Reddit mentions of Writer's Guide to Character Traits

>Can anyone point me to some resources

Sure! Here's 8 blog posts and articles which might help:

What Makes a Character Likable? — Jennifer Ellis - Writing


4 Ways to Write a Likable Protagonist at the Start of His Character Arc

The First Rule of Creating Fictional Characters | Novel Writing Help

Writing4Success - Make Your Main Character Likeable

Jessica Brody | How to Make Unlikable Characters Likable


When Flaws Go Too Far: Avoiding Unlikeable Characters



Fiction University: Five Ways to Create Likable Characters

Six Ways to Make Your Villain Likable – Mythcreants

If you just absolutely hate blogs for some reason, here's a few posts on the topic on reddit:

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There's even a few books, if you like to do things old school:

Write Great Fiction Characters and Viewpoint

Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters and Viewpoint

Writing the Intimate Character: Create Unique, Compelling Characters Through Mastery of Point of View

Creating Characters: The Complete Guide to Populating Your Fiction

and

[Writers Guide to Character Traits](https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guide-Character-Traits-Edelstein/dp/1582973903]

Hope that helps! :)

If you're doing something focused on characters, I can't recommend Edelstein's Guide to Character Traits enough. It's like a reference manual or dictionary on creating believable characters. Helps you add depth to your heroes and villains alike.

>I have no idea how to judge this kind of stuff on my own and would really like to learn how to.

It is gonna be the same as any other narrative medium. So maybe try reading something like this or this.

But it generally comes down to basic stuff such as keeping the characters consistent, giving characters more than one trait unless that is the point of the character, making sure the characters act according to their traits instead of the plot, etc.

So examples for FMA:B. An example of good characters writing (and I would always start with specific instances and moving outward to assessing the character as a whole rather than starting with the character as a whole and moving inward) would be [FMA:B Spoilers](/s "Greed's refusal to go along with Father's plans . Greed's obvious trait is that he is greedy and so he only looks out for himself. Going along with Father's plans would not be in his interests and so he doesn't"). An example of bad character writing in the show is [FMA:B Spoilers](/s "Scar's about face when the other Ishvalen in Briggs tells him that he is trying to reform Amestris from the inside. Scar suddenly being chill with everything all of a sudden doesn't really make sense seeing as up until that point he had been filled with wroth. Sure he might soften slightly but a casual conversation shouldn't cause such a massive change. It is inconsistant with what we've learnt about his character so far. ")

Of course it should be noted that good character writing does not always necessarily correlate with our personal enjoyment nor vice versa. They tend to agree but not always. 'Good character writing' is merely a measure of how close the writing is to rules and systems that we've figured out almos always work pretty well, and by not sticking to them things tend to go wrong.

I hope this helps a little!

One of my favorite books about Psychology was not intended for psychology majors.
It's called "Writer's Guide to Character Traits" by Linda N. Edelstein, PH. D.

I really enjoyed it as a writer, and because it's like a psychological profile for a lot of things. I feel like I'm in criminal minds when I read it sometimes. Some of the reviews are relatively negative, because it's not a textbook, and many of the profiles are "stereotypes" [which in my opinion is what you're trying to do when you're profiling someone], but overall, the book is really fun to get lost in.

Shaynoodle is damn sexy.