Comments on: How Judgmental Are Your Characters?

By: Monday Mentions: | fallonbrownwrites

Monday Mentions: | fallonbrownwrites — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 17:14:13 +0000

[…] a post on Writers in the Storm by Janice Hardy on How Judgmental are your characters. And why you want them to […]

By: Top Picks Thursday 06-25-2015 | The Author Chronicles

Top Picks Thursday 06-25-2015 | The Author Chronicles — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 17:06:08 +0000

[…] Catherine Linka provides 10 tips for writing unforgettable villains. Janice Hardy asks how judgmental are your characters? and Angela Ackerman wonders what type of secret does your character keep? SueBE suggests making […]

By: Julie Glover

Julie Glover — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:06:55 +0000

I remember this being an epiphany for me, trying to use my character's viewpoint on everything to enlighten the reader about who she is. It's really deepened the POV and enriched my writing. Thanks for all those great questions to ask for making our characters properly judgmental.

By: Janice Hardy

Janice Hardy — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 11:06:04 +0000

In reply to Fae Rowen. Everyone judges things based on their own experiences. Your characters sound like perfect examples of that :) They're going to see things from very different perspectives.

By: Janice Hardy

Janice Hardy — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 11:04:40 +0000

In reply to Susan Kelly. Judgmental doesn't have to be negative, and I'm referring more to the other definition of it. It just means to let your characters have opinions about the world around them that reflect who they are and how they feel. Let them judge what they experience, not simply report it.

By: Fae Rowen

Fae Rowen — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 04:48:34 +0000

I never thought of my POV characters as being judgmental. In my current project, both characters are judgmental of each other from the get-go, which is a real change for me. They come from different worlds, literally, and neither knows anything about the other's world, so everything seems "wrong" or "stupid." The whole judgmental notion makes it so much easier to slip into deep POV. Thanks, Janice!

By: Susan Kelly

Susan Kelly — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:44:31 +0000

I'm nervous about making characters too judgmental, as I don't like highly judgmental people IRL. It's like they have blinders on, and don't see what's there clearly. If I wanted to make a character highly obnoxious, that's how I'd do it. But I guess that's just my way of judging: try not to do it. (Although, of course, we all do, all the time.) Thanks for the thoughts, Janice.

By: Janice Hardy

Janice Hardy — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:23:05 +0000

In reply to Jenny Hansen. Most welcome! You pantsers do so much on this character stuff on instinct :)

By: Janice Hardy

Janice Hardy — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:22:00 +0000

In reply to Orly Konig-Lopez. I love when that happens! Strong opinions are so much fun. At least in fiction, lol.

By: Janice Hardy

Janice Hardy — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:21:24 +0000

In reply to Holly Robinson. Absolutely. It's also a great way to be able to split the description work between characters so it's not all in a lump somewhere.