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What are some interesting quirks you have given your characters? If you can’t think of any from your stories, what are some interesting quirks from novels you’ve read?
Okay, so I looked back at a couple characters I’ve written in the past and found a few interesting quirks.
I had one character who had an extreme dislike for beanies and a love for pop tarts. Err… don’t ask me why though, because I’m afraid I don’t have the answer. Also, he happened to be the villain of that story.
Some other quirks from my characters off the top of my head: one character really liked burnt food, one had a pet Koala bear, one loved to eat lollipops on the regular, and one character liked to paint foxes on her nails.
So what are some interesting traits from characters you’ve created?
@kathleenramm Hmmm…*immediately forgets everything I’ve ever done, ever*
I suddenly want to know a lot more about that villain of yours.
Hmm…I’m gonna take quirks to mean “not bad things”. I have one character that’s always barefoot, another who constantly wears a white baseball cap, and another who always orders a beer but gets a root beer instead. No, wait, that last one’s a tradition.
Anything else…I have another one who has coffee mugs and books lying all over his apartment, another character who is incredibly absent-minded, and some that wear trench coats all the time.
(Yeah, I guess I should really add more interesting things to my people, haha.)
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysIt’s funny how the quirks of your characters remind me of some of my siblings.XD
I have a brother who wheres a black ball cap 90% of the time and frequently orders a root beer, a sister who collects coffee mugs and buys books on a daily basis. Though, I don’t have a sibling who wears trench coats.
For some reason, hearing interesting character traits makes me want to read their stories more than hearing the premise for a story. Your characters really make me want to read more of your stories.XD
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@devastate-lasting Yeah…I feel you. I suddenly cannot remember a single thing about anybody. Ugh.
Well, uh… *pauses to think for approximately seventeen years* I have this one character who…man. I mean, my characters are interesting, but they don’t have specific quirks like that. I have a character who’s dyslexic. I have a character who talks to herself. I have a character who collect random objects and uses them on her charm necklace–all right, there’s a quirk for you. I have a character who is obsessed about his cane–no, seriously. He also hates carrots. And smoke–like cigar/pipe smoke. It’s all PTSD-related, so… I also have a character who, to annoy the carrot-and-smoke-hating one, can blow a perfect ring over his head. Is that a quirk?
Do physical quirks count? ‘Cuz I have a ton of those…I think. *scratches her head* My characters are so bland.
@devastate-lasting Yeah, that just happened to me too.
@kathleenramm Well, I’ve got a lot of characters, but, let’s see. I’ve got a famous person who doesn’t appreciate publicity; a guy who tends to repeat himself on a regular basis; a frail lady in her thirties who is just a bit clumsy: she’ll often bump into things remarking “Oh! Whoops! Pardon me.”; a guy who likes to laugh obnoxiously; a character who is always conscious about the fabric rubbing against his armpits; a character who refers to most small dogs as “walking weenies”; a person who has a habit of touching the corner of everything she sees, and she’ll get quite perturbed if she doesn’t touch those corners properly; a group of people who play cards and are always accusing each other of cheating while they themselves are cheating, and anyways, they never do anything about it.How’s that?
@kathleenramm I actually base most of my quirks off of real people, haha. And I think that quirks really do make a story more attractive than a premise. XD
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days@gracie-j
A character who is obsessed with a cane? How does one obsess over a cane? Never leave it out of sight, paint portraits of them, take it out on a stroll? I’m suddenly very interested.
And physical quirks totally count. What kind of physical quirks do your characters have?
@leon-fleming
I remember while writing this forum topic thinking, “Leon Fleming must have some good character quirks.” And I was not wrong. XD I’m quite interested in the group of characters who accuse each other of cheating in their card games. Is the main character of that story apart of that group, or does it only consist of side characters? Also, what card game do they play?
I have a sort of recurring quirk that in any book where its appropriate (ie, historically or culturally accurate) I have a character that drinks black coffee. I know absolutely no one who drinks black coffee in real life, but I just noticed one day that I did it heaps and now it’s an inside joke for me.
Also a have a lot of neurodivergent characters so plenty of quirks and habits come along with them. My current, secret project, has a MC with ADHD, so he has his quirks, like constantly fiddling with things, touching things with interesting or comforting textures, cracking his knuckles and that sort of thing.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@kathleen What an interesting topic! Now I’m going to have to revisit some of my characters and add some quirks, because reading about everyone’s characters has been so delightfully interesting. š
– One of my MCs always keeps her hair in an excruciatingly tight braid. Pretty sure she sleeps with her hair braided too. Meanwhile, her sister deals with her Hair Problemsā¢ by keeping her hair incredibly short.
– Another MC always has at least two pistols on him and dual wields when he’s in a sticky situation. I blame this particular quirk on watching my husband play Red Dead Redemption II (aka Cowboy Simulator 2018ā¢)
– Dearest Sylvester is deathly allergic to either milk or nutmeg. Originally it was pumpkin spice, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it. š Dearest Sylvester also wears a top hat (and, eventually, a Batman-esque cloak) at all times, so he’s quite the quirky man.
– Once I had an incredibly annoying character absolutely obsessed with pizza. That project has been abandoned for quite a while, though, especially once I realized that he shared a name with my old pastor. Oops.
– Yet another MC uses “seas” instead of actually cursing. He’s a water mage, so I guess that makes him in a constant state of making puns?
@seekjustice I have a character with a texture thing too! It’s sensory processing related rather than ADHD, however. I’m already intrigued by your MC, but since it’s a secret project, I won’t ask too many questions. š@gracie-j Is it spoilers to ask why your character hates carrots? Because I’m quite curious.
āSeven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?ā
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@kathleenramm I honestly don’t know. He just likes it. A lot. Technically, he needs (wounded in the war), so it’s always with him, of course, but he really likes how “dignified” it makes him feel. He’s an…interesting fellow.
Physically…I have a character who tugs on his earlobe (oddly, something that I started doing after I gave him that particular quirk). Of course, I do have that one character (*chuckles because she’s so much more than just “that one character”*) who has color-changing eyes. For real. And, yes, that’s scientifically possible. She also has a scar through one of them, which is more liable to remain a silver-grey rather than changing shades. I have a character who grew a beard simply because (don’t laugh; he wouldn’t appreciate that) he doesn’t like the dimple in his chin.
@lewilliams It would not be a spoiler at all. (I think.) Rhys doesn’t like carrots simply because it worked out for the story. (He ends up accidentally eating a carrot in a soup and hurting the cook’s feelings.) He has absolutely no reason toĀ not like carrots–he’s not allergic or anything, and, I mean, what’s wrong with carrots? So that’s probably the quirkest part, is that he just…doesn’t like them. For no reason at all.I have a character who’s an astronomer that always uses something that has to do with the stars instead of actual curses, so your character is not the only pun-maker out there. (Is pun-maker even a word, or is there, like, something else for that?)
Well, you no longer don’t know anyone who drinks black coffee, because I’ve been drinking black coffee almost daily for years now. XD
Who would have thought that you and @gracie-j would both have characters who make puns instead of cursing. XD Who knows, maybe they are the reincarnation of each other, just born into different stories. XD
@gracie-j
I have a reason to dislike carrots. When I was little, I had a fear of going blind or having bad eyesight, and when I heard that carrots were good for your eyes, I ate them daily. Flash forward to now, and I am one of the few people in my family who need glasses. šĀ I can sympathize with Rhys.Ā Carrots are not my friends.
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@kathleenramm Pardon me for laughing. Glasses aren’t that bad–I kind of like mine. Are you near-sighted or far-sighted? I have, like, 20/40.
Well, if @lewilliams character was a murderer in their past life (my character’s a girl, BTW) and likes mythological treasures, then I don’t see why not!
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