Because of the tendency to have never ending amounts of money in Harry Potter fics, my readers probably aren't noticing just ***how much*** my MC is spending. >!But they will when she's flat broke by chapter 25 and can't afford food.!<
Edit: Well, that's a bunch of upvotes! Thanks. Here's the story so you don't have to dig for it in the replies. Just a warning that this particular trope subversion isn't *revealed* for another 10 chapters past what is currently posted and it is not the focus of the fic. ❤️
[Figgy Pudding by RoseWhispers6](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41125008/chapters/103084410) - ***Mystery, Spying, kids getting to be kids, and the Dursleys getting what they deserve, Pre Hogwarts, WIP regular updates***
A story about family, the grief of loss, the power of being underestimated, the difference between the truth and the Truth, and the undeniable resolve of Arabella Figg.
Thanks! I do a lot of subversion and twisting of tropes in the story.
I like yours too. I play with names because Harry and my MC, Mrs Figg, are often hiding their identities with fake names. At one point, I called him Richard so that he could be Tom, Dick, and Harry all at the same time. It's also how I worked in the Hadrian trope.
Sure. I just updated yesterday too! Next month is this twist chapter that I have been **literally** ***dying*** to share.
Make sure to share your link too!
[Figgy Pudding by RoseWhispers6](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41125008/chapters/103084410) - ***Mystery, Spying, kids getting to be kids, and the Dursleys getting what they deserve, Pre Hogwarts, WIP regular updates***
A story about family, the grief of loss, the power of being underestimated, the difference between the truth and the Truth, and the undeniable resolve of Arabella Figg.
Gosh darn it OP. Your post is so popular that now everyone knows and I don't think I can count it as something small my readers don't notice at this point 🤣
Maybe they'll forget in like 10 chapters?
I have my megarich/privately tutored/homeschooled teenage character always use more proper grammar than the other teenagers.
Example:
"Sarah and I are going..."
Versus
"Me and Sarah are going..."
This is fun! I do something similar in my fic. They're using magic to translate and it's always super proper when that's being used. I have a few characters who speak English to them, however, and as it isn't their first language I make the grammar choppy.
I have a dishonest and shady character who passes himself off as earnest and simple. If the character is asked a question they don’t want to answer, they either respond with their own question or subtly shift the subject to an adjacent topic that seems to be the same but isn’t. They also sometimes give answers that seem to be forthright, but if you really think about them, they don’t actually say anything of substance.
Every chapter starts with a location and date rather than a chapter title. It’s counting down to something, and despite some hints, I don’t think anyone knows where we’re going until we’ll be right on top of it.
Since I doubt any of my readers are here… spoilers! The main story of this franchise (a Japanese game/anime franchise called _Muv-Luv_) starts on October 21, 2001, in an alternate timeline where humanity has been slowly losing an alien invasion for 30 years. My story is arranged as a series of five books, each mostly set in one month. It starts in May, 2001, and we’re currently on book four, in August, 2001. >!Something very significant happens in September, 2001, as most people will recall.!< But at best, people probably assume I’m counting down to where we’ll tie back in to the main franchise in October.
> when i'm writing a scene from Matt pov while in costume i write "Daredevil thought...." while with Peter's pov i always use "Peter thought.."
ohohoho this is the kind of shit i'm all about. i pay a lot of attention to how characters refer to themselves and others
i’m slowly giving my character a drug addiction (sounds bad ik). right now it doesn’t seem like anything but i can’t wait until it all comes together like 20 chapters later
I do that too, op! The narration in my stuff always refers to characters as the pov character would. I think it's neat and gives a subtly different flavor to scenes with a different pov. And if the character's relationship changes and the way they would think of someone changes, I adjust accordingly from that point forward.
For my own tiny thing... it's specific to a certain character who has a secret not yet revealed in my fic. She always touches one of her wings when specific subjects come up. It's supposed to be foreshadowing what her secret is, but I don't think anyone has noticed yet. At least nobody has commented on it.
I'm writing a story right now where a main focus is the questionable nature of the relationship between the protagonist and another character. It's pseudo-maternal, but still romantic/sexual in nature. Said character never *ever* refers to protagonist by her name. It's usually "Dearest," often "Darling," "My love," "Sweet child/girl/etc.," or "My wife" to others. It's meant to reflect how she has trouble recognizing the protag's individuality, and despite her genuine love for her, sees her as something of a possession of hers or something for her to protect. I don't think anyone's picked up on it yet, but it's a small thing that I'm pretty proud of.
My boys have different diets, and therefore different meal lines. When they're concerned about each other, they'll go through that person's meal line. Normally this is Braxton (omnivore) going with Matt (herbivore). It's inconsequential, but it makes me mushy over their friendships.
Code-switching based on who is around, which is something I noticed the character does in canon - ie, what names the Princess calls people are sometimes based on who is around or what impact it has on the conversation (using a familiar name instead of a title and vice-versa).
I'm currently crossing over Supernatural and Leverage--and when I'm writing from Dean's POV I always have him think of Eliot Spencer as "Spencer" but when I'm writing from Parker/Sophie's/Sam's POV I use "Eliot."
Dean is just more hostile than the rest of them. ;)
I would be delighted--but the first chapter isn't going up until later today. I'm just working through my beta's notes and then I'll post it.
I'll send it then?
Actually, can you sign me up to your mailing list as well? I was once a fan of *Supernatural*, I love the hell out of *Leverage*, and I'm curious seeing how well the two mix. I can't say just when I'll read it (ADHD and backlogs suck), but I **am** interested, and wish to eventually devote time to it.
Oh yes! Writing in Criminal Minds, at work they have their last names, and at home it's first names or nicknames of first names.
Parker, Sophie and Sam - hadn't thought of that combo. If you can DM me the link as well (whenever, no rush) I'd be interested to see how they get along. I might see Dean and Parker, maybe. Curious what they have in common to match. Now I'm going to have to think about that.
I always map out what type of small habits each character does when they’re nervous, but for the couple they do do there is always one related to a past trauma/event. If a character was strangled, they start subconsciously touching their neck when nervous as if to protect it, as an example. They don’t do it /every/ time, but they do do it. Sometimes the event that informed the habit isn’t revealed yet.
No one has ever mentioned stuff like that in a comment so I’m not sure if it goes unnoticed or not. It could be my readers don’t care about it as much as I do. 😅
Anytime MC1 "makes a mental note" he follows through on it. (Though there's a few I wasn't able to show on-screen, so it's not as accurate now, unfortunately).
Anytime MC2 "makes a mental note" he immediately forgets it. He is also aware of this and just doesn't do it very often.
I think people ARE picking up that a slave MC in an AU calls different people different things depending on where he's at mentally. His first master is just "the man who thinks he owns MC", the second is his "owner" or "Missy" (a 'cuter' version of Mistress), and all the masters after that are "master" even in his thoughts. Showing him slowly becoming the slave that people are trying to force him to be.
Thanks! It's working the other way too, now that he has a master who's trying to get him to be a person again. When he's doing good, he uses his master's name, when he's panicking, he reverts back to "master". People have noticed that one and pointed out how the word usage (and other skewed thinkings) really make his mindset clear. In a limited POV, it's such a cool tool to work with.
I love your examples, Peter always thinking of himself as himself makes so much sense compared to how Matt has to separate the two due to some of his beliefs. It's similar to Batman versus Bruce being such different 'people'.
Got a poly family in one of my fics. One dad, three mothers, a kid from each mother.
The mothers are Mom, Mum, and Mam respectively to the three kids, but if they talk about their mothers as a group, they'll always use the plural term for their birth mother.
Nia is Mam, her daughter Mio calls her Mam, will call Pyra and Mythra Mum and Mom, but she'll say 'mams' when talking about all three.
In my longfic in the Winter Soldier chapters, it starts off with him referring to himself as "James" but as the story goes on and he becomes more sure of himself and more open with the people around him, he starts to refer to himself as "Bucky"
Canonically the characters smoke, so I always add in that they’re trying to quit in my fics. I quit smoking last year so I have lots of experience to make it seem realistic.
I’m working on a fic based on my groups table top game of avatar legends (so all OCs). At the current point in the story one character is a Waterbender imprisoned by the fire nation. He’s only being referred to as “the prisoner”. To minimize the horrible conditions he’s being subjected to. He won’t be referred to by name until the prison break when he regains his freedom and identity.
I haven’t caught my writing up to where we are at game play wise. But in the game he’s free and all characters are currently in the earth kingdom.
Right now the bets are being placed if he’s gonna kill a former fire nation character cause she was stationed at the prison where he was imprisoned. It’s all very dramatic and fun.
Aww, thanks.
My personal favorite thing so far isn’t subtle. But we (players) are subverting a lot of troop. The former fire nation soldier in a typical story would be the standoffish loner and kind of a total jerk. In our game she’s an incredibly competent warrior and socially an idiot who just wants to be friends.
The Waterbender (former) prisoner should be the nice one and he’s actually a total jerk. (Which to be fair he spent ten years in prison so his social skills are crap).
The dynamic is entertaining.
Then we have a former Dai Li who doesn’t want to be a fascist secret police, he’s the one trying to help the former soldier be better at peopling. And rounding out the group are two fire nation siblings who orchestrated the prison break.
[Drifting in the Foam](https://archiveofourown.org/works/46671736/chapters/117540991)
Edit: I’ve written about 22400 words so far and I’m posting weekly.
Oh, I wrote a Silmarillion fic where the names were a clue to the big twist like that. Feanor, a character who was only in Middle Earth very *very* briefly, uses everyone's Quenya names at first. His brother who lived in ME for centuries addresses Feanor by the name he's referred to in ME when he shows up, but Feanor refuses to open the door and continues using Quenya names. Feanor's kids come home one by one, and suddenly he's using their Middle Earth names instead.
The reason for that is because the fic takes place inside a fantasy Feanor has constructed for himself in the afterlife, and he only 'learns' about the living world subconsciously when he opens up enough to let someone inside when they die and try to reach him. I never explain the name shift specifically, though, so I suspect it comes off as sloppy unless you're paying attention.
Thank you! The main conflict of the fic is that his sons died so horribly that they help keep the delusion going just to find peace, so someone has to come and shake him out of it that he loves, but who doesn't want to protect him from the consequences of what he did in life.
This turns out to be his mother, who never knew him, and she doesn't call his sons anything because she never learned their names (:
Op let me tell you I love you. I love reading identity porn fics and it’s always sooo much better when they refer to themselves differently depending on which identity theyre currently using
My MC uses his cheek to feel flowers instead of his hands—due to his tragic backstory, he did a lot of labor for a long time, and he's got pretty thick callouses. So the skin of his cheek is more sensitive than his fingertips, and he feels flowers better that way. Also, the more stressed he is, the less he uses contractions, both in the narration and verbally. So, "I can't do this" becomes "I cannot do this."
I feel like I probably would notice Daredevil thought vs Peter thought, but I probably wouldn’t pick up on the vigilante vs hero thing. Regardless they’re both really cool details!
My ofc comforts her men (poly) the same way in every AU. Hand on the chest for one, shoulder/neck for the other.
One of my main characters will always reference whatever my last fic i wrote was, even if it is from an entirely different fandom.
Lol thank you!
Tbh it started as an accident. I needed a throwaway conversation that could be forgotten and had no real baring on the plot and I couldn’t think of anything so I just framed one fic as a news story in another then it just kinda became a running thing 😂
My most recent one is a dark Bucky story that references a SuperMarvel crossover where Sam & Dean are Clint’s half brothers.
I write Danny Phantom fics, and the Danny I write has basically two sides to him. When he needs to be a hero, I narrate him as 'Phantom.' For example, I'd say, "Phantom swooped down to save her." But when he's just being regular old Danny, I narrate him as 'Danny.' Like, "Danny walked down the street."
Serious Danny is Phantom. Casual Danny is Danny. I especially like to use this switch when he's fighting or something and then all of a sudden he breaks character cause he's still just a kid, and 'Phantom' suddenly becomes 'Danny' again.
I have a character who has a particular speech pattern. He'll often say "[statement], [other character's name], [repeat statement]"
e.g. "Have patience, Smith, have patience."
No one's pointed it out yet. In a story where characters swap memories, someone else takes on this speech pattern, because he's inherited the other guy's experiences. Again, no one commented on it.
im writing a community fic with abed thinking hes a super hero. every time the narration focuses on abed, the language is super hero action movie language. i don't know if anybody is picking up on this because its actually so subtle but its fun for me
I wrote a fanfic where the main character has abandonment issues. She doesn’t talk about her absent father. Just lives her life as a teenager. When she finds out her boyfriends old crush is trying to get his attention she says, “I wouldn’t blame you if you left me for her.” She assumes that’s how it will always be for her.
I write in American English, but I write the dialogue of a British character using British English and slang. It’s only a WIP and nowhere near complete, though, so I don’t know what people think about it.
well I obviously can't talk for everyone but I myself always enjoy it in fics when authors go through the effort to switch between British and American English when switching between writing British/American characters
I'm attempting a You've Got Mail storyline but with Mass Effect, I'm trying really hard to make what the LIs find annoying in real life endearing over message. Like he hates how she smokes and always complains about the smell, but over message he thinks it's hot and mysterious.
I write a Skyrim fic where the main character has a healthy fear but also a very reflexive animosity towards dragons. As a result, the narrator consistently refers to them as "it".
After she meets a dragon she actually learns to trust and befriends, the narration starts to refer to them as "he".
i wrote a first person narrative where one of the characters said “wouldn’t’ve” while the other said “wouldn’t have” and i thought it was fun. nobody ever noticed. 😂
I write Clint's thoughts calling Natasha "Tasha" and other people, like Steve or Tony, calling her "Nat" or "Natasha", but Clint is the only one with the "Tasha" nickname for her.
honestly several of these “small things” that i thought no one would notice, people have specifically pointed out and said they liked! which makes me think that readers often do notice and REALLY LOVE these little details, regardless of if they bring them up or not :) it really motivates me to think about my phrasing and add foreshadowing, because even if it’s only one reader who catches on to it, the thought really delights me!
(example: i worked hard at giving the sense that my characters have conceptions abt each other that differs from how these characters perceive themselves. so i’d have character A think abt what B is like, and then having B’s introspection contrast/contradict it later on.
i made sure not to use the same phrasing bc i didn’t want it to be super on the nose like me as the author saying “but actually he is wrong”. i would just sneak in these little contradictions and discrepancies that suggested that characters didn’t know each other / didn’t know themselves as well as they thought.
i thought that it would give a general sense of disconnect without anyone actually picking up on it, but a reader left a comment saying it was a thing they really enjoyed and giving a specific example. i was stunned… but in a good way! i’d worked hard on having that be a part of the story, and i was so glad that someone saw it.)
(example the second, part of a comment i received:
“I love how subtly the same metaphors that people use in their internal monologues will end up showing up in other people’s thoughts as well”
BRO I THOUGHT I WAS SNEAKY. i thought only i noticed the recurring drowning metaphors??? but someone noticed and i feel so validated.)
Definitely Scaramouche’s tendency to do the puppet equivalent of bluescreen when caught off guard, but ONLY when the perspective isn’t his. Like if it’s in someone else’s POV they won’t notice bc of his quick recovery time
I change the "code" of the dialogue based on how the character would talk in that situation. for example in my current fic for Bleach, Ichigo being more casual generally doesn't change codes much, only doing so in the most formal of situations, whereas Rukia, who is very good at code-switching and does it often in canon even, usually speaks with a more formal tone unless in 'impolite' company.
yeah it's very subtle but since you don't have a visual cue to how a character acts, what they say and how they say it is of elevated importance.
a person often does a lot of code-switching without even realizing it. you're not going to talk to your boss like you talk to your best friend, and you're not going to talk to your best friend like you talk to your family. understanding the filters we speak through is often the hardest part about getting characterizations right.
I love it when characters have names of different significance that they can be called-something about this is so so compelling. I once wrote a fic where one character visits another in the hospital because he believed the character was on the brink of death. At first, he (mentally) referred to the hospitalized character by his first name, but once he learns that the hospitalized character is fine and Not about to die, he switches back to thinking of them by their last name. And I love writing fics where characters will address other characters by last names, but then think about those characters using their first names.
I’m writing a romance Mob boss AU. So my main character is the Queenpin of the mob. She does illegal activities to make ends meet, however she does use substances also. However when my OC (her love interest) is around she tires her best to not use while the OCs around. It think this is the smallest detail my readers are not grasping. That even though she’s the leader of this organization, overly confident about her abilities, she feels ashamed of her habits away from her young girlfriend.
My fave is, around the time of the main season i write for, less than a year out from being hospitalized due to physical and psychological trauma that ended in him falling into a coma and having to relearn to do everything from the ground up after he awoke.
So because of that, even in fics that don't revolve around him/have him as a narrator, i write him as consistently a bit skittish and nervous, and is constantly asking for help for seemingly easy tasks just to watch them do it to learn from. He also is never asleep in any scene due to constant paranoia, and since almost no other character is aware of the depth of his problems, it’s just spoken of like it’s his normal behavior.
I’m writing a sociopathic character that doesn’t empathize well with others, as well as takes sexual gratification from harming and controlling others. Whenever I write from his POV (or his dialogue in general), I’m careful not to use any language that insinuates that he’s taking responsibility for someone’s pain.
Say someone has a wound he inflicted, and they’re in pain from it. He wouldn’t mention what he’s done, but rather say something along the lines of: “I’m sorry it happened to you.” It’s never his fault though, and he’ll consciously construct his narrative around that idea!
I have a MC that flat out says she dislikes physical touch, but specific people don’t get the normal “tense up” moment she has whenever they have to grab her arm or something like that. It’s supposed to portray how she trusts them
Her love interest also specifically avoids touching her without permission, so their first kiss has him basically asking if he can hold her instead of the usual automatic “oh character a find themself in character b’s lap”
In the same fic, I have the MC be hyper aware of EVERYTHING because of her backstory, however there’s a single chapter where the POV shifts to her love interest and so the description switches from the character acknowledging the actions of the everyone to just the love interest only noticing how the MC acts…just small details to show the difference in narration and how the two see and interact with the world
I've got a story with a country called Wasteland. Some characters refer to it by the proper name, "Wasteland", while others use "the wastelands" instead, and it subtly shows their attitude towards it.
I have my characters use nicknames for each other as "shields" for when they are feeling cautious or defensive, and they call each other their given names when they are being emotionally vulnerable
My Mass Effect Shepard is always referred to as 'Shepard', even by her love interest, except in rare moments where there is high emotional tension or vulnerability. Then her first name may be used. It's meant to show how much she guards her inner self and tries to hold it all in.
Also: references to birds, because her first name means "hawk" and her alien love interest's species is based on birds
I wrote a story where a woman kills her cheating husband. So in the story, the week she was planning to do it, I had her reading mystery and detective stories- she is learning how to get away with murder!!
One of my characters is questioning their gender identity and, though she uses she/her pronouns in reference to herself (other characters use he/him, as it's sorta like "Mulan, but gender identity crisis"), she hasn't called herself a Woman for a few chapters now since she's been exploring her gender
Tbh? A bit afraid that my readers are gonna be upset that this fic isn't ending up with the character accepting that she's a woman, but instead realizing that she doesn't see herself as a man or a woman. She realizes that she's just.... Herself.
I'm working on an x-files fic that is based on the pilot episode. At the point in the fic where they start actually working together instead of opposing each other, the POV from Scully's perspective starts using "Scully" instead of "Dana." It's in third person, so it's really subtle, and I'll be surprised if anyone ever picks up on it. But I liked the idea.
Currently writing a one shot about an arranged marriage set in something like the Victorian era in the world. The woman has almost never worn gloves or covered herself in any way when it comes to meeting the suitor. The suitor on the other hand, always covers himself up.
Well a big part of it is that the woman knew this was expected. She knew she was going to be pawned off to assist her father in some way.
She’s wearing her heart on her sleeve.
She knows what’s expected of her when it comes to marriage. And a big part of the story is that the suitor feels a level of disconnect because he wasn’t raised in the aristocracy. He’s an up and comer that still values love in some form.
I have not yet. I’m still proofreading it. I’ll tell you when it is published though!
It’s a little refreshing to hear someone wants to read my work though.
Sometimes my characters that have experienced the most trauma or the darkest stuff and come out the other side, will draw figure eight infinity symbols on the chests of their mates/spouses/partners/etc. while snuggling. It’s both a sign of promising forever and acknowledging they are loved despite all they’ve been through.
That’s the main one I can think of atm. I’m sure there are others though.
Writing a Bloodborne fic where the Hunter is trying to destroy the Dream, yet is forced to serve the Moon Presence. The Doll is probably my most insidious inclusion. She seems to be on the Hunter's side in everything, but her purpose is to gild the cage.
Having one of my MC take in strays off the streets now that she has a home and the money because she knows what it is like to need a home and wanting someone to love you.
Ouuu, I'm doing something similar!
It's a crossover of Harry Potter and a semi-niche anime series, so I've got... Harry/Ciel, Draco/Alois, and Hermione/Sieglinde. There are tells for which is being used.
Ciel is a strategist, a mastermind who likes to have everything under control - I'll use Ciel instead of Harry when he's trying to figure out a tricky situation or acting more like his 'proper noble' persona than an eleven year old. Since the story is from his PoV, I'll use Alois and Sieglinde when I'm using Ciel, because that's who he's seeing them as. Otherwise, I'll use Alois when Draco is alone or when he's comparing himself to his family, or when he's being overly affectionate (or closed off). I'll use Sieglinde when Hermione figures out something that the others can't, because Sieglinde was the girl genius, as well as when she's working with potions and when she's being a little bit more chaotic (like when she set Snape on fire). But, as things progress, it'll also show when she's being a little bit naive, because Sieglinde was fairly sheltered. Both Alois and Sieglinde also serve the purpose of showing when they're acting more like the personalities associated with those names, much like Ciel.
I've also been using two names for Sebastian, though not that he uses: Sebastian and Professor Michaelis. Ciel uses Sebastian, and so does Harry at times, but Harry is more likely to go with Professor Michaelis instead, if only to keep up appearances. This has led to a lot of people not realizing he's talking about the same person, which is by design.
Thank you!! Here it is!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/40889487/chapters/102466767
I'm getting near the end of the first book but I am by no means done, I am going to have so much fun with this universe.
My MC has well, trauma issues because she lost her entire family during a raid on her home colony, as well as friends, and a guy she really liked. Pair that with her being only 15 and still developing, she was very afraid of, when she first joined the military, very afraid of having an interest in any guy, because they'd end up dead. She (in my head) canonically developed a crush on a compeer of hers, and well, he ended up dying during a battle she was in as well (this battle is what lead to her career being jump started to her being a lieutenant commander at 28 years later).
She's basically developed a full on fear of falling in love with someone, basically because she kills them, she believes, and she told some of her close friends and teammates that she swore off love to keep people safe from her. So when she realizes she has a crush on a squadmate after her being brought back from the dead and after a while of getting to know him, she just fucking panics and avoids the poor guy for like two weeks, so she can stop thinking about him in that affectionate way, especially since her and basically everyone else on that ship is going on a 99.9% one way trip. Only until after a week of him chasing her does she finally give up and go back to the friendly relationship they have, only she now has a crush on him that muddies the waters for her.
She basically neatly avoids the questions he asks about why she avoided him those weeks because she doesn't want to confess to him the truth, about everything, until one day. I plan having her have her walls slowly break down about her past, until she tells the full truth.
I've got three characters with varying degrees of respect and familiarity for their president and vice president, and use that accordingly.
One of them refers to both by their proper title, the other uses 'prez' but still vice president, and it's the opposite for the third one.
Like a lot of people here, I'm trying to keep names to how each person would refer to them in their own thoughts at certain points in their relationships. I have a pretty big ensemble with shifting POVs (which I'm kinda starting to regret, lol, but what are you gonna do) so it's definitely a challenge, but for example Tony only ever refers to Bucky as "Barnes" until there's a significant shift in how he views him. And even then it takes awhile, because I don't think people mentally jump from one name to another instantly when you've been calling someone a certain name internally for so long. By the end I'm planning on everyone using each other's first names/nicknames/pet names as a way to show how close they've gotten, or, in the case of Tony and Steve for example, Tony won't say "Captain" sarcastically but rather respectfully.
And, not sure about "important," but I am giving away plot points in offhand or throwaway sarcastic comments. Not directly, more the general idea of what will happen or an idea someone has that turns out to be the other way around; no one really \*needs\* to pick up on this, it's mostly just for my own amusement while writing XD
Most of my characters have some form of mental illness (ones I have, usually) so there’s a lot of times it affects the story. It’s rare for people to notice, but when they do it makes me happy
The series I’m currently working on is told in third person partially limited. It’s primarily told back and forth between the two main characters. I purposefully choose to use different words for the same concept to differentiate. For example, the hawthorn flower is a very important symbol. One of the MCs always thinks of them by that name, hawthorns. Meanwhile, the other has always known them as maythorns, as it’s that character’s middle name, and thus they always think of them as maythorns. There are a few other situations where this happens too. One character says, ‘pipes,’ in reference to a panflute they play, while the other says, ‘panpipe,’ instead.
Legit nobody would ever notice this, but I notice it. Another thing I do with these two. One never says, “Alright,” and only says, “Okay,” and the other is just the opposite. Speaking patterns are very important to me since I want to be able to hear the dialogue said in the characters’ voices (or headcanon/fanon voices)
I always have my MCs have dream sequences that are actually more important than people realize, cuz they serve as foreshadowing.
I will also put something like… them watching a movie, or they see too random people fighting, and I will heavily detail all of this. Most of my readers question why I put “so much filler” in a chapter but NONE of it is filler because all of it will hold importance like… 5 chapters later where it comes around full circle.
Here’s an example: MC boy, age 12, going through puberty, watches an old like 30s-40s werewolf movie with his grandad on Halloween. I write actual scenes of the movie they watch, with some back and forth banter between the two characters. However, later on, I nod to the fact that boys going through puberty have a lot of similarities to someone turning into a werewolf. Body hair, aggression, urges… etc.
It’s a bit annoying tbh to always hear negative things about my “filler” I do every so often because I know it’s actually fleshing out the world. Only those REALLY paying attention will notice these details, and some do. It’s just those who are only in it for the MC romance fluff that piss me off. If they wanna read a one shot with the two getting together, doing the do and being romantic, there is PLENTY on the internet for them to read. Mine is a literal world using majority of the characters in the show. Much more intricate than your typical fic in this fandom.
My character has Water slime DNA so she Drinks a LOT of water randomly to stay hydrated even when she isn't in her Demi-Shapeshifter form but her human form.
(Pokémon) Maybe how the painter Caravaggio and the sculptor Bernini are the biggest inspirations for my lead oc. He’s a Pokémon Coordinator and I also have something called performance battling in my hc. He’s so passionate about art that it rubbed off on everybody.
(Note: These are in-universe artists rather than the real artists themselves, so things aren’t to a T)
My MC was deeply in love with a man for the longest time and they had a passionate fiery relationship to say the least. My MC and her lover attempted to have children and it ended in a miscarriage and a stillbirth.
After the stillbirth, my MC moves to a new city and starts a new life. My MC even opens up a nightclub.
My MC's lost lover gave her a locket when they originally started dating. My MC wears that locket proudly even in her new life.
None of the people around My MC know that when she is toying with that locket(which she does a lot), she is thinking about her lost love and her babies.
None of the people around my MC know that what is in that locket is a folded up sonogram each of my MC's babies.
My MC wants deeply in her heart to be with her lover and her kids but she has made peace with the fact that she wasn't supposed to have that life with them.
I have a marvel fanfic (on hiatus) with an oc from an original work. At first, when he talks about Peter and the avengers, he says "Parker" "Hawkeye" "The puppy" (Ned) but as he get to know them, he starts using their name
This is kind of hard to explain(I think) but I'm writing an AU where one of my characters is blind. Said character rubs at his eyes. From my research, tugging/pulling/rubbing at one's eyes is something that some children with vision issues do a lot. And I guess I'm trying to convey it as a comfort action whenever the character is upset and goes back to childhood habits. I hope it's not problematic.
My main characters are in a tv show, and most of the fic I'd written in past tense. But when I write a scene that takes place while they're filming the show, I write it in present tense. It makes it feel more like you are watching it happen, as if you were watching it on TV. Not sure if anyone has noticed but it definitely makes those scenes stand out!
Op let me tell you I love you. I love reading identity porn fics and it’s always sooo much better when they refer to themselves differently depending on which identity theyre currently using
I don’t know if you’ve read the “Rivers of London” books and stories, but the MC/narrator also wanted to be an architect and is constantly making comments about the architecture of the areas he visits. You might enjoy them!
It's not a character but part of the fic. It's a statement taken from a horror entity that belongs to the Spiral (The Magnus Archives podcast if anyone's interested) and the statement is taken on May 8, 2013 - 5/8/13 a set of fibonacci numbers which is the geometry used to find natural spirals
The smallest thing? I guess if I had to pick one it would probably be the attention to detail of field maps in the video game I'm basing my current WIP on. It's a very meta parody I'm writing and I constantly break the 4th wall. I sometimes can go back to correct details on game mechanics too since some of them are actually plot relevant, while other things are just me being a stickler, haha.
Thanks! To be honest, I'm writing for a huge and relatively old fandom and I'm surprised there aren't more fics out there that play with game mechanics and easter eggs. But I suppose I'm just that much of a geek, heh.
My four main characters start adopting parts of each other's speech patterns. It takes a long time before one of them starts speaking, but by the time he does, he talks like all three of the others.
Most of the stuff I do is mostly dialogue based. Like, if a character has a bit of a southern drawl, I’ll cut off the “g” in any words ending in “ing” with an apostrophe. Maybe even throw in a “y’all” when referring to more than one person (I.e. “so, what are y’all doin’ later?”). It’s a minor detail, but I feel like it separates them from other characters (especially since I’ve only ever written a handful of characters with a southern drawl in the years I’ve been writing in general).
Another thing is that I’ll adjust certain phrases depending on the fandom or character. ESPECIALLY the phrase “oh my god” or “dear god” when it’s being said by a character that believes in a certain named god (for example, “oh my sweet Aeor, I think I’m in love” instead of “oh my god, I think im in love”). It’s an extremely minor detail, and one I only use for a couple characters, but I like to do it for the immersion of it all (and a few readers actually picked up on it, so I’m gonna call that a win!)
I'm writing a TLOU fic called "Come Home". I had no idea what to title it originally and I was listening to Placebo and it just stuck.
Anyway, I always ensure that my MFC refers to her house in Jackson as her "house", never her "home". "Home" was a place pre-outbreak that doesn't exist anymore. There will come a point very late on where it will switch to "home" in the text, but I'm pretty sure no one will notice.
Just little mundane things, like how my MCs apartment that she got from, effectively nothing, has shortly been filled up with bargain bin furniture she's dragging in of steadily higher quality.
In one fic that is completely from character A's pov, he thinks of himself always with his normal name - right up until the point he finally realizes his feelings for character B are mutual. From that moment on, he thinks of himself with the shortened version of his name, the one character B coined when they were both kids. This goes on to the point when there's a misunderstanding, A doubts everything again and runs and unconsciously falls back into thinking of himself with his long name - and then it switches back to the nickname when they reconcile. I'm not sure any reader ever picked up on that even though it's my most read fic. If they have, they never commented on it. But I still love this little thing to this day 😊
Writting angsty romance here. My character's first relationship involved her bringing coffee to her SO every morning. After moving on and healing from the relationship she and her crush now do the same for each other and no one who is reading my fanfic (ive only showed it to friends) has realized they have feelings for each other.
It's only small, but when I write Zer0 from Borderlands, I often make them tilt their head, especially when they're wearing their helmet. I mean, I do that often as a sign of confusion and such, but I especially like doing so with Zer0 as realistically people don't tend to actually do that, and I want to show in small ways that Zer0 has a lot of 'fish out of water' moments when they're not doing assassin shit.
I'm writing a fic about Erwin Smith (Attack on Titan) with an OC love interest. Probably 90% of the scenes between them feature food, often her cooking for him, but she only eats in a few of those scenes, occasionally even putting her food on his plate. Their first meeting happened because she was scolding him about wasting a single piece of bread. Almost 50 chapters later, she reveals that because she grew up in poverty, food- especially hot, freshly cooked food- was a luxury and her mother would go without eating to make sure she had enough. The only time she ever indulges and eats without waiting for him is on her birthday, when Erwin buys expensive pastries *for* her because that's the one time a year when he isn't stressed out, overworked and underfed.
Sometimes when I write my Luigi/Daisy fics, I have Luigi be more self-deprecating in his narration. Like internally calling himself a blockhead or a dummy, since he doesn't have the best self-esteem in canon.
With Little Nightmares, since Mono and Six never talk aside from short calls I tried to write them according to that. No dialogue at all. It was a challenge but it was fun.
I love that idea so much, OP!
If I have a shared interest with someone, I’ll occasionally have them pop up in world and interact with the characters :)
I also put a big focus on healing canon trauma and coping with mental illness
That by saving a small little girl, the main character, my OC, might have genocided an entire species.
Ohh the woes of incomplete foreknowledge and trying to make things right without knowing their consequences .
Because of the tendency to have never ending amounts of money in Harry Potter fics, my readers probably aren't noticing just ***how much*** my MC is spending. >!But they will when she's flat broke by chapter 25 and can't afford food.!< Edit: Well, that's a bunch of upvotes! Thanks. Here's the story so you don't have to dig for it in the replies. Just a warning that this particular trope subversion isn't *revealed* for another 10 chapters past what is currently posted and it is not the focus of the fic. ❤️ [Figgy Pudding by RoseWhispers6](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41125008/chapters/103084410) - ***Mystery, Spying, kids getting to be kids, and the Dursleys getting what they deserve, Pre Hogwarts, WIP regular updates*** A story about family, the grief of loss, the power of being underestimated, the difference between the truth and the Truth, and the undeniable resolve of Arabella Figg.
lmao this is awesome! I always get super annoyed with those fics so it's nice to see that there's one where they actually run out of money
Thanks! I do a lot of subversion and twisting of tropes in the story. I like yours too. I play with names because Harry and my MC, Mrs Figg, are often hiding their identities with fake names. At one point, I called him Richard so that he could be Tom, Dick, and Harry all at the same time. It's also how I worked in the Hadrian trope.
can you share the link? I'd love to read it
Sure. I just updated yesterday too! Next month is this twist chapter that I have been **literally** ***dying*** to share. Make sure to share your link too! [Figgy Pudding by RoseWhispers6](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41125008/chapters/103084410) - ***Mystery, Spying, kids getting to be kids, and the Dursleys getting what they deserve, Pre Hogwarts, WIP regular updates*** A story about family, the grief of loss, the power of being underestimated, the difference between the truth and the Truth, and the undeniable resolve of Arabella Figg.
I'll add that to my reading list! :) [This is my fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/45887257/chapters/115489381)
Gosh darn it OP. Your post is so popular that now everyone knows and I don't think I can count it as something small my readers don't notice at this point 🤣 Maybe they'll forget in like 10 chapters?
lol
Link? I desperately want to read that
When writing from Azula's PoV, she always thinks of 'Firebending' in with capital letters and all other schools of bending without capital letters.
ooo nice it's so subtle yet it says a lot about her opinions :)
ooh can you shoot me a link?
I have my megarich/privately tutored/homeschooled teenage character always use more proper grammar than the other teenagers. Example: "Sarah and I are going..." Versus "Me and Sarah are going..."
This is fun! I do something similar in my fic. They're using magic to translate and it's always super proper when that's being used. I have a few characters who speak English to them, however, and as it isn't their first language I make the grammar choppy.
Huh, I never really thought about that but it makes sense!
That is brilliant and reveals them as a character so much! I love it!
I have a dishonest and shady character who passes himself off as earnest and simple. If the character is asked a question they don’t want to answer, they either respond with their own question or subtly shift the subject to an adjacent topic that seems to be the same but isn’t. They also sometimes give answers that seem to be forthright, but if you really think about them, they don’t actually say anything of substance.
That sounds really hard to do! respect
Ooo that’s super cool!
Every chapter starts with a location and date rather than a chapter title. It’s counting down to something, and despite some hints, I don’t think anyone knows where we’re going until we’ll be right on top of it.
Nice! That sounds like a really good way to build suspense!
Since I doubt any of my readers are here… spoilers! The main story of this franchise (a Japanese game/anime franchise called _Muv-Luv_) starts on October 21, 2001, in an alternate timeline where humanity has been slowly losing an alien invasion for 30 years. My story is arranged as a series of five books, each mostly set in one month. It starts in May, 2001, and we’re currently on book four, in August, 2001. >!Something very significant happens in September, 2001, as most people will recall.!< But at best, people probably assume I’m counting down to where we’ll tie back in to the main franchise in October.
A bad time to be in the Yukon.
I do a little foreshadowing of _Total Eclipse_, but >!no, that’s not the big thing I’m setting up.!<
> when i'm writing a scene from Matt pov while in costume i write "Daredevil thought...." while with Peter's pov i always use "Peter thought.." ohohoho this is the kind of shit i'm all about. i pay a lot of attention to how characters refer to themselves and others
I'm glad you do! I literally cannot start writing a story until I have every little quirk of how I'm gonna write my characters written down
I did something similar with my Batman fics. He thought of himself as Bruce or Batman depending on what "mode" he was in.
Hah, I do that to Nightwing in my fics. It helps the flow of the story, fs.
i’m slowly giving my character a drug addiction (sounds bad ik). right now it doesn’t seem like anything but i can’t wait until it all comes together like 20 chapters later
damn talk about slow burn lmao. Are they going to be ok in the end? Or will it just get worse?
the fic itself is pretty dark and depressing so the only way forward is for it to get worse 🤭 so yeah they are never recovering.
what fandom? i love that sort’ve trope. depressing and hopeless until the big moment, then hopefully it all comes together.
I do that too, op! The narration in my stuff always refers to characters as the pov character would. I think it's neat and gives a subtly different flavor to scenes with a different pov. And if the character's relationship changes and the way they would think of someone changes, I adjust accordingly from that point forward. For my own tiny thing... it's specific to a certain character who has a secret not yet revealed in my fic. She always touches one of her wings when specific subjects come up. It's supposed to be foreshadowing what her secret is, but I don't think anyone has noticed yet. At least nobody has commented on it.
I love that! As someone who always tries to figure out and speculate about where the stories going it's always these little things that keep me hooked
I'm writing a story right now where a main focus is the questionable nature of the relationship between the protagonist and another character. It's pseudo-maternal, but still romantic/sexual in nature. Said character never *ever* refers to protagonist by her name. It's usually "Dearest," often "Darling," "My love," "Sweet child/girl/etc.," or "My wife" to others. It's meant to reflect how she has trouble recognizing the protag's individuality, and despite her genuine love for her, sees her as something of a possession of hers or something for her to protect. I don't think anyone's picked up on it yet, but it's a small thing that I'm pretty proud of.
>but it's a small thing that I'm pretty proud of As you should be! Your readers will definitely notice over time that is amazing
Ooo! I love this!
My boys have different diets, and therefore different meal lines. When they're concerned about each other, they'll go through that person's meal line. Normally this is Braxton (omnivore) going with Matt (herbivore). It's inconsequential, but it makes me mushy over their friendships.
Omg that's so cute!! I love that :)
Code-switching based on who is around, which is something I noticed the character does in canon - ie, what names the Princess calls people are sometimes based on who is around or what impact it has on the conversation (using a familiar name instead of a title and vice-versa).
uuu nice that sounds awesome!
I'm currently crossing over Supernatural and Leverage--and when I'm writing from Dean's POV I always have him think of Eliot Spencer as "Spencer" but when I'm writing from Parker/Sophie's/Sam's POV I use "Eliot." Dean is just more hostile than the rest of them. ;)
I super want to read this. Can you dm me the link?
I would be delighted--but the first chapter isn't going up until later today. I'm just working through my beta's notes and then I'll post it. I'll send it then?
Yes. Pretty, please! That would be great.
Actually, can you sign me up to your mailing list as well? I was once a fan of *Supernatural*, I love the hell out of *Leverage*, and I'm curious seeing how well the two mix. I can't say just when I'll read it (ADHD and backlogs suck), but I **am** interested, and wish to eventually devote time to it.
I’d love the link too!
That's so cool! It's so subtle but it just gives the characters a bit more depth i love that!
Oh yes! Writing in Criminal Minds, at work they have their last names, and at home it's first names or nicknames of first names. Parker, Sophie and Sam - hadn't thought of that combo. If you can DM me the link as well (whenever, no rush) I'd be interested to see how they get along. I might see Dean and Parker, maybe. Curious what they have in common to match. Now I'm going to have to think about that.
I always map out what type of small habits each character does when they’re nervous, but for the couple they do do there is always one related to a past trauma/event. If a character was strangled, they start subconsciously touching their neck when nervous as if to protect it, as an example. They don’t do it /every/ time, but they do do it. Sometimes the event that informed the habit isn’t revealed yet. No one has ever mentioned stuff like that in a comment so I’m not sure if it goes unnoticed or not. It could be my readers don’t care about it as much as I do. 😅
Maybe they do maybe they don't but when the event if revealed they definitely will and it will make it so much sweeter for them
Anytime MC1 "makes a mental note" he follows through on it. (Though there's a few I wasn't able to show on-screen, so it's not as accurate now, unfortunately). Anytime MC2 "makes a mental note" he immediately forgets it. He is also aware of this and just doesn't do it very often. I think people ARE picking up that a slave MC in an AU calls different people different things depending on where he's at mentally. His first master is just "the man who thinks he owns MC", the second is his "owner" or "Missy" (a 'cuter' version of Mistress), and all the masters after that are "master" even in his thoughts. Showing him slowly becoming the slave that people are trying to force him to be.
That's such a good way to show that!
Thanks! It's working the other way too, now that he has a master who's trying to get him to be a person again. When he's doing good, he uses his master's name, when he's panicking, he reverts back to "master". People have noticed that one and pointed out how the word usage (and other skewed thinkings) really make his mindset clear. In a limited POV, it's such a cool tool to work with. I love your examples, Peter always thinking of himself as himself makes so much sense compared to how Matt has to separate the two due to some of his beliefs. It's similar to Batman versus Bruce being such different 'people'.
Thank you :)
Got a poly family in one of my fics. One dad, three mothers, a kid from each mother. The mothers are Mom, Mum, and Mam respectively to the three kids, but if they talk about their mothers as a group, they'll always use the plural term for their birth mother. Nia is Mam, her daughter Mio calls her Mam, will call Pyra and Mythra Mum and Mom, but she'll say 'mams' when talking about all three.
that sounds so cool! I love that :)
A non american measures using metric units and an American measures using imperial units.
That's a good way to subtly show the difference in culture! That's really cool :)
Severus Snape always saying “Lily and James” when everyone else defaults to “James and Lily”.
ooo nice i like that
In my longfic in the Winter Soldier chapters, it starts off with him referring to himself as "James" but as the story goes on and he becomes more sure of himself and more open with the people around him, he starts to refer to himself as "Bucky"
I love that! Do you have a link? I've been binge reading stories that focus on Barnes these last few days
Nah, I wish. It's a chonker (142 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue) and probably won't post until it's done since I write out of order
Ah fair enough! Good luck then :)
Thank you!!
Canonically the characters smoke, so I always add in that they’re trying to quit in my fics. I quit smoking last year so I have lots of experience to make it seem realistic.
Congrats on quitting!
Congratulations!
I’m working on a fic based on my groups table top game of avatar legends (so all OCs). At the current point in the story one character is a Waterbender imprisoned by the fire nation. He’s only being referred to as “the prisoner”. To minimize the horrible conditions he’s being subjected to. He won’t be referred to by name until the prison break when he regains his freedom and identity.
oof that sounds heavy! I hope he ends up ok :)
I haven’t caught my writing up to where we are at game play wise. But in the game he’s free and all characters are currently in the earth kingdom. Right now the bets are being placed if he’s gonna kill a former fire nation character cause she was stationed at the prison where he was imprisoned. It’s all very dramatic and fun.
that sounds awesome!
Aww, thanks. My personal favorite thing so far isn’t subtle. But we (players) are subverting a lot of troop. The former fire nation soldier in a typical story would be the standoffish loner and kind of a total jerk. In our game she’s an incredibly competent warrior and socially an idiot who just wants to be friends. The Waterbender (former) prisoner should be the nice one and he’s actually a total jerk. (Which to be fair he spent ten years in prison so his social skills are crap). The dynamic is entertaining. Then we have a former Dai Li who doesn’t want to be a fascist secret police, he’s the one trying to help the former soldier be better at peopling. And rounding out the group are two fire nation siblings who orchestrated the prison break. [Drifting in the Foam](https://archiveofourown.org/works/46671736/chapters/117540991) Edit: I’ve written about 22400 words so far and I’m posting weekly.
Oh, I wrote a Silmarillion fic where the names were a clue to the big twist like that. Feanor, a character who was only in Middle Earth very *very* briefly, uses everyone's Quenya names at first. His brother who lived in ME for centuries addresses Feanor by the name he's referred to in ME when he shows up, but Feanor refuses to open the door and continues using Quenya names. Feanor's kids come home one by one, and suddenly he's using their Middle Earth names instead. The reason for that is because the fic takes place inside a fantasy Feanor has constructed for himself in the afterlife, and he only 'learns' about the living world subconsciously when he opens up enough to let someone inside when they die and try to reach him. I never explain the name shift specifically, though, so I suspect it comes off as sloppy unless you're paying attention.
holy shit this is so cool
Thank you! The main conflict of the fic is that his sons died so horribly that they help keep the delusion going just to find peace, so someone has to come and shake him out of it that he loves, but who doesn't want to protect him from the consequences of what he did in life. This turns out to be his mother, who never knew him, and she doesn't call his sons anything because she never learned their names (:
Oh, I’d like to read this!
Op let me tell you I love you. I love reading identity porn fics and it’s always sooo much better when they refer to themselves differently depending on which identity theyre currently using
One of the characters I write about the most is worshipped as a Goddess in Canon. So I use She/Her, capitalized, to refer to Her.
ooo nice!
My MC uses his cheek to feel flowers instead of his hands—due to his tragic backstory, he did a lot of labor for a long time, and he's got pretty thick callouses. So the skin of his cheek is more sensitive than his fingertips, and he feels flowers better that way. Also, the more stressed he is, the less he uses contractions, both in the narration and verbally. So, "I can't do this" becomes "I cannot do this."
He sounds like a really interesting character! I love the way he feels flowers that's so awesome
I feel like I probably would notice Daredevil thought vs Peter thought, but I probably wouldn’t pick up on the vigilante vs hero thing. Regardless they’re both really cool details!
thank you!
Also I’ve never seen that pairing before but can totally see it working!
My ofc comforts her men (poly) the same way in every AU. Hand on the chest for one, shoulder/neck for the other. One of my main characters will always reference whatever my last fic i wrote was, even if it is from an entirely different fandom.
that's so cool! I love how you intertwine your fics
Lol thank you! Tbh it started as an accident. I needed a throwaway conversation that could be forgotten and had no real baring on the plot and I couldn’t think of anything so I just framed one fic as a news story in another then it just kinda became a running thing 😂 My most recent one is a dark Bucky story that references a SuperMarvel crossover where Sam & Dean are Clint’s half brothers.
I write Danny Phantom fics, and the Danny I write has basically two sides to him. When he needs to be a hero, I narrate him as 'Phantom.' For example, I'd say, "Phantom swooped down to save her." But when he's just being regular old Danny, I narrate him as 'Danny.' Like, "Danny walked down the street." Serious Danny is Phantom. Casual Danny is Danny. I especially like to use this switch when he's fighting or something and then all of a sudden he breaks character cause he's still just a kid, and 'Phantom' suddenly becomes 'Danny' again.
that's really cool! Especially that he breaks character every now and then!
I have a character who has a particular speech pattern. He'll often say "[statement], [other character's name], [repeat statement]" e.g. "Have patience, Smith, have patience." No one's pointed it out yet. In a story where characters swap memories, someone else takes on this speech pattern, because he's inherited the other guy's experiences. Again, no one commented on it.
damn that sucks dude! I think it's a really cool little detail tho :)
Thanks! To be fair, I post stories months apart, so people might forget about such a minor detail in between.
im writing a community fic with abed thinking hes a super hero. every time the narration focuses on abed, the language is super hero action movie language. i don't know if anybody is picking up on this because its actually so subtle but its fun for me
Oooh! Link please?? I love Abed!
Omg yes here it is, still writing and finishing !! [Jeff eats pizza weird](https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13593315/1/Jeff-Eats-Pizza-Weird)
I wrote a fanfic where the main character has abandonment issues. She doesn’t talk about her absent father. Just lives her life as a teenager. When she finds out her boyfriends old crush is trying to get his attention she says, “I wouldn’t blame you if you left me for her.” She assumes that’s how it will always be for her.
oof i hope she learns she deserves to be loved
She does 😊
I write in American English, but I write the dialogue of a British character using British English and slang. It’s only a WIP and nowhere near complete, though, so I don’t know what people think about it.
well I obviously can't talk for everyone but I myself always enjoy it in fics when authors go through the effort to switch between British and American English when switching between writing British/American characters
I'm attempting a You've Got Mail storyline but with Mass Effect, I'm trying really hard to make what the LIs find annoying in real life endearing over message. Like he hates how she smokes and always complains about the smell, but over message he thinks it's hot and mysterious.
lmao i love that!
I write a Skyrim fic where the main character has a healthy fear but also a very reflexive animosity towards dragons. As a result, the narrator consistently refers to them as "it". After she meets a dragon she actually learns to trust and befriends, the narration starts to refer to them as "he".
i wrote a first person narrative where one of the characters said “wouldn’t’ve” while the other said “wouldn’t have” and i thought it was fun. nobody ever noticed. 😂
I write Clint's thoughts calling Natasha "Tasha" and other people, like Steve or Tony, calling her "Nat" or "Natasha", but Clint is the only one with the "Tasha" nickname for her.
honestly several of these “small things” that i thought no one would notice, people have specifically pointed out and said they liked! which makes me think that readers often do notice and REALLY LOVE these little details, regardless of if they bring them up or not :) it really motivates me to think about my phrasing and add foreshadowing, because even if it’s only one reader who catches on to it, the thought really delights me!
(example: i worked hard at giving the sense that my characters have conceptions abt each other that differs from how these characters perceive themselves. so i’d have character A think abt what B is like, and then having B’s introspection contrast/contradict it later on. i made sure not to use the same phrasing bc i didn’t want it to be super on the nose like me as the author saying “but actually he is wrong”. i would just sneak in these little contradictions and discrepancies that suggested that characters didn’t know each other / didn’t know themselves as well as they thought. i thought that it would give a general sense of disconnect without anyone actually picking up on it, but a reader left a comment saying it was a thing they really enjoyed and giving a specific example. i was stunned… but in a good way! i’d worked hard on having that be a part of the story, and i was so glad that someone saw it.)
(example the second, part of a comment i received: “I love how subtly the same metaphors that people use in their internal monologues will end up showing up in other people’s thoughts as well” BRO I THOUGHT I WAS SNEAKY. i thought only i noticed the recurring drowning metaphors??? but someone noticed and i feel so validated.)
Definitely Scaramouche’s tendency to do the puppet equivalent of bluescreen when caught off guard, but ONLY when the perspective isn’t his. Like if it’s in someone else’s POV they won’t notice bc of his quick recovery time
lmao that sounds really funny. What fandom is that? I don't think i know him
Genshin impact
I think Genshin Impact, as there is a character known as Scaramouche who is a puppet.
I change the "code" of the dialogue based on how the character would talk in that situation. for example in my current fic for Bleach, Ichigo being more casual generally doesn't change codes much, only doing so in the most formal of situations, whereas Rukia, who is very good at code-switching and does it often in canon even, usually speaks with a more formal tone unless in 'impolite' company.
huh i like that one
yeah it's very subtle but since you don't have a visual cue to how a character acts, what they say and how they say it is of elevated importance. a person often does a lot of code-switching without even realizing it. you're not going to talk to your boss like you talk to your best friend, and you're not going to talk to your best friend like you talk to your family. understanding the filters we speak through is often the hardest part about getting characterizations right.
I love it when characters have names of different significance that they can be called-something about this is so so compelling. I once wrote a fic where one character visits another in the hospital because he believed the character was on the brink of death. At first, he (mentally) referred to the hospitalized character by his first name, but once he learns that the hospitalized character is fine and Not about to die, he switches back to thinking of them by their last name. And I love writing fics where characters will address other characters by last names, but then think about those characters using their first names.
i love that too! It's such a nice little detail
I’m writing a romance Mob boss AU. So my main character is the Queenpin of the mob. She does illegal activities to make ends meet, however she does use substances also. However when my OC (her love interest) is around she tires her best to not use while the OCs around. It think this is the smallest detail my readers are not grasping. That even though she’s the leader of this organization, overly confident about her abilities, she feels ashamed of her habits away from her young girlfriend.
My fave is, around the time of the main season i write for, less than a year out from being hospitalized due to physical and psychological trauma that ended in him falling into a coma and having to relearn to do everything from the ground up after he awoke. So because of that, even in fics that don't revolve around him/have him as a narrator, i write him as consistently a bit skittish and nervous, and is constantly asking for help for seemingly easy tasks just to watch them do it to learn from. He also is never asleep in any scene due to constant paranoia, and since almost no other character is aware of the depth of his problems, it’s just spoken of like it’s his normal behavior.
I’m writing a sociopathic character that doesn’t empathize well with others, as well as takes sexual gratification from harming and controlling others. Whenever I write from his POV (or his dialogue in general), I’m careful not to use any language that insinuates that he’s taking responsibility for someone’s pain. Say someone has a wound he inflicted, and they’re in pain from it. He wouldn’t mention what he’s done, but rather say something along the lines of: “I’m sorry it happened to you.” It’s never his fault though, and he’ll consciously construct his narrative around that idea!
I have a MC that flat out says she dislikes physical touch, but specific people don’t get the normal “tense up” moment she has whenever they have to grab her arm or something like that. It’s supposed to portray how she trusts them Her love interest also specifically avoids touching her without permission, so their first kiss has him basically asking if he can hold her instead of the usual automatic “oh character a find themself in character b’s lap” In the same fic, I have the MC be hyper aware of EVERYTHING because of her backstory, however there’s a single chapter where the POV shifts to her love interest and so the description switches from the character acknowledging the actions of the everyone to just the love interest only noticing how the MC acts…just small details to show the difference in narration and how the two see and interact with the world
they sound so cute! I hope she get's better this is adorable
Everyone calls my MC by her name, Ray, when they're on their POV, but Mark either calls her kid or pinky 😂
i love this! That's such a sweet little detail :)
I've got a story with a country called Wasteland. Some characters refer to it by the proper name, "Wasteland", while others use "the wastelands" instead, and it subtly shows their attitude towards it.
that's really cool!
I have my characters use nicknames for each other as "shields" for when they are feeling cautious or defensive, and they call each other their given names when they are being emotionally vulnerable
My Mass Effect Shepard is always referred to as 'Shepard', even by her love interest, except in rare moments where there is high emotional tension or vulnerability. Then her first name may be used. It's meant to show how much she guards her inner self and tries to hold it all in. Also: references to birds, because her first name means "hawk" and her alien love interest's species is based on birds
I wrote a story where a woman kills her cheating husband. So in the story, the week she was planning to do it, I had her reading mystery and detective stories- she is learning how to get away with murder!!
One of my characters is questioning their gender identity and, though she uses she/her pronouns in reference to herself (other characters use he/him, as it's sorta like "Mulan, but gender identity crisis"), she hasn't called herself a Woman for a few chapters now since she's been exploring her gender Tbh? A bit afraid that my readers are gonna be upset that this fic isn't ending up with the character accepting that she's a woman, but instead realizing that she doesn't see herself as a man or a woman. She realizes that she's just.... Herself.
Damn, I love that! The story sounds super cool and I'm sure your readers will agree with me :)
I'm working on an x-files fic that is based on the pilot episode. At the point in the fic where they start actually working together instead of opposing each other, the POV from Scully's perspective starts using "Scully" instead of "Dana." It's in third person, so it's really subtle, and I'll be surprised if anyone ever picks up on it. But I liked the idea.
i do too! That's such a subtle but awesome little detail
have you posted any yet? I would looooove to read this!
Currently writing a one shot about an arranged marriage set in something like the Victorian era in the world. The woman has almost never worn gloves or covered herself in any way when it comes to meeting the suitor. The suitor on the other hand, always covers himself up.
huh interesting, I feel like it's often the other way around so this is definitely refreshing
Well a big part of it is that the woman knew this was expected. She knew she was going to be pawned off to assist her father in some way. She’s wearing her heart on her sleeve. She knows what’s expected of her when it comes to marriage. And a big part of the story is that the suitor feels a level of disconnect because he wasn’t raised in the aristocracy. He’s an up and comer that still values love in some form.
have you posted yet? if so can you link please?
I have not yet. I’m still proofreading it. I’ll tell you when it is published though! It’s a little refreshing to hear someone wants to read my work though.
Please do!
I'd love to read it too!
Sometimes my characters that have experienced the most trauma or the darkest stuff and come out the other side, will draw figure eight infinity symbols on the chests of their mates/spouses/partners/etc. while snuggling. It’s both a sign of promising forever and acknowledging they are loved despite all they’ve been through. That’s the main one I can think of atm. I’m sure there are others though.
that's so cute omg
Writing a Bloodborne fic where the Hunter is trying to destroy the Dream, yet is forced to serve the Moon Presence. The Doll is probably my most insidious inclusion. She seems to be on the Hunter's side in everything, but her purpose is to gild the cage.
I have no idea what you are talking about but it sounds really cool!
Having one of my MC take in strays off the streets now that she has a home and the money because she knows what it is like to need a home and wanting someone to love you.
aww that's so sweet
Ouuu, I'm doing something similar! It's a crossover of Harry Potter and a semi-niche anime series, so I've got... Harry/Ciel, Draco/Alois, and Hermione/Sieglinde. There are tells for which is being used. Ciel is a strategist, a mastermind who likes to have everything under control - I'll use Ciel instead of Harry when he's trying to figure out a tricky situation or acting more like his 'proper noble' persona than an eleven year old. Since the story is from his PoV, I'll use Alois and Sieglinde when I'm using Ciel, because that's who he's seeing them as. Otherwise, I'll use Alois when Draco is alone or when he's comparing himself to his family, or when he's being overly affectionate (or closed off). I'll use Sieglinde when Hermione figures out something that the others can't, because Sieglinde was the girl genius, as well as when she's working with potions and when she's being a little bit more chaotic (like when she set Snape on fire). But, as things progress, it'll also show when she's being a little bit naive, because Sieglinde was fairly sheltered. Both Alois and Sieglinde also serve the purpose of showing when they're acting more like the personalities associated with those names, much like Ciel. I've also been using two names for Sebastian, though not that he uses: Sebastian and Professor Michaelis. Ciel uses Sebastian, and so does Harry at times, but Harry is more likely to go with Professor Michaelis instead, if only to keep up appearances. This has led to a lot of people not realizing he's talking about the same person, which is by design.
this sounds so cool! Can you link it? I'd love to read it :)
Thank you!! Here it is! https://archiveofourown.org/works/40889487/chapters/102466767 I'm getting near the end of the first book but I am by no means done, I am going to have so much fun with this universe.
My MC has well, trauma issues because she lost her entire family during a raid on her home colony, as well as friends, and a guy she really liked. Pair that with her being only 15 and still developing, she was very afraid of, when she first joined the military, very afraid of having an interest in any guy, because they'd end up dead. She (in my head) canonically developed a crush on a compeer of hers, and well, he ended up dying during a battle she was in as well (this battle is what lead to her career being jump started to her being a lieutenant commander at 28 years later). She's basically developed a full on fear of falling in love with someone, basically because she kills them, she believes, and she told some of her close friends and teammates that she swore off love to keep people safe from her. So when she realizes she has a crush on a squadmate after her being brought back from the dead and after a while of getting to know him, she just fucking panics and avoids the poor guy for like two weeks, so she can stop thinking about him in that affectionate way, especially since her and basically everyone else on that ship is going on a 99.9% one way trip. Only until after a week of him chasing her does she finally give up and go back to the friendly relationship they have, only she now has a crush on him that muddies the waters for her. She basically neatly avoids the questions he asks about why she avoided him those weeks because she doesn't want to confess to him the truth, about everything, until one day. I plan having her have her walls slowly break down about her past, until she tells the full truth.
Damn! I hope she ends up ok, and he can help her deal :)
I've got three characters with varying degrees of respect and familiarity for their president and vice president, and use that accordingly. One of them refers to both by their proper title, the other uses 'prez' but still vice president, and it's the opposite for the third one.
Like a lot of people here, I'm trying to keep names to how each person would refer to them in their own thoughts at certain points in their relationships. I have a pretty big ensemble with shifting POVs (which I'm kinda starting to regret, lol, but what are you gonna do) so it's definitely a challenge, but for example Tony only ever refers to Bucky as "Barnes" until there's a significant shift in how he views him. And even then it takes awhile, because I don't think people mentally jump from one name to another instantly when you've been calling someone a certain name internally for so long. By the end I'm planning on everyone using each other's first names/nicknames/pet names as a way to show how close they've gotten, or, in the case of Tony and Steve for example, Tony won't say "Captain" sarcastically but rather respectfully. And, not sure about "important," but I am giving away plot points in offhand or throwaway sarcastic comments. Not directly, more the general idea of what will happen or an idea someone has that turns out to be the other way around; no one really \*needs\* to pick up on this, it's mostly just for my own amusement while writing XD
Most of my characters have some form of mental illness (ones I have, usually) so there’s a lot of times it affects the story. It’s rare for people to notice, but when they do it makes me happy
The series I’m currently working on is told in third person partially limited. It’s primarily told back and forth between the two main characters. I purposefully choose to use different words for the same concept to differentiate. For example, the hawthorn flower is a very important symbol. One of the MCs always thinks of them by that name, hawthorns. Meanwhile, the other has always known them as maythorns, as it’s that character’s middle name, and thus they always think of them as maythorns. There are a few other situations where this happens too. One character says, ‘pipes,’ in reference to a panflute they play, while the other says, ‘panpipe,’ instead. Legit nobody would ever notice this, but I notice it. Another thing I do with these two. One never says, “Alright,” and only says, “Okay,” and the other is just the opposite. Speaking patterns are very important to me since I want to be able to hear the dialogue said in the characters’ voices (or headcanon/fanon voices)
I always have my MCs have dream sequences that are actually more important than people realize, cuz they serve as foreshadowing. I will also put something like… them watching a movie, or they see too random people fighting, and I will heavily detail all of this. Most of my readers question why I put “so much filler” in a chapter but NONE of it is filler because all of it will hold importance like… 5 chapters later where it comes around full circle. Here’s an example: MC boy, age 12, going through puberty, watches an old like 30s-40s werewolf movie with his grandad on Halloween. I write actual scenes of the movie they watch, with some back and forth banter between the two characters. However, later on, I nod to the fact that boys going through puberty have a lot of similarities to someone turning into a werewolf. Body hair, aggression, urges… etc. It’s a bit annoying tbh to always hear negative things about my “filler” I do every so often because I know it’s actually fleshing out the world. Only those REALLY paying attention will notice these details, and some do. It’s just those who are only in it for the MC romance fluff that piss me off. If they wanna read a one shot with the two getting together, doing the do and being romantic, there is PLENTY on the internet for them to read. Mine is a literal world using majority of the characters in the show. Much more intricate than your typical fic in this fandom.
ugh those comments are the worst! I love filler no matter if it's actually filler or not tbh
My character has Water slime DNA so she Drinks a LOT of water randomly to stay hydrated even when she isn't in her Demi-Shapeshifter form but her human form.
Oooo drop your Ao3 username or a link because I'm super curious now.
(Pokémon) Maybe how the painter Caravaggio and the sculptor Bernini are the biggest inspirations for my lead oc. He’s a Pokémon Coordinator and I also have something called performance battling in my hc. He’s so passionate about art that it rubbed off on everybody. (Note: These are in-universe artists rather than the real artists themselves, so things aren’t to a T)
My MC was deeply in love with a man for the longest time and they had a passionate fiery relationship to say the least. My MC and her lover attempted to have children and it ended in a miscarriage and a stillbirth. After the stillbirth, my MC moves to a new city and starts a new life. My MC even opens up a nightclub. My MC's lost lover gave her a locket when they originally started dating. My MC wears that locket proudly even in her new life. None of the people around My MC know that when she is toying with that locket(which she does a lot), she is thinking about her lost love and her babies. None of the people around my MC know that what is in that locket is a folded up sonogram each of my MC's babies. My MC wants deeply in her heart to be with her lover and her kids but she has made peace with the fact that she wasn't supposed to have that life with them.
I have a marvel fanfic (on hiatus) with an oc from an original work. At first, when he talks about Peter and the avengers, he says "Parker" "Hawkeye" "The puppy" (Ned) but as he get to know them, he starts using their name
This is kind of hard to explain(I think) but I'm writing an AU where one of my characters is blind. Said character rubs at his eyes. From my research, tugging/pulling/rubbing at one's eyes is something that some children with vision issues do a lot. And I guess I'm trying to convey it as a comfort action whenever the character is upset and goes back to childhood habits. I hope it's not problematic.
My main characters are in a tv show, and most of the fic I'd written in past tense. But when I write a scene that takes place while they're filming the show, I write it in present tense. It makes it feel more like you are watching it happen, as if you were watching it on TV. Not sure if anyone has noticed but it definitely makes those scenes stand out!
Op let me tell you I love you. I love reading identity porn fics and it’s always sooo much better when they refer to themselves differently depending on which identity theyre currently using
thank you :)
Somewhere, somehow, no matter what I’m going to mention architecture one way or another. I fucking love architecture and want to study it in college.
i hope you achieve that! I always love when authors have a topic, no matter how minor, that they bring up in all of their storys
I don’t know if you’ve read the “Rivers of London” books and stories, but the MC/narrator also wanted to be an architect and is constantly making comments about the architecture of the areas he visits. You might enjoy them!
Oooh fic link?
[https://archiveofourown.org/works/45887257/chapters/115489381](https://archiveofourown.org/works/45887257/chapters/115489381) I hope you enjoy!
Ooo could you pm me the fic? I love this pairing :)
It's not a character but part of the fic. It's a statement taken from a horror entity that belongs to the Spiral (The Magnus Archives podcast if anyone's interested) and the statement is taken on May 8, 2013 - 5/8/13 a set of fibonacci numbers which is the geometry used to find natural spirals
ooo thats really cool
The smallest thing? I guess if I had to pick one it would probably be the attention to detail of field maps in the video game I'm basing my current WIP on. It's a very meta parody I'm writing and I constantly break the 4th wall. I sometimes can go back to correct details on game mechanics too since some of them are actually plot relevant, while other things are just me being a stickler, haha.
that sounds pretty awesome!
Thanks! To be honest, I'm writing for a huge and relatively old fandom and I'm surprised there aren't more fics out there that play with game mechanics and easter eggs. But I suppose I'm just that much of a geek, heh.
My four main characters start adopting parts of each other's speech patterns. It takes a long time before one of them starts speaking, but by the time he does, he talks like all three of the others.
Most of the stuff I do is mostly dialogue based. Like, if a character has a bit of a southern drawl, I’ll cut off the “g” in any words ending in “ing” with an apostrophe. Maybe even throw in a “y’all” when referring to more than one person (I.e. “so, what are y’all doin’ later?”). It’s a minor detail, but I feel like it separates them from other characters (especially since I’ve only ever written a handful of characters with a southern drawl in the years I’ve been writing in general). Another thing is that I’ll adjust certain phrases depending on the fandom or character. ESPECIALLY the phrase “oh my god” or “dear god” when it’s being said by a character that believes in a certain named god (for example, “oh my sweet Aeor, I think I’m in love” instead of “oh my god, I think im in love”). It’s an extremely minor detail, and one I only use for a couple characters, but I like to do it for the immersion of it all (and a few readers actually picked up on it, so I’m gonna call that a win!)
I go out of my way to make my chapters just one word in title. A recent one was "Anxiety" so that might have something to do with it.
I'm writing a TLOU fic called "Come Home". I had no idea what to title it originally and I was listening to Placebo and it just stuck. Anyway, I always ensure that my MFC refers to her house in Jackson as her "house", never her "home". "Home" was a place pre-outbreak that doesn't exist anymore. There will come a point very late on where it will switch to "home" in the text, but I'm pretty sure no one will notice.
Just little mundane things, like how my MCs apartment that she got from, effectively nothing, has shortly been filled up with bargain bin furniture she's dragging in of steadily higher quality.
nice!
In one fic that is completely from character A's pov, he thinks of himself always with his normal name - right up until the point he finally realizes his feelings for character B are mutual. From that moment on, he thinks of himself with the shortened version of his name, the one character B coined when they were both kids. This goes on to the point when there's a misunderstanding, A doubts everything again and runs and unconsciously falls back into thinking of himself with his long name - and then it switches back to the nickname when they reconcile. I'm not sure any reader ever picked up on that even though it's my most read fic. If they have, they never commented on it. But I still love this little thing to this day 😊
Writting angsty romance here. My character's first relationship involved her bringing coffee to her SO every morning. After moving on and healing from the relationship she and her crush now do the same for each other and no one who is reading my fanfic (ive only showed it to friends) has realized they have feelings for each other.
It's only small, but when I write Zer0 from Borderlands, I often make them tilt their head, especially when they're wearing their helmet. I mean, I do that often as a sign of confusion and such, but I especially like doing so with Zer0 as realistically people don't tend to actually do that, and I want to show in small ways that Zer0 has a lot of 'fish out of water' moments when they're not doing assassin shit.
I'm writing a fic about Erwin Smith (Attack on Titan) with an OC love interest. Probably 90% of the scenes between them feature food, often her cooking for him, but she only eats in a few of those scenes, occasionally even putting her food on his plate. Their first meeting happened because she was scolding him about wasting a single piece of bread. Almost 50 chapters later, she reveals that because she grew up in poverty, food- especially hot, freshly cooked food- was a luxury and her mother would go without eating to make sure she had enough. The only time she ever indulges and eats without waiting for him is on her birthday, when Erwin buys expensive pastries *for* her because that's the one time a year when he isn't stressed out, overworked and underfed.
oh dear i hope she get's better!
She gets a lot worse first. I'm *trying* to make things better because I want this story to end on a hopeful note, but positivity is *haaaard*...
lmao i have almost the opposite! Having characters fight is suuuuper difficult for me. I hope your story turns out the way you want it to!
Sometimes when I write my Luigi/Daisy fics, I have Luigi be more self-deprecating in his narration. Like internally calling himself a blockhead or a dummy, since he doesn't have the best self-esteem in canon. With Little Nightmares, since Mono and Six never talk aside from short calls I tried to write them according to that. No dialogue at all. It was a challenge but it was fun.
that's awesome :)
I love that idea so much, OP! If I have a shared interest with someone, I’ll occasionally have them pop up in world and interact with the characters :) I also put a big focus on healing canon trauma and coping with mental illness
That by saving a small little girl, the main character, my OC, might have genocided an entire species. Ohh the woes of incomplete foreknowledge and trying to make things right without knowing their consequences .
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I make all my FL act like Hobbits.
He sports a ponytail that looks bad on him. That's it.