Psychological Problems: Accident-Prone, Alethia, Anomie, and Anxiety

Marc McCutcheon’s book Building Believable Characters has a wealth of information to absorb, and I’m doing my best to share some of it. Today I’m in the section called PSYCHOLOGICAL/PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS. It’s an alphabetical listing, so I’ll just go through it and hit the ones that stand out to me. (For a complete list, buy … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Bad Habits/Vices part 3

I’m discussing a section of Marc McCutcheon’s book  Building Believable Characters called BAD HABITS/VICES. It’s basically a three-page list of bad habits and vices you could give your characters. Let’s get to it.   The next vice that caught my eye is WATCHES TOO MUCH TV and it’s twin brother, WATCHES TOO MUCH SPORTS ON TV. We … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Bad Habits/Vices part 2

I’m digging through Marc McCutcheon’s book  Building Believable Characters for the good stuff, and I’m in a section called BAD HABITS/VICES. It’s basically a three-page list of bad habits and vices you could give your characters. I started this discussion in my last post, so if you want to know what I’m up to, revisit that one. … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Bad Habits/Vices

The next section of Marc McCutcheon’s book  Building Believable Characters I’d like to discuss is called BAD HABITS/VICES. It’s basically a three-page list of bad habits and vices. While some of them are silly (cracks knuckles or farts in public), others would be useful for building a well-rounded yet flawed character. I’d like to pick out … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Flirtatious, Childish, and Strong/Brave

If you’ve been hanging around, you know I’m digging through Marc McCutcheon’s book  Building Believable Characters. It’s a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I’m in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. The traits I want to discuss today are FLIRTATIOUS, CHILDISH, and STRONG/BRAVE.   SEXUAL/FLIRTATIOUS is pretty obvious. This … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Type A/Type B, Mentally Ill, and Substance Abuser

Marc McCutcheon’s book  Building Believable Characters is a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I’m in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. Today’s traits are Type A/Type B, Mentally Ill, and Substance Abuser. Here’s what McCutcheon has to say:   TYPE A/TYPE B are two separate traits, but I want … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Charming, Devious, Annoying, Puritanical, Happy

Marc McCutcheon’s book  Building Believable Characters is a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I’m in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. Today’s traits are Charming, Devious, Puritanical, and Happy. Let’s dig in.   CHARMING/WELL-BRED is another of those that could lead to stereotype if you’re not careful. This character … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Nervous, Depressed, Intelligent/Ignorant, Boring/Eccentric

Marc McCutcheon’s book  Building Believable Characters is a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I’m in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. Today’s traits are Nervous, Depressed, Intelligent/Ignorant, and Boring/Eccentric.   The next personality McCutcheon covers is NERVOUS/SHY/SUBMISSIVE. This is different from introverted. The nervous/shy/submissive character has nervous ticks like … Continue reading →

Personality Traits: Introvert/Extrovert, Cold, Domineering

I’m studying  Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon and passing along the good stuff to you. I began in my last post with the first sections of the book. The chapters aren’t numbered, which makes it difficult to let you know where I’m at in the book (if you care about such things), but I’ll do … Continue reading →

Building Believable Characters

I took a necessary mental health break (read: I was lazy), but now I’m back to my three-posts-per-week schedule. Unfortunately, my laziness extended to my novel-writing discipline, and I haven’t written squat in about three weeks. There’s no sense feeling guilty about it. I am a pre-published author, there’s no deadline hanging over my head, … Continue reading →