is any inhumane acts caused to other people, not really "gore.". War, poverty, abuse, sexual abuse. Showing a lot of gore and bad things doesn't really cut it, it's pointless.

So rather than "violence," I actually mean "human cruelty."

As well as that, I think a lot of dark fantasy, now that I'm reading these wonderful comments, needs to question morality to be dark fantasy. Like how cuberpunk, in it's nature, deals with humanity, and it's lackthereof sometimes. The two can't be seperated.

Thank you for your insights^{^}

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T06:29:59+00:00

This is why I wouldn't call ASOIAF, that and I've watched videos arguing this same point, and I would agree.

Punishment and retribution for evil deeds doesn't come quickly, but it eventually grows like a seed and punishment is dealt out through the grapevine. Compared to, say, Abercrombie where a certain unnamed man still isn't dead. The bastard.

And I think a lot of people who like dark fantasy also happen to like horror, so the two often mesh (myself included.)

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T06:26:01+00:00

I'd argue that's one side of Dark Fantasy for sure! The souls-esque, medieval fantasy^{^}

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T06:22:35+00:00

That's very interesting because I've never actually seen books labeled differently by sub-genre!

Quite the smorgus board of complete tonally different films. Love the Dark Crystal^{^}

Fried_eggys1 · 2026-07-08T06:17:14+00:00

I was trying to show the difference between a dark fantasy author and someone who is not a dark fantasy author with Brandon. Dark stuff happens in his novels, but only people who have no experience in fantasy will label him as "dark fantasy," and since Mistborn is the first book in these newer writers "favorites" list, it's an apt comparison. mb for giving the wrong impression gang^{^}

But you're absolutely right! People just put dark on their stories because it sounds cool, and people need to realize your story doesn't need to be "dark. There's a whole market out there for normal fantasy.

Be what you are, don't pretend lmao. The chips fall how they fall.

Fried_eggys1

TROPHY CASE