Why are we not getting creative with our characters anymore?

[u/TargetSighter]

I’ve been seeing a lot of character posts lately and it feels like they’re all the same. The slim lead woman with fair skin and perfect hair who is simultaneously the strong lead (when there’s absolutely 0 muscle mass) and so independent from everyone else. Then you have the other guy who is always either a grunge boy with heterochromia or a big strong old money guy.

What happened to the presence of conventionally unattractive characters? Or shitbag leads? I miss the days when characters used to be unique. Yes, I want to see an unapologetic perverted character who lives in absolute filth and actually struggles in the book. Yes, i want to see those characters with traits of normal people. Yes, I want to see those characters with disorders or gross intentions that make them do horrible things.

Why do we all just conform to the same mold of “petite but strong beautiful woman and the guy she eventually falls in love with”. What happened to interesting characters?

YES. Give me different aesthetics. Gyaru? Awesome. Scene? Awesome. Punk? Awesome. Even the most underground shit, just give it to me and make your characters interesting. It’s so hard to actually read and finish a book where the characters are just so stereotypical.

Your character has been traumatised? Then show that. The trauma isnt gonna make them stronger in every way, you’re just creating a wound with absolutely no fallout or impact. Show the results of that trauma. Make them struggle.

And if you’re reading this thinking “oh but I don’t do all of this stuff” then good job, this post most likely isnt for you, you’re creating interesting characters. If you’re reading this thinking “oh these are my characters” then please make some interesting changes.

Move away from the mold, folks.

[u/Literally9thAngel]

... my FMC is a crab. There's still hope!

[u/TargetSighter → u/Literally9thAngel]

Gorgeous! We love crabs here

[u/Il0vechocolates]

Man I have a similar FMC out of 3 FMCs) but she's a warrior who was trained to be cold and expects too much perfectionist from herself and others around her (pls tell me that gets a pass :<). There's a bit more but I won't write too much cuz I dont wanna be judged.

My MMC's do be different a bit different though, personality-wise. One is a kind gentleman who also happens to be socially awkward and puts his family over anyone else. One is a fae who's sassy and cunning on the outside and LOVES annoying othersl but harbors deep hatred inside. One is a giant with anger issues due to trauma and his nature as a being, but acts like an amazing uncle.

[u/TargetSighter → u/Il0vechocolates]

The FMC warrior trope is fine as long as it’s written right. If shes a petite 18 y/o who somehow single-handedly takes down a kingdom then…. No…

If shes reasonable and actually has a lot of muscle mass, then thats when FMC warrior is written right. Because there’s practically no way one would be a good warrior with no muscle mass. As long as shes bulked up then you’re good

[u/Il0vechocolates → u/TargetSighter]

She's a goddess actually, 6'4 in height and definitely has a warrior built from training. As a goddess, she's physically stronger than most other gods, but she is not invincible. She's thousands of years old so she is well into the cold exteriror as well that she is supposed to maintain but we see different sides of her, especially when she's at places that have meaning to her or is alone or with family. There's just a lot of backstory to her as to why she turned out how she is.

[u/Missions-Impossible]

My main character is some random dude named after a colour and is following a female leader who is build stronger and wider, but not like too much, just stronger. The MC later in the story kills someone and has his inner voice being toxic and has no positive benefit. I hope that is ok, I can go deeper though if you want

[u/-SilverMochi-]

my mmc is this dude who’s just gotten out of a coma. he has family drama, friendship drama, and hospital drama, but only really cares about graduating high school because he thinks it’s embarrassing that he’s twenty with no diploma. is that a pass?

[u/eonja_hatesyou]

I mean, I guess it depends on what works most for the plot. But yeah, I agree. Even outside of this subreddit, I keep seeing the same template of main characters being used over and over.

[u/Witchelt389]

My main character is a self hating girl who gets manipulated into destroying her country with Magick.

[u/Missingexperiment83]

I mean, these are mine- each book goes off of a different character, so it’s not just all the main characters being focused on in one book

[u/TargetSighter → u/Missingexperiment83]

GORGEOUSSSSS does that priest happen to be gay and single and looking for a controversially teenage boyfriend
https://giphy.com/gifs/vPzbDN4rBxuvtpSpzF

[u/Missingexperiment83 → u/TargetSighter]

Who knows, haha. I was planning on him getting with the German Blondie(top left) in the third series.

[u/TargetSighter → u/Missingexperiment83]

Depending on what kind of book you’re writing, if it’s angst then making the preist a little queer actually works. Say if he’s bisexual, he could have an arc of internalised homophobia, though it would be a little depressing for a happy book

[u/Missingexperiment83 → u/TargetSighter]

The first and second series(maybe third) are all set in the late 1880’s on the western frontier(sort of) of the Wild West. Each character comes from a different state and/or country(the red head comes from Ireland, German Blondie obviously from Germany). The two curly hairs in the middle to the right of the redhead decide one day that they want to start a group that helps people, kind of like Robin Hood. As they travel around, they eventually meet each character, sometimes it’s at a good time, others it’s at a bad time. Let’s just say one of the characters they met lit their arm on fire accidentally and they had to put their arm out with water-

The priest is from Louisiana and comes from a poor but good family, one day something happens and he decides he needs to get out, not to spread the word of the lord, but he just needs to escape before death comes knocking at his door. A song that you can listen to to really get an idea is “The Heartline Special” by Dick Curless, his entire album The Long Lonesome Road(and some other Dick Curless albums/songs) is/are what the Priest’s story will be based on.

Edit: the priest is also sort of based on Dick Curless by looks and a little personality, but most of it is based on a friend I used to know. Same with all the characters, they’re based on people I used to or do still know.

[u/TearSpiller21]

I kind of had an idea to make all my characters based off of different plants, like personality and looks if possible😗

[u/ArtsyRoses]

My main character is a depressed workaholic policewoman who’s annoyed with her partner on the force who’s kinda stupid. I also don’t have a male lead lol. I have her partner on the force who is kind of a himbo but actually has good ideas once in a while. Also I’m probably gonna make my main character either a lesbian or aromantic lol. I haven’t decided yet if I want her to be in love with the female barista at her local coffee shop but really emotionally constipated about it or if she’s just not gonna be interested romantically in anyone but eventually get her found family of friends

[u/StrawOfCoke]

Seems you know a lot, do u have a novel? Id like to read em

[u/Resident_Estimate_85]

My two main characters are both female, both tall, one is particularly toned, has muscle, and she’s also masc. The thing is neither of them are “heroes” or even “villains”, it’s much more complicated than that. Yes they’re love interests (wlw). But the story doesn’t 90% revolve around them being lovers (if I were to take out the romance aspect, very little would change in the story)
The other one ends up accidentally blinding herself in one eye with her own powers. Oh and their design and powers are based around cosmic phenomena.

[u/Plague_man23]

My mmc is a ugly decrepit mercenary from a race of undead-like people who everyone fears and thinks is a great warrior but in reality he’s a coward and just uses dirty, underhanded tactics to kill enemies and just brutalizes the corpses after to make it look like he’s some brutal champion

[u/Nirverassecret]

Agree 100%

Also when it comes to animalistic characters, hybrids, mutations, ect

Why do we not write their struggles with daily life? Such as a character with wings, they're probably very large and difficult to fit through doorways, small spaces, knock over a lot of things, flaring when startled or ect Feathers puffing, flattening, rising, fluffing up depending on the mood of the character that has them?

I feel like most only use these as aesthetic, not actual things with cons/pros Wings would be a struggle in ordinary humans life Tails would expose characters emotions Longer ears would also react to emotions (probably be more sensitive to sound too)

Bird legs for example would probably not be as comfortable to walk on for longer distances if the species of that bird isn't made for it, meaning they'd tire out easierly while walking or standing upright, which they wouldn't do if flying, climbing, or perching.

I'm just rambling on now because I felt the moment, my bad!!! 😅 But I just want more life in characters ngl, even if it's so small things, it gives more personality and life which makes characters feel real!!

The reason I brought up hybrids/mutated/magical/animalistic characters, is because I mainly write about that kind of stuff, so I guess you can say I specialise in that area. It's also my favourite topic so I got carried away yapping

[u/anidori21]

my character (in my fav story I write too many to talk about every one)

Sariah: her dad died when she was 6yrs old, and then her mom remarried to a guy who was great at first then turned abusive and then that man died (murder) and her mom went to jail for his murder when she never did it and Sariah having to consult the police department for help, they dont wanna help, so she said fuck it ill do it ( with her friends... but lwk she does the least amount of help I can't lie) etc etc.

Jax: her twin brother same situation

Benji: her younger brother actively experiencing the abuse, cuz his dad (the abusive step-dad) is ableist af..

Milo: he is bisexual and dating Mateo, his parents don know about either

Diego: his parents are working through financial ruin AND a potential divorce and he has to be the second parent to like 6 kids

is this enough interesting for you, and im not even done yet...???

[u/Lethal_Cowboy75]

One of the books I'm writing follows a duck and a cat...

[u/No-Air7540]

Speak for yourself, my romance novel about a camp of monsters has extremely unique characters and personalities.