Monday, June 20, 2016

Pick Up A Bad Habit

Since I started this blog, I've been trying to figure out something that I could do that hasn't been done a thousand times before. All the advice I know has been given by far better bloggers than I and far better than I'm capable of. The Moments of the Week slowed to a boring crawl. I don't want to be the jerk who just talks about me.

But you know what I've realized? I am really good at making lists. And between writing and years of playing tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, I've come to enjoy making characters and helping others make them. So why not continue making lists like the hobbies one to help other people with their character creation? Most likely, this won't be a long-running thing, as there are only so many lists needed for character and world building, but I guarantee, you'll be able to find it here.

Today, we're looking at bad habits. No character is perfect. Everyone's got these little quirks that they know they should work on fixing. Pick one or two (or more!) for your characters to make them more well-rounded and maybe give them something to improve about themselves.

Bad Habits
Apologizing
Arguing
Biting pens/pencils
Blaming others
Bottling emotions
Bragging
Buying things and not using them
Cheating
Cheek or Lip biting/tearing
Chewing
Chewing tobacco
Coveting others' things
Cracking knuckles/joints
Cutting corners/skimping
Drinking / Getting drunk
Eating junk food
Eating late
Eating out daily
Eating with mouth open
Fidgeting
Forgetfulness
Gambling
Grinding teeth
Hair chewing/sucking
Hangnail pulling
Hard drugs
Holding grudges
Impatience
Impulse purchasing
Inability to sit still
Internet overuse
Interrupting
Jaywalking
Judging others
Kleptomania
Leaving dirty clothes/dishes out
Littering
Losing temper
Losing things
Lying
Making puns
Nail biting/picking
No self-control
Not backing up data
Not bathing
Not brushing teeth
Not caring for health when sick
Not involving others in decisions that affect them
Not knowing limits
Not listening/ignoring others
Not responding to messages
Not trying new things
Overeating
Oversleeping
Overspending
Picking at skin/scabs
Picking nose
Playing with hair
Pornography addiction
Procrastinating
Selfishness
Sitting still for long periods
Smoking
Snooze button overuse
Speaking in 3rd person
Staring
Starting projects without finishing
Staying up late
Stress/emotional eating
Stubbornness
Sucking thumbs
Tapping fingers/feet
Too much TV
Tugging ears
Unprotected sex
Using cell phone/tablet in social situations
Using other people's stuff
Verbal tics ("like")

29 comments:

  1. The BEST LIST ever! Things I never even thought of before. Among my favorites: Apologizing, not caring for health when sick & speaking in third person.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Stacey! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I am most definitely guilty of the health one myself.

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  2. Thanks Maggie. I'm gonna keep this dog eared.

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  3. Thank you so much for this! I was just looking at character development worksheets for NaNo and knew I needed something more.

    (Also this reminds me I need to work on my own hangnail pulling problem...)

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  4. Replies
    1. Trust me, when you live with a pun-addict, it's the worst habit.

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    2. I can't help but say puns when they come to my mind! I'm pretty much known for them at my school, which is fine, but sometimes the situation is one I should not be joking about. In those cases, my sense of humor is a pun-ishment.

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  5. This was really helpful for me! I'm just a rookie writer and I'm thinking of flaws for my characters. This is amazing. I'm really guilty of a lot of things here (Buying things and not using them, Impatience, Lying, Staying up late, etc.) myself!

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  6. I think the worst habit is 'speaking in the third person.' Most annoying. I've heard some well-known celebs do this on t.v. Drives me nuts when I hear it. But it would be perfect for an annoying person in a novel. Thanks for this. Great list!

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  7. Awesome. My character has no self control already which leads him to making a serious mistake out of anger that leads us towards the inciting incident. I'm already building suspense and i've written les than 30 pages so far but i'm getting there.

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  8. Awesome. My character has no self control already which leads him to making a serious mistake out of anger that leads us towards the inciting incident. I'm already building suspense and i've written les than 30 pages so far but i'm getting there.

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  9. I'm just going to give some of this to Ayana! Hmm... she's already stubborn, but she doesn't bit her nails. She could do this when she's stressed!
    I will put this list on "my favourite list" :D

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  10. definitely using this as a way to create more well developed characters, perfect flaws considering my characters are teens all the time, so this is helpful stil! so i'm putting this on a new list called,Oc Needs.

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  11. Oh God! Thank you very much for this list!! This is very useful

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  12. very useful to me.am always bitting my nails when thinking hard and i dint think its good.

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  13. I love that without knowing, I already give my characters a few flaws :D

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  14. In fantasy: killing dogs, kicking beggars and slaves, smoking a lot, Cursing everyone under his command, Hypochondriac, cowardice, treacherous, digging nose or ears, burping publicly, bating his children with a stick or belt, chewing a toothpick....always, growing a pinky nail, avoid religion, (of course, not all on a same character hahahaha...)

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  15. I'm doing character interviews today. What a great list of #badhabits! They make our characters real and relatable. Thanks for this great post!

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  16. There are so many other things things I don't realize are characteristically bad habits before. Now I know. Amazing losts

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  17. Actress closing her eyes as she takes a bite out of some sponsored food. I always must look away...

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  18. Thank you! that was actually helpful and unblocking!

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  19. Well I agree that these are bad habits but everyone has a different personality and attitude so these bad habits can actually work on some characters flawlessly but all you need to is show them not to just tell them

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  20. Brilliant list! People like you make our job just that little bit easier!Thank you. 😃

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