1001 Character Quirks - Tag - In a past life… https://archive.jtimothyking.com/tags/1001-character-quirks/ 1001 Character Quirks - Tag - In a past life… Hugo -- gohugo.ioen-usThu, 08 Nov 2007 08:32:27 +0000 100 Free Fictional Character Ideas https://archive.jtimothyking.com/2007/11/08/100-free-fictional-character-ideas/ Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:32:27 +0000 J. Timothy King https://archive.jtimothyking.com/2007/11/08/100-free-fictional-character-ideas/ … a tiny sample from 1001 Character Quirks for Writing Fiction. Literally, the full list is more than 10 times as big. Of course, the list of quirks is the easy part, because they’re just character ideas, and ideas are a dime a dozen.

-TimK

]]> When to Use Character Quirks https://archive.jtimothyking.com/2007/08/01/when-to-use-character-quirks/ Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:26:10 +0000 J. Timothy King https://archive.jtimothyking.com/2007/08/01/when-to-use-character-quirks/ I’ve read plenty of writing advice to improve your fictional characters using quirks, or hooks, or tags. That is, make the character more interesting by having her play with her hair, jiggle her keys, overuse a catch-phrase, or the like. These quirks are usually just lumped together with other character traits, but I think there’s an advantage to thinking about them separately. Because you can’t just take a bunch of quirks, throw them together, and have a compelling character. Quirks only work in the context of a character.

Holly Lisle hit the nail on the head on her website in her advice about how to write a fictional character:

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